Before: this is a "split foyer" home which means the door is midway between the basement slab and the first floor. Part of the job is to change it to a basement-level foyer entry with one staircase between the basement and the first (upper) level.
During: it's a bit of a mess but you can tell already that it looks like a different house!
During: the right side of the original lower level has a new glass door and stoop leading into the new basement level laundry room (which is where the study used to be). The new study is under the new kitchen and has lots of light.
My mission: to turn this split-foyer into a two-story, to add a large covered porch over the garage, and to add a kitchen/dining addition to the front of the existing kitchen -- and to make it all flow with the existing house geometry. A tough assignment.
During: the covered upper porch is accessible from the renovated master bedroom and from the new kitchen/dining area. Beneath the porch is the original garage door along with a new front entry.
Before: the kitchen is open to the living room but there's really nowhere to sit down for dinner, aside from the peninsula and the small table beyond, situated under the picture window. My clients asked for a large sunny dining area on the front of the kitchen with a cathedral ceiling.
Before: the owners wished to keep these existing cabinets, and to continue with new cabinetry in the addition, custom built to match exactly. Also: new granite countertops on new and existing.
During: Steve Harris General Contracting did a great job matching the new custom cabinets to the existing here.
During: the old front kitchen wall was at the end of the flat ceiling beyond. A new flush beam holds up the original roof rafters.
Before: another view of the original kitchen from the living room. A new hallway (where the keyboard is in this pic) will connect the living room to the new dining area in the addition.
During: looking down the new staircase to the new basement-level foyer (with its own coat closet - a real treat for these clients).
During: the new walkway beside the new staircase is where the old split foyer stair (lower run) used to be!
During: the new foyer overlook which connects the original living room to the new kitchen/dining area.
During: off of the new foyer addition there's a new passageway beyond to the existing rec room, the new laundry room, and the new study.
During: this is the back wall of the new study. It used to be the outside wall of the old lower-level study. Look at the before picture of the front of the house. This door and deep shelves are where the old bay window were. The original brick is behind this framing and drywall.
After: the new Foyer.
After: the existing space flows into the new space so nicely now.
After: most of the existing space was untouched. However, the homeowners wisely elected to have all their wood floors refinished since so much was already temporarily stored for the addition's construction. They look like new floors now.
Breakfast in the treetops
After
After: next up, replacing the garage door (I hope).
After: new covered porch is shared by the master bedroom and the new dining area.
