Email
Print
del.icio.us
digg
Comments
FeedRambler Reborn
Under a tight deadline and budget, a total remodel delivers
By Diane L. Cormany
Photo by susan gilmore | styled by david anger
After looking at more than 40 houses, the couple found the south Minneapolis rambler a few months earlier—on their first wedding anniversary. Olson, an architectural designer with Cuningham Group in Minneapolis, was inspired the moment he set foot inside the circa-1949 rambler. He looked beyond the small, segmented rooms, low ceilings, and multiple doors to the structure beneath. He knew he could reconfigure the 2,400-square-foot house into the modern, open space they were looking for.
Welch was less impressed. But, ultimately, her husband’s excitement and vision won her over. “In one of our wedding vows we promised to always live creative lives,” she says. “So if we promised that at our wedding, how could I say no?” The proximity to the chain of Minneapolis lakes also helped make Olson’s case.
The couple’s budget was tight, and, with a baby on the way, the deadline was even tighter. “I think the biggest challenge was trying to fit it into our lives,” says Olson, who designed the project and handled the lion’s share of the construction himself. Each day after work, he would head to the house and work into the evening, drawing instructions directly on the walls for their contractor, Brent Darr, owner of Darr Construction in Blaine, then return to their apartment exhausted, leaving his drywall-covered clothes at the door before falling into bed. But the hard work paid off. Less than nine months after they knocked down that first wall, the couple moved into their new home. Two weeks later, on their second wedding anniversary, Welch went into labor. They named their son Mason, from maison, the French word for house—a name the couple says became inevitable as the project progressed. Welch, a graphic designer, created a combination birth and new home announcement.
Stenciled inside the front door is the Emily Dickinson quote, “dwell in possibility,” which, for Olson and Welch, expresses the philosophy of the project and of their life together. The house is rife with such personal details, both visible and invisible, such as the hidden time capsule that holds an ultrasound picture of Mason and a Time magazine from the week they moved in. Welch’s vibrant, impressionist paintings and Olson’s architectural renderings of Twin Cities buildings are on display throughout the home.
From the onset of the project, the couple set out to design a space that would encourage their creativity. Welch also needed room to accommodate her graphic-design business, including room for holding meetings. Thus, down came the wall between two main-floor bedrooms, creating an office with space for two workstations and a large conference table. “[Olson and I] can think better and paint better in a space like this than in something that’s sectioned off or not as modern,” Welch says.
A corner window in the office reveals a leafy vista, while a scale model of the rambler’s floor plan, rendered in tube steel on translucent Plexiglas, adorns a sliding door created by their friend and sculptor, Steve Sweere. One of the office walls is lined with floor-to-ceiling, free-floating cabinets covered by standard, maple plywood doors from home-improvement stores—a huge savings compared with custom cabinetry.
Photo by Susan Gilmore
He also opened the four-season porch off the back to the main living spaces by putting a window in the wall between the porch and the dining area, and finished it with in-floor, radiant heat beneath the ceramic tiles.
In the living room, an original corner window illuminates the room beautifully. Refinished oak flooring runs throughout the main floor, and the original brick fireplace is covered by slate. The slate was a splurge, as was the striking dining room light fixture and a custom vanity in the main-floor bathroom. The couple’s motto: Save money on materials you have to use a lot; use expensive fixtures and finishes occasionally.
Olson reversed the stairway, which sits in the center of the main level, so that it descends from the dining room into the heart of the family room below. The alteration moved the top of the staircase away from the front door to create additional privacy for the lower level. Once an awkward layout, the lower level has become the place where the family hangs out—to gear up in the morning and to wind down at night. Originally, the furnace sat in the middle of the floor, and ductwork ran down the center of the 6-foot ceilings. By moving the stairs and the mechanicals, Olson opened up a comfortable family space.
Three bedrooms flank the central gathering area. The couple installed a large egress window and a slate-accented fireplace in the owners’ bedroom, while the owners’ bathroom, with a walk-in shower, occupies space once wasted by an unfinished laundry room and more utilities. Olson bolted individual, inexpensive vanities together and covered them in tile to make space for two basins. The washer and dryer are neatly tucked behind sliding fabric screens. There is also a second bathroom for their son in the lower level.
Now, Olson is coming up with new ways to make the most of every last inch in the lower level to make room for a second child, due this fall. “The people who lived here before moved out because they had two kids, and they needed more space,” Welch says. “We’re convinced we can make the house work.”
Diane L. Cormany is a Robbinsdale freelance writer and editor.
For more information on resources featured in this story, please reference our Buyer's Guide.
11 ISSUES (1 YEAR)
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.