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.
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.
So far the closets in the living room are still opening symetrically to each other - that makes me happy! -Molly
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint, but they probably won't end up that way. Right now the biggest issue is figuring out where to put the AC vents and that will probably require rethinking those closets(more on that in an upcoming blog).
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