Addition Remodeling

As two busy professionals with very little time to get away, these owners wanted the feeling of being outdoors in their own urban retreat all year round. So, sometime in the early 1980’s they did what a lot of fast food restraints did, they added a prefabricated aluminum and glass “solarium” to their house.

It was pretty nice for the first two decades, except in the summer it got horribly hot. They countered this and added blinds to the ceiling panels. That helped, but it made the room a lot darker. The screen door had to be taken off because for some reason it stopped fitting in the opening and once it was closed, it could not be opened again. But the last straw was when it started to leak and the service technician from the company they purchased it from started to laugh when he came out to see what the problem was, saying “they all do this eventually, and we can’t fix it”.

Before	Before	Before	Before
After	After	After	After

We remodeled for these people before and were called back to give our take on what we could do to help. They still wanted that feel of an urban retreat, of being outside, in someplace else other than their house. They had given up on the glass ceiling idea and were open to other suggestions but wanted a light and open feel and something to be proud of.

The existing foundation was perfect; it was everything on top of it that was wrong. Despite being made of mostly glass it still felt confined, inside and out it did not relate well to the house at all. We suggested that they tear it down and start over from the foundation up.

The first order was to create a greater sense of volume to the space. This was accomplished by changing from a shed style roof to a gable ended roof with a large trapezoidal window in the gable. Next, the patio doors that separated the sun room from the adjoining dining room were removed and the opening enlarged. Two custom built Maple cabinets with recessed lighting above them were designed to create architectural definition between the two rooms and as functional display and organization. All of the stone that made up the shared wall between the two rooms was removed as well as an erroneous soffit above the interior patio doors.

After	After	After	After
After	After	After

A required structural element, (a collar tie), was treated as a design feature, left exposed, but wrapped in wood with a concealed lighting fixture that casts a soft glow across the vault of the ceiling. Two operable skylights were included that bring in natural light from above, tall casement windows and a full view exterior door contribute to the view and the “outdoors while in doors” feeling. Dimmable recessed lighting and the audio speakers are built into the ceiling planes, while lamp lighting provides the task lighting where necessary. Tongue and grooved Pine boards painted in a pale sage green surrounding the room lend to the calming casual feel of the space. Large limestone patterned porcelain tiles are laid diagonally in the space contributing to the bigger than it is feeling of the room and reflects the natural light quite nicely.

The outside is now an appropriate reflection of the remaining house. Clad in fiber cement siding with aluminum trim and matching shingles, it provides for a feeling of a room addition that is supposed to be there

View More Projects
Additions Overview - Additions Project 1 - Additions Project 2 - Additions Project 3 - Additions Project 4 - Additions Project 5 - Additions Project 6 - Additions Project 7 - Additions Project 8 - Additions Project 9