Steve Wirtz Builders completed a living area remodel of a vaulted, domed great room: new kitchen, fireplace, and flooring throughout in the Fond du Lac/Oshkosh area.
Some rooms are defined by their shape before anything else. This great room’s angled walls and vaulted, multi-pitched ceiling have always given it a distinct, almost round footprint — and this living area remodel worked with that architecture instead of against it, refinishing the kitchen, fireplace, flooring, and entry from the ground up.
Thank You to Our Amazing Vendors
PLUMBING: Ahern Gross Plumbing
ELECTRICAL: Kollmann Electric
HVAC: AirTech Heating
DRYWALL: Solid Rock Drywall
CABINETRY/COUNTERTOPS: Wisconsin Building Supply
FLOORING / TILE: Custom Flooring Concepts / Howard Johnson Flooring
PAINTING: Gene Zenner
FIREPLACE: Badger Masonry & Fireplace Supply
The Project
The room’s original bones – the vaulted ceiling, angled wall openings, and bold timber beams meeting overhead – stay exactly where they were, but everything inside the space has been rebuilt around them. The oak cabinetry and black appliances that once anchored the kitchen gave way to a white, brass-hardware kitchen built around a large island with a waterfall wood panel base and black leather counter stools.
The stone fireplace column, once mounted with a rustic deer head, was replaced with a three-sided glass fireplace that opens the sightline between the kitchen and living area. Flooring throughout was swapped from tile and carpet to a wood-look plank that runs from the entry through the kitchen and living space, tying the whole footprint together.
Even the entry itself was rebuilt, with a herringbone tile floor and a black-framed door replacing the beveled-glass entry door from before.
The Features
The vaulted ceiling still carries the angled beam lines that give the room its shape, but the finish shifted from a full wood tongue-and-groove ceiling to painted white drywall with exposed wood beam accents, which brightens the whole space without losing the architectural detail overhead.
In the kitchen, glass-front upper cabinets, a paneled built-in refrigerator, and a hidden pocket door leading to a walk-in pantry keep the storage out of sight until it’s needed. The pantry itself runs the depth of the room with open shelving and under-cabinet lighting. Black lantern-style pendants hang over the island, and matte black window frames throughout the living area replace the original wood trim. In the entry, a herringbone-pattern tile floor sits on a slightly raised platform, and a black door with a full sidelight window brings in far more natural light than the original solid entry door.
A living area remodel like this one is about updating a home’s finishes without erasing what makes the space distinct in the first place. Steve Wirtz Builders takes on kitchen, living room, and whole-space remodels throughout the Fond du Lac and Oshkosh area, working with a home’s existing architecture rather than starting over from scratch. If you’re picturing a refresh for your kitchen, living room, or entryway, let’s chat about what’s possible in your space.
