Lakewood Ranch is Mastering the Art of Reinvention

TIP #1: Decide what you want. The design and permitting process can last up to three months before construction begins. Don’t rush it. Be clear on what you want. Don’t settle for a plan you merely like. Think it through until you come up with a plan you love. 

Because the Cotterills saw beyond appearances. The house had good bones and a lot of potential. They wanted to unleash that potential and bring it up to contemporary standards. That’s easy to say. But hard to do. The Cotterills’ ambitions transcended mere remodeling. Nothing less than total reinvention was what they had in mind. It was a job for the experts. Fortunately, they knew exactly whom to call: themselves and the experts on their creative team. Who else? They’re the husband-wife co-owners of Cabex Construction and Cabinets Extraordinaire, after all. It’s what they do for a living, and they’re very good at it.

Complete Gut

After buying the structure, the couple wasted no time for their Lakewood Ranch remodel. First, they completely gutted it. After taking the house apart, they started putting it back together.  Upstairs, the Cotterills merged two bedrooms into one and added a walk-in wardrobe. Once their new master bedroom was complete, they moved in and quickly got to work on the rest of the structure.

TIP #2: Create an inside-outside layout. The boxy look is old news. Contemporary homeowners want a bright, clean, uncluttered space. Avoid low ceilings and claustrophobic dark zones. 

Downstairs, they started from the ground up. They put down new flooring: white oak hardwood in a seafoam shade. After that, the kitchen got extra loving care. They created a practical island layout and installed state-of-the-art cabinets. An arsenal of stainless steel, Miehle appliances introduced the latest 21st century technology. Future chefs would be pleased.

Reinventing

Form followed function throughout the reinvention, but some changes were for looks alone. The Cotterills installed bi-fold front doors at the entry and added more sliding doors at the perimeter of the great room. That space had originally been closed off. Stepping inside the house, your first impression was a wall. They got rid of it. Instead, you now see a view of the lake and the golf course beyond it.

“We wanted to create an indoor-outdoor flow,” Tracy Cotterill says, pointing to a vista of bucolic blue skies and lush greenery. “You can now enjoy a gorgeous view, wherever you are in the house.”

TIP#3: Technology is your friend. High-tech features take your home to the next level. These range from convenience and security to networked media systems. This tech is cutting-edge now, but it’s quickly becoming the standard.

A dramatic glimpse of the outside world is good, and it’s even better when there’s something to do outside. For this Lakewood Ranch remodel, the Cotterills installed a pool and a tricked-out outdoor kitchen and transformed wasted exterior space into more living space. Many changes were pleasing to the eye, but others were nearly invisible — unless you know what to look for. Take that seemingly ordinary faucet in the kitchen sink. You activate it with touchless sensors. Using your foot. Those pretty cabinets above? These open with a delicate tap, thanks to hidden servomotors.

“We upgraded to smart-home standards whenever we could,” Jason Cotterill says. “We can also now command all the pool and lighting systems with a voice-controlled app on Alexa.”

New Everything

All these changes added up. After 21 months, their old house had a new style, new layout and new technology. The Cotterills had radically transformed an out-of-date living space — without making radical structural changes. No load-bearing walls were harmed. Work wrapped up at the end of 2018. There had been plenty of work.  But Jason and Tracy Cotterill had plenty of help. The couple gives a shout out to the collaborations of Jeremy Strong and Kerri Plazza (for kitchen design), Joe Menna (for building) and Francesco Plazza (for designing and installing countertops).