Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and/or happy holiday(s) to everyone out there. I'd like to thank both people who read this blog, it means a lot to me.

On a serious note, Colleen and I would to thank everyone who has contributed to our addition with a Christmas gift this year. We actually just recently had a conversation with our architect about buying stuff on our own like the tub and bathroom fixtures. Even if we don't end up doing buying much ourselves, we'll still need flooring and paint and lamps and bar ware etc once the construction is done. Hopefully everyone will get to enjoy the new greatroom with us and the guestroom is always open.

Thanks again and Merry Christmas,

-Bruce

The Floor Plan

The floor plan of the original addition made sense for the people who were living in it. For example: they were older and so a full bathtub and large bedroom sized closets on the lower floor made sense to avoid stair climbing. However, as the occupants changed, so have the needs. Colleen and I like to entertain and the current L shaped living room only fits about six people comfortably and even with only six, they can’t all face each other to talk. Also, since Colleen and I carpool, we end up both needing to use the very small bathroom at the exact same time. Finally, Colleen and I would like to, at some point in the future, join this new fad of having offspring. Given that we barely have enough room for ourselves and our stuff, we couldn’t figure out where we’d put a little one.

The first drafts of the floor plan had the addition being built directly over the current carport with the assumption that we would then “re-carport.” Ultimately, zoning restrictions prevented building in that area and so we were forced back into the hill in the backyard. At first, this seemed like a major downer; however, with the help of our architect, we have found a floor plan that is in many ways superior to anything we could have created in the former space.

There will be lots of detail in forthcoming blogs, but for now I’ll just give you a general overview of what we are planning. The addition will extend out the back of the house 16 feet. It will reach from the corner of the carport to the edge of my and Colleen’s half of the house. The bottom floor will be a great room with about 1/3rd of it devoted to an eating area and the remainder a living room area. The second floor will be a new master bedroom, walk-in closet, and big master bathroom (which will have its own blog entry soon) and a laundry closet.

Obviously we’ve addressed all our major goals. We also get a new more formal entry way and a redesigned kitchen which will increase our counter and cabinet space while feeling more open. Pretty much the only down side to putting the addition out the back of the house is that what is currently the guest room will have only one wall open to the outside world, so it will be a little lacking on natural light, but since this will basically be a gaming and computer room, no big deal.

Re-Addition: The History

Colleen and I are planning on adding an addition on to our house. I thought it would be fun to keep everyone up to date on how it goes, as well as journal our progress so we can look back at where we started. Let’s begin with a little bit of background.

19-something or other – A small farmhouse is built with no plumbing aside from the well pump on the porch and no heat but from the wood stove in the main room.

1978 – Colleen's parents, with their nearly one year old daughter, buy a “fix-er-upper” on a nice four acre farm. Over the course of the next year, they completely redesign the interior of the house adding luxuries like lights and flushing toilets (house pictured cerca 1979).

1990 – Colleen's parents decide to build a two story addition of about 900 sq feet. This addition is self sufficient with it’s own bathrooms, kitchens, etc and will be a home for Colleen's grandparents to live out their golden years (pictured in 1993).

1999 – Colleen, newly graduated from Vanderbilt, gets a job near home and moves into the addition.

2004 – Bruce, a little squished in a one bedroom apartment with Mike and Lissie, moves in with Colleen.

2008 – Bruce and Colleen decide that two bedrooms and a 50 square foot bathroom don’t leave much room to grow and begin planning an additional addition: the readdition.

In the more recent past, we hired a restorations company who had an architect that used to work with Colleen’s parents. We went through a number of versions of floorplans before finally deciding on one that met our criteria and didn’t infringe on anyone’s right of ways (that’s a long story, perhaps for a later blog). We then hired the architect to do detailed building plans which his company could build for us, or we could bid out to other contractors. So, currently we are awaiting our first round of those plans. In the meantime, I’ve been furiously detailing out possible kitchen and bathroom set ups, picking out bathtubs and kitchen fixtures and generally obsessing about the whole thing. This blog is the result of that obsessing.

-Bruce