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.
Jan says
I know things like records are often sparse, but is there a record of how many of the House of Good Taste designs were actually built, where they are around the country and how many still exist?
Mike and Lindsey says
Jan
I have been doing some research, not on your question specifically, but that is one I have wondered myself and want to look into it at some point. The Stone archives are at the University of Arkansas and they might have some info along those line but I have not reached out to them yet
What I have been looking for are pictures of the house from around the time it was built. The house created a bit of a buzz in our area when it was built and was on the Parade of Homes that year and supposedly was the most popular house on the tour and lines were down the street to see it. I have found a few thing on the home but no actual pictures of it, mostly just advertisements in the local paper from 1965 promoting it for the Parade of Homes. Things are crazy with the reno right now and I hope to have more time to dedicate to research once we are moved in and settled
JKM says
Can’t wait to see the finished floors! What a major undertaking. How will they be restored – grind and polish?
Cheryl Warren says
I would love to get in touch with them. I have terrazzo under a wood parquet floor and sheet vinyl/linoleum. I have popped a few tiles loose and would love to start removing these floors. The terrazzo is exposed on the back porch and hall bath.
Phil says
I remember growing up in sunny South Florida in the 70’s when cool terrazzo flooring and open jalousie windows was the best way to supplement AC wall units in order to cool your home. Given terrazzo’s natural cooling properties and considering the current energy saving trends, it’s no wonder terrazzo is becoming so popular again. I just ripped out some nasty green carpet from my newly purchased home near Cocoa Beach to expose an entire home’s worth of terrazzo flooring. I can’t wait until it’s refinished, I’m exploring some terrazzo resurfacing machines now. It’s inspiring to see others taking the same journey into restoring their terrazzo! I really hope this trends here in my area because, it is a Retrorenovation goldmine of 50’s-60’s modern, beach-side homes with plenty of hidden terrazzo. Great article by the way, thanks!
Joe Felice says
Yeah, terrazzo does have a cooling effect. I was born in Florida, so your comment did remind me of how popular those floors were back in the old days. When we lived in Italy, we had terrazzo on the patios and balconies. Of course, over there, terrazzo and marble are ubiquitous, and they do some fancy designs with the terrazzo, as well as with tile.
Ed Murchison says
How wonderful the original terrazzo floors are still there. It is incredible that some careless previous owner painted on top of them. It makes me recall the first house I ever bought. I signed the closing documents, drove straight to the house, ripped out all of the carpets and threw them on the curb. I knew there were wood floors under the carpets…but I discovered someone had used them as a drop cloth and they were covered with ugly green oil-based paint drips everywhere.
Joe Felice says
This brought back a memory for me. I once bought a condo that had red–I mean cherry red–carpet throughout. The first thing I did after closing was run over and yank out every bit of it and throw it into the front yard, whereupon I was welcomed to the HOA with a violation notice. Geez, it was only temporary, as someone had actually bought that ugly carpet from me!
Mary Elizabeth says
Ed, please tell us there was a happy end to the story–after cleaning it all up with paint remover, you had the floors refinished and. . . ?
ineffablespace says
I would suggest checking out Edward Durell Stone’s residence in Manhattan, now protected. It’s essentially a fairly intact 1870s Neo-Grec townhouse with the front façade removed and replaced with large windows and the whole thing screened with perforated concrete block. His wife removed the pierced façade in the 1990s, and had to put it back.
The inside is a mix of Neo-Grec details and modernism.
Joe Felice says
I guess people were so enamored with carpet back then, they couldn’t wait to cover up the underlying floors. With the wisdom of the years, we look back at this and wonder what was going through their heads. True that they lacked good-quality coatings for the floors, which made them harder to keep looking nice. But the silver lining here is that the terrazzo has been “preserved” for you by having the carpet to protect it for so long. Otherwise, it may have been worn in the high-traffic areas. But you can now coat it and prevent this problem. The same thing happened with marble floors, which I never understood why people would choose such-a-soft material as a walking surface. Question, though: Is the terrazzo flooring we have the real deal, like the original terrazzo used in Italy? The reason I ask is because, in the old country, those floors have lasted for centuries, while ours seem not to be so durable. Yet and still, spray painting directly on top of the floor–Really??? They must have thought this was a concrete surface. I don’t imagine that the paint was too-difficult to remove, though, was it?
And Pam is correct: Beware of asbestos, and also of lead paint…. [edited: peoples, consult with your own properly licensed professionals on safety and environmental issues …. ]
pam kueber says
okey dokey BUT I understand why people loved — and still love — wall-to-wall carpet: It is very soft and cozy underfoot… It extends the living space in your house… it warms the room. I don’t have any problem with it … it all just depends on what you want…
PoisonedPumpkin says
There are actually websites dedicated to creating your own “Terrazzo” flooring. If you have the patience, time, and right foundation…
Laurie Louise says
I am so happy for you two! I’m even happier for the house, which has found smart, respectful and loving stewards. Can’t wait for future posts!
ineffablespace says
Pam/Kate:
I sent a link that has further interior shots of the original house.