Looking Good After 21 Years

Jan and Gary’s Minnetonka house was built in 1960 and they had called it home for the past 21 years. Tomco Company remodeled the kitchen and dining room, banished the pink main bath and created a proper basement suite for their returning grad student daughter. They love it so much they expect to retire in place someday. But for now they are focused on celebrating the new space with family and friends over the holidays.

As with so many ‘60s homes, the original kitchen was small and closed off and the old basement bathroom was crude. There also was the matter of that pink tile and fixtures. We started with the lower level remodeling to give the family a reasonable retreat during the main level project. We converted the area that had been occupied by the old basement bathroom into a walk-in closet for the bedroom. Then we repurposed the old laundry/workshop area for a three-quarter bath with a nice ceramic tile shower and an adjustable hand shower.

Meanwhile, Jan had a full list of upgrades she wanted upstairs, starting with removing the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. The new, open kitchen/dining area would get white, ceiling-height cabinets, a built-in china cabinet, an accessible pantry with pullout shelves, a convenient drawer-style microwave, dramatic granite counters, lots of LED lighting, LVT flooring and new windows. Then the double-vanity main bath received a complete makeover with a sturdy vertical grab bar in the custom-tiled tub shower.

After bracing the ceiling to eliminate chronic cracking, we replaced the dated popcorn finish with a classy knockdown effect. We also patched the red oak flooring and applied a clear finish for a light, updated look.

We did the space planning and heavy lifting but Jan and Gary took the lead with surfaces. They chose Titanium granite countertops and travertine tile backsplashes.

Gary and Jan considered Tomco because they liked the work we had done at the homes of two close friends. Now they have their own reason to recommend us. Hear Jan share her Tomco remodeling experience in her own words in the video.