Who was able to catch this week’s episode of Bargain Mansions!? If you were able to tune in, I’m so curious to hear your all’s thoughts! For those of you who weren’t able to watch, I’ll catch you up to speed here. Last night’s episode featured the jaw-dropping 3-story 1892 Craftsman, the Warwick house! (Also known as the BRICK house!) This house had amazing bones to build on and so many qualities that people die for to have in their homes. My favorite feature of all was the huge amount of exposed brick (hence the name) and you better believe I wanted to save every inch of it! The house also had beautiful window details and luckily, our crew was able to preserve all of them!
Like the Charlotte house, this home was also being utilized as separate apartments, so my main goal was to open up the floor plan and restore it back to a modern, single family home. Let’s get started by taking a closer look at the entryway, kitchen, and living space!
As soon as I walked in the door, I realized there was SO much to love about this house . Just look at the entryway! The exposed brick, the wide doors, the the wooden bannister! It had so much character that was actually in pretty decent shape! It was just a little dated ;) You can’t see it in this photo, but to the left was an old pocket door that led to the dining room. It was also in really good condition. See below!
As cool as this door was, it was closed in with sheetrock on the other side. I assume it was to create privacy for the person using the dining room as a bedroom….Needless to say, my first priority was opening this baby up!
Artwork: Leopold | Floral Arrangement: Branches & Twigs | Planter: Growing Days Inventory found at Restoration Emporium | Light: Arteriors
In order to accomplish our goal of creating a warm and inviting first impression, our crew replaced the overhead light fixture, cleaned up the brick, sanded and stained the door, and restored all of the trim.
While the entryway was somewhat of an easy tackle, the kitchen needed a little more attention. I could not get over how small it was for a home this size!! Seems to be a trend in the houses I buy! Scroll through the photos below for an idea of the layout. The kitchen led to a closed off living space and the living space led to another bedroom separated by pocket doors. Extremely choppy! You guys know I don’t do choppy.
See ya, walls!
I had major hopes that this house would sell to a large family, so I wanted to completely open up the kitchen and living areas to create a more spacious and modern feel! After our crew removed all of the cabinets and knocked down the wall separating the kitchen from the living room, here is where we landed! This is honestly one of my favorite parts of the process because I can finally start to visualize how it will all come together!
Unfortunately, we weren’t able restore the floors in this home. They were old turn-of-the-century 3/8 inch flooring and if we tried to sand them, they would crumble. As much as I wanted to keep the original floors, it just wasn’t an option. Our crew replaced all the floors throughout the first floor with sturdy oak and covered it with a beautiful gloss stain.
Getting closer..
Lighting: Wilson Lighting | Cabinets: McCartney | Barstools: Growing Days Inventory found at Restoration Emporium
Ahhhh, I told you it was jaw dropping!! THIS is the type of kitchen a 5 bedroom, 3 story-house deserves! As you can see, we landed on a very neutral color scheme filled with whites, grays, and gold accents… giving the space a very bright, tidy, and modern feel!
Appliances: American range | Open Shelving: Wahoo Designs | Hood Tile: Daltile
Wall Art: Kelly O’Neal | Faucet: Kohler | Kitchen Hardware: Locks and Pulls KC
Moving on to the living space! The fireplaces in this home really gave us a run for our money. I loved the antique look of this one, but it needed to be transitioned into an electric fireplace unfortunately… and there was no place to hide the wires! Our crew had to build a box around it and it actually ended up looking awesome! This will also work perfect for a family who may want to install a TV above the mantle some day.
Artwork: Kelly O’Neal | Mantle decor: Growing Days Inventory found at Restoration Emporium
We painted the box, mantle, and brick all white because I loved the way it contrasts with the exposed brick! For those of you who missed the show, the black metal face was actually taken from another fireplace in the house that didn’t quite make it.. !
A combination of the exposed brick, lightly stained oak floors, and amazing natural light gave this space a new rustic, contemporary feel that flows seamlessly with the bright kitchen!
Now, onto the dining room! Remember the pocket door from the entryway? This door had such a cool, vintage feel that I wanted it to be seen! I figured this doorway would be left open most of the time, so if we kept it as a pocket door, you wouldn’t see the door very often. We removed the door, sanded it down, gave it a new gloss stain, and converted it to a barn door instead!
Lighting: Wilson Lighting | Draperies: Weave Gotcha Covered | Drapery Hardware: Helser Brothers | Chairs & Buffet: Growing Days Inventory found at Restoration Emporium
I loved the modern, unpolished touch the barn door brought to this room!
Well, what do you all think!? I am so satisfied with the final look and feel of the first floor of this home! Now, everything about the flow of floor plan makes perfect sense for a large family. Let me know your favorite part in the comment section below! Until next time, friends! Thanks for reading!
Tamara
Hi. Just started watching your show. I love the transformations and seeing the end results of all the mansion remodels. Designers have great style! . I do have a question, though. Does the host do all of the work herself? Every episode I have watched has her always using the pronoun “I,” never “we.” While I am sure she is totally the driving force of this show, it would be wonderful to acknowledge the hard work that ALL of the crew does to make these remodels beautiful and this show a great success. This is just a reason many of my friends and I can’t watch a lot of show. Viewers are turned off by pretension, even if it isn’t on purpose. Just food for thought!
I absolutely love this show. Am in awe seing all the original things these old houses have. I was born in the Northeast area of KCMO., but I spent a lot of my young years ,in one of the many mansions , the church I grew up in and at one time lived in one of the small apartments in one of the upstairs levels. There was a shared bath room, at the top of the huge stairway going to the 3rd level, which then split in to 2 more stairways and more rooms. The Church of God Seventh Day was in the white/gray stone Mansion that sits on the corners block or two down the street of the Uptown Theater, which is also where my Grand parents took us every time a new Disney movie came . Thank You for returning these to their beautiful glory. When I have the opportunity to watch your shoe, I get flooded with so many of my wonderful childhood memories. I had hope to someday live in one of these homes but, sometimes things don’t turn out how you hoped they would. And thank you for showing people that women CAN do it too.
Teena, that is so amazing!!! We absolutely love the opportunity to bring new life to these amazing houses. Hearing feedback from people like you make it all worth it. Thank you :)
I am so in love with this design! You are amazing! When can I move in?! <3
RIGHT!? Now you see my dilemma for every house… I always want to move in!!
Back in the 70’s so many of those big old Hyde Park homes were made into cheap apartments. I myself lived in one and paid $95 a month for a small apartment. I used to dream about what these homes would look like if someone were to renovate them, I never really believed it would happen because most of them needed so much work. Thank you Tamara for helping to make these homes beautiful again!!!
Aw thank you so much, Vicki!! We LOVE doing it!! These houses are just too awesome!!
Rebecca,
Thank you for the feedback!! Of course I have tonnns of help and am sure to tell everyone how much I appreciate them a lot!!
I love this house and your style is perfection. Where did you find the black and white button up shirt you wore in the open house?
Beautiful new floors! Hubby and I need to lay new solid hardwood floors. You said sturdy oak and beautiful stain/gloss finish.
Is this red oak or white oak?
Nail down?
What stain/gloss color did u use? Thank you!!
LOVE Bargain Mansions-watching ALL DAY. Several episodes re-do floors are oak? Not too dark and not too light – just beautiful! What stain color and what gloss? Thank you!