After years of cooking
in a dungeon-like space, Elena Lohse of This House 5000 and her husband finally saved up enough to bring their dream kitchen to light.
Onward
Upward
PHOTOGRAPHY by Naomi Finlay
WORDS by Lydia Geisel
DESIGN by Alison Yousefi
Toronto
Location
In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right. For more tips to nail your next project,
follow @reno_notebook.
For six years, Elena Lohse made every meal in her basement. When the Toronto-based blogger behind This House 5000 and her husband, Christoph, bought their semi-detached home in the city’s West End back in 2015, the first thing they did was demolish the first-floor galley kitchen. Out went the dated cherry-colored cabinets and beige tiled floors—everything but the stove and fridge. The plan from the start: Move the appliances downstairs, where there was a secondary cooking space already in place, until they finished the re-build.
Then, Lohse says, “we sort of got used to it.” Instead of jumping into the kitchen reno right away, the pair ended up tackling smaller updates, like tiling the entryway, remodeling the upstairs bathroom, and reframing the windows. In any case, they couldn’t afford to bring in a professional to fix the whole place up in one fell swoop; the couple had to teach themselves DIY know-how as they went. “It was very pay as you go,” explains Lohse. More than half a decade went by like this. It was only when the they had saved enough—and felt confident in their design skills—that they finally returned to the galley kitchen renovation.
1935
Year Built
80
Square Feet
$31,920
Budget
Turn a dark, unused galley kitchen into a space they actually want to be in.
Top Priority
The major sacrifice of the project wasn’t frying eggs underground or living in an active work site day in, day out; it was their schedule. The kitchen took an entire year to make over as they both juggled full-time jobs and contended with strict local noise constraints. “It has taken us away from our friends and family to get this stuff done,” admits Lohse, but when they did opt for fun Saturday plans outside the house, it meant prolonging their dream space. “When you see a remodel on TV, it’s accomplished in a day
or half an hour because they’ve got a team to do it, but not everyone can afford that,” she says.
There’s also the added reality of being a two-person team. One of the most frequent questions Lohse is asked by her more than 250,000 followers:
Do she and Christoph fight a lot? Her answer is refreshingly drama-free. “The thing is, we actually agree on mostly everything when it comes to design,” she says, including this remodel.
The space was inspired by a Zara Home catalog image that Lohse stumbled across on Pinterest. From there, the couple peppered in other ideas they picked up from such pros as Sarah Sherman Samuel and Athena Calderone. “We’re not designers,” notes Lohse. She even DMed Calderone on Instagram to ask how thick the floating stone shelf is in her New York kitchen
(it’s 2 ¼ inches).
In her own words, Lohse dives into the great and the gritty of their long-awaited, $32,000 kitchen renovation—and gets real about the costs.
Click to see
the before!
Click to see
the after!
Splurge: Airing Things Out
Structurally we did a few things: We moved the back door to be centered with the threshold to the living room; took out a window; and vaulted the ceiling, which helped us gain three more feet of vertical space. Velux sent us the $3,000 Solar Powered Skylights, which have remote-controlled diffuser shades that open and close. This addition, plus having the door right there, made it possible for us to avoid putting a bulky vent hood over the $5,000 Café oven and cooktop we bought (residential range hoods aren’t required for single-story spaces in Toronto).
It’s really easy to come up with a cabinet layout when you’re using IKEA boxes (ours rang in at $600) and the company’s free planning tool. However, because one side of the space is so shallow, Christoph had to trim the 24-inch-wide side panels down to 20 inches before attaching them to the back pieces. Wanting to stay away from overdone classic Shaker doors, I fell in love with Nieu Cabinets’s skinny version (the fronts have slim rails and stiles, and they’re made to fit the Swedish retailer’s systems) and painted them in Sherwin-Williams’s Sandbar. I went with darker antique brass pulls after polling my followers—the majority said shiny metal hardware would have stolen the show from the cupboards. They’re quite intuitive!
Save: A Tried-and-True IKEA Hack
Installing the half-moon floor tiles was a real challenge for Christoph,
who, may I remind you, is not a tiler—he learned on the spot. The ones we chose are handmade clay, so unlike porcelain, none of them are perfectly square. Christoph had to pay very close attention to whether each one was level. The biggest shock, though, was the $1,000 duty charge on the tile—
it shipped from the United States—bringing the upgrade to a total of $4,000 (luckily the material itself was gifted).
Splurge: Imperfectly Perfect Flooring
I posted what I was looking for on Instagram Stories and a follower kindly recommended a guy three hours outside of Toronto who had spalted maple boards on hand (a special variety you can’t get at your local Home Depot) for a mere $120. That was one of the perks of finding a supplier outside the city, where wood can get expensive.
Save: Searching Far and Wide for Shelves
The cost of the 3/4-inch-thick quartz for our countertops, backsplash, and floating ledge alone was $3,000, although it was gifted to us by Caesarstone. However, it took five months to arrive, and the installation and fabrication (on us) was another $6,000. Yes, that’s double the price of the material.
Splurge: A Won’t-Stain Work Surface
Click to see
the after!
Click to see
the before!
After getting quoted $5,000 for a finished door, we ordered a raw mahogany one for $2,000; treated the surface with a sealer; and made the frame, jam, and trim ourselves. We saved a ton by starting with a blank slate. I’m really looking forward to making meals in our new kitchen, especially with friends and family. Now we can all cook together and I’m not embarrassed. Plus we don’t have to trek up and down stairs anytime we need a snack!
Save: DIYing the Back Door
and
Clyde Stovetop Teakettle by Fellow and Oval Antique Brass Knobs, Crate & Barrel; Martellata Hammered Copper Pot, Lagostina; Painting by Elena Lohse; Cabinetry, Nieu Cabinets; Oven by Café, Home Depot; Juxtapose Wall-Mount Pot Filler, Kallista.
Fallow Tile, Fireclay.
Vintage Pitcher.
Vintage Mugs; Coupe and Highball Glasses by Oui, Indigo; Plates, Hudson + Oak; Moroccan Arched Mirror, Vintage Hut; Cylinder Mug, Brian Giniewski.
Plant Pot with Bubbles, H&M.
One Deck-Mount Bridge Kitchen Faucet, Kallista; Vintage Taper Holders; Stoneware Colander by Oui, Indigo; Everyday Bowls, Hudson + Oak.
Lov Pendant Lamps, Luminaire Authentik.
A year-round sun-room space where
the ambiance is inviting and warm
for every-thing from coffee in the mornings to movies at night.”
Top Priority
1950
Year Built
$1,500
Budget
Columbus, Ohio
Location
Turn a dark, unused galley kitchen into a space they actually want to be in.
Top Priority
C'mon in
C'mon in
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