When you look at a decrepit old grocery store, you probably don’t think of its potential as a home. And in fact, that wasn’t what was on Steve Revland’s mind when he purchased the small 1930s grocery store in 1986. Originally, he said he was “drawn to the boxy building’s potential as a place to build wood furniture.” Revland is a furniture maker and owner of the Uptown Gallery in Fargo, North Dakota.
After going through a couple changes, from frame shop to upholstery store and more, Revland renovated it in 2002, adding a detached work studio to the back and converting the original space to a one-bedroom home for his brother and sister-in-law.
Open floor plan makes house feel bigger
This wasn’t the end of the structure’s story, however, because in 2010, Revland decided to sell their home and move into the former grocery store. “Fortunately, I had held onto this property,” he said. “I took a year and a half off from work and gutted it and turned it into this.” The home is 1,360 square feet, and Revland wanted to be sure it wouldn’t feel small, so he went with an open floor plan.
DIY Renovations
He tore out the work he’d done to turn it into a home for his brother and started over, fixing a few of the problems he’d noticed upon purchasing the property years ago. He did all the renovations himself besides the wiring, though he said it hadn’t been easy. “If you ever want to lose 40 pounds, take a year and a half of work and just do something as insane as I did,” he reminisced ruefully. “I even jackhammered out the entire perimeter of the inside of the basement floor and put in drainage tile.”
His renovation took $40,000 of material, including sheetrock, cypress hardwood floors, and custom kitchen cabinets which he covered in green, high-gloss plastic laminate. He also added an extra interior wall to thicken the exterior and improve sound-deadening and insulation. By the end of the 18-month reno, the Revlands had a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home which Ryan Johnson, a writer for Fargo-Moorhead online news said, “feels bigger than its footprint.”
A home from the 1960s future
Johnson went on, “Finishing touches, including the lime green dining room chairs, stools, and a large sectional in the living room, as well as his handmade retro cabinets, make the home seem like it’s inspired by futuristic sketches from a designer in the 1960s.”
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After going through a couple changes, from frame shop to upholstery store and more, Revland renovated it in 2002, adding a detached work studio to the back and converting the original space to a one-bedroom home for his brother and sister-in-law.
Open floor plan makes house feel bigger
This wasn’t the end of the structure’s story, however, because in 2010, Revland decided to sell their home and move into the former grocery store. “Fortunately, I had held onto this property,” he said. “I took a year and a half off from work and gutted it and turned it into this.” The home is 1,360 square feet, and Revland wanted to be sure it wouldn’t feel small, so he went with an open floor plan.
DIY Renovations
He tore out the work he’d done to turn it into a home for his brother and started over, fixing a few of the problems he’d noticed upon purchasing the property years ago. He did all the renovations himself besides the wiring, though he said it hadn’t been easy. “If you ever want to lose 40 pounds, take a year and a half of work and just do something as insane as I did,” he reminisced ruefully. “I even jackhammered out the entire perimeter of the inside of the basement floor and put in drainage tile.”
His renovation took $40,000 of material, including sheetrock, cypress hardwood floors, and custom kitchen cabinets which he covered in green, high-gloss plastic laminate. He also added an extra interior wall to thicken the exterior and improve sound-deadening and insulation. By the end of the 18-month reno, the Revlands had a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home which Ryan Johnson, a writer for Fargo-Moorhead online news said, “feels bigger than its footprint.”
A home from the 1960s future
Johnson went on, “Finishing touches, including the lime green dining room chairs, stools, and a large sectional in the living room, as well as his handmade retro cabinets, make the home seem like it’s inspired by futuristic sketches from a designer in the 1960s.”
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