A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Beyond the Curb: It’s a bungalow makeover in Ludlow — from ‘crayon box’ to midcentury


By Jill Morenz
The Catalytic Fund

Bungalows like the one featured in this week’s episode of Beyond the Curb: River City Living are common in Northern Kentucky. When a young homeowner with design and renovation experience got her hands on this one in Ludlow, she gave it a “mid mod” makeover.

The Midcentury Modern style (often called “mid mod”) has become very popular, helped along by TV shows like Mad Men. Homeowner Stacey Childs took the clean lines, uncluttered look and blend of organic with geometric from that style and used them to reimagine her urban bungalow.

“When I bought the house, it looked like a box of crayons exploded in here,” Childs said, referring to the many paint colors used in the house. In addition to neutralizing the wall and ceiling colors, she opened the dining room to the kitchen and chipped off a lot of old plaster. This created a spacious kitchen with room for a table, long island and open shelving. There was even space for a new powder room with an exposed brick wall.

Upstairs, she borrowed a few feet from a bedroom closet to enlarge the bathroom, fitting in a custom wood vanity, clawfoot bathtub and shower.

As is typical for older houses, the master bedroom had insufficient closet space. Childs designed twin closets that made use of the angled ceiling areas on either side of the bed and concealed the contents behind sliding barn doors.

Now that the inside of the house is finished, Childs is turning her attention to some exterior improvements. Her garage, which is built into the hill in front of her house, needs to be reconstructed, as do the steps that lead to the front door. Childs also plans to upgrade the house’s exterior, adding dentil molding and cedar shingles.

The restful colors, midcentury furniture and cleverly reimagined space in this home can serve as inspiration for anyone else who wants to update a similar bungalow.

New episodes of Beyond the Curb: River City Living are released each Friday. The entire series is here.

The Catalytic Fundis a private sector, not-for-profit organization that provides financing assistance and related services for developers of quality residential and commercial real estate projects in Northern Kentucky’s urban cities of Ludlow, Covington, Newport, Bellevue and Dayton. Its mission is to accelerate Northern Kentucky’s urban renaissance through targeted investments in catalytic real estate development projects in urban neighborhoods.

Before and after living room.


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