lifestyle magazine

, , , , , , ,

As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Open, Airy, and Whimsical

, , , , , , ,
 

West + Main Agents April + Rob Schmidt

“The overall architecture of the house truly inspired this project. It was built in 1954 as a personal residence for an architect. Big windows that let the outdoors in, wood tones, and an open, airy and whimsical feel are all key elements in Midcentury Modern design.”
— April

April + Rob had been wanting to remodel the kitchen for several years, but other projects always took precedence. When the time came to redo the kitchen space, they really wanted to honor those design elements that make a mid-mod home special. They widened the front window from 30 inches to just about 6 feet wide, chose a light wood tone cabinet reminiscent of the popular blonde wood of the 1950s, and added a bit of whimsy with the navy blue KitchenAid range.

“The KitchenAid appliances were definitely the biggest investment for the kitchen, over all they were $14,000,” explained April. “That being said, we really did not break the bank with this remodel. That’s the beautiful thing about a small space, you can really up your game with cool finishes because you’re not finishing off a large amount of square footage. However, Rob and I used to remodel and build houses as a career, and Rob is a licensed residential and commercial general contractor, so he was able to do a bulk of the work on his own with my help and supervision. Lol!”

 “We spent about $30,000 total, but it would’ve easily been double that if we would have had to pay for HVAC, electrical, plumbing,” she said. “As well as cabinet, appliance and window installation. Those projects were all done by Rob with my assistance. The only work we hired subcontractors for were the countertops, tile and drywall finish.”

The Schmidts are very happy with how the kitchen turned out...it functions well, it’s fun to cook in, and it has a ton of storage with the large pantry units.

“Our absolute favorite thing is the navy blue range! It definitely exceeded expectations when it was unboxed and installed in the kitchen. I might’ve cried a few happy tears upon first seeing it! It really is the focal point of the space!”

 

Related Links

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

 
, , , , , , ,

As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Building from Scratch!

, , , , , , ,
 

West + Main Agent Pam Catania

“We have lived in a 1904 Bungalow, a 1958 Sparling Mid-Century Ranch,  and thought it was time to build a new home and were lucky enough to find a lot with the most awe-inspiring mountain view.”
— Pam

With national resale inventory for housing at an all-time low, more homebuyers than ever are opting to build custom homes from scratch or purchase new construction. And with interest rates higher than they've been in a couple of decades, builders are sometimes able to offer buy-down incentives or lock-in lower rates, making brand new homes even more tempting as an option. If you would like information about the pros and cons of building and buying new...Ask your amazing West + Main Real estate Agent to help you find a great lot to build on, introduce you to unlisted new build projects, and find you a great lender to make sure you get the best deal possible on your next home or investment purchase!

“It was an ever evolving 2 year project. There were always decisions to be made on the fly, We moved in 2020, so you can only imagine the delays and product that just became unavailable.  Now that the project is done and we wake up to the Mountain view, and entertain with family and friends, it was all worth it.”

“I love standing in the kitchen, opening the accordion doors and breathing the Colorado air!”

 

Related Links

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

 
, , , , , , ,

As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Snapshots of Home

, , , , , , ,
 

Christie + Jeff Meyers

West + Main clients Christie and Jeff Meyers recently updated their home, having purchased it with the help of agent Melanie Erdmann. 

West + Main Home Magazine: Thank you so much for letting us feature your beautiful home! Tell us, what inspired your project? 

“It was just time. We wanted to open up our space and give it a more modern feel!”
— Christie

W+M: Do you mind sharing with our readers, how much you ended up investing in the project?

Christie: The remodel was quite large - 5 different rooms on our main level were touched. I believe we were around $75K for our project - that includes cabinets, floors, paint, counters, fireplace, lighting, furniture, and demo/install, as well as many smaller elements and details.

W+M: What are some of your favorite vendors or shops? 

Christie: We didn't really have a favorite place - we did a lot of online shopping/browsing to find what was best for us. We are bargain shoppers and looked to see what made sense to find lower prices but of good quality. We were more about function than a price tag!

W+M: Did your remodel turn out the way you hoped and planned?

Christie: We love our new space. There is nothing I would change. We get asked all the time, what would you do differently and we still haven't found that one thing we would change!

W+M: Thank you so much for sharing. One last question…what do you love the most

Christie: The reconfiguration and open feel to our kitchen being connected to other rooms and our long center island countertop are a huge plus for us. We also love that we have wonderful drawer cabinets and pantry pullouts. Overall, the new space gives an open and inviting feel and allows for us to pack more people in for dinner parties!

 

Related Links

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

 
, , , , , , ,

As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Mid-Century Marvel

, , , , , , ,
 

West + Main Agent Kevin Bolin

“I was showing property to clients who were looking for a brick ranch. I drove them through the Indian Hills neighborhood as, in my opinion, it’s one of the most desirable areas in Fort Collins”
— Kevin

“All of the homes were custom built in the 60’s and 70’s with large lots and now have mature landscaping. It’s a really special neighborhood. We happened upon an estate sale in progress and walked through. My clients had ZERO interest in the house, (really actually hated it) but I liked it and knew my wife would also. I called her and had her run to the estate sale and of course she loved it. We spent the next couple of weeks in negotiations and ended up with the house!”

The house was in really great condition but extremely dated and most of it not in a good way. The Bolins ended up living in the house for almost 6 years before starting the remodel and that was very helpful in informing the final design, as they thought about many different remodel plans…but they ended up keeping all the rooms where they were.

“Ultimately we bought the house because we loved it and it felt like home after living there for so long, so we kept the floorpan the same. We did open up some walls and moved nearly every doorway in the house (some just a few inches) to provide a better flow. That made all the difference in comfort, light and livability but still felt like our house.”

The couple really wanted to honor the midcentury quality + feel of the original home and wanted to have a finished space that was great for entertaining and had a bit of a sense of humor, as well as a good flow for parties and defined, intentional spaces that created some moments that they would feel comfortable enjoying, human scale and intimate.

“Lighting was a really important consideration and turned out to be one of the things that really makes the house have a soul,” said Kevin. “Midcentury homes weren’t known for their abundance of lighting and relied heavily on lamps. We wanted to make sure we had very layered and functional interesting lighting that maintained the original ambiance.”

The back of the house has large windows overlooking the yard and the landscape plan was designed to feel like a continuation of the interior. They modernized the yard and removed about 75% of the turf grass areas, but tried to keep some of the quirkiness and traditional elements of the original landscape.

“The blue painted birds on the back fence are really interesting to look at in the evening when they are illuminated by the globe light fixtures, and we have a neat rowed area of flowing perennials and a bed of lavender so we can have fresh flowers for the house all summer.”

The key words that we kept in mind as we were working on this project were restraint, quality, humor, and efficiency. We wanted the end product to not feel like new construction, but a super well maintained original house!

We worked with some amazing companies on this project.

This was the 3rd house remodel that we have done using Aspen Leaf Kitchens, 4338 Tennyson St, Denver, CO 80220. We can’t say enough good things about the collaborative process and quality of cabinets they provide. Absolutely the best installers on the planet!

Independent Plumbing Solutions (IPS), 1611 E Lincoln Ave UNIT A, Fort Collins, CO 80524

Benchmark Electrical Services, 621 Gyrfalcon Ct, Windsor, CO 80550

American Air Heating and Air Conditioning, 7350 Greendale Rd, Windsor, CO 80550

RLM Services, Hardy Window and Door, Colorado Quality Painting and NOCO Drywall were all spectacular partners on this project and really understood the quality of construction and finishes that we wanted.

Waterwise Land and Waterscapes, 1930 N Whitcomb St, Fort Collins, CO 80524 were our full service Landscape Company handling the design, install and maintenance of our yard.

We ended up spending around $650,000 on the remodel and landscaping.

 

Related Links

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

 
, , , , , , ,

As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Nest Out West

, , , , , , ,
 

@Nest.Out.West influencer Cait Pappas

“Having established somewhat of an Instagram presence in the DIY and Interior Decorating niche in our first home, we knew that moving to this house meant fully renovating and customizing the interior, and documenting every step along the way to share with our loyal followers.”
— Cait

West + Main Home: Cait, thank you so much for letting us feature your beautiful home in this issue of West + Main Home! Tell us…what inspired your project?

Cait: I'm super frugal, so Jason and I learned early on to DIY projects that we didn't want to pay someone else to do for us. That frugality also meant not wanting to pay top-dollar for a turn-key home that might not have the finishes I would've chosen. We looked for something that hadn't been updated in at least a decade so we could save on the purchase of the home and not feel bad about pulling out dated (and sometimes damaged) finishes.

I design and renovate for clients, and the first two questions I always ask in order to figure out someone's style are 1) Can you describe your go-to wardrobe staples to me and why you love them? and 2) Can you send me your Pinterest boards? (I like to analyze them to see if I can spot recurring themes or materials that I can work into the client's new design.) 

To figure out the style and finishes for our home's renovation (a nearly five-year-long ongoing project!), we took a long, hard look at our own wardrobe and realized that we are both into warm neutrals, earthy greens, caramel-toned leather, and brass accents. A casual pullover or pair of jeans in bold black was something we both frequently pulled out to wear, too. My Pinterest boards (Jason's not into Pinterest) contained recurring images of minimalist spaces with white-oak-clad walls and floors, marble stone accents with warm veining, creamy whites, statement light fixtures, and earth-toned furniture and rugs. It makes sense, then, that our home has a very neutral palette with some form of a black accent piece in each space, brass or wood light fixtures, and marble countertops and tile accents.

We wanted to make our home fit OUR style, while incorporating some of the design trends that we both loved and would be happy to live with for years to come. Our children (ages two and four) needed to be able to live freely here, too, especially with two years of being cooped-up during the pandemic. Nothing we chose for our home is too precious for sticky fingers and little toes, and they have space to run around and be kids from front to back across the main level (our home is a ranch) and throughout the basement.

W+M: Do you mind sharing a ballpark idea of how you have invested in your home?

Cait: I couldn't put a number on it if I tried! TIME. We invested many weeknights after putting the kids to bed, and more weekends spent working on projects than not working on projects. I am privileged that in my line of work, between my photography style and my social media reach, brands are happy to sponsor products for our projects so that I can help spread the word about them on my blog, Pinterest, and Instagram accounts. With that being said, sponsored designer wallpaper still comes at a cost, as we're either giving up a weekend skim-coating our knock-down-textured walls, priming them, and then installing the wallpaper ourselves, or we're spending a few hundred to around $1K to hire someone to do it if we can't make time before the content is due to be shared on social media. 

Had it not been for sponsored products and a team of loyal friends and family helping us DIY the install, our kitchen renovation would have cost us roughly $50K in labor and $100K in materials. My parents always said, "You have to make your own luck," and I do feel that our dedication to saving money by doing most of our projects ourselves and making sacrifices (like choosing to work when we really wanted to be meeting people for dinner or heading up to the mountains, or putting myself out there on social media despite my introvertedness and hesitancy to open up my personal life to criticism by complete strangers) helped us bring a significant amount of equity to the value of our home.

W+M: Spill the tea…what are some of your fave resources?

Cait: My go-to for all things kitchen and bath is Signature Hardware. They're a one-stop shop for me, since their products are all great quality, they carry a vast selection, I don't have to worry about varying tones from finish to finish, and their products align with my taste. I also love shopping around for light fixtures, and will tell you that some of my favorite fixtures came from Wayfair, Serena and Lily, Signature Hardware, and Hudson Valley Lighting Group. For bedding, I had the opportunity to sample some sheets from Cozy Earth with no strings attached, but they've since become the only bedding company I can bring myself to tell people about now. They are buttery-soft, come in a variety of neutral (warm and cool) colors, wash well, are breathable/keep you cool, and while they are pricey, I have a discount code (NESTOUTWEST), so my followers can take 40% off—they are worth every penny!

Our home smells like my favorite candles from local maker The Sunday Candle (available at retailers across CO and the US, including Lottie Lane in Erie). There are too many great scents to ask me to choose a favorite, but I will say "Sunday" and "Alpine Haus" are up-there for me! Another scent you'll smell upon walking into our home is McGee & Co's "Palo Santo & Oakmoss" candle. I wait for it to go on sale and buy two whenever it does.

W+M: Did your home turn out the way you hoped/planned and was the final result what you had originally intended?

Cait: Overall, our home is exactly our style. It's warm, inviting, cozy, peaceful, and fit for a growing family. Jason and I are proud of all of our hard work, and we love hosting family and friends, as well as raising our little ones, here. There are small things here or there that really only bother us (other people have said even when pointing these things out, they hardly notice or are bugged by them), but the little scratches and blemishes are what make a house a home after all. There's a story behind every imperfection, and we'd welcome the opportunity to laugh over a cup of coffee with anyone who feels the need to point them out. In the end, we've customized every square inch of this home and turned it into a true haven for our family, and we're really proud of that.

W+M: What do you love most about it/what's your favorite thing?

Cait: I could sit here and tell you all of my favorite elements that went into customizing our home, but at the risk of sounding cheesy, I will honestly say that my favorite part is that creating this home took so much heart, patience, and teamwork. Am I obsessed with our kitchen renovation? Bathroom renovation? Mudroom expansion? What we've done with the small, but well-appointed yard space? The imagination that went into making the basement both fun and cozy? Yes—all of the above. More than that, though, I'm proud of my husband for coming home from his 9-5 job and turning descriptions from my mind and paper-towel sketches into beautiful spaces where our family finds and creates joy. We moved here with a ten-week-old baby in early 2019, not having any idea how hard it would be to demo and rebuild spaces while living in them, while taking turns finding rest, feeding the baby, holding the baby, entertaining the baby, taking the baby places to escape the noise and dust, painting during his one-hour naps, and so on. I look back on those long days, and while they were a blur, I remember them being hard. Knowing that we powered through them to create a home we love is something Jason and I are both incredibly grateful for.

 

Related Links

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

 
 
W+M_Logo (1).jpg
 
Cart (0)