Before After
I was just notified that I won TWO 2007 Chrysalis Regional Awards for Best Kitchen Remodel Under $40,000 and Best Whole House Remodel Under $200,000. The awards will be presented in Atlanta at the Southern Building Show in June. A National Winner will be chosen from among the 4 Regional Winners, so you may be reading the blog of a future National Chrysalis Award Winner.
My partner, Richard Tinsley, and I purchased the property as a flipper. The house, a classic California Craftsman Cottage, built in the 1920's, had been the victim of numerous misguided and poorly done remodels over the years. Despite the neglect, we could see past it's ugly duckling exterior to it's good bones. At only 840 sq. ft., sitting on a 4000 sq. ft. lot, our goal was to restore/improvewhat we had to work with while opening up the interior to create a sense of openness and good flow.
Kitchen Before Kitchen After
We basically stripped the interior down to the studs, removed a wall between the kitchen and the dining area to open the house up, replaced the electrical and plumbing, added new insulation and drywall, and completely redid the kitchen and bathroom. Oh yeah, we also put in a new, pre-finished solid hardwood floor and a new forced air furnace and air conditioner. We tried to retain as much of the original character as we could, without being a slave to history. All of the windows, except one in the dining room and a bank of 3 in the bedroom, are original with the old wavy glass. I designed the kitchen with the idea of using a vintage restored O'Keefe & Merrit stove which I found on Craigs List.
We tore out the really icky bathroom and replaced it with Carerra marble floors, a period appropriate pedestal sink and a lovely old claw foot tub in great condition that I purchased at Pasadena Architectural Salvage. The tub filler and curtain rod were purchased on Ebay.
This project was truly a labor of love, and I was sad to sell it when we finished. We are looking for our next project and hope it will be as interesting and as much fun as this one. If anyone would like more information about the products we used or how we did something, please feel free to ask.
Update: Moving Mountians Design won the National Award for Best Kitchen Remodel Under $40,000 and the Western Regional Award for Best Whole House Remodel Under $200,000!
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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year
Michelle Minch, owner of Moving Mountains Design, is one of the most successful home stagers in Los Angeles, CA.
Michelle measures her success by the speed in which her staged homes sell, often with multiple offers above listing price. She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale.
Some of Moving Mountains Design's services include vacant home staging, occupied home staging, color consultations, corporate and executive relocations, move organization, redesign, and interior design. We also stage model homes, REOs,foreclosures and auction properties.
For more information about our home staging services, contact Los Angeles home stager, Michelle Minch (626)441-8975 or by email.
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from the Great State of Texas!
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Nice work Michelle. Its great that you searched for good re-use items like the tub and stove. I am working on one right now, close to home as they say as the deal is in the family. Very different experience as a stager as opposed to consulting on someone elses project!!