House Updates 2 -- Franklin Street, Boise, Idaho
When is a flower shop not a flower shop? When it's an ice house. Back in 2014, I had fancy floral plans for this commercial/residential space on Franklin Street in Boise, Idaho.
More pendant lights and plenty of posies against those brick walls seemed the perfect direction to take:
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Luckily for us, sometime around 2017 someone had a completely different plan:
When Jacquie Dadam researched the 1925 building, she learned it had possibly served as an ice house, and its double-layer brick walls would have been pretty insulative.
Instead of focusing on the retail possibilities of the space (between 2014 and 2017 it had served as a kitchen and bath showroom), Jacquie envisioned a loft-like living experience.
Instead of the orchids I predicted...
Those gorgeous floors? They were reclaimed from a local hops-drying barn. The beams are new, but the windows and the arched brickwork around them are original.
I didn't propose this stunning kitchen, but at least I got the ladder right, in this image I proposed for an upstairs space:
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This is what that blank upstairs space looked like in 2014:
Here's what it looks like today, serving as the second bedroom in this 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 3,300 square feet space.
To get upstairs is to appreciate another one of this house's unique features:
The birch spiral staircase was cut from a CNC machine and serves almost as artwork in the space.
(Speaking of things serving as artwork, check out the funky bird lamp perched behind the couch.)
My last plan for this building was for this room, as it was in 2014:
I suggested this design for it-- remember, I wanted it to be a flower shop:
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This is the inviting bedroom it is now (we have the cactus artwork for our floral print, instead) :
I have to include these photos of one of the remodeled bathrooms, sure to give anyone a case of bathroom envy:
Our tour ends in this charming courtyard space. I guess my floral predictions weren't entirely out of bounds.
The house isn't on the market currently and the Ice House website seems to be defunct, but additional photos are on the old listing here. A cool but somewhat vertigo inducing video of the Ice House is here.
