Design & Decor
Remodeling Out of the Boxes
Without altering their home’s footprint, a Kansas City couple transformed their existing floor plan from choppy and outdated to wide open and modernized.





Before

During Construction
You know a remodeling project is successful when wowed guests ask if you’ve added on to your home when basically the newfound space appeared by eliminating unnecessary walls.

Gene and Janice Bode’s 77-year-old home has welcomed additions throughout the years, but one thing always remained the same — the number of partition walls that separated the kitchen, living and dining areas, chopping up the space and restricting natural light. “I think we had basically six little spaces,” Janice says. “There was a small kitchen, a mudroom that was almost the same size as the kitchen, a little bathroom, a small breakfast room, a back hallway that had a lot of storage in it, a back stairway, a little butler’s pantry with more cupboards and storage, and another little unused space between the hallway and the butler’s pantry and the kitchen and the breakfast room. There were lots of little halls that didn’t have any function.” In short, it was like a maze, and the misappropriated space and artificial lighting wasn’t conducive to modern living.

After three years of stop-and-go plans with their designer Billie Deatherage of Deatherage Home Designs, the contractor, MSC Enterprises, began taking down walls. “It wasn’t just a throw-in- some-new-cabinets-and-lights-and-we’re-done sort of project,” Billie says. Renovations included eliminating the back staircase (which is now where the kitchen cabinets and range are), making room for a laundry room upstairs; relocating the garage door (now off the mudroom); and, surprising to most people, a complete renovation was accomplished after adding a new side entrance off the breakfast area — without altering the exterior. “The best thing about the plan, I think, is that we did all this without adding on to the house,” Billie says. “It was basically just captured interior space, and we redesigned it, but you walk in and it just feels like a room addition.” And, if Gene and Janice didn’t know any better, they’d agree. “To us, it feels like a new house,” Gene says. “I’m just so thrilled with the space.”

The home, remodeled to accompany an active family, sports an open floor plan with smooth transitional spaces and lots of natural sunlight — one of Janice’s main priorities when remodeling — while also maintaining the architectural integrity of the home — one of Gene’s concerns. Because the home is an elegant, inviting mix of Tudor and Gothic, the Bodes made sure to incorporate original details from the home: round, arched doorways; wood finishes; period-appropriate casing; door hardware; hand-molded tile; and stucco walls — all of which add period characteristics and personality to the newly renovated home.

Since Gene and Janice enjoy hosting family gatherings and holiday get-togethers with friends, inviting numerous guests over isn’t such a headache anymore with a kitchen that can feed and accommodate everyone, along with free-flowing, adjoining spaces that are also individually defined with help from Billie and Mary Madden of Madden-McFarland Interiors. The dining room flows into the kitchen via a doorway, with a powder room and roomy walk-in pantry in between. The powder room features vintage-looking Architerra Tessera-glazed tile flooring (matching the soft green color in the dining room) in a herringbone pattern, custom-made vanity and above-counter rustic bronze sink. The pantry, across from the powder room, is a storage facility for not only nonperishable foods but also mail and the dinner bell.

The wide-open, galley kitchen incorporates a coffee bar, with beverage drawers and Olde English listello tile backsplash chosen by Janice, and a breakfast nook, with leaded-glass windows salvaged from the original breakfast room now flanking French patio doors that open to a new stone patio that wraps around the back of the house. Decorating the newly remodeled kitchen are white oak wood floors matching the original, arched walkways, stucco walls, Bosch refrigerator, Jenn-Air stove with warming drawer, soft-close drawers, walnut range hood, and a recessed niche behind the range for oils and spices that showcases Olde English handmade decorative ceramic tile. The island features the sink, dishwasher, recycling and trash bins, lunch counter, additional seating and African Ivory granite countertops.

The breakfast area easily transitions into the mudroom, which was originally the maid’s quarters. It was recently redesigned for shoe storage, sports equipment and a play area for the Bodes’ mellow 8-year-old black Lab, Rim-Shot. The space then leads to a screened-in porch, which was a “late-night addition,” Gene says. Its coziness comes from the bead board ceiling, wood-plank floors and relaxing backyard view — making it just the right place for him to enjoy his cup of coffee and the paper in the morning.

From sectioned walkways and rooms to an open floor plan and integrated outdoor and indoor living spaces, the Bodes and their three children, Gene Jr., Graham and Carson, feel more connected, no matter if they’re in the dining room, living room or kitchen. “To me, it’s just more efficient,” Gene says. “Just mundane things, like putting the dishes away, I kind of enjoy now. Maybe it’s because the house is open, so you feel like you can go from place to place without dodging walls.” “And you’re not missing out on whatever else is going on,” Janice adds.

Resources:

Architectural & Kitchen Designer: Deatherage Home Designs
Contractor: MSC Enterprises Inc.
Interior Designer: Madden-McFarland Interiors
Cabinets: Towncraft Wood Products
Appliances: Factory Direct Appliance
Plumbing Fixtures: Pyramid Plumbing Supply
Ceramic Tile: International Materials
Countertops: Stone Creations
Tile Installation: Metro Tile & Stone
Electrical & Lighting: BA Barnes Electric
Plumbing: AP Plumbing
Windows, Doors & Millwork: Teague Lumber
Hardwood Flooring: Wood Perfect Hardwood
Framing: Schelp Construction
Trim Carpentry: Borger Construction
Structural Engineering: Norton & Schmidt Engineers
Drywall Installation & Finish: Ferguson Drywall
Cabinetry & Door Hardware: Locks & Pulls

If you’re interested in learning more about the remodeling process, click here for step-by-step instructions on what to expect.

If you’d like to see the Bodes’ house and other outstanding remodeling projects, attend the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s (NARI) Remodeled Homes Tour, April 19-20. Tickets can be purchased for $10 each at any home on the tour between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Saturday, and 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., Sunday. For a list of addresses on the tour, visit remodelingkc.com.