Willowbrook Ranch Family Room

New Hygge Family Room

Here is another New Family Room Next Door project. The existing home is standard ranch style with rooms that are fairly small with flat 8 foot tall ceilings. A newer master bedroom addition with soaring ceilings is the exception- but, that space is private. The folks living here wanted a bit more living space that took advantage of the western wooded view and included some cozy creature comforts: an outdoor spa tub, and a stone fireplace- while incorporating some of those high-ceilings they have in their bedroom and adding light and view.

Glass Pocket Doors connect the existing home to the new room

The room was designed to be open to the existing dining room, and just steps from the kitchen through a pair of glass pocket doors. It functions as a family room off the back (more private) side of the house- as opposed to the living room, which, like the layout in many homes, is facing the street and at the entry.

New Addition and New Deck w/ Hot Tub

Before View of Back of House

The new room has lots of windows and a sliding glass french door to a new, more private deck. The deck was placed so that it connected not only to the new family room, but also to the master bedroom, which already had a sliding glass door. The spa tub was located on this deck (some serious structural piers designed to hold that weight!) and so is just steps from both the master bedroom and the new family room. The hot tub is tucked among some trees for a feeling of really being in nature while soaking.

Sliding Glass French Doors to Hot Tub on Deck

Stone Surrounds Rumford 1000 Fireplace

Thoughtful lighting placement and interior plank wood ceiling accentuate the symmetry of the vaulted room and make the focus of the room be the stone around the (real wood burning!) fireplace and the antique timber mantel shelf. The family finds they use both the tub and the fireplace as part of their regular routine- making these new spaces true improvements to their lives that encourage spending time together.

I think of this design as the hygge project because of the health and wellness aspects of using a hot tub and the contentment of sitting by a fire and how these features- and both the interior and exterior new spaces- truly help contribute to an improved quality of  life for the family living here. Sunday evenings sitting by the fire sure sounds cozy!

From Wikipedia: 
Hygge (/ˈhjuːɡə/ HEW-gə or /ˈhuːɡə/ HOO-gə) is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. As a cultural category with its sets of associated practices hygge has more or less the same meanings in Danish and Norwegian, but the notion is more central in Denmark than Norway.^[1] The emphasis on hygge as a part of Danish culture is a recent phenomenon, dating to the late 20th century.

Progress on Site Work and Foundation at NHND to the Pond

When you build in an established developed area, like a village, there could be municipal services that your new building can hook up to, like water supply and sewage treatment. There are enormous benefits to shared services such as these, and that's why the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards value selecting a building site in an already-developed area so highly. (Site selection can also help one minimize their transportation footprint - which this family is great at, biking to work/school/town)

This rural site doesn't have any municipal services to offer.  So the owners here have to install their own services. Here are more photos of dirt, but essential if you want to have indoor plumbing!

Temporary construction "road" to SDS area of site (follows existing carriage lane)

Raised Leach Field

Well!

House Footings

In addition the the well and septic, the footings for the house were poured. The house is placed on the site such that part of the foundation will be exposed out of the hill sloping down to the pond, so the footing needed to step down as well. In our climate zone, footings need to bear on undisturbed earth minimum 42" below grade. (or be re-bar tied into bedrock) This is to ensure they are on soil that won't freeze and heave, which would rack/move the building un-evenly, like a annual winter earthquake! Footings and leach fields may not be interesting or glamorous, (no pics like these on Houzz!) but they are probably one of the most important parts of making a rural home safe, solid, and comfortable to live in for many generations.



 

Tall Forms used (right side) where footing steps down hill

NHND in the Mountains update

Front now has it's two porches, exterior trim and casing is beginning to be installed

I went to the Catskills to check on the progress of the New House Next Door to the Mountains that is currently under construction and here is an update. (There are previous blog posts on this project that you can look at, too)

View from front porch/ front door looking south

The exterior isn't much changed since winter, but inside all rough HVAC, plumbing and electrical work is complete and spray foam insulation has been installed. Next step will be installing the wall board. Here are some photos. You can really appreciate the spectacular mountain vista from the front windows, which you could not in the previously posted over-cast winter photos.

View looking out South Windows in sitting area off Kitchen

 With the walls appearing to have more of a solid surface because of the trimmed spray-foam cavity insulation, you can see the shape of the interesting interior spaces created by the dormers, knee walls, and angled roof lines. You can also see the number of windows and the light and views they let inside.

Vaulted ceiling in Nantucket Dormer

My favorite space is the fun, open loft space over the living room and at the top of the stairs. With its wide, high, full-of-windows Nantucket dormer, it feels really unique and I like the way it allows the upstairs and downstairs rooms to connect with only a guard rail as separation. That seems to create a family connected-ness that I think makes sense for a house designed for extended family weekend gatherings.

Vaulted Ceiling in Nantucket Dormer- Partial view

Loft that Overlooks Double-Height Living Room (no guard rail yet- Akk!)

 

Second Floor Bedroom w/ Angled Ceilings and Dormers

 

Standing in Living Room looking toward front (south) showing loft above

 

Modern Farmhouse tranformation almost complete

Over the past few months I've been showing you pictures of a substantial renovation and addition project I've been fortunate to work on this year. This is the 6th post showing this project.

See older posts by clicking links here: #1; #2; #3; #4; #5

Well, it's almost all done, and looks great. The exterior is finished, including metal roofs over porches, exterior light fixtures and new evergreen painted doors installed.

The interior has the finished floors, plumbing fixtures, lighting, and cabinetry, and some counter tops installed. Below you can see some of these materials.

The painters are applying final coats of paint and stain. The mechanical installers are finalizing the heating and cooling systems. The carpenters are installing closet clothes rods and will soon be installing door hardware. Decorative tiles are being installed above the cook-top.

From my perspective, it's been a a relatively short time for such an all-encompassing transformation. Sometimes sitting at my desk, drawing ideas seems so far away from the job site where it actually happens, that I forget! And when I get to pop in for a site, I love seeing it all come together- seeing if the spaces look and feel like I thought they would when I dreamed it up all those months ago, and what colors my clients chose. Kudos to all who contributed to this beauty- owners, GC, and subs!

The Gallery - taken standing in Kitchen looking toward Family Room

Kitchen cabinets and counter tops

Natural wood interior at Screened Porch space

Stair that connects Rec Room to Family Room

Tile & Seat in Shower

Vaulted Board Ceiling in Master Bedroom

From Tractor Garage to Office

Working on a discrete, separate out-building often makes for a fun project.

The costs can be lower, because of the smaller size. There are no strict rules to be followed to match the rest of the existing house or any particular style, necessarily. Clients often feel they can take more chances/risks and sometimes choose to do some funky or trendy finishes, that they might not be bold enough to do in their house.

This project is an old tractor storage barn. It is attached to another barn-type space that is near a pool, and has been renovated into a rough bathroom/changing room/pool house.

Tractor Garage  - Before

Pool House - Before

The bones of the building will remain as is: the foundation, the exterior walls and roof, the wood siding. New energy-star windows and doors have been installed to take the place of the existing over-head door. The walls and roof are insulated with spray foam. The dirt floor of the tractor garage now has rigid insulation and radiant heat tubes laid into a new concrete floor. What was a gravel floored, un-heated garage will become a new home office.


The pool house is being renovated with a new layout boasting beautiful new bathroom and laundry room inside and some sprucing up on the outside porch space. All new flooring, bead board walls, and paint- plus removing that indoor/outdoor plastic carpet- will go a long way to cleaning up this part of the building.

The whole structure will benefit from all new electrical wiring and plumbing and heating/air-conditioning. We have moved the pool mechanicals out of the building to ensure the office is a quiet place to work. We have kept the ceiling high in the new office and installed large windows facing toward the pastoral views. We have connected the office to the new bathroom so it can also function as a guest house.

Here are some photos of the work in progress:

Stair Railing and Closet Shelving

The stair handrails and closet shelves/clothes rods are installed. The interior trim is all done - including on the oval window, which isn't shown in this photo. The oval trim is made of a flexible synthetic material that will be painted to look like the rest of the wood casings.

Clothes closets have a simple rod with shelf above. Storage closets have shelves. By design, the New House Next Door has a lot of closets- 3 on the first floor, and 4 on the second floor! Two of the most unique closets are the one under the stairs and the one in the painting studio. (the largest second floor room will be used by my MIL as her painting studio, rather than as a master bedroom- view her fantastic work here on Face Book)

The under the stair closet has a sort of magical "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe" quality to me because the coats will be hung across the width of the space, as usual, but one would part those coats and slip behind them to access the shelves against the back wall. I specified double doors for this closet, so that when open they do not block the hallway - a problem in their current house.

The painting studio closet is a wide closet with double doors. Inside will be a counter with a sink, for cleaning brushes, with storage shelves above. The second largest bedroom has a walk-in closet with a pocket door.

The largest storage area, though, is the attic. There is a pull-down stair from the studio ceiling to access the attic. The roof was framed with what is called an "attic truss", which leaves the center, highest space free of diagonal truss chords, so it is usable space. (click to go to wintertime post about roof trusses)

Smallest Bedroom Clothes Closet

Painting Studio Closet- see plumbing for sink poke through wall

Perfect for Hide and Seek - the Closet under the Stair

Attic Pull-Down Stair - before trim

Tile Day 2 and 3

Tiling shower walls

 The tile sub-contractors returned a couple more times to do more work. First they grouted the floor tiles they had installed previously in the bathrooms and the mud room entry. Then, they installed the wall tiles around the first floor bathtub. Then they set to work on the second floor shower.

First they applied a product called "Hydoban" (the light green color material in the second photo). This is a roll on paint-on waterproofing membrane that was applied to the floor, seat and up the walls a few inches. After it is dry, it effectively stops water from leaking beyond it to the framing below.

The next day, they could come back and tile the shower walls, ceiling, and seat.

Hydroban Membrane in Shower

The Heating System

This is the heating system for The New House Next Door. Isn't it a wonder? So compact and attractive. (Yes, I do think a boiler can be attractive - I really am an "archi-geek"!) It is a Viessmann super-high efficiency condensing boiler with a separate on-demand domestic hot water heater. (That's the little box on the bottom. I must say - It's Amazing that this tiny machine will be responsible for making all the hot water used in the house, at the time it is needed. ie. There is no storage tank!) It is wall hung in a sleek white metal box with touch screen controls and is mounted to a plywood sheathed wall in the mechanical room. It uses propane fuel to heat water that will circulate through the baseboard radiators, heating the rooms of the house.

Here it's opened up so you can see it's "guts"

Getting Ready for Insulation

main electrical panel (on right)

The electrician finished most of the rough in work today, including installing the electrical panel. The electrician also installed the cable/internet/phone wires for the house. All the recessed "cans" are in the kitchen ceiling, and all the electrical boxes are attached to framing in the walls.

The plumbers have installed the  vents through the roof and finished installing any pipes that are located in exterior walls. (This is only the kitchen sink drain - many of us prefer to look out a window while washing dishes- but by design we usually keep plumbing out of exterior walls, so those walls can be full of insulation instead)

With all the "stuff" that needs to go inside the exterior walls installed, The New House Next Door is ready for insulation!

Plumbing vents through the roof

Electrical boxes for ceiling lights and smoke detectors

MEP

MEP stands for Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing.

Electrical wiring for outlets in bedrooms

 Now that the building's frame is complete, the roof is on, and the windows and doors are beginning to successfully isolate the interior space from the great outdoors, the mechanical and electrical contractors can install their materials.

The electrician did a walk-through with the clients to verify all light/outlet/switch locations and styles. Then he cab run many linear feet of wire through holes drilled in the framing. This is called the "rough in" for the electrical.

The plumber will install the pipes for the HRV in the attic space and duct it to the back gable wall. This will actively vent each of the bathrooms out and supply fresh air in at the second floor hall. Mechanical ventilation like this is required when construction is air sealed and well insulated. (ie. There is not enough passive air exchange with the outdoors through leaky walls, roofs and windows, like in my 1890s constructed home.) He also piped into each room with supply lines for baseboard radiators and installed drains for the bathrooms and kitchen.

Drains for bathrooms & supplies for baseboard heat

MEP is vital in a modern home for comfort and to be responsible and economical with natural resources. MEP can sometimes be ugly, especially if not thought through; it pays to plan early in the design process where vents, ducts, and mechanicals will go so they can integrate more seamlessly with the overall design. We want these amazing technological inventions to help make our lives better, but we don't necessarily want to see them.

Plumbing

The plumbers arrived today. They began to install some of the drain and vent pipes for the bathroom, kitchen and laundry room. The New House Next Door has 8 plumbing fixtures: a tub, a shower, two toilets, two lavatories, a kitchen sink and and clean-up sink in the art studio. There are also some appliances that get connected to water, like the dish washer, the clothes washer, and the refrigerator.

Hole were cut in the wood framing where necessary and plastic pipes were fit and glued in place at all water drain locations. Each fixture has a vent up through the roof - if you have a drain that "gurgles" in your home that's because it is not properly vented- and a sloped drain pipe connected to the sewer outlet in the crawlspace.

Bathroom lavatory and toilet drains

Plumbing for the clothes washer

The plumbers will also install the supply lines that bring hot and cold water to each fixture, the hot water baseboard radiators, and most of the equipment in the mechanical room. (direct vent boiler, hot water storage tank, and heat recovery ventilator). It doesn't make for fancy photographs or exciting commentary, but I'm sure you all appreciate how wonderful indoor plumbing and central heating is!