HACKENSACK, N.J. — When it comes to renovation projects, contractors say homeowners often don’t (pardon the pun) think outside the box.
Want a closet? You can steal some space from a neighboring room. Want a room? You can repurpose that little-used closet into something more practical. When your contractor takes a peek behind your walls, you might be surprised to find you have usable space you never knew existed.
A savvy contractor can often come up with an innovative solution for home design and construction problems.
“People sort of get tunnel vision,” says Richard Graniere, owner of Wayne, N.J.-based Advantage Contracting. “They work in the existing space instead of working within the outside perimeters of the house. They get blinded by the walls.”
One of the easiest ways to repurpose space is to take down non-load-bearing walls, and Graniere says most walls in your home are nonload-bearing.
The contractor Dominic Mangiarelli recalls a woman who asked him to renovate a bathroom, but also talked about how much she wanted more closet space.
In the process of the renovation, Mangiarelli had to take down a wall between the bathroom and the hallway. In the middle, he discovered a cavity between a chimney and the hallway wall.
“It was small, only about 18 inches by 18 inches, but to her it was a gold mine,” he says. Mangiarelli carved out the space for a linen closet in that cavity. A custom door for such a small size would be expensive, but Mangiarelli used one panel of a bi-fold door.
A little paint and spackle and a carpet remnant completed the job.
“She was just as excited about that closet as she was about the weeks of work I put into the bathroom,” Mangiarelli says with a laugh.
Since then, Mangiarelli has done the hidden-closet trick at least two more times.
“These happy surprises happen all the time,” Mangiarelli says. “You never know what you’re going to find until you start tearing things out.”
Newer houses are much more likely to have hidden spaces, Mangiarelli says. With older houses, craftsmen made sure to use every possible space wisely.
He recalled another “happy surprise” when he was working with a Livingston, N.J., woman on a bathroom renovation.
She wanted to get rid of her bathtub to gain some more space and go with just a shower stall.
Mangiarelli advised against it. He realized he could swipe some space from an L-shaped closet/ changing room that abutted the bathroom.
“She wasn’t using the space in the closet, and it really helped the bathroom,” he says. He kept the tub, added the stall shower and made the client happy.
“There are always ways to find space,” he says.
A Glen Rock, N.J., homeowner, Jennifer Scherer, found her hidden space while working with John Wohlberg, owner of JH Renovations of Ridgewood, N.J., on her master bedroom. The problem was the closet. Though it had a handy built in dresser, it was too small.
“There were two racks, one behind the other, and it was impossible to get to your clothes,” she says.
Wohlberg suggested removing the built-in dresser and taking about a foot from a daughter’s bedroom to enlarge the closet. At first, Scherer says, the couple were dubious.
“I couldn’t visualize it, but it turned out to be the perfect size. I didn’t know if it would make her room look awkward, but it actually makes it look more interesting.”
The master bedroom closet is now deep and wide, and has room for all the couple’s clothing. Wohlberg also vaulted the ceiling to give more space and light.
“It’s really the perfect size,” she says.
HomeStyle, Pages 38 on 07/28/2012