Ramble On

If you grew up in a first-ring suburb, there’s a good chance you lived in a rambler. Built between the 1950s and 1970s, this popular home style featured a main level with three small bedrooms, a bathroom (two if you were lucky), a galley kitchen, a dark basement with exposed mechanicals and duct work, and a long, narrow layout that seemed to stretch—or “ramble”—forever.

By today’s standards, this kind of layout is not conducive to how people live in their homes. In fact, ramblers are ripe for remodeling. Baby boomers are drawn to the ease of one-level living and staying (and aging) in their familiar neighborhood, while families like ramblers for their spacious remodeling potential, their location in quality school districts, and their proximity to work. Additionally, ramblers’ easy floor plans present few structural and design challenges, and often they are situated on lots with spacious backyards that allow for substantial additions to the rear of the home.

Bloomington. “We add French doors, porches, patios, great room space, large windows, and doors. Putting additions into backyards…creates a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor living.”

Whether homeowners reconfigure their space or build on to it, they have plenty of options. One of the most popular changes to the rambler is increasing the size of the kitchen. “Most of our rambler projects seem to center around a new, spacious kitchen area with an adjoining family space, either a living room or a porch,” says Dave Monte, president of Damont Design-Build Remodeling in Spring Lake Park.

This adjacent informal space can be created either by removing an extra (but rather small) bedroom or by building an addition on the home. In many homes, owners are jettisoning traditional dining room space in favor of a family room or great room to which the kitchen opens, says Laura Orfield, vice president/owner of Orfield Design and Construction, Inc., in St. Louis Park. “For the family lifestyle and ease of use, the formal dining room is going by the wayside,” she says. “For people who can afford to keep that in a large home, that’s fine, but in a rambler, it’s such a small, confined area. The dining room is becoming part of the kitchen, which is becoming larger. Now that the walls are taken down, you can afford room for that big island, and you can still have a table in there.”

Like many new homes, remodeled rambler kitchens feature luxury amenities. “I’ve seen a trend in the last five years of kitchens going from adequately appointed to top of the line, including higher-end cherry and maple cabinetry, solid-surface countertops, second sinks, professional appliances, and well-thought-out lighting schemes,” Monte says. In addition, owners who like to entertain are requesting butler bars and “conversational” islands with seating on three sides and a place for wine storage, according to Tamra Mueller, a designer with Alanson Design, LLC in Apple Valley.

Bathrooms, particularly those attached to the owners’ suite, are another point of contention with homeowners before they remodel. “These bathrooms were small and tight, with not enough amenities,” says Mark Peterson, owner and lead designer of M/A/Peterson DesignBuild in Edina. “Oftentimes, they’d have a small master bath that was just a postage stamp.”