New Plans Completed

The revised plans for the addition have been finalized!  We've got our contractor on board and he is in the process of getting all of the permits with the town.  The long awaited start date is targeted for mid-October!

Here's what has been changed since the originals...

First Floor

1-Widened the doorway going from the family room into the new kitchen.
2-Closed off the hallway between the foyer and the new kitchen, and move the basement door to the kitchen.  This allowed us to add a coat closet, which I really miss having!
3-Moved the fridge down and sinking it in (taking some of the closed off space from change #2).  This will allow the fridge to be less intrusive.

Second Floor
These were the big changes that prompted the whole re-working of the drawings (we decided to add the first floor changes in, while we were at it!)

Here's the original:

-As we started exploring the possibilities of remodeling our current master bath, we found it would be a nightmare dealing with the old plumbing.  We think it will be wiser to do all new plumbing in the new construction.  So, came up with some ideas for how to revise the second floor plans...

Idea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

We like idea #3 the best, so talked it over with the architect (made some tweaks) and he revised the plans...

Updated:

-You can see we added a nice big walk-in closet by stealing some additional space from the laundry room.

We also decided that we didn't need a full basement under the new construction.  It sounded like it could become a nightmare to break through the original stone foundation to allow for the necessary egress.  Plus- we hardly have anything stored in the current basement, and will have even more space down there once the washer & dryer are moved up to the second floor.

I need to get the back porch cleared out in the next two weeks or so... and I need to take some good "Before" photos for the walls that are going to be opened up!

Design Meeting 3

We had our last design meeting! 

Discussion items included:
-Adding a couple of side windows on the first floor
-Having the cabinetry in the butler's pantry wrap around to the back wall
-Access options for the new section of the basement
-Installation of a drainage system (while we have the foundation exposed)
-Access to the new attic space
-Materials: stone vs. brick facing for the new foundation
-Roofing materials: a composite slate for the larger part of the new roof, and metal for the side/porch roofing.

And just when we thought we were DONE... the on-site kitchen designer stepped in.  She suggested perhaps flipping the kitchen layout to "improve the working triangle". 

The architect e-mailed over this quick rendering:

Upon further review, this is eerily similar to the layout of the kitchen in the old house!

Reasons we're not crazy about it in this house...
-Would rather view the booth from the family room, than the side of the stove.
-Seems weird to have the booth seating area right next to the dining room.
-Like the idea of having the stove near the butlers pantry for easy access to the serving patters, etc.  And there it can be staged to go into the dining room for our more formal dining occasions.

So, we landed right back where we started!  Below is the previous rendering.  (In the flip-flop above, you can see that the architect added the windows and cabinetry.)

And now, on to the construction documents!

Pick a Door

Any door...
Upstairs in the house, there is a strange little hallway that runs off the main center hallway.  It's strange because it's only about 5 feet long, yet contains 5 doorways- each with a door (clockwise from left of photo: master bedroom, office, small linen closet, master bathroom, and finally the main hallway- where I took photo from). 

That's a lot for a little hallway to handle! 

So it's a little kludgy to begin with...
and to add to it, the longest stretch of wall is drawn all over with pen, pencil,& SHARPIE MARKER!  
(Yikes! Larger photo below) 

Here's a sneak peak at the plans we have for this area...

New Master Bath Concept 1

(after the kitchen project is complete!)

Existing floor plan

The bathroom will extend into the office (labeled  "sitting room"). 

The hallway would also be extended & widened to become our walk-in closet. 

I'm sure the exact placement of the fixtures, etc. will change as we continue to discuss it over the next year... so don't hold me to any of this!

In the meantime, I wanted to clean the space up (ideally without spending any money!)  So out to the workshop I went to explore my paint options... I have a can of gray, which will go nicely with the purple bathroom.  Plus I'd like to paint the master bedroom gray again (like it was in the old house), so that'll match.

When I told Mike the color choice, he was afraid it would be too dark.  There is a ceiling light in the little  hallway, but since it is such a small space Mike may be right.  


So, we decided to mix some white paint with the gray to lighten it up.

The painting went quickly- since there isn't THAT much wall space, although it did take FOUR coats to cover the marker (I definitely should have used some kind of primer first!)

I'm not painting the mouldings this time- I'm saving that for an out & out moulding painting party that my mom and I will have!

I'm also playing with the idea of doing some kind of design on the wall... there are a couple that I've seen on other blogs that would be pretty.  And what better place to try something like that out (where it won't be too noticeable if it goes horribly wrong!)

So, until I settle on something...
here's what we've got!  --->






Random thoughts:



I'm liking these bed linens
for the gray/purple master suite color scheme.



Note to self:
Never, EVER let the kids mark their height in Sharpie!



 Update: Here's the link to where we updated this space with a painted pattern on the wall!



Update to Design Meeting 2

Getting Closer!

Updated floor plans & elevations of concept 2D came in from the architect. 
(And these should look better on the screen, since they were sent to us as files, and aren't photos taken with my phone!)

First Floor addition





Second Floor addition

Rear Elevation



Side Elevation



Design Meeting 2

The second design meeting really threw us for a loop... 

There were too many good ideas to choose from!  By increasing the footprint just a few feet, there were so many more possibilities!

As expected, the second floor was the easy part, so we tackled that first.  The increase in square footage made a big difference to the size of the office.  It also allowed for some additional linen closets off the hallway (since our current linen closet is up on the third floor hallway). 

Here's where it now stands:

Now came the hard part...
We were presented with four new concepts for the first floor.  Each of them addressed the concerns we had with the first set of plans.   But there are other pluses & minuses to each, all quite minor, considering what we're currently working in! 

Here's a round-up:

Concept 2A

+1/2 bath is tucked away from the kitchen, & easy access from the outside (thinking BBQs, kids playing outside)

+Generous size powder room

-Kitchen "triangle" is too wide

-Walking from the family room, past the fridge seems weird

Concept 2B

+Provides nice view of back entry from family room
+Bathroom is tucked away from kitchen & easily accessible from outside & family room
-Kitchen area feels a little too compact

Concept 2C

+Kitchen area feels more open

+View of booth/eating area from family room
-1/2 bath will be viewable from kitchen, if bathroom door is left ajar (which my boys are bound to do)

Concept 2D

+Kitchen area is very open
+View of booth/eating area from family room
+More counter-space provided
+1/2 bath tucked away from kitchen, yet easy to access from outside & family room
+When entering the back door, you'll see through the kitchen to the Butler's Pantry display cabinet

We honestly could have been happy with ANY of the designs that were presented.  But we have to choose one!

I'm sure you can tell by the number of pluses, along with the pencil markings- we're going with Concept 2D.

This was actually a last minute brainstorm that the architect had the night before our meeting... so there weren't any exterior elevations drawn up yet, and we talked it through a bit more during our meeting.

There are few adjustments being made to Concept 2D before our third design meeting:

-Entryway to be covered porch, not just a stoop.

-Doorway from family room to be moved to the left, allowing for a larger pantry cabinet to be placed next to the fridge.

Now we turned our attention to the exterior.

Even though we didn't have exact drawings to match Concept 2D, we talked thru the other drawings since the window styles could be interchangable.

Didn't like



Liked, but wasn't sure about symetrical placement

of upstairs & downstairs windows



 



Balance of windows is better.
We sketched an entry options on this one.





This is the window design we're going with.  Lots of light!

  









So, another week and we should be finished with the design discussions.  Then the architect will work on the Construction Documents, so we'll be able to put the project out to bid!




Update!  Quick Links to our progress:
Design Meeting 2 Update
Design Meeting 3

Design Meeting 1

I'm falling behind already!
We're getting ready for our second design meeting, and I realized I didn't post the results of the first meeting.

For background, here's the floor plan of the existing first floor:

The sun room will be ripped down, and new construction will begin there.

Here are the design concepts that were presented in the 1st meeting.

Concept 1:                                                                                     

 Concept 2:

We feel Concept 2 is closer to what we're looking for.  My favorite part is the Butler's Pantry design!

There are a couple of items we've asked them to work on: 

 - Perhaps reduce the size of the mud room- it doesn't need to be an actual room, but just an area where the kids can take off their shoes and hang their jackets.

- We don't want the island to be the only eating area in the kitchen.  We like an island for food prep/serving, but prefer to have a breakfast nook, or built-in seating that we can sit together & eat as a family.

- We want the family room to connect thru to the kitchen, creating a circular & more open flow.

We know that's a lot to ask for in this modest space, but they are going to take that feedback & we'll see what they can do.

The upstairs plans are almost perfect!

The office & laundry room (at the bottom of this image) are the new items.

The only thing changing here is flipping the closet door from opening in the office to open in the laundry room). It's  necessary because our house's septic system is only for 4 BR & having a closet in the office makes it a fifth "bedroom". 

Once we expand the master bath into the room on top left of floor plan, we'll lose that "bedroom".  We could then switch the opening of the closet to the office side- IF we decided we needed a closet in there.

We feel really great about the exterior design:

Proposed Back of House



Proposed Profile of House



We did ask them to add a couple of windows to the profile.  But otherwise, we really liked how well it will look with the rest of the house.

So, now we're off to the second design meeting.  I can't wait! 

Update: Quick links to our progress!

Design Meeting 2

Design Meeting 2 continued! 

Design Meeting 3