The first floor of this Dunedin condo was chopped up and dated, with a kitchen nobody could move around in. Here is how the whole floor got rebuilt.
The Problem
The kitchen was cramped and out of date, and the layout worked against the people living there. In a condo, you cannot add square footage, so the only way to gain usable space is to use what is there better. The owner wanted an open kitchen with an island and a peninsula, the kind of layout that lets two people cook without getting in each other’s way. The bathrooms had the same story. They were tired, and once you look behind the surface in a building of this age, the problems are usually structural rather than cosmetic. Which is exactly what we found.
Scope of work
Permitted, and the permit was closed and passed. The kitchen came out down to the studs and wiring, then went back in as a shotgun layout with a peninsula and an island, finished with quartz countertops and shaker cabinets. Both bathrooms were taken to the studs as well, including replacing the aluminum wall studs behind them. We ran new electrical and plumbing overhead and built out a ceiling box carrying lighting and a ceiling fan. All new drywall went in as mold-resistant board, which matters in a Florida condo for indoor air quality. The laundry space was reconfigured into the master closet to get more storage out of the same footprint. We fitted multiple pocket doors and new bedroom entry doors, built a custom duct system for the dryer and the AC vents, and laid new LVP flooring throughout.
Results
A 1,600-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with an open kitchen, two rebuilt bathrooms, and storage where there used to be a laundry cupboard.
A note on permits
The permit on this job was closed and passed. In a condo, this is not optional in practice, because the association and the next buyer both tend to ask. Closed permits mean the file on the unit is clean.
Worth noting the aluminum studs too. That is not something a homeowner can see, and it is not in anyone’s original scope. It turned up when the bathrooms opened, and it got replaced because closing the wall back over it would have been the cheaper and wrong call.
In a condo, you cannot add space, only use it better. Show us your floor plan, and we will tell you what it can do.
