What to do With an Aging Tri Level Home

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The predominant home designs of the 1970's and early 1980's are split level and tri level homes.  These floor plan layouts have a lot to offer but they can look and feel pretty dated without a bit of rework.  The biggest thing that has changed since this time period is we now almost exclusively live and entertain from the kitchen.  Formal spaces are not used as much for casual entertaining.  In fact, the dining and living rooms are often only used for thanksgiving and Christmas while the rest of the year we all want to be near the kitchen.  This home had a kitchen that was completely separated from the rest of the house so right from the start we knew we needed to open up the floor plan and relocate the kitchen to a more central location.  The result is a wonderfully open plan with a spacious kitchen, a cozy dining nook and a new casual space to read, watch TV and relax near the kitchen. 

                                                                       

To provide some order to the room and to help define the spaces, we added a timber frame truss to the ceiling.  This truss was built by New Energy Works http://timberframe-postandbeamhomes.com/ and is another example of their great quality and craftsmanship.   

    

Flooring is from New Energy Works reclaimed woods company Pioneer Millworks.  The floor is resawn oak fence posts that were originally used for thoroughbred horse stables.  It is neat to be able to use materials that have an interesting history but the color and patina if the flooring is spectacular too. 

Down a few steps is the new Living and Dining areas.  This space is a touch more formal in nature as the owners intend to use it for those special occasions like thanksgiving dinner. 

The fireplace has been updated to fit in with the rest of the remodel and to provide some wonderful ambiance for those cold evenings with family and friends.