Beautiful houses were built in the the early 1900's and they were built to last. In meeting with people to discuss their homes and the potential for adding on, the conversations often go in the same direction. "We love the character of the house, we love the neighborhood, we love the details and charm, but there is no family room, and while this dining room is huge, there is only a tiny old kitchen." Often the homeowner has come to some sort of a conclusion to add a family room and to renovate the kitchen.
As Architects we often see opportunities that have not revealed themselves to the homeowner yet. We see space and potential in the existing foot print that perhaps just needs to be re purposed.
As Architects we often see opportunities that have not revealed themselves to the homeowner yet. We see space and potential in the existing foot print that perhaps just needs to be re purposed.
Just because you bought a home with a large room that has a chandelier hanging in the center of the space does not mean that it has to be your dining room. We often hear 'we don't want to lower the real estate value' and to that I say, you are not getting rid of the space your are re purposing the space, if the next buyer wants it to be a Dining Room, they can rehang the chandelier.
One of our more creative out of the box clients came to us because they had done just that, they used the existing Dining Room as their Family Room. This space was just off the kitchen, as is typical with most traditional homes. For this family, with three young boys, the 'Dining Room' offered a play space they needed. As the boys grew, the breakfast table in the kitchen was not quite big enough and they felt they would like to have a more formal Dining Room back and add a family room addition onto the house. After looking at the spaces and recognizing the creative side of the client, I suggested that instead of adding a family room that we add a Kitchen to the rear of the house off the Largest Room in the house, the under utilized Living Room. In doing so, we re purpose the existing kitchen as a Dining Room and made the original Dining Room turned Family Room into a formal Living Room. The largest room, that under utilized Living Room, became the Family Room opening up into the new Kitchen. The other benefit to this idea, was that this busy family was able to continue using their existing kitchen until the new one was completed, and then we went to work on creating the Dining Room in the area where the original Kitchen was.
The end results are a home with better circulation, a cozy intimate Living Room, a dramatic Dining Room, a new Butler's Pantry that leads to a new sun drenched Kitchen with views of the back yard, the Family Room, the Sun Room/Home Office and the Front Door. We gained a first floor Powder Room and Laundry Room and one very happy client.
Recap:
Old Kitchen has been re purposed into a new Dining Room
A New Butler's Pantry connects the New Kitchen Addition to that Dining Room.
Original Dining Room Turned Family Room, is now a Formal Living Room.
Old Formal Living Room is now the Family Room.
Addition includes:
New Kitchen, Powder Room and Laundry Room and if that is not enough, the addition structure was designed to receive a second floor Master Suite above, should the owners decide that this is something they would like to add in the future.