When her mother moved in with her, Sarah from Richmond Heights needed much more space than her 999-square-foot home was providing for them. A doctor, Sarah wanted a retreat to come home to after working long hours, and she wanted her mother to have the same. So Sarah invited several Realtors, remodelers, and designers to walk through her home and see whether they could capture and enhance her vision for a remodel.
Where other Realtors and builders told Sarah it wasn’t worth the investment, Dana King Design Build Remodeling saw what Sarah did. “It’s important to find a good team to partner with to make your vision a reality,” Sarah says.
Besides the less-than-optimal floor plan, Sarah and her mother loved everything else about their home: the perfect neighborhood, yard, and location. So the owner and design director Dana King, along with the acclaimed St. Louis–based design and build team, sought to expand the square footage to harmonize with the rest of the home.
The remodel included a dramatic 800-square-foot addition. That expansion, combined with Sarah’s desirable neighborhood, gave the homeowner a favorable post-remodel appraisal. “We always advise clients when you’re doing an addition or significant remodel, stay for 10 years or more, and for a kitchen or bathroom remodel, stay five years or more, and you will recoup your investment,” King says. “We did an appraisal before and one after, and ultimately it came out very favorable for her. Even if she sold tomorrow, she would get it back.”
Most importantly, though, Sarah saw an immediate improvement to her lifestyle. “We like to think of ourselves as a lifestyle company that does construction, and we’re serious about both,” King says. “Most people upgrade their homes to upgrade their lives. That’s why our tagline is ‘Live better at home.’ We anticipate, conservatively, that clients can expect to recoup their investment in a reasonable time frame, but the return on their lifestyle is immediate.”
Sarah’s home needed two additional bedrooms, a bathroom, and an additional living space for Sarah. They wanted the space to have lots of natural light, with views of the yard. Because they wanted to keep that yard intact and needed a new roof, King and her team turned to renovating the attic, which included lifting the roof to create an optimal ceiling height.
Team member Meg Blaies, an architectural designer, saw an opportunity to create a serene, treehouse-like environment with Sarah’s mature trees. Blaise placed new windows in a way that optimized the view, which created Sarah’s serene space.
Within the bathroom, the design and construction team created a wet room. In this arrangement, there is usually no partition between the shower and the rest of the bathroom. The aim was to optimize the space while maintaining a spa-like ambiance. The spa-like bathroom was placed in the center of the new floor plan, rather than next to an exterior wall, to accommodate existing plumbing. To compensate for a lack of windows, a skylight was installed over the tub—one of Sarah’s new favorite features. Not only does she enjoy the daylight that it brings to the space, but Sarah was also surprised to learn how much she enjoyed gazing up at the stars at night while in the bathtub.
The remodel also included relocating the stairs to create a functional, attractive approach to the stairway, which feels more like going up to a second floor than an attic.
For homeowners, such a significant buildout isn’t always necessary to make a space work for them, though. In fact, the majority of the spaces that Dana King Design Build Remodeling works with are existing spaces. Oftentimes, homeowners already have the space, but it doesn’t currently serve their needs. “A lot of us have a space or room that we aren’t really using that has become a dumping ground, basically because it just doesn’t function for us or it doesn’t look how we want it to look,” says King. “So you’ve technically lost that square footage. We seek to reclaim the space. It’s not always about increasing the footprint but rather creating a more functional space.
“Anytime is the right time to remodel if it’s going to enhance your lifestyle. When housing stock is low and homeowners want to keep their favorable interest rates, they aim to make their homes work for them for the foreseeable future,” King adds. “But even when it’s easier to find a new home, people still want to make a home their own. Whether they’re looking to stay where they are or move, we can maximize their space.”
As Sarah told King in her post-project consultation, sometimes people just need to have a bigger vision. “Every job, we always ask the client what could have gone better with the renovation experience. Sarah shared, ‘What all of the Realtors and other builders needed to have was a bigger vision and to know that the value could always be there.’ She wants people to know that if the remodel makes a difference to your life, then it’s money well spent.”
Contact Dana King Design Build Remodeling by scheduling a consultation at danaking.com or by calling 314-914-2840.
This post was created by SLM Partner Studio on behalf of Dana Kind Design Build Remodeling. Ready for your next project?
