In this split-level home, a railing cut the kitchen off from the lower level family room. The owners wished to remove the railing to create an open concept floorplan where they could move easily between the kitchen and family room. At the same time, Brent was able to reroute the ventilation to bring more heat to the family room.
Brent started the project by removing the railing, as well as the narrow shelving in the wall that served little purpose. He was able to use this space to route ventilation down to the floor where he ran it under the new steps with two heating vents blowing out under the top step.
After routing the ventilation and placing the new vents, Brent and his crew built new stairs into the family room to replace the drop-off the railing had protected. One end of the steps hits up against the hearth, so they were careful to cut boards with contours to match the stonework. They also closed up the wall space where the ventilation duct took the space of the display shelves that had been removed.
The final step was to carpet the steps to match the family room. Again, they were careful to cut the carpet along the contours of the stone hearth. The carpet is fitted perfectly around the stones on both the horizontal and vertical surfaces of the steps.
The final result is a warm, cozy open concept home where the family can move freely between the kitchen and the family room.