When Jim Scovell, president of Scovell Remodeling, was approached by an old friend to renovate a townhouse he had just purchased, Scovell was all in. The home, located in Corinth Place Villas, was calling out for a refresh.
“It was a 1980’s plain-Jane townhouse with glued-down carpets and plastic laminate cabinets that we transformed with random-width cerused-oak floors and custom cabinetry,” says Kylie Scovell Brewer, a vice president with the company.
The entire first floor was renovated, and on the second floor a mezzanine was added to create additional space and enhance the foyer. The kitchen, master bath, and living room received the most attention, but every surface was touched. While Scovell Remodeling handled all the architecture and construction of the space, Bonnie Taylor, the client’s interior designer, chose colors, fixtures, and design details, including art and furniture selection.
The living room went from bland box to a room filled with character. “At Bonnie’s suggestion, we added moldings, flanked the fireplace with paneled columns, and added a beam about ten feet up to break up the volume of the wall,” Brewer says.
For much-needed storage, a pass-through that connected the living and dining rooms was replaced with open bookshelves in the living room and a custom-built knotty-alder china cabinet in the dining room.
Even though the kitchen retains the original footprint, it feels much airier and more spacious due to changes in the layout. Where previously there were folding doors to the laundry, now a custom entertainment center faces both the kitchen and a newly created sitting niche, with comfy leather chairs where a sliding glass door to the patio used to be.
Shamrock Cabinet built the custom cabinetry that features inset drawers and glass-paned doors that run the perimeter of the kitchen. And for additional storage and a place for guests to gather, “We added the alder-wood island and topped it with a Negresco suede-finished granite,” Brewer says. Honed Calcutta marble tops the remaining cabinets.
The homeowner preferred a more open floor plan, so the entrance to the master suite—originally just a standard door—was replaced with a set of French doors. Beefed up crown molding, random-width hardwoods and new paint complete the look.
Just off the bedroom, the new master bath is a study in both function and good looks. A single vanity was replaced with custom cabinetry, including two vanities flanking a center tower, creating much more storage. The too-small shower was enlarged by extending eight inches into a closet, enlarging the footprint. Contemporary tile and frameless glass doors complete the space.
Even though the homeowner was downsizing, the townhouse lives so much bigger.