Outdated sun room to kitchen remodel
My wife and I converted our late 80's vintage sun room into an ultra light, bright, clean and open kitchen. It was 90% DIY (contracted out the sheetrock and insulation) and we are so happy with how it turned out, that we wanted to share!
After two years of living in the home and doing several other renovations, we decided to pull the trigger and move our tiny outdated kitchen. L-shaped, it was cramped, small, the cabinets were falling apart, the tile countertop was in major need of replacing and had very little usable space.
We toyed with the idea of redoing the kitchen in the same place, but it still felt cramped, no matter the design. After almost 2 years or modeling alternative locations in SketchUp, we decided to move the kitchen into the outdated sun room.
Here's the sunroom before we moved into the house. It was cold, drafty, and had an ant infestation. The tongue and groove was in rough shape, the shelves were poorly made, and the tile was cracked and the grout dirty. BUT, the space had SO much potential!
We had a rough idea of what the layout would be and worked with Hancock Lumber to finalize the design. Dan Hanley was super helpful and easy to work with. The design required us to completely tear off the interior walls (and replace the insulation while we were there), replace the three big casement windows, and frame in the door. Initially we planned to keep the tongue and groove ceiling.
To start with, I removed all the T&G from the walls. Upon seeing the condition of the insulation, we decided to remove the ceiling as well. The removal and clean up took two days and was performed by myself and my wife.
Next I removed the old windows, the door, framed up for the new windows and framed in the door. This took a part of an evening and the next day. The next day, I helped my good friend Nick Kutch, a local builder, install the big double hungs and the small double hung.
What an immediate difference! The new panorama corner windows opened the room up so much. We were just so excited at this point!
I had a day before the insulators came, so I took it to do some interior framing. I framed the space above the french doors into a cool built-in shelf. We had big plans for this shelf... which you will see in the pictures to come!
I removed the french door and opened up the opening as wide as possible and added 2x2 strapping in the inside of the 2x6 rafters. The strapping was done both so that we could maximize the spray foam thickness and to minimize the thermal bridging.
The next step was insulation. We wanted the room to be warm and inviting, so we chose to go with tight-packed cellulose in the walls and closed cell spray foam in the ceiling. We did the foam in the ceiling due to it being unvented, and to add some structural rigidity.
What an unbelievable change that made. What was once a drafty, chilly room with a odd echo was now a snug, cozy, and quiet space. We are super glad we went with the cellulose and foam. Really nice stuff.
Next on the to do list was to raise the floor. The sun room had been built sometime in the late 80's and had been constructed on top of an old deck. The deck was 13 5/8" lower than the main floor of the house. We felt this separated the room from the rest of the house and would ruin the flow into the kitchen. So, we decided to raise the floor up to the level of the rest of the house. The countertops are soapstone and very heavy, so we made the floor VERY robust.
They did an incredible job and we were able to paint and put up the trim the day I returned from sea.
We ordered local Maine Ash hardwood flooring from A.E. Sampson and Son and it arrived three weeks ahead of schedule. Completely stoked, we installed in and finished it with Benjamin Moore water based poly in two days.
With the floor completed, I had to head back out to sea for 3 weeks. Upon return, Nick, our friend Jeff Kelley of JK Timberframes, and myself installed the cabinets. Over the next week and a half, I installed the M. Teixeira Fantasia soapstone (who were a dream to work with), lighting, hardware, finish plumbing, and did the touch up paint. We scheduled a big dinner party to keep the pressure on and we were able to pull it off with just the backsplash behind the sink left to install.
Long story short, it was an awesome time, we had a ton of cool people to work with and we are super happy about how it turned out.
Here's a few of our favorite details, including the built-in shelf I mentioned above.
Please ask if you have any questions. I'm glad to answer or find the answer. :) Hope you enjoy!
Comments (44)
- 10 years ago
- 10 years ago
Thanks for asking @rachelsmdai, that's the big question right now! The answer is there are some BIG plans. :)
We're regrouping after the big push for the kitchen and sketching out several ideas for the space in SketchUp. Right now the main floor is oddly divided, with lots of wasted space and a poor flow. The house is small (970 sq ft living space when we purchased, increased to 1250 with our renovations), so wasted space is a huge no-no.
We plan to:
- Bump the former kitchen into the wasted space of the bathroom that one time served as a powder room
- Knock down the the walls on the right side of the picture of the old kitchen. The one in the foreground of the picture is actually the backside of a 7' x 27" hearth... except there is only a ventless stove. The actual chimney inside the hearth is used for the furnace exhaust and is only 16" x 20". So, we're going to get rid of the big block to flow and waste of space, and leave the chimney.
- Clad the chimney, which is cinder block, in something likethis.
- Open the staircase up and put a skylight in above it.
- Make the stairs a single steel riser with wood treads.
- Replace the front door with something with a single side light and a mostly glass door.
That's it for the main floor. It will create an open floor plan, with lovely flow and light and the chimney will divide the area into a seating area and a dining area, both exceedingly informal. It will look something like this:
When that is all done, then it will be on to the upstairs! A big shed dormer, an open, bright great room... tons of plans!
- 10 years ago
- 10 years ago
10 years agoI mean give a better flow. Here are my inset cabinets love them. People come over and love the clean lines and none of them know the inset style is contributing to that.
Ben Hart thanked Idicula Samuel- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
- 10 years ago
10 years ago- 10 years ago
Thank you so much, Terri Henderson! I have a little secret... yes, the work was DIY, but I may just have quite a bit of previous experience building. That experience - 3 years full time, 13 part time - definitely helps to make things go much more quickly.
"Strapping" is any assortment of narrow dimensional lumber that is laid perpendicular to the studs, joists, or rafters to either add thickness to the wall, or to act as a nailer for a wall covering (siding or interior covering). In our case, we used it on our rafters to add thickness to the roof to increase the insulation.
I chose inset cabinets because, to us, they perfectly captured our style: practical, functional, classic, and clean with a hint of modern. Inset cabinets, traditionally, were more difficult to make as the tolerances between the doors and drawers and the frame of the front are tight and look terrible if they are not correct. Thus, when done well, they had a reputation for quality. My favorite part of it was that they were not praised for being decorous and ostentatious, but instead praised for their exacting understated quality. Combine that cool piece of reputation with the clean, even look the fronts display and you have just exactly what we were looking for!
- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
- 10 years ago
By the way, the shelf that holds the books and cooking oils is a homemade floating shelf. The bracket is a shaft from an old furniture dolly I rebuilt and a some square tubing welded together. It's strong enough to hold about 50 lbs! I was really happy with how it turned out. :)
- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
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