Blue House Next to the School - Raising the Roof!

The roof over the existing family room has been ripped off so we could add new spaces above in what was only a low, unfinished attic space. Here's some photos showing the progress. (and you can look at the previous posts on this project here: building-up-at-blue-house-next-to-school

Front view - FR roof ripped off

Back view - FR roof ripped off

You can see that the new roof is an un-symetrical pitch. This little trick gives us more head-room under the roof,  while keeping the outside look of the house's massing and roof shape fairly traditional from the front. With the new 7' tall back wall, the master bathroom and dressing area can each have a sunny window and a view out among the treetops.

New Steeper Roof creates living space

Interior of new Master Bedroom

Interior of new Dressing and Master Bathroom

Attic space before raised roof

Family Room - picture window (right) will become glass doors to New Screened Porch

Sometimes good ideas happen in the field, and that happened here. My plans built straight up, meaning the exterior walls for the new master dressing and bathroom were directly above the walls of the existing family room below. After the roof was ripped off, the contractor called to pitch an idea - he could add a little more space to that new dressing room, if we could extend the new floor over outside air for a 4' space between the two additions. I did the math, and we all decided it was a worthwhile change. Now the existing mudroom door has a covered entry. (just to the right of the ladder in pic below).

Dressing Room area connected to Bedroom Addition

New Project: Family House on the Lake

Here is a new project to follow on the blog! This is an old family homestead; it's been in the same family since 1923! My clients are three siblings who own the home currently, but they've included their extended multi-generational family in the decision-making process. Despite living out of the area, most still come back to their ancestral family home on the lake at least once a year to relax, sail, paddle, swim, cook-out, and enjoy visiting with family and show their kids where great-grandma and great-grandpa used to live.

The history is charming. My clients remember going to the home in their youth, when their grandparents lived there full-time without indoor plumbing or any insulation and only a wood stove for heat. ("hardy folk" says Jim of his grandparents - I'll say!) Now Jim (the toddler in the photo above) and his sisters enjoy using the home for long weekends, summer vacations, and family reunions and celebrations with their spouses, grown children, and grandchildren.

Before- Street Side

Existing Kitchen 

Before- Lake Side

The building and site are also charming, with porches to relax on, open rafters above a tidy kitchen, and towel hooks for hanging your suit after a swim in the lake- but the structure is at the point it could certainly use some updating and repairs/maintenance. So - here we go: The Family House on the Lake...

The site is small, just over half an acre, and the lake closer to the building and the septic system than is allowed by current regulations. Parking area is minimal, and with so many family members arriving from various places, there can be a lot of cars. The porches are in disrepair and the sleeping spaces lack privacy. The rooms are small, making the yard the only place all of the assembled family can meet.

To solve some of these issues this is what the new design proposes:

• Tear down detached garage, which is in a state of disrepair, to allow for more parking area and new (further from the lake) traffic-bearing septic system
• Replace the dilapidated, narrow screened porch with a larger one focused on the lake view and connected to the kitchen and a back deck
• Raise the roof so the second floor sleeping spaces have more space and can have windows facing the lake to let in cooling breezes at night
• Add a private first floor bedroom
• Renovate the single large bathroom into and bathroom and a powder room to better accommodate large groups.
• Upgrade the electrical, add insulation, repair failing plaster walls & ceilings, repair the front porch roof, plus deal with some other deferred maintenance issues and general upgrades like new lighting/appliances and wallpaper/interior paint

Stay tuned for future posts as the construction and demolition get underway this fall!

Building up at the Blue House Next to the School

West (Back) of Family Room (left)

Like many homes the Old Blue House Next to the School has been added to over time. The origonal structure is heavy timbers and stone foundations from the mid 1800s, but the newest section was built in the 70s or 80s. It is a one story space that acts as a family room and has a bathroom and some storage. (all things an older home tends to be lacking, and therefore logical for someone to add on at some point.) It is over a small crawlspace and the space within it's roof was accessible from the second floor of the home as low-height, unfinished attic storage.

Former Attic Storage Space -Roof to be Raised
 and Windows added for new Master Bathroom and Walk-in-Closet

With our kitchen addition on the first floor (see previous post) with the enlarged master bedroom above it, we decided to convert that low-ceiling attic space into the new master bathroom and dressing/closet area. To do this, the contractors removed the ceiling and roof off the family room and are constructing a strong floor in place of the ceiling. Next they will raise the roof height and change the roof pitch for more headroom and larger windows, adding space, light and views in what was the low, dark, attic space.

From the street, the house really won't look much different. (no pictures here, all this is the back) That roof ridge-line will be slightly higher - that's it. From the back yard, which is private and faces west toward the mountains and the sunset, we are adding a (almost) full-height wall above the FR back wall with a window in the shower and a window in the dressing area. In addition, the FR picture window will be replaced with glass doors and a new screened porch will be built there to provide insect-free outdoor living/dining space. Above is some of the drawings showing the west elevation before (small, lower left) and after (center, larger image)

Stay tuned for next steps and progress photos and cross your fingers for no rain when that roof is torn off!

Blue House Next Door to the School - Massing of New Additions

In architecture school one of our first projects was creating an abstract design of "solid and void" cubes and we built the models by gluing together sugar cubes. Imagine a toy Rubik's Cube, but with some of the 27 cubes that make it up (if it were solid cubes all the way through) being pushed in or out in some spaces, so the whole was not a smooth-sided 9 x 9 cube, but was instead deconstructed, added to, or changed in some way. 

The point of this project (I think!) was to learn about what architects call "massing". Massing is the three dimensional shape of things. When I first start to think about how to add to an existing house, the massing of walls and roof shapes and how/where it makes sense to add new enclosed space from the exterior is the first item on my agenda. 

A big part of figuring out what will work is by planning the roof. Here in the northeast (with traditionally-styled residential architecture, anyway) we usually have pitched roofs to allow for drainage, and we often have gutters along the eaves to collect rainwater or snow melt and carry it away from the building. That is the probably the most pragmatic aspect of what I think about when laying out a new addition. 

For the Blue House Next to the School, the kitchen addition has a small footprint and extends an existing reverse gable roof line just six more feet into the back yard. (or "garden" as my clients, who lived in England for years, charmingly refer to it.) 

Click here  to see the before photos in the previous blog post about the addition design for this house.





The other way the massing is going to change on this home is that the roof on the single-story Family Room area (left side in pic above) will be raised and reconfigured with an un-even pitch so that additional spaces (Master Bathroom and Dressing/Closet) can be located up there in what is currently a short, unfinished attic storage space. Adding on by "going up" can be economical since you don't need to put in a foundation. More on that next time...

Blue House Next to the School Gets Added to

A new construction project to blog about! This is an older village home that I designed a small (tiny really) two story addition off the back to increase the size of the kitchen and enlarge a bedroom. That new larger bedroom will be the master bedroom and we are adding a new master bathroom and dressing room above the existing single floor family room section of the house. I've decided to call this one "Blue House Next to the School". It is located within village limits, but the large lot size and sprawling footprint help it feel like it's out in the town.

Here are some before pictures from the back yard:

Back of the Existing BHND to the School

Back Side - Existing

 So when you look at the back of the home, a newer single-story family room was added to the left side (with the triple/picture window). This is the roof that will be removed and a second floor added above that room to house the new master bathroom and dressing room.

The gable you see to the right of that section is the small kitchen with an unfinished bedroom above. That 13' wide section will be extended 6' toward the back so each of those rooms can grow larger. (that's our tiny addition)

Compare the "existing" and "proposed" floor plans below to see what a better/larger kitchen they will have with the addition of just six feet!

New Kitchen Floorplan w/ 6' addition

Existing too-small Kitchen Floorplan

 The new longer kitchen can have an island, a 'U' shaped counter centered on the new window, and will be opened up to the Office room with a breakfast bar seating area. The additional 200 SF allows much more space for cabinetry and upscale appliances, while maintaining the 3 different passageways leading to other areas of the home.

You can see the actual fixture and appliance locations stay just about the same. The new farmhouse sink will still be facing the backyard window- just 6' back more. With more space, cooking appliances multiplied to include both wall ovens and a six burner range. The large sized refrigerator stays along the shared Dining Room wall and gets cabinetry and pantry aside it.

Reusing Note: The appliances, sink, and cabinets have been sourced from high end kitchen renovations, which requires some flexibility - the layout shown here may not actually match the final product! Stay tuned!