Ingredients are the backbone of every recipe. The right ingredients determine the success of every culinary concoction and whether or not your guests will consider another round of seconds at your seasonal dinner party. Likewise, having the right ingredients can determine the successful outcome of a home remodel. No one understands the importance of a well-thought-out recipe better than Lori Lange, mastermind behind the successful food and lifestyle blog RecipeGirl.
“I’ve always had an interest in entertaining,” says Lori. “Entertaining has a big influence in creating new recipes and in being able to tell a story.” Constantly thinking about new ingredients and devising original recipes has become second nature for the former elementary school teacher. It is no surprise that her website not only features over 3,000 recipes and entertaining tips, but it is also the place where she documents her travels, and more recently, her home remodel.
The California native was looking for a fresh start when settling her family in Scottsdale Arizona and purchasing their new house. The Tuscan-style home had great bones, but just like Lori takes on inspiration from other recipes and reinvents them into her own, the Langes wanted to customize their dwelling into the perfect entertainer’s house—with an open and easily accessible living area. “We wanted a modern farmhouse feel,” says Lori. “Our first vision was to get rid of the wall in the living room and get a folding glass wall.”
The Vision for the Home Remodel
For Lori, the kitchen and the living area were priority number one in the renovation. The house features an open floor plan which means that whatever was done to the kitchen and living room would affect the entire space. As the folding glass wall would dramatically change the established layout, doing extensive research before settling on any glass door was crucial. The Langes visited a local NanaWall showroom and were sold after testing out the doors and speaking to a knowledgeable sales representative.
“We were intrigued to learn that NanaWall was involved in all aspects of the production of the door,” says Lori’s husband, Brian. “From the original design to the assembly, it is an all-in-one door not piecemealed from different suppliers.” As a single-source company, NanaWall Systems designs and manufactures every single aspect of their moveable glass walls—from the original design and engineering to the production and delivery of the wall.
“I’m a big fan of German engineering,” admits Brian. “When I learned that NanaWalls were German engineered, I knew that I was buying a high-quality product.” A fanaticism that can also be reflected onto the German cars parked in their front driveway. For Brian and Lori, the involvement of German engineering ensures them that the product is going to last and that their home remodel will be worthwhile.
Customizing the Folding Glass Wall
Just like putting together the right ingredients for a recipe, the Langes carefully customized their glass wall with the necessary features to fit their lifestyle. With the knowledgeable guidance provided by the local representative, the Langes decided on a six panel NanaWall SL60. An outward stacking configuration of the panels worked best with their indoor and outdoor furniture layout and the pivoting door inserted on the right side of the system adjacent to the kitchen will allow easy ingress and egress from the kitchen to the backyard when the 18 foot folding glass wall is not fully open.
“We opted for a floor supported folding glass system,” explains Brain. “I knew that going for a floor supported system would ensure it would last longer.” Remodeling with floor supported systems is often the recommended choice for a home remodel where load-bearing capability of the header is concerned. These doors offer easier height adjustability in the occurrence of building movement assuring their durability and investment.
Arizona’s extreme weather was also highly considered in the design process. “We get monsoons in Arizona that can flood our entire backyard and overflow the pool,” says Brian. “We knew that paying attention to the lip was crucial, so we raised the floor by two inches and selected the high weather performance sill to ensure there would be no water penetration into the home.” This weather-resistant sill is also thermally broken for better insulation and energy efficiency. Low E insulated tempered glass was also a key addition to their SL60 to prevent the notorious Arizona heat from penetrating the home. “I could have saved money by going for a cheaper type of door, but I would have constantly worried about energy loss,” admits Brian. “Having a high-quality product like NanaWall gave me peace of mind.”
The Success of a Home Remodel
“The NanaWall system immediately extends the living room into the outdoors,” says Brian. “We have the indoor/outdoor experience which we love,” adds Lori. The success of their home remodel has left the couple of empty nesters with a home they can truly call theirs—customized to their lifestyle and bright and airy as they had originally imagined it.
Aside from a new living room area, the Langes also renovated their master bathroom, took down the Tuscan arches throughout the home to enjoy taller ceilings, and gutted the old kitchen to rebuild it from scratch. In the open concept living area, the now bright and airy living room complements the new kitchen where Lori spends most of her time, both working and entertaining guests.
“The NanaWall system has completely changed our ability to entertain,” boasts Lori. “We recently hosted Brian’s birthday party where we were able to open up those doors and increase the available space.” Having a flexible opening glass wall facilitates the flow between the backyard into the kitchen, where guests will most likely find Lori crafting one of her culinary creations.
Besides the folding glass wall, however, there is one other feature that Brian and Lori love about their new living room—the pivoting TV mounted to the wall. “We pivot the TV towards the outdoor sitting area, open up the NanaWalls and lower the exterior shades,” says Brian. “We suddenly have an outdoor living room attached to the house where we can sit and watch TV.”
For Lori, who spends most of her time in the kitchen cooking up new recipes and photographing them, the folding glass wall has benefited her in a different way. “I have plenty of natural light for my photography,” says Lori.
“The glass NanaWall opens up to the backyard bringing in a lot of natural light and allowing us to utilize an indoor/outdoor space for entertaining with friends and family.”
Final Thoughts
For Arizona’s RecipeGirl, ingredients are part of her everyday life and she can now enjoy creating new recipes and entertaining her guests in a new flexible living area. Lori Lange has successfully put together the right ingredients and achieved perhaps one of the most important recipes in her arsenal—a home remodel.
Find out how you too can improve your space with a folding glass wall!