A rural Aptos home is reinforced to keep it from slipping away, then gets a glamorous kitchen makeover!
An Aptos homeowner happened to glance up one morning, her artist’s eye catching something amiss. The two sides of her open-beamed, peaked living room ceiling didn’t seem to match up, and a narrow gap was visible along the highest seam. “Honey,” she said calmly to her husband, “I think we’ve got a problem.”
This couple were no strangers to dealing with structural challenges facing their home; the Loma Prieta earthquake had knocked the rural Aptos dwelling from its foundation. They understood the value of doing their research and called in engineers to obtain a complete picture of the problem at hand: an unsecured beam, a hitherto unnoticed artifact from the original construction, was causing the two main halves of the home to begin slipping in opposite directions.
Identifying the problem, they discovered, was the simplest piece of the puzzle. Now how to best give the home back its structural integrity? They began interviewing a series of contractors, explaining the problem and gathering possible solutions. “Everyone had a different idea of what to do,” she recalls. In the end, the Talmadge Construction solution was the clear winner. “Jeff spread the drawings out on the floor and immediately started brainstorming ideas. They seemed more than up to the challenge,” she reflects. “Jeff was very calm and analytical; that’s why he won our business.” The final result is a Team Talmadge-designed series of interior trusses that not only structurally reinforce the home, but also cleverly blend in architecturally with the space as well. “It was like building the pyramids,” says the homeowner of watching the Talmadge crew shore up her home.
Next, the Kitchen
The Moschettis were so pleased with the quality of the work on their retrofit they turned to Team Talmadge for a kitchen overhaul. The original kitchen sported white tile countertops, linoleum floor, and dark chocolate-veneer cabinets, making it feel closed in and out of date. Talmadge architect Danielle Grenier designed a new flow of space, including relocating the dual ovens to take better advantage of natural lighting. Solid cherry cabinets give the room a rich glow, and a fantastic granite countertop gives the space life and motion. Special attention was paid to lighting, and the new hardwood floors and rich butter cream-colored walls help make the new kitchen elegant and inviting at the same time.
After two rounds of major home improvement projects, these homeowners remain impressed with Talmadge Construction. “Everything, from start to finish, is very well-planned in advance. They have a team to call on when they need the extra help.” They’re gearing up for the next project on the list . . . a new bathroom!