Kirkwood Architects Reconfigure 1928 Home for Modern Family Living | Home & Garden
Glass patio doors leading to the new patio fill the kitchen with natural light. The space is sleek and modern with white cabinetry, white quartz countertops, and a herringbone tile backsplash. The Big Island offers seating for the whole family.
New glass cabinets house Katie’s collection of vintage glass dishes. The blues date from the 1960s and are called Capri glass. Roses are depression glass.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
The Wirths kept all they could of the original woodwork and door frames, but “reversed†the traditional style by painting the walls white and the trim dark gray throughout the ground floor.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
The new spacious kitchen deck is a favorite place to relax and entertain. Previously, the house only had a small rickety staircase leading to the back yard.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
Katie says this striking 8 inch hexagon Spain tile proves you can make a statement even in a small space. Its shade of blue helped dictate other design choices throughout the main floor.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
The new kitchen and dining room opens onto the original living room. During their renovations, the Wirths discovered a pair of small stained glass windows in the living room that had been walled up. Katie’s dad made them new glass inserts with a tulip design. A new blue sectional from Crate & Barrel matches vintage tables from Future Antiques.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
When they bought the house, Katie and Jonathan moved into the smaller of the two downstairs bedrooms, as they planned to convert the original main room into a new kitchen.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
With the kitchen moved, the Wirths didn’t know what to do with the small space it occupied at the back of the house. After working remotely throughout the pandemic, they decided it would make a good office for Jonathan, providing some privacy and a small window for natural light. The framed drawings above the desk are of two different professors Katie and Jonathan studied with at the University of Kansas, where they met in school of architecture and depict campus scenes.
Hillary Levin, Post-Expedition
By Amy Burger Special at Post-Dispatch
It often takes a solid vision to see the potential of an older home with an imperfect layout. For Jonathan and Katie Wirth, having degrees in architecture made them imagine what their Kirkwood home from 1928 might be like. Katie had noticed that the house, in the Corona Park neighborhood, was listed online in early 2015, but it was quickly withdrawn from the market. It was relisted in April of the same year and she quickly contacted her real estate agent.
Katie and Jonathan Wirth have reworked the first floor of their old Kirkwood home to reflect a more modern use of space. Video by Hillary Levin
“What I liked about this neighborhood was that it was so close to the school and the park. I was very impressed because the original houses in this neighborhood all have that storybook charm, â€says Katie.
What wasn’t charming was the dated and confined layout of the house. The kitchen was tiny and closed, tucked away at the back of the house. When Katie went to see him with her two young daughters, their agent just shook his head and said it would never work for them.
“I said, ‘Well, this has to work because I want to live in this place; this house is at the right price, and it’s the right square footage for us. I went home and started drawing. … It was that night that I had the idea to take the larger bedroom apart and make it into a kitchen, â€Katie remembers.
After Jonathan returned with her to look at the house, he said, “OK, show me these pictures.” With his architectural eye, he got to see how this could work and told Katie they should go.
Comments are closed.