The Roth Family (That’s us!)
640 Sq Ft, 2 Bed, 2 Bath
5 Weeks
Brett and I had been casually looking for a place in Park City for years. We’re huge snowboarding addicts, and found ourselves spending most winter weekends in this charming old mining town. We had a tight budget, and real estate in a ski resort town is never cheap. We knew the exact area of town we wanted to be in, limited to a several-block radius that was both walking distance to the base of Park City Ski Mountain and Main Street.
When this mountin home property came up, the price was right, and it had just the extra dose of charm and potential that all the other condos we’d seen had been lacking. We roped my brother-in-law and his wife into the plan, signed on the dotted lines, and then I got to work!
This tiny 640 sq foot space felt generic and dated, but with its sweet, standalone facade and original wood floors, Brett and I could see it had major potential. The plan was to turn this into the perfect tiny mountain home getaway. To us, this included maximizing the square footage to include as much storage and sleeping space as possible, and designing the space to feel current, cozy, and cared for.
And not just any demo, but demo in a full-on blizzard.
Now that is what I’d call an extreme home makeover!! There wasn’t a garage, or a dumpster, or even a single bit of outside area that was covered. And just to make it more fun, we received 60 inches of snow in 3 days.
Eventually though, it was time to start putting everything back together. Here are the final kitchen specs we landed on.
I knew I wanted to keep the original wood floors in place, and when we bought the mountain home, our fingers were crossed that the original floors extended under the tile in the kitchen. Once we signed the paperwork, the first thing I did was rip up that tile and GUESS WHAT? The floors were there – SCORE! Once everything was sanded down, I selected a custom stain that consisted of two parts brown and one part gray. (See Special Project | Original Wood Floors in Living Room for more details.)
Glossy, flat paneled cabinets from IKEA felt clean, simple, and sparse. I didn’t use any hardware, instead opting for push-open doors, because hardware would have felt too busy in this space. (See Special Project: IKEA Cabinets below for more details.)
Stainless steel appliances, sink, and plumbing fixtures had to feel cohesive in such a small area.
Charcoal quartzite counters provided a durable finish in a color that felt both soft and warm, even in this hard material, giving off the effect of a classic soap stone.
A single pendant light feels simple and rustic. An IKEA bench serves as space-saving kitchen seating and a place to remove shoes when walking in the front door. Molded lucite chairs are super durable, while still feeling light and airy.
For those considering IKEA cabinets, we would highly recommend them with a few caveats:
After all the tile was laid and the carpentry was done, it was finally time to sand down the floors. Now, just a side note – in order to sand the floors, NOTHING could be on the upstairs or downstairs floors. Like we mentioned before — no garage, no extra space, no NOTHING! Just noting this because this is why renovations can be so challenging. We had to move EVERYTHING (think couches, sinks, toilets, tools, tv’s, appliances, etc) to a storage unit. It’s never as easy as it sounds!
The floors sanded down beautifully:
Time to choose the stain! Which would you choose?
We went with the color on the right. Two parts brown, one part gray. They turned out awesome!
To give an idea of what the difference is, here a photo of the bare walls when we started:
And after working around the clock, here is a photo just a few days later of the walls with the thin brick and the shiplap:
And just a reminder – the entire time we were working – the SNOW WAS FALLING! What a winter wonderland! Great for snowboarding and pretty scenery – not so great for getting work done.
https://youtu.be/9w39xtLMJgk
When it came time to add the tub, things started to go down the drain (get it?!). The tub was cast iron and that means it was HEAVY! Also, the plumbing supplier sent us the WRONG TUB. So we were on a deadline, the tractor trailer somehow made it up the mountain in a snowstorm, we got the super heavy tub unloaded and unpacked only to realize they sent a tub with the drain on the wrong side. Ahhhhh! So instead of returning the tub and waiting for another, we decided to move all the plumbing to the other side.
Fitting the cast iron bathtub into such tight quarters proved to be a huge debacle, which required the cutting of walls and studs, and the near loss of several fingers to complete. But it was all worth it in the end, I think. (Says the girl who did not nearly lose ⅖ of her right hand digits. If you ask the plumber, he might feel differently.)
If you’re interested in what we bought, we kept most of the products organized in a Pinterest Board. In our opinion, this is the easiest way to manage a project.
And here is a compilation of all of the shoppable links found throughout this entire post:
This project could not have been made possible without our amazing vendors as well (many who flew from sunny California to help in a blizzard!)
General Contractor: Built Custom Homes | Finish Carpentry: Ray Elder | Electric: Erick Pala
