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.
Hipkat says
When we hired painters after moving in to our 1978 Tri-level, they insisted on an asbestos test first. Sure enough, that popcorn was toxic! We had several large rooms that needed scraping, and we hired a licensed mitigation firm to do it. We had to move out for a week, and it cost a lot, but the peace of mind knowing that it was done safely was worth it, especially with a toddler in the house and a new baby on the way.
pam kueber says
Gold star for getting the properly licensed professionals involved!
cellen says
I love everything about this! Thanks so much for sharing.
Jay says
That must be a common thread – out of sight, out of mind. Why would someone think that original surfaces might not be exposed to the light of day years down the road. My basement was finished in the 70s but there was a tile floor that dated to the 50s/60s. I was disapointed when I removed the worn out shag carpeting to find the workers had splotched gobs of wood stain and joint compound all over the floor. Ugh!
When the terrazo is stripped of the glue and paint and gets a good polishing, it will realy shine.
Amazing the previous owner wasn’t curious about what was under the carpet, I would have been tearing it up.
Nate says
What a wonderful find. I was pleasantly surprised while watching an episode of Ask This Old House when they featured a terrazzo repair in a house in Florida. If you would like to know more about the repair/restoration process, the complete episode is on their website for free. Good info.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/ask-toh/video/0,,20660994,00.html
KDA says
Yay! Terrazzo!!! We had ours professionally cleaned and polished. You may have to get a company that usually does commercial work, but it will be worth it.
Mike and Lindsey says
Yep, we have gotten bids from several companies and most all of their work is commercial. Terrazzo is fairly rare in our area
Carrie Vandiver says
Amazing progress already!!! Enjoy the packing/movi g/unpacking process Lindz, it’s the most fun you know. Can’t wait for our first completed in home viewing & maybe throw in a girls bunco night just for fun. Miss you guys!!!
Roundhouse Sarah says
I’m never surprised by how dumb some people can be. My first year living in my roundhouse my friend moved into the spare bedroom. For a school art project she needed to spray paint a phone. She did this in my garage without putting anything down!!!! I now have outlines of a phone painted on the cement in my garage. It makes me so mad every time I see it and she was completely unphased. She kept saying ‘it’s just the garage dude’. So glad she didn’t do this on the driveway. That day she got a huge lesson on why we spraypaint things with a drop cloth in the grass! Bc grass gets mowed and grows back! One day (when I have a presentable garage) I will have to paint the entire floor thanks to her.
Rudy says
That is a fabulous find! Even if you have to get someone from another city to come in, get someone who has lots of Terazzo experience. I know a great guy but unfortunately he’s in Los Angeles. You will be floored (pun intended) the first time you see the restored floor! That is my FAVORITE floor material!
Mary Elizabeth says
Mike and Lindsey, what a great find! I think you will be able to get all the glue, paint, etc. off with professional help and/or equipment. Years ago, a friend with stained terrazzo floors hired a floor polishing service with great results.
I know that itch to get right into fixing the house the day of closing and start ripping up carpet. The afternoon we closed on our 1959 ranch, DH and I came into the house with tools and cleaning stuff. While I cleaned the knotty pine cabinets in the kitchen and hung curtains, he ripped up the new fuchsia carpet (no kidding!) in the living room and brought in the hardwood flooring to replace it.
We will follow this project with interest.
Wendy in St. Louis says
RE: Popcorn ceilings. I have dealt with these in the past. I scraped a little off and took it to be tested and had …[ Precautionary Pam here: Yes, Wendy made a comment about asbestos… but I edited… YES: Readers, consult with your own properly licensed professional(s) to determine what materials are in your old house, so that you can make your own informed decisions.] … it was faster, cheaper, and looked much better to put up new wallboard right over the old ceiling. My contractor used 1/4″ thick drywall for this.
Congratulations on the terrazzo!