Reduce Reuse Recycle - Mix Old and New in Your Remodel

It's easy to want to start fresh when you're remodeling, but saving a few select pieces will help tie the new space to the old and may even save you some money.  Here are three examples of reuse in our classic English Tudor:

1.  Bathtub   This cast iron bathtub was original to the 1921 house and still in great shape.  Given the high cost of tubs, this was a perfect candidate for reuse, and it's right at home in the new vintage style bath.

 

Original Location

2.  Closet Doors   These beautiful original gum wood closet doors were re-purposed as, well, closet doors... but in new pocket door locations.  The holes from the old hardware just add to the charm.

Original Location

3.  Sun Room French Doors   The pair of French doors leading from a small bedroom to the sunroom were eliminated, in favor of a wider opening.  The glass-paned door is seen throughout the home, so we reused them in one of the new bedrooms to speak to the vintage architecture.  Sure, it's unconventional to use glass doors for a closet, but in this case, it really adds charm and character to an otherwise standard bedroom.

Original Location

So get our there and reuse, already!  It's good for the earth, the pocketbook, and oh-so stylish.

Reviving the Sun Porch

One of the greatest features of the classic English Tudor we're working on is this beautiful enclosed sun porch.  The vintage bi-fold windows accordion and all slide to one side of the room, making the room feel like it's inside the cedar tree.

Unfortunately, the 90 year old windows were allowing water to get inside the walls and rot the structural posts, as well as rotting the window sashes and sills.

We had window companies look at replacing them, but no one was sure about how to rebuild these windows and have them function in the same way.  The prices were incredibly high.  We developed a plan to rebuild the windows ourselves.  We had ASAP Custom Windows make the new wooden window sashes, then our guys carefully took apart the jambs piece by piece and milled new parts to the exact sizes of the old that would work with the antique hardware.

 

It was a very technical and complicated project that was great for the house.  The sun porch is still bright and airy, the new bi-fold windows are solid with proper flashing, and they function better than ever!