Moise family’s big project is finally finished, and it’s so fine!

Editor’s note: The AJC has spent months reporting on the ups and downs of a major renovation at the Druid Hills home of Phil and Caroline Moise. This is the third and final installment of our report.

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The holidays are happening in a different setting at Phil and Caroline Moise’s home this year. There’s more room for cooking with the family in a new kitchen.

A bathroom addition upstairs means there’s another shower when folks visit, and the master bathroom has undergone a stylish update, too.

Those and other changes were completed in a five-month renovation of their 1919 Druid Hills home. Decatur-based HammerSmith finished the work in early November, just in time for the couple to host Thanksgiving dinner.

Kitchen changes

The largest addition to the kitchen is the area the Moises call their pantry —- a wall of cabinets that hold everything from china and place mats to small appliances to boxed, canned and other goods like jars of Phil’s favorite Bonne Maman jelly. The cabinet closest to the back door keeps brooms and other cleaning supplies close at hand, but out of the way, too.

“This is just want we wanted,” Phil said.

Across from that is a desk area where their cookbooks are stored, and which also has a laptop and printer, allowing Caroline to easily print out a recipe she saw a few minutes earlier on the Food Network.

The area, and the kitchen island and butler’s pantry, has doubled the storage the Moises previously had. The ceiling also was raised at least a foot, as part of changes to the second floor. But the placement of the kitchen island, which has a brown stain and honed granite countertops, was a source of concern for the couple, up until the point it was nailed to the floor.

“We went through the whole gamut of emotions,” Caroline said. “You have a lot invested in this —- energy, time, money —- so you want it to be like what you wanted.”

They were worried that there wasn’t enough space around the island. HammerSmith’s Eric Rothman explained to them that the area between the island and stove didn’t need to be a huge passageway, but just needed space for someone to move around when cooking. After debating whether to move it a quarter-inch, they kept the location as planned and have found that it works.

“It’s just so open,” Caroline said. “The flow is really great.”

The island gives them additional space for preparing meals, as well as dining since there’s no sink in the middle.

The enlarged kitchen also has two more ovens than it previously had and fulfills a desire of Caroline’s, who baked cookies for the crew throughout the construction process from a makeshift kitchen in their dining room, to have four ovens.

“I’ve used them all,” Caroline said. “It cuts the cooking time in half.”

Better bathrooms

The centerpiece of the master bathroom is the tile shower, with a large bench and niches for shampoo, soaps and other toiletries. It’s about double the size of their previous shower, and there’s room because there’s no bathtub.

“Since we decided not to use a tub, we decided we should really make it a nice shower,” Caroline said.

HammerSmith owner Warner McConaughey said people shouldn’t be afraid to give up a bathtub.

“People want to make their bathrooms too big,” he said. “Use smaller spaces but higher-quality [materials and fixtures].”

Just as in the kitchen, the recessed lighting and pendants over the marble vanities and black cabinets give a clean, contemporary look to the old house, she said. Glass cabinet knobs in the bathroom and kitchen are similar to those on the home’s original doors.

The water closet has room for a low-flow toilet and more storage, with cabinets from almost the floor to the ceiling taking up what would have been wasted space, another trend McConaughey is seeing.

Across the hall, the new bathroom also has a shower with a niche, the same low-flow toilet as in the master, a Kohler pedestal sink, and a medicine cabinet and sconces from Restoration Hardware.

Living through the construction gave the Moises the opportunity to walk through the changes to that bathroom and the other areas. They feel like that paid off, with them making adjustments as soon as possible.

“We tried to be on top of it,” Caroline said. “We didn’t want to slow them down.”

Renovation tips

Having survived their renovation, Phil and Caroline Moise share some tips people should be aware of during a home remodeling process.

> Expect to get “construction fatigue.” The Moises had it toward the end of the project. “It was just a long haul and a lot of work,” Phil said. Caroline remembers one day when the plumber, electrician, cabinet installers and others all convened on the house. “I was like, ‘They’re everywhere,’ ” she said. “At the end, you’re like, ‘Where is my space?’ You’re just ready for everybody to go.’ “

> Don’t be surprised if every room is affected in some way. Work may not even be happening in the room, but it might be used to store items. The Moises say only one room, a guest room, wasn’t impacted during their renovation.

> Build room into your budget for extra costs. They went 10 percent 15 percent over budget, but were anticipating doing so. Also, you’ll want to freshen up adjacent rooms at the same time. The Moises added new shades, a new sofa and pillows in their den and painted the hallway, living room, dining room, stairs and another bedroom.

At a glance

Project details: Expanded kitchen with a butler’s pantry on the first floor; expanded master bathroom and new guest bathroom on the second floor. A total of 200 square feet was added to the home.

Colors: Kitchen walls, Sandy Hook Gray (Benjamin Moore); kitchen cabinets, China White (Benjamin Moore); master bathroom walls, Briarwood (Benjamin Moore)

Project complete: Early November