Pictures from South Naperville Kitchen

Last fall, Crimson worked hard to get a Naperville family into their brand new kitchen/addition just in time for the holidays. As you may recall from the past post “South Naperville Home Seeing The Light”, this family started out with a small, dark kitchen that blocked their view to the outdoors and wasn’t very conducive to entertaining.

With the addition of 300 square feet, plenty of windows, and a little creativity from Crimson’s design team, their kitchen is now bright, welcoming, and takes full advantage of their beautiful back yard. The ivory painted inset cabinetry brightens up the space and gives the kitchen a warm, elegant, and timeless look. The large island offers an excellent gathering spot for kids or guests without intruding on the kitchen’s work station. It’s perfect for holiday parties!

Now, almost a year later, the family has come back for more. For phase 2, Crimson is updating the entire 2^nd floor as well as redesigning the staircase for a more polished entrance into their beautiful home. The upstairs work will include new carpeting in all of the bedrooms, an updated and redesigned hall bath, built-in custom bookshelves in the master bedroom, and a modernized master bath with a spa-like feel. Stay tuned to see the finished product of phase 2.

Three Generations Share a Home

The revival of multi-generation living has been on the rise since 2009 and continues to be a lifestyle trend for 2012.  “What we’re seeing is the demise of the notion of the nuclear family in favor of the extended family,” said John L. Graham, co-author of Together Again: A Creative Guide to Successful Multigenerational Living.

Motivations range from necessity to convenience to culture.  While some situations may be temporary, others aren’t so short-lived.  Many factors influence a family’s decision to live together:

• Aging baby boomers are moving in with children
• Young adults are living with parents for longer lengths of time or are being forced to relocate home due to the stagnant economy
• The expected growth in home ownership among Hispanics and Asians, for whom multi-generational living is more common

With life expectancies increasing, baby boomers retiring, pension funds failing and minority household growth, multi-generational living will likely be a trend that is with us for a while, if not a new way of American life.

Multi-generational living may sound unnerving yet living together can offer many benefits:

• Help with household expenses
• Child care or elder care
• Allow the older generation to remain independent longer, none of them wanting to admit they’ll ever need formal assisted living
• Emotional intimacy that comes with frequent contact among family members and the opportunity to make a strong connection with your grandchildren and pass on your knowledge and experience
• Reconnect with your adult children at a different stage in both your lives
• Luxury to travel with piece of mind that your house and pets are taken care of; perfect for the snowbirds

In order to make this new way of life enjoyable and comfortable some changes will need to be made.  It is essential to map out your ideal space and to run the numbers on re-do versus buying new, Crimson Design and Construction can help you with this.

If you set up the right space living together under one roof won’t break the bank or drive you crazy. Integrating design that encourages social interaction yet also provides privacy away from the communal living space is the most effective strategy.  Separate entrances and kitchens are critical to success.  Members of the household share many activities and frequently eat together, and the grandparents often take an active role in the care of their grandchildren.  But, at the end of the day, each generation bids adieu and retires to separate quarters.

How do you feel about multi-generation living? And do you think it is something that may be in your future?

 

South Naperville Home Seeing The Light

Another home in south Naperville is seeing some big changes thanks to the Crimson team. The owners loved the existing home, but its kitchen was small, dark, and did not take advantage of the views to the beautiful back yard.

Our solution: a 300 square foot addition that would add ample light and space to the kitchen, making it the centerpiece of the home.

Now, the walls and drywall are up, and it’s all coming together.

As you can see, the addition blends seamlessly with the existing structure and features plenty of windows to provide light and views to the backyard.

Soon, the hardwood floors and cabinetry will be installed and it will really come to life.  The kitchen design includes ivory painted inset cabinetry by Fieldstone Cabinetry, a built-in range hood, plenty of pantry storage, and a large central island with seating.

The galley-shaped design will keep the kitchen feeling open and easy to move around in.  The large island will act as a central gathering place, encouraging the family to cook together and making it perfect for entertaining.

The space by the windows will serve as a nice sunny spot for the dining table and even enough room for some extra seating.  Stay tuned to watch this beautiful space unfold.

 

Second Story Addition Completed In Downers Grove

Well, we have completed 98% of an addition in Downers Grove.  The remaining exterior parts of the project will remain until the weather cooperatives and we can replace the existing driveway and front porch.  The client is all moved in and the kids are enjoying their new bedrooms.  What fun.  A room of your own!  It is reported that our youngest client (2 years old) is sleeping much better now that she doesn’t have to share a room.  It’s good to know that these projects really do make a difference in peoples’ lives.

For those that have not seen this project before, we added an entire second-story on an existing 1950′s ranch home.  We also added a family room addition on the first floor that allowed for a family room three times as large as the original.  It also made room for the laundry to move from the dark basement to our client’s new favorite room in the house – a laundry/mud room.

This room off the garage now has space for a five foot long coat rack as well as individual lockers for each child.  Everybody gets their own storage space for coats, books and shoes.  In addition the room has a good-sized closet, the washer/dryer, cabinets above the washer/dryer and a laundry sink.  There is a lot of function packed into one room!

One of the former bedrooms on the first floor was turned into a home office area where the kids can gather around the computer after school and do their homework.  This room also made way for the new stairway to the second floor as well as a large closet under the stairs.

Upstairs are three new bedrooms, a bathroom and a large hall closet.  Each bedroom has it’s own double-wide closet the length of the room.  Giving each bedroom almost fourteen feet of hanging space!  The homeowner says that this is one of her favorite features to the new addition – all the closet space!

The upstairs bath features two sinks and a separate toilet/shower room.  Plenty of room for the three young children to get ready in the morning.

All-in-all the clients are loving this new addition.  Their friends, family and neighbors all say that the addition looks like it has always been there; which is music to our ears!

Progress On Downers Grove Second Story Addition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo shows the part of the addition which includes the new family room.

Electricians and HVAC contractors are currently working on the addition,

 and drywall will start to be put up in about two weeks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here’s a side shot of the progress on the new living room.

New Second story Addition in Downers Grove

Work on a second story addition began in Downers Grove this month. All told, 1,100 square feet will be added in new additions to the house. This shows the original look of the house before the start of the remodel.

 

 

Included in the addition are 3 new bedrooms,1 new bathroom along with a family room. As well as the laundry room will be moved from the basement up to the new addition.

 

 

 

 

 
You can see in the photo to the left a new wall is being added for one of the bedrooms that will later be built. Shown in the picture below is how the house looked on Thursday afternoon.

 

 

 

Naperville Addition/Kitchen Wraps Up Construction

We recently wrapped up construction on the second-story addition/kitchen renovation project that was in progress on the North side of Naperville.  We are happy to report that the homeowners are thrilled with the results and wasted no time moving back into their kitchen.  These photos were taken in our last full week at the project so you will notice some things not quite done and temporary plastic and floor coverings in place.

The kitchen features Alder hardwood cabinets from Fieldstone Cabinetry.  Caleb did a great job installing them and they are full of features such as roll-out shelves, a spice rack an apothecary drawers.  The countertops are New Venetian Gold granite and the sink and faucet are from Kohler.

Paul did an awesome job installing the backsplash tile.  Unfortunately for him the pattern worked out that he needed to install 75% of the tile pieces individually and not as sheets as they were designed.  Luckily he stuck with it and it turned out beautifully.

The new floor is red oak that was stained in place and finished with three coats of a water-based finish.  All the appliances were from the existing kitchen and we laid out the new kitchen to accommodate them.

I will need to get this kitchen into the before and after gallery just as soon as I get some real photos (no offense iPhone) of the completed project.

Second Story Addition Gets Foam Insulation

Work continued on our latest Naperville project today with the installation of the spray-foam insulation.  It’s very similar to Great Stuff, only on a much larger scale.  The foam we used on this project gets a whooping R7 per inch!  That allows for up to an R25 valued in a standard 2×4 exterior wall.  That’s a far cry from the standard fiberglass insulation products that only allow for an R13 in a 2×4 wall.

On this project we used 2-3/4″ of foam for an R20 value.  This new 650 square foot addition will be far superior in insulation value to the existing home.  As well as offering a superior Rvalue, foam also acts as a great barrier to air infiltration.  The foam seals virtually all gaps in the walls allowing for no air movement.  It is also impervious to water so no moisture can move through the wall.  It really is a great product and we are looking forward to using it more on future projects.

Naperville Second Story Addition Underway

After almost a week-long rain delay we are getting started on our latest project: a second story bedroom addition in Naperville. The addition will be over the garage and have space for a bedroom, bathroom, closet and laundry room. All told we are adding about 600 feet of space.

On Friday we installed a beam in the garage that will support the weight of the addition.

We also took advantage of the crane on site to move several units of lumber into position.  Thanks to our friends at Conley Steel for the help!

Bolingbrook Addition Completed

It’s been a few weeks since we completed our addition project in Bolingbrook.  I thought I would get some photos up that I shot with my phone.  The homeowners are still busy moving all their belongings back into the house.  In a couple of weeks maybe we can get some good after pictures to add to the gallery.  Until then these will have to do.

On this project we added fourteen feet to the back of the house to double the size of the kitchen, add a laundry room and double the size of the master bedroom.  We also added a large deck and a three car garage and a full basement under the new addition.  The project took about six months to complete.  During that time we had to work with the city of Bolingbrook to obtain a zoning variance to allow the new garage structure to be built in its current location.  All-in-all a very challenging project.

Next Page »