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2013 Tour of Remodeled Homes presented by Standard TV & Appliance
|
REMODEL PORTLAND MAGAZINE
“I always tell people that it’s for
you. You are the one who is going to
be here for a long time. And when
you remodel it for yourself,
it becomes much more
about your lifestyle.”
—Erin Davis,
co-owner and designer at
Mosaik Design
& Remodeling
By Jon Bell
niversal design. Aging in place.
Home for life.
Call it what you will, there’s an
ever-expanding trend in remodeling
these days to remodel with the bigger
picture in mind. And that bigger picture
includes everything from making a home
as comfortable and energy efficient as can
be to looking ahead at how homeowners’
lifestyles may change down the road.
“The biggest thing when it comes
to a remodel is that you want a house
to be comfortable,” says
Jeff Metke
,
president of
Metke Remodeling and
Woodworking
. “Everything needs to be
done with comfort as a basis, for now and
for the future.”
One of Metke’s two projects on
this year’s Tour of Remodeled Homes
involved creating a main-floor master
suite and remodeling two bedrooms and
a bathroom upstairs for the client’s two
young children. While the homeowners
aren’t necessarily thinking about how
accessible their home might be when
they’re older, having the master on the
main floor means they won’t have to
worry if they’re still there 20 years from
now.
Similarly,
Joe Petrina
, president of
Petrina Construction
, says his clients
were looking long-term for just about
everything — from the neighborhood to
energy upgrades — on their home, which
they purchased and had Petrina remodel.
“They want to stay there for 20 years,”
he says, adding that the home’s main floor
alone would provide ample living space
Remodeling the right way creates
a comfortable home for today —
and tomorrow
for life
if accessibility ever became an issue. The
remodel also engineered the flooring,
walls and roof so that solar electric and
water heating systems can be installed
later.
Much of the whole-house remodel
project that
Nick Olsen
, owner of
Olsen
Homes & Renovation
, did for this year’s
tour was designed to make the home
more accessible, as the couple living there
wants to stay long-term. Olsen added an
access ramp, widened doorways to three
feet and incorporated “curbless” showers,
among many other projects.
“We looked at all the spaces to make
sure they would work for anyone,” Olsen
says.
But there was more to the remodel than
just practical renovations. Olsen says it
also included a dream kitchen and stylish
finishes hand-picked by his client.
Erin Davis
, co-owner and designer at
Mosaik Design & Remodeling
, says such
personal input is key to any remodel that’s
being done for the long haul.
“I always tell people that it’s for you. You
are the one who is going to be here for
a long time,” Davis says. “And when you
remodel it for yourself, it becomes much
more about your lifestyle.”
PHOTO: Nor thwest Photographix
U