Home Remodeling Tips Grand Rapids MI

The interior of the house was completely gutted — including the removal of padded, pleated fabric walls. “The walls looked like a quilt,” VanderHorn says. “Almost every room had [fabric] on the walls and it was on some of the ceilings as well.”

Wright and his team upgraded the home's mechanical and plumbing systems. “And the deterioration of the existing electrical system was worse than we projected, so we ended up redoing all of it,” he says.

The renovation included updating the kitchenette and changing room pavilions near the pool with roofs that echo the roof shape of the main house. The structures also have new French doors and transoms. A pergola and a fireplace provide a space for outdoor entertaining.

Photo Credit: Woodruff/Brown Architectural Photographers

His team also discovered mismatched floor structures in some areas of the main house and had to reinforce the exterior walls where they removed ceiling joists. “The additions were poorly done, about 40 years ago. The ceiling heights did not match — there were parts where it went up and they had put soffits over the area to conceal it,” Wright says. “In other areas there was a 2-inch step down for the addition.”

The gutted interior provided a blank slate. VanderHorn's design emphasis was on circulation. “The house had been added to and changed so much, it had no formal circulation left — one room led into another,” he says.

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