The owners of this multi-level apartment at the top of a condominium building in the city wanted to renovate for two main reasons. First, they wanted a larger kitchen with new appliances and a central island with seating. Second, they wanted to create a home gym that was open to their existing deck.
The original kitchen was an open galley with a wall of cabinets and a small island. It was also open above, under a balcony and bridge that lead to the roof deck. We enclosed the opening above the kitchen to create a home gym on the upper level. The wall of the new kitchen is a few feet forward of the original wall. The reason for this is that there was an existing beam that dictated an 8-foot ceiling on that end. However, the new kitchen ceiling is 9-feet high, which is the maximum height at the front of this floor. This also allowed us to build a pantry behind the new kitchen wall – which works fine with the lower ceiling.
Expanding the narrow 30-square-foot balcony on the upper level to a full floor allowed us to create a 300-square-foot gym. We closed off the opening to the kitchen below. The floor framing is extra strong, specifically to carry the weight of the clients’ weights and exercise apparatus. We also used sound insulation to minimize sound transmission. We angled the hall at top of the stairs to provide comfortable access to both the master bedroom and, with a few steps up, the new gym. We replaced the existing door/transom and two double-hung windows with an expansive, almost 16-foot, double sliding door, allowing for an almost 8-foot opening to the outside. These larger doors allow in a lot of light and provide better access to the deck for entertaining. The cedar siding on the interior gym wall echoes the cedar deck fence.
In the Living Room, we reconfigured the closet as it had a low ceiling and multiple doors. Building the new planter on the floor above helped us add some height, and a closet organization system adds efficient storage. The clients also have better access to the closet with sliding doors.
