We've remodeled the lower level of our family home in Brier, Washington, a northern suburb of Seattle. We want to live more simply now, with less space and no stairs. Our son James did all of the work except the electrical, and my husband Art did that part, in two trips from Tucson during the summer.
My requirement was "light and bright and warm and welcoming." And minimalist. Art's requirement was a functional kitchen. Actually, it's against the Brier municipal code to have a "kitchen", which is defined to include a stove and venting. So instead we have a "wet bar", with a countertop oven/toaster, a two-burner hot plate and a microwave. Everything else in the room looks just like a kitchen.
The footprint of the room hasn't changed from before the remodel. We divided up a larger guest room into the wet bar and a smaller bedroom, and enlarged the bathroom slightly while making the laundry room a bit smaller. We share the laundry room with the tenants upstairs - currently our son Jason and his family.
Here's how it went. I struggled with the photos, so there are a few out of place and one duplicate.
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| Art's design |
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| Demolition |
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| Framing |
Framing the kitchen
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Moving the door, adding a slider
New slider
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Electrical
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Wiring for the kitchen and new bedroom
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| Dimming lights |
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Tearing out the old vanity
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New bathroom vanity
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Kitchen cabinets
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| The apartment deck |
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Joining the new deck to the old
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Now we're settling in to the room where it happened. We have a lot of work still: buying what we need, letting go of years of things now stored in the garage. But it is our own place, with no stairs. Just right for who we are now - from May to October.
