Before and After: A 10-Month Transformation of a Bloomingdale Condo

• July 2nd 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

It has been awhile since UrbanTurf covered an interesting residential transformation in the region, but a recent re-imagination of a condo in Bloomingdale has us bringing back Before and After.

Last spring, a 680 square-foot condo on the market in Bloomingdale caught the eye of architect David Polk. The previous owner had used it as a rental unit, and it had been on the market for more than two months by the time Polk put in an offer. In May 2020, he closed on the unit, and the following month, he had a redesign ready.

The renovation started with ripping up the carpet to reveal the original oak hardwood flooring, which Polk refurbished. He then converted a hall closet into a laundry closet, and converted a portion of the closet in the second bedroom into a built-in bar nook facing the living room. 

Polk added a breakfast bar island in the kitchen, reconfiguring the space to install a double oven, a microwave, a panelized fridge and a dishwasher. The cabinetry is from Ikea, although the doors and hardware were sourced from a third party.

The tub in the bathroom was traded for a shower stall, and Polk installed heated floors and handmade tiling. The Victorian style of the building results in the unit having a turret in the owner's bedroom, where Polk expanded the existing closet into a closet wall framing the door. 

Roughly 90% of the unit's new finishings and furnishings were purchased secondhand from everywhere from Community Forklift to Craigslist, or purchased on a trade discount. The renovation work was completed in March. Additional images are below.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/before-and-after-a-10-month-bloomingdale-condo-redo/18435.