Design on a Dime
Unpleasant surprises, limited space, and a tight budget drove some of the project’s most creative solutions. From a financial perspective, these decisions enabled Anschel to complete the project within a few thousand dollars of the client’s original budget.
As the crew began to peel back the layers, for instance, they uncovered problems that called for gutting more of the home than anyone had anticipated. On the first level, no amount of sanding could remove the stains on the original oak floors, so they had to be pulled up. (Anschel donates all reusable materials to reuse centers.) Ultimately, all that remained of the existing first level was a few walls, the front windows, and the living room ceiling.
The original plan called to replace the floor with two species of wood: a lighter “border” consisting of red oak around a darker inset of Brazilian cherry that had been certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. “To keep our budget in line, we weren’t able to use both species,” Anschel says. So he suggested a locally sourced #1 common red oak 1½-inch strip hardwood flooring, using a cherry stain to mimic the bordered look. This saved $4,000 to $5,000, Anschel estimates.
For the new kitchen floor, Anschel suggested an exotic-looking wood that happened to be shade-tree lumber (a blend of end-run materials otherwise destined for the chipper). For the custom cabinetry in the kitchen and mudroom, he introduced the couple to alder, which looks like cherry, wears nearly as well, but costs less and is much more sustainable. His custom cabinets typically top out at $30,000 (his cost), he says, “but the labor to install them is less, and the features and complete use of space are worth any difference in cost.”
Similarly, the kitchen and bathroom counters are made of remnant granite. The vast majority of Anschel’s projects use remnant stone, which he says costs about 35% less than custom slabs.
Anschel steered the homeowners toward other decisions that cost them more up front, but promised long-term savings in energy use and replacement costs. These include triple-pane Pella windows, hydronic in-floor radiant heating, dual-flush toilets, and Icynene-insulated walls.
The couple had also seen and liked Anschel’s past use of metal roofs. When considering what type of roofing to use (standing seam, clay tile, wood shake, slate), the three chose a steel shingle and color that looks remarkably like slate but is far less expensive to purchase and maintain, is more energy-efficient, and doesn’t place nearly as much strain on the structure of the home.
“Part of what ‘green’ addresses is this idea that you consume less and your products are more durable,” Anschel says. “I would make the argument that a well-designed space with the right materials is less likely to be replaced in the near future.”
Spatial Relations
One of the home’s most pleasant surprises is its sense of spaciousness. Getting more from less is part craftsmanship, part illusion. For instance, the kitchen cabinets fit together like puzzle pieces; if needed, every door could be opened at once, with tolerances as slight as ¼ inch between them. “Everything has to fit in this room,” Anschel says, demonstrating, for example, the “appliance garage” that seems impossibly wedged into a corner, its door tucked out of view when open. There’s no dead space.
Curves soften the home’s right angles, and sometimes trick the eye. This is most evident in the curved wall that leads from the mudroom into the dining room. Among other effects, the curve makes the mudroom feel much less confining than a straight wall, blocks the view to the bathroom from the dining room, and creates a flow from one room to the next.
Even small decisions expand the sense of space. The new windows, for instance, have blinds between the panes that zip almost entirely from view when open.
Most deceptively spacious of all is the second-floor bathroom. Barely 36 feet square, the room manages to have two separate environments: an intense, vividly tiled shower area, and a more serene area for the sink and toilet. The sink top, another massive slab of remnant granite, negates the need for a bulky vanity and allows the eye to travel to the corner.
The shower area features four types of ceramic tile arrayed in an unconventional pattern and wrapping beyond the tub space, to create the illusion of space and a sense of energy. “I like the idea that the accent and field tiles change roles,” says Anschel, adding that his tile layers — who initially balked at his unorthodox designs — now get excited by his projects.
But there can also be a downside to all that artistry. “All the energy we save from the green features is probably lost standing in the shower admiring the tile pattern,” Yanny says.
Trade Knowledge
To delight clients with unique and custom-crafted solutions, “part of the trick is finding a shop that is really interested in being a close partner for the long haul,” Michael Anschel says. “A shop that is only interested in producing as much as it can for as much money as it can make isn’t going to want to spend time on unusual projects.”
Anschel is referring to his favorite cabinetmakers, on whom he relies heavily to maximize storage space, but he could also be talking about other suppliers and trade contractors. In finding remnant granite, marble, or onyx, for instance, he works closely with a few stone fabricators “who will hold onto nice slabs larger than 2 by 3 feet,” he says. “And sometimes someone will order three slabs for a giant kitchen, and they’ll use a quarter of the third slab.”
The process of finding the right granite slabs for his home was fun, says client Al Yanny. His favorite slab, a purplish granite in his first-floor bathroom, was sitting by a Dumpster at the fabricator’s, he says, when “both Michael and I pointed to it and said, ‘Yes! That’s the one!'”