At Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations, we take on a wide range of projects both indoors and out. As we are a design build company, we always break down our projects into two main phases: a design phase and a build phase. During the design phase we have several meetings with the clients to understand exactly what their project is, what they want, and to review and revise drawings. The types of interior home renovations we complete can be broken into several categories: kitchens, bathrooms, second story editions, rear exterior additions, home makeovers, main floor townhouse renovations, living room renovations, media rooms, recreation rooms, secondary suites and Air B&Bs.
Although design is the most important component of any kitchen, it is closely followed by the craftsmanship involved in putting the whole kitchen together. The design build team will work with you to choose and coordinate your kitchen cabinets, countertops, tile backsplash, flooring, lighting, mouldings and anything else needed for your kitchen. We will ensure that your appliances not only fit into your kitchen well but that the style coordinates with the rest of the kitchen. We’ll make certain that your appliances are located in the right places to allow you to work in your kitchen as efficiently as possible. A kitchen renovation often includes an attached living room or dining room and will often encompass the entire main floor of the home. As such, the removal of a wall between the kitchen and an adjoining room may be part of the project in order to provide our clients with an island or peninsula with stools on the other side, thus granting you the eating space you have always desired. Kitchen renovations also often involve mechanical upgrades, replacing rusted out drain pipes or worn out heating systems. Kitchen renovations also often require electrical upgrades to provide more electricity for newer appliances. Unlike kitchens of the 40s through the 70s that maybe had a toaster or microwave on the counter, todays modern kitchens have exponentially more portable appliances that either need to reside on the countertop or be stored in custom height drawers or appliance garages. Some common, homeless appliances of modern times are the slow cooker, Instant Pot, electric kettle, mixer, bread maker, rice cooker, air fryer and deep fryer. As kitchens are moving from a purely functional use to an area where the family spends a great deal of time together, lighting has become much more important. We often add lighting and sometimes add a window or replace a window with a larger one in order to allow more natural light in.
Bathroom renovations can be broken into two categories: those done specifically for function and those done to transform the space into a spa-like area to relax in at the end of a long day of work. At the Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations, we would love to turn every bathroom into a spa, but we realize that some bathrooms need to be more functional and low maintenance, such as kids’ bathrooms and family bathrooms. However, we regularly recommend to clients that they turn their master bathrooms from functional into a more spa like environment where they can relax while enjoying a hot shower or a deep soak in their bathtub. Ideally, all bathrooms are an inviting place to not only start your day in but to unwind in.
Many of our clients have older homes that are often comprised of a single story with a basement, sometimes called a rancher, that does not provide enough space for their growing family. Or perhaps they require more space because in-laws are moving in with them or their children have come home from college or university in a Plus 1 situation. Adding another floor to the home can provide the much needed space for extra bedrooms or can allow for the construction of an in-law suite in the basement. This type of addition renovation can be one of the trickiest and most costly because the structural load from the new floor must be transferred down to the footings of the basement. In order to access and run electrical, plumbing, heating and ethernet to the additional floor, the walls and ceiling below this new floor will need to be opened up. This type of addition will often require the re-siding of the entire home to ensure that the home has a consistent look and feel. However, this type of renovation does not use up any of your yard, just the empty air space above your existing home
In this type of rear extension one or two levels can be added to your home at the back of the house. As opposed to second story additions, rear additions avoid many of the problems that adding an additional story over your existing home incur. The only downside is you will be giving up a piece of your backyard since this addition extends out as opposed to extending up. Rear additions tend to be less costly and much less technically challenging as most of the construction is built over new yard and it does not involve the opening of walls and ceilings in existing sections of the home. This style of addition is much more akin to new home construction then the one listed below, however, mechanical services such as electrical still do have to be connected to the addition, but it is generally much simpler to do so. Also, there is no need to transfer the new weight of the addition to the existing floors below. Since this is a rear addition, the rest of the house does not necessarily need to be re-sided, but perhaps it will be repainted to match a new colour scheme.
Often our clients will purchase an older home in a neighborhood they really like even though the home is either outdated or does not have a design style that suits them. Our design build team works with the client to create a new look and feel for the home that will meet their needs and desires without making major structural changes to the existing layout. However, this still may entail pulling down a wall between the kitchen and the dining room or between the kitchen and the living room or opening up a main hallway into the home. These types of home renovations often involve new paint throughout the house, new flooring, a new kitchen, a new powder room, as well as new doors and new casings around the windows and doors and baseboards. This renovation will generally address issues such as outdated stonework around a fireplace. A major component that is often completed in this type of renovation is adding additional lighting to living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms as well as adding new lighting fixtures throughout the entire home.
Similar to home makeover renovations, many of our clients will buy an outdated townhouse in a desirable neighbourhood with the purpose of renovating it to match current trends and styles. Our design build team will work with them to come up with a new overall design for the interior of their home that meets their lifestyle and family needs. Due to the smaller scale of a townhouse, this renovation may also include transforming a backyard into a new outdoor living space to create more room and make their home feel a bit larger. Essentially, we take an unused, ugly backyard and transform it into an outdoor entertaining or dining area where the owners can relax with family or friends for six to eight months of the year.
Often an existing living room needs to be re-designed to meet the homeowners’ needs. Once transformed, this room can actually be usable space for our clients instead of scarcely used, formal space. Often these designs still include a traditional conversation area but will also include a 70 inch television and entertainment unit that has been designed to better fit into the living room. We will also often replace an old, outdated, wood or gas fireplace with a new, natural gas fireplace and corresponding stone or tile work. The existing lighting in the room will be inspected and augmented or replaced depending on what is needed to transform the living space into the client’s vision.
Although gaming systems tend to go in and out of trend every five years or so, many homeowners want a dedicated billiards room for a pool or snooker table or even for their ping pong table. This room will often include an inexpensive 50 inch television to watch the game on while shooting a round of pool. This room may also include a small bar area with a sink and microwave, as well as a refrigerator to hold refreshments. This room is often located next to or is part of a media room and may be part of the same renovation. The microwave is absolutely crucial in order to make popcorn.
Twenty years ago, media rooms were only for the rich and famous but now, with advances and very affordable LCD televisions and cinema sound systems, they are becoming one of the most desirable renovations today. As mentioned in the paragraph above, homeowners often add an area adjacent to their living room. Occasionally they have us transform their recreation room into a dedicated media space with specialized lighting, theatre seating, backlit movie posters, and high-quality sound system. What was once only for the rich has now become a regular renovation seen in many homes.
Secondary suites, AKA Mortgage Helpers, have become a required component for many families in order to afford to own a fully detached home in the Lower Mainland. For others, a secondary suite allows them to have their in-laws or older children live close to them while still maintaining some privacy and space. These arrangements can be extremely beneficial because the in-laws can help look after their grandchildren. When the in-laws get older, their children are close enough to drive them to doctors’ appointments. Secondary suites often involve the removal of existing walls and the erection of new walls to create desired living spaces. This will almost always require new electrical and plumbing to accommodate the new kitchen and bathroom that will be a part of the secondary suite.
Most of what is involved in the construction of a secondary suite is also involved in the construction of an Air B&B suite. Air B&B suites, just like secondary suites, need to have private entrances and ideally have their own living space with a kitchen and bathroom and be separated from the rest of the home. However, in order to meet building permit requirements, an Air B&B suite, while still having a dedicated bathroom may only have a kitchenette instead of a full kitchen. Also, many will also have a dedicated, attached outdoor living space with French doors to allow guests to spend time outside.
We look forward to meeting with you and discussing your renovation or new construction project. Please feel free to give us as little or as much information as you choose.