Renovating The Max, a 1926 Craftsman Home

This home was originally built in 1926. While most builders or remodelers recommended tearing it down and starting from scratch, we saw the potential to revitalize a home with history and character. So, we chose to re-envision the space with modern amenities while keeping the original feel.

We love utilizing an original structure to bring out the natural charm that comes with these old houses. And that’s exactly what we did with The Max, starting with cleaning up the outside structure, re-doing the porch and a new paint job. We reused that original rich wood front door that was just hiding behind the storm door.

Moving on to the inside. As you can see, we pretty much needed to gut the home’s interior down to the studs. While this meant more work and a longer process, it really gave us the chance to restructure the interior layout, starting with the kitchen. We moved the kitchen to the sunroom, knocked down the wall that separated it from the living room to create an open, airy space. Tearing down this wall exposed all of these gorgeous windows to the rest of the house. We were thrilled to find these rich wood floors under the old carpet and several coats of paint - a  common occurrence when renovating a home built almost 100 years ago!

Knocking down all of the dividing walls created the perfect opportunity for a large master bedroom and oversized bathroom. We envisioned this unit being one of our more luxe guesthouses so a wet room, double vanity and two electric fireplaces were a must.

Spaces to relax and enjoy a glass of wine at sundown are our bread and butter at Porch Light and we definitely didn’t skimp on that at The Max. We cleaned up the porch, added some landscaping and spent most of our energy in the back. The extensive backyard at this property - the perfect space for a pup to play and more potential room to build a few more guesthouses. Adding a fence, a covered hot tub, outdoor tv, grill, fire pit and seating combined to created a private oasis, perfect for spending the night in.

Meet Max, the namesake.

We’ve had countless requests for a dog-friendly property over the years, and when we started renovating Orchard Street we knew we wanted to offer a pet-friendly option. So, The Max was born as the first guesthouse on this property, with more in the works. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!