Vacation Living Everyday
Lucy Biscuit is one lucky dog. The happy rescue mutt dines by candlelight and enjoys her private, fully stocked pantry. Granted, the “candlelight” is provided by a plug-in nightlight installed at floor level near her bowl of green beans, but her shelves of dog food and toys leave no doubt a pampered pet lives here.
Before Jack and Kelley Stack remodeled the kitchen in their home on Vernon Avenue, Lucy’s corner was a mudroom. Tearing down the interior wall added four feet to the kitchen. That doesn’t sound like much extra space, but when they raised the flat eight-foot ceiling to an arched 12-foot ceiling plus added a large picture window and a French door, they created a kitchen that looks twice its size.
Kelley bought the Cape Cod-style house in 2001 and for eight years lived with the kitchen that was built in 1948. When she and Jack married a couple of years ago, they decided he should move out of his house on Kearns Avenue and into her house. Two cooks in a poorly designed, cramped kitchen could have been a recipe for disaster. They started to make plans to modernize the kitchen while maintaining the character of the house. When they watched Don Hamrick, of Custom Homes by Hamrick, build a house across the street, they approached him last fall with their remodeling ideas.
Jack says the timing was perfect. “If we had done it at the peak of the economy, we wouldn’t have been able to get some of the high quality craftsmen we got,” he says. “And it might have cost more.”
Jack did most of the preliminary deconstruction. When he removed the plasterboard and exposed the studs, he found no insulation. Before Hamrick began work, Insulation Solutions foamed the walls, ceiling and crawl space to create a warmer home. Jack, a Realtor who owns Jack Stack Properties, says the property value has been enhanced because the house is more energy-efficient.
But efficiency doesn’t stop with the utility bills. The cooks’ energy is conserved by more convenient positioning of the new stainless steel KitchenAid appliances. The Stacks credit Steve Womble of Twin City Custom Cabinets for help with some of the design ideas as well as excellent craftsmanship. Lighted cabinets feature glass fronts and unique glass sides to show off colorful china, while 165-degree hinges allow cabinet doors to open fully so heads aren’t hit when unloading the dishwasher. And have you seen that glamorous glass mosaic tile backsplash on the Food Network program hosted by Giada De Laurentiis? The Stacks’ kitchen has one just like it.
The kitchen wall demolition provided a good time to install new plumbing in the bathroom above it and totally redesign that room. Kelley describes the original space as “horrible,” explaining that the only area in which to stand upright was the closet.
An angled ceiling and pale blue paint give the room a larger, airier look. Lots of natural light comes through two windows to the outside and a corrugated glass French door into the hall. A new wood floor, replacing the linoleum, was laid at an angle to make the room look larger.
The glass floor-to-ceiling door in the 4’ x 4’ shower provides the opportunity for a steam bath. If the Stacks don’t want the steam, the transom in the shower door opens for ventilation. In addition to the regular shower head, a handheld fixture was installed for – guess what – Lucy Biscuit’s bath. Upstairs and down, this house stacks up as an illustration of how to live the good life.
