Kruse Basement

This basement finish was designed around specifications from the homeowners who are repeat clients of ours. They knew exactly what they wanted which was an open main area with natural light, no carpeting, no noticeable posts, a built in desk area, some built in bookshelves, a guest room and a full bathroom.

Mike designed the floor plan to flow around existing utilities, beams and columns. Then he designed the fun stuff: built ins, desk, countertops, column wraps, niche shelves, and many other details.

We added a set of double hung windows in the masonry wall in the desk area to let more natural light to shine in. The old sliding glass door was removed and we installed an entry door with sidelights in its place. The existing stairs were squeaky and of carpet grade, so we tore them out and built a custom Bamboo staircase. We fabricated and installed a Bamboo handrail too. In order to make this full bathroom possible we had to add a lift pump, since the city sewer line was too high.

During the construction process, the homeowners wanted to move the location of the TV. But the new desired location had some utilities that were going to be hidden in a closet. Mike and the home owners had a brainstorm and came up with a few options but in the end, it was an entertainment center cabinet that won. But it would have to be a cabinet that moved or hinged, in order to access the utilities in that corner. Once the clients picked out a TV and sound system, Mike went to down on the design and function of the unit.

It simply pulls out like a refrigerator. All of the built in cabinets, laminate countertops, recessed panel post wraps, corner shelves, book shelves, stairs and niche shelf were built and finished in Mike’s shop in Akron.

Laundry Built-In 

This was a small job, but it has some nice details. The homeowner bought a new washer and dryer set but the pedestal was a discontinued item. She also wanted a nice cabinet with a sink and countertop to replace the fiberglass 4 legged sink base (found in 99% of all homes).

Mike found a sink base and he designed the pedestal to match the sink base and to hold the machines at a comfortable height for the homeowner. Michael Kline and Company installed the sink base; designed, fabricated, stain matched the pedestal, installed the tile splash and installed some fancy trim around the hook ups.