Kenwick builder took nautical cues when customizing his compact home
midkliff01
Custom builder Jonathan Midkiff lives on a boat. Well, it’s not really a sea vessel, but that’s the sort of the feeling you get when you enter his craftsman style bungalow on a quiet street in the Kenwick neighborhood. From the moment you walk inside you can’t help but notice the way, just as on a boat, every inch of space in the small cottage is used in a most efficient way.
The house is 800 square feet, but Midkiff swears it still feels too big for him at times.
“The rooms have a good flow, and it doesn’t feel at all cramped. The plan is open and offers a lot of freedom of movement for such a small space,” he said. “There’s a lot of efficiency in small size.”
[gallery link="file" columns="4"]
Midkiff bought the house in 1998 and has been working on perfecting it inside and out since then. “I liked it because it was in the right location, was on a great lot, had a good configuration, and the bones of the house were good and stable. I saw a lot potential,” he said.
Midkiff is thrifty by nature, and he especially loves the ease with which he can maintain his home. His careful and well executed renovations keep costs down by adding to the home’s efficiency; some of the more difficult work came from trying to integrate contemporary amenities.
“The hardest part was configuring the house to accept modern conveniences like a heating and cooling system,” Midkiff said. “There wasn’t much space to run duct work, and wiring was a challenge.”
A tour of the home reveals a confluence of form and function, efficiency and artistry. Colorful and intricate art pieces and murals are in each room – all created by Midkiff from a variety of building materials left over from construction projects and repurposed by Midkiff’s skilled hands.
At first glance, the fireplace looks to be tiled with relics from an Anasazi ruin, with glyphs on each earth-colored tile. The swirls and shapes and figures are all Midkiff’s design. “I started one night with one tile and I ended up doing them all. It tells a story about man’s stewardship of the land and sustainability. People love it,” Midkiff said.
Separate decks are built along the perimeter of the house.
“I need to have spaces all around that bring the outdoors in,” Midkiff said. “I encourage nature and critter life by maintaining trees for shade and for shelter. I like to sit outside and enjoy all that.”
The smallest room in the house used to be an open back porch, but now is a cozy room that houses a bed that fits snuggly – wall to wall, filling three quarters of the whole room and is flanked by shelves filled with books and art objects on each side. Again, the nautical motif comes to mind, as it feels much like climbing into a berth onboard a boat. It makes for a cozy nook and there is plenty of storage under the raised bed.
One of the more challenging spaces Midkiff fashioned is a custom shower that fits efficiently into an area that was once part of a porch. A diagonal patterned tile treatment makes a unique and attractive spot for a refreshing shower.
It’s obvious Midkiff likes things organized, and a place for everything. The clever solutions for storage issues give each room and a few out buildings their own stylings. A niche in the hall holds a small pantry for supplies. Cooking utensils are meticulously arranged on the kitchen walls. In the living room, small shelves below the mantel where the fireplace used to be are now customized media storage. Outside, the yard is surrounded by lots of plants and landscaping, and three unique structures take care of other storage needs – the latest one recently was built using Midkiff’s old truck camper top as a roof with corrugated metal sides and a space age shape leading friends to nick-name it the “lunar lander.”
When the heat pump was installed, Midkiff wasn’t thrilled with the way it looked, so he chopped down some of the bamboo growing in the yard, dried it and let it season awhile and made an attractive covering that completely disguises the machine.
“I work on a lot of houses, and I know people buy a lot of their décor materials. I like to make my own, and I know this is a better expression of me. This is a most satisfying sanctuary for me. I like to just come home and chill and look at the pretty things,” Midkiff said. “This is what makes me tick. I love solving problems. It’s tricky to explain to people how much goes into a good design and building it right, and that it probably costs more in the long run to use salvaged materials and create all this custom work. The artistry necessary definitely takes time.”
In his work with clients as a contractor, Midkiff takes his work ethic and respect for the process to the work site every day.
“When I am working with clients, I love incorporating important items into the living space,” he said “I like to have the owners personality well represented. Getting to know people is a huge part of doing good work.”
Will his house ever be finished? The simple answer from Midkiff? “No,” he says, laughing. “It’s a labor of love, a house like this.”
For more info on Midkiff’s work, e-mail midkiffjonathan3@gmail.com.