Your Experienced Takoma Park, MD Home Remodeling Contractors

Our clients are a young couple who have been living in their cape-cod style home in Takoma Park for about 8 years. Just outside of DC, the Takoma Park neighborhood has become a growing area with steadily rising property values. Meanwhile, the small home of our clients had several additions from past owners that were starting to show their poor quality and dated look. The previously done additions had left the home with differently sized windows, uneven cedar shingle siding on the back and different color vinyl on each side of the house. Along with providing a much-needed facelift, one of the primary goals of the project was to give the home a uniform exterior and upgrade the cape-cod style to something more elevated with a Victorian flair.

Aside from the issues with the exterior, the home was incredibly limited on space, only having two bedrooms and extremely low ceilings that restricted the interior possibilities. Our clients wanted to add an entirely new floor that would open up the home and create more living space. 

Our team started by getting to work on some of the interior additions including redoing the kitchen which had been squeezed into what was previously a screened-in porch on the original home. The siding of the home was also redone to give the exterior a more uniform appearance along with removing the roof so the team could get started on adding a second floor to the small cottage-style home. This type of addition is called a pop-up.

After going over a few different color selections, the couple landed on light blue vinyl siding for the entire house. Due to zoning requirements, the top floor was stepped back and completed with a white railing and gable trim to fill in empty space and provide some Victorian style elements. The clients also added their own personal flare with three Frank Lloyd Wright stained-glass windows across the face of the home. In addition, they added three wide windows on the back of the home that lights up a brand new spacious master bedroom and walk-in closet.    

On the main floor, the kitchen was expanded and received a total remodel with brand new cabinets, countertops, and flooring. Old laminate floors and stair treads were replaced with distressed, antique, carbonized, bamboo flooring that provides a more contemporary and sophisticated look. The kitchen also received a brand new peninsula with an apron sink and overhanging bar top. The couple’s new dining area was finished off with stainless steel appliances and a short hallway that connects to a sunroom in the back of the house.

The newly added top floor features 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms along with 1 master bedroom and master bath. The master bedroom accommodates a spacious “his and hers” walk-in closet and an upscale master bath that is outfitted with a European-style double vanity and retro rhombus tile flooring. The new space with higher vaulted ceilings allows the homeowners to move out of their cramped bedroom on the main floor and offers a more spacious home if their family were to expand in the future.

The Starcom team also installed a furnace and an AC unit on the second floor to assist in heating and cooling the older home. They were previously using a boiler and mini-split pumps for their heating supply.

Foam insulation was used throughout the entire home as our team installed the new siding. Energy Star heat reflective shingles were used for the roofing which will help the home retain its internal temperature. One side of the new roof was also designated for solar panel installation. The grid of panels will give the homeowners a renewable energy source that will lower monthly electricity costs and make their newly renovated home more energy efficient.

The project was delayed a couple of months while the team waited for the approval of variances. The project was a home addition that would fall outside of some Takoma Park zoning requirements and set back required additional permits.

Although there was a delay in getting the project started, our homeowners have loved their new living space. The remodel transformed the outside of the home into one uniform structure and upgraded the small 2 bedrooms, cape-cod cottage to a more pronounced and polished 4 bedroom contemporary Victorian style house. The inside remodels now provides a dramatic expansion in terms of living space and an updated interior that is modern and reflects the tastes of the homeowners. The remodel not only improved the face of what was once a small, cottage-style home but it boosted the value of a homestead that lies in a flourishing neighborhood just outside of D.C. The home value will continue to rise with the increase in neighborhood popularity and the now doubled square footage.

Homeowners in Takoma Park, MD decided that they wanted to add a special touch to their addition. They placed a time capsule in between one of the walls near the stairs. A time capsule is a great way to communicate with future generations and leave artifacts that are typical of the current time period. 

The homeowners and their children included newspaper clippings, personal information and photographs of the house pre-construction. The only way for someone to find the time capsule is to open up the walls of the home. It could be found in 100 years or 1,000 years. Only time will tell!