Report #2 on their new Retro Renovation journey
Mike and Lindsey were so eager to see whether there was beautiful original terrazzo flooring under the miles of wall-to-wall carpet in their “new” 1964 Edward Durell Stone “House of Good Taste” that after they closed, they made an immediate bee-line to pull up the carpet. Much to their delight, they uncovered a whole lot of terrazzo flooring in excellent structural condition — although there were also a few strange surprised hiding under all that cream carpet.
We knew prior to buying the home that the original terrazzo floors were hiding under the carpet. The owner admitted never seeing them, as the same carpet had been down for the entire 25 years they owned the home. Unable to get confirmation of their condition, and only able to get a small peak by pulling back a corner of the carpet, we hoped, prayed, and kept our fingers crossed that they were in good shape. We knew that refinishing structurally sound terrazzo would not be a huge deal, but repairing significantly damaged terrazzo is a big expensive undertaking. We literally headed straight to the house after closing to pull the carpet up and find out what were were dealing with…
Each section of carpet we pulled back produced a huge sigh of relief as we unveiled some of the coolest terrazzo we had ever seen. A bright white base with black, grey, and green flecks. Although it was extremely dirty, yellowed, and covered in carpet pad glue, it was in excellent condition. There were carpet tack strips nailed directly into the terrazzo all around the perimeter, but from research we knew those holes could be dealt with. What confused us were all of the square paint lines on the floor… it took us a minute to figure out what they were… but we realized that someone must have taken all the doors from the kitchen cabinets, laid them out on the floor, and proceeded to paint them directly on the terrazzo!!! I can just image what was gong through their head, “who cares, nobody will ever want to see these ugly floors anyway”
With the terrazzo exposed to the light of day after 25 years, The House of Good Taste renovation begins!
Our overall goals for this renovation include giving the house a timeless feel, so that regardless of whether it is 50 years ago, present day, or 50 years from now, things just “feel” right.
The following is our general renovation outline, which we are sure will evolve as we get into the details. We are blessed to have our master carpenters from L&D Construction also acting as our general contractor. The house was last updated in the late 80’s, and we look forward to peeling back the interior layers while keeping its great bones intact. We hope you enjoy this journey with us. We welcome all comments, suggestions, and criticisms along the way 🙂
Kitchen
Complete redo, but with same basic layout.Walls and ceilings
Scrape popcorn and every inch floated out completely smooth. [Precautionary Pam reminds: Be sure to work with a properly licensed professional to determine whether there is any vintage nastiness such as lead or asbestos in the surfaces and layers of your house before remodeling!]Floors
Restore the terrazzo and new flooring in all the non-terrazzo areas.Doors and trim
Replace all doors and trim throughout.Electrical
New ambient and accent lighting throughout. Outside of the huge skylight, the lighting does little for a house that has so much to show.Laundry
Complete redo.Bathrooms
Not touching them at this point, they good enough as is to live with for now. Gotta leave some projects for the coming years right?Exterior and landscape
Exterior does not really need much besides some paint touch up, and thinking about landscaping at this point would make our heads explode.But first things first… DEMO!!!
Congratulations, Mike and Lindsey on the awesome terrazzo!
Ack! I cannot understand the logic behind painting doors inside the house on perfectly fine terrazzo flooring without drop cloths. I sure hope Mike and Lindsey — with the help of their properly licensed professionals — can clean up their beautiful terrazzo floors and make them look as good as new. Mike and Lindsey — It sounds like you have your hands full with that long list of projects — I for one am super excited to see how your home progresses over the next several weeks. Thanks again for sending another installment of the “House of Good Taste” chronicles and keep up the good work and updates.
Allen says
Good Call at covering the rock walls with plastic so you don’t have to clean all those mortar lines!
ineffablespace says
This is a beautiful house, and the main rooms seem to create an almost ceremonial progression from one to the next.
Looking at the original, and at this version with the white on white surfaces looks like Stone was aiming for a museum-like backdrop for the contents and people living in it.
I would be careful about adding too much lighting, because the ceiling planes are really important and prominent in this house. There was very little ceiling lighting in the living spaces in houses of this era (mine has none). Partly it’s because they didn’t have the compact recessed lighting that they have now, but the other part is that these houses we meant to be lit with indirect lighting, lighting behind valances and by portable lamps closer to eye level. The large track lights look kind of ungainly now, but they still didn’t break up the ceiling plane: they dropped below it.
I am a bit biased because I think that modern houses are over-lit like they are commercial spaces, but my (unsolicited) advice would be to be very careful about perforating those ceilings with recessed lightings. It’s the perfect opportunity to collect mid-century lamps.
Mike and Lindsey says
We have a pretty significant lighting plan of accent and ambient lighten, but I do agree with you in keeping the plane of the ceilings uncluttered. The recessed cans we do have planned are all the small 4″ LED ones
lisa in Seattle says
I had the same experience with paint on the floor. It was linoleum, and clearly the owner or worker felt no one would ever see that ugly floor again. The floor was wall to wall drips, splatters and several large paint spills. I used a product called “Crud Cutter” that made the paint very easy to remove and didn’t have harmful fumes. Spray on, let soften, scrape, then spray again and sponge mop. When it was all done I put new Marmoeum finish on it and they looked great. The scraping was the hardest because there was so much. No idea if this product is OK for terrazzo, and there may be an easier method!
I loved that floor and getting rid of the carpet really improved the allergen situation, but when we sold the agent told me no one else would find olive linoleum floors appealing in the bedrooms, so we carpeted again. So sad.
Amber Rhea says
So cool!! Love it!
Kate says
From the photos I actually thought the off-white rectangles were a cool retro design, sort of like this: http://www.royaldesignstudio.com/collections/allover-modern-stencils/products/hip-to-be-square-stencil
Allen says
I know it’s expensive, but are there any places to check out that will install new terrazzo in a residential setting?
pam kueber says
I am not sure. I think that in places like Florida, you can still find folks….
Roundhouse Sarah says
I heard it’s anywhere from $50 -$100 a square foot!!! It’s $30/ft2 for terrazzo tiles at my local marble workers place.
pam kueber says
Wow! All those terrazzo floors at Mike & Lindsay’s place are worth a fortune!
Mike and Lindsey says
One of the places we spoke with said $30-$40 a sqft for laying new. Not that we need it, but was just curious to ask
Douglas Camin @ House on Rynkus Hill says
Terrazzo is definitely expensive, the cost apparently depends on location in the country, it ranges from $15-30/sq ft.
I found this website for one of the terrazzo installers associations with details: http://www.terrazzonortheast.com/
On this site, if you go to “Green Terrazzo” and select “Life Cycle Cost Calculator” it brings up a PDF showing the average cost to install terrazzo by region across the US. (I’d attach the PDF, but the site blocks PDF links.) I think its a lot cheaper than we thought. I just put down Armstrong Striations tile in my bathroom and the tile alone was $2.40/sq ft. It I paid an installer it probably would have been roughly double. Ceramic and porcelain tile are even more expensive ($5-7/sqft just for product.)
Carol says
Congratulations on acquiring your new home, it’s awesome. As with the other readers, I am waiting with great anticipation for regular updates. Your obvious respect for the original design of the home will ensure a wonderful restoration. Can’t wait! Regarding the popcorn ceilings, I took down a house full of popcorn ceilings very easily with no damage. I realize this is a huge undertaking in this house and you will most likely hire a professional. I used a wallpaper scraper. The black and yellow one from Wal-Mart or Home Depot. Spray the ceiling with water and turn the tool upside down and scrape. The edges of the dull blade are slightly rounded and will not dig. Super easy and almost foolproof. You must be on a ladder with the top of your head literally touching the ceiling. It’s so effective, I spent more time going up and down the ladder than I did scraping. I tend to think outside the box with tools, I raid the kitchen utensil drawer and garage for anything that looks like it will be effective. As Pam always says, have the material checked for hazardous components. Waiting with great anticipation for eye candy photos of your new home.
Mike and Lindsey says
We have some pretty cool things planned so do stay tuned!
LREKing says
A friend scraped all the popcorn ceilings and pulled up all the carpeting in a small, older house. The acoustics became terrible. Maybe larger rooms can offset that somehow.
Paula Webb says
All spaces have a natural acoustical ambiance which is something most people don’t consider. Everything you put into or take out of a room (even changing its position) changes the sound. It is something few people take into consideration when remodeling (how can you when there are so many more exciting things to consider?) Once you are done and you find the acoustics have become strange (most common is a hollow/echo) there are some things you can do to offset that. Can you tell that my husband does a lot of work with audio?
Robin, NV says
I can’t wait to see what the floors look like all spiffed up!! As I prepare for an epic backpacking trip later this summer, my house projects have taken a backseat. It’s so fun to live vicariously through this project!
When we pulled back the carpet in my house, we found that the entire house had been floored in 9 inch VCT tile. Tan with brown and cream splotches. The WHOLE house. It’s very strange.
You know, I was wondering if the VCT floors in mid century houses were trying to emulate terrazzo. They have that same “shlubby/streaky” look.
Sam R says
My 1954 house was original about 1/2 VCT and 1/2 hardwood. The family room, kitchen/dining area, office (now laundry), all three upstairs baths and the basement rooms except the bath were all 9″ VCT, mostly done in patterns. Then there was the 6′ wide candy apple red/apple green VCT star mosaic in the family room…
Bent says
My grandmothers house had an amazing swirl pattern on the ceiling. It’s so distinctive. It also hides a few places where the original drywall wasn’t installed perfectly. When I look up I couldn’t imagine having a plain flat plane.
Laurie Louise says
Bent, our new (almost) time capsule 1961 ranch has swirled ceiling texture in every room. I love it! My mom remodeled our 1920s house in the early 60s and did swirls I’m the living room, so for me it’s nostalgic as well as beautiful. We’re just starting to rehab in earnest (and taking precautions), and looking for someone who can repair a few damaged places. If anyone has any leads in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I do hope you’ll share.