Westchester County Renovation Question Part 1

Posted on: July 22nd, 2011 | 6 Comments


A Slow Home Studio viewer from New York state contacts John and Matthew to reaffirm the renovation decisions he is about to make on his home.



Pictures and Video of David’s New York Home:










  • David

    Hello Slow Home Studio viewers, 

    I’m very excited that John and Matthew decided to pick up my question. If anyone has any questions regarding any details, etc., please feel free to ask here in the comments and I will answer as best as I can. As I mentioned to John, I wish I’d discovered this website a few months ago!I’ve read a decent portion of your book and was happy to find that a good number of the points raised there were things we thought of when looking for a house. Unfortunately, I can’t say we considered **everything** outlined there, but the systematic Housebrand approach really made sense to me given our recent search experience. It seems to me that one can create a lot of value by evaluating and improving the design of existing housing stock. This value may not always be recognized by the market, but it certainly makes for better living. While I’m happy with our purchase, I would have liked to have allocated a bit less to the downpayment and a bit more to the remodel budget (which I would’ve been more aware of had I read the book!). For example, moving the laundry couldn’t be done because we’d have had to remodel a bathroom upstairs to make it work (more $$). So the wall between the kitchen and “dining” room is remaining as is (though the cabinetry is changing).Anyway, very excited to be a part of this exercise.Many thanks for indulging my panic attack,David

  • Louise

    It looks as if both of your dining spaces have now been eliminated.  The formal dining room will be used as space for for children and the kitchen nook has been sliced up by the addition of the new door.  Where were you planning to put a table? 

  • David

    The designer felt the cased opening was a good idea and that we could put a round table in the space. But the proposed space would’ve been right in the path between the single door to the deck and the main hallway. And the more I thought about it the more I thought that even if we could put a table there it would just feel jammed in there. Not being a professional myself, I was wondering whether I was missing something. Hence, my email to John. I figured it would be a tragedy to make it worse after going through all this trouble.

  • Louise

    You did well to trust your instincts and take action now.  Was there a reason why you didn’t the children to use the original family room?  

  • David

    The real aim was to make the current dining room, which I feel is naturally removed from the rest of the floor, have a dedicated purpose that would encourage us to use the space more (rather than rarely). A combo study/childrens’ room seemed like a good option. A desk or table to handle our mail/keys/gadgets perhaps and a train table for the kids. Maybe even a tv. So when we have guests over (and they all have kids), we could at least have the option of having them play/watch kiddie programs in this room without getting underfoot. A dedicated space would also give us a better chance at containing the inevitable toy explosion in one place rather than the entire house. We do not have a finished basement, so banishing them there is not an option. 

    The hope is that this room’s purpose could change as the family ages and not be “held hostage” by the need for a formal dining room.

  • Louise

    I’m guessing that John and Matthew have a brilliantly simple solution to this. It will be fun to see.   If this were my house, I’d reconfigure the kitchen to get the frig out of the way and put back the sliders in the dining area.  That would restore the proportions of the room. The dining space would feel too open for my personal tastes.  But many people enjoy that sense of airiness and flow.   Best of luck with your project.