A Front Porch with Acid-Stained Concrete Floor

I love to sit on my front porch at the end of the day or on the weekend with a book and a cup of coffee.  Almost always my neighbors stop to chat.  Sometimes it’s just for a minute and sometimes it morphs into dinner or drinks on the porch.  And then other neighbors stop by… and I catch up on what’s going on without leaving the shade and comfy chairs of my front porch.

Adding a front porch or other outdoor garden room is one of the most dramatic and cost-effective changes you can make to your home.  Here are 2 porches I’ve done in the past few years where my clients report benefits much like I’ve observed with my own porch. 

Cigars on the Concrete Front Porch

The Porch is Close to the Ground without Intervening Railings Which Further Connects to the Neighborhood

The husband, Dan, was initially reluctant to add a porch.  Now he wonders “why didn’t we build it sooner?  We never used our front yard. It was just a way to get into the house. Our porch has given us a place we sit, meet neighbors, and enjoy our street”.  Their Porch has two sitting area – one very open to the neighborhood (above) and one more secluded and private (below).  When they want to interact with the neighbors they sit on the side that’s more open to the street.  The acid-stained concrete porch is very close to the ground so there are no railings to separate them from the yard and the street. 

Shrubbery and a Higher Elevation Separates This Side From the Street

The other side, above, is more sheltered by landscaping and — while railing is still not needed — the porch is higher off the ground providing more separation from the street.  Arlene laughs about sending Dan and his friends to the porch to smoke cigars after dinner.  The ceiling fans on both sides keep both the cigar smoke and the mosquitoes away.  The central wood bench hides the gas and electric services and Arlene reports that she often sits on the bench to go through the mail while their cat lounges on the sun-heated stone insert.

A Side Porch That Acts As a Front Porch

A More Traditional House Needs a More Traditional Porch

A Ground-Level Porch Grounds the House to the Neighborhood

The remodel of the home, above, won an award from the local historic preservation group for reconnecting the home to the neighborhood.  The house is situated on a corner and the front entry was steep (see before picture, below).  We added the porch to the right side of the house.  Now friends and family always enter from the more level alternate street side.  Again, note that the porch is low to the ground – without railings – which welcomes the neighbors to say hello and stop and visit.  The porch also helps balance the addition built on the left side of the house.  Many neighbors commented on how much better balanced the house now feels. 

Before - Without Porch & Before Remodel

So what’s the value of a front porch?

New Rooms To Live In: An expansive, shady front porch offers a delightful retreat. Add ceiling fans, comfortable chairs and tables and you’ve just added alot more square footage to your home! Not to mention, a special place to unwind and watch the rest of the world whirl by.

Neighborhood Integration:  You’ll meet and talk with neighbors you’ve only nodded to before.  Your kid’s friends will prefer your place to others for playing on the porch.  Nothing beats a covered front porch for entertaining! It’s a wonderful place to socialize, catch up on the latest news or just relax and enjoy the company.

Curb Appeal: The front entry sets the stage for your home.  First impressions make a huge difference in how your family, friends and neighbors view your home.  A dramatic transformation happens when a “flat-faced” home receives a new, covered front porch.

Added Value: Enhanced curb appeal can translate into a higher selling price and faster sale for your home down the road.

Protection from the Elements: A front entry with no covering exposes your guests and home to damaging sun and rain. A porch or portico provides great protection for your front door, hardware, trim, lighting—and even, foyer. And your guests will truly appreciate it on rainy or hot, sunny day. It can even help lower your summer energy bills.

So now back to my porch (below).  It is in desperate need of repair – like the cobbler’s children going barefoot.  But the general disrepair doesn’t in any way detract from my use of the porch as an extension of my living room and an extension of my studio.  One side is for enjoying informal interactions with my neighbors.  I think of the other side as part of my studio with a work table where I do dirty work I don’t want in inside.  Both sides are wonderful places to watch the world go by. 

My Front Porch

 And here’s one of my favorite Porches:

One of My Favorite Porches

To read more about these front porches:
http://www.braitmandesign.com/design-solutions/curbappeal-2week-makeover/
http://www.braitmandesign.com/home-remodeling/a-sense-of-place/
http://www.braitmandesign.com/home-remodeling/remodeling-within-the-existing-footprint-case-study/

The New Hall Bath

My client’s home in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington DC is a 1970’s “modern” home with a vaulted living room ceiling and great views.  But it basically hasn’t been updated since it was built.  The bathrooms were 1970’s generic with cultured marble countertop and shower surrounds that were typical of the period.  This bath measuring 5 ft by 8 ft is slightly larger than the generic 5’ x 7’ boxes found in earlier homes allowing for a slightly larger vanity.  But the vanity was largely useless for storage.

The wife uses it as her main bathroom – leaving the Master Bath – for the husband.  But she was frustrated at the lack on storage and the aging fixtures. 

What Makes The Remodeled Bath Work Better:  I’ve listed, below, the features we added to make the same space work much, much better.

Bath tub to Shower:  Few adults take baths on a regular basis.  For daily use, a 30 x 60 shower – replacing the standard tub – is a much more useful option when space is limited.  Multiple shelves plus a soap dish keep the shower organized and shampoo and body wash at hand. 

Extended Countertop:  We extended the new Crema Marfil Marble countertop over the toilet.  This is often called a banjo countertop because of its shape.  It makes the bath both feel and function larger. 

Custom Vanity for Extra Storage:  For a few hundred dollars more, we custom specified the vanity for lots of additional storage.  The central door leaves space to access the plumbing and for cleaning supplies.  The side drawers are shallow and great for make-up items.  The bottom drawers are more than large enough to store extra towels.

35 Cubic Feet of Additional Storage – Recessed into the Adjacent Room:  The adjacent room wasn’t used much especially in the front corner adjacent to the bath.  So we stole some space from that room and recessed a 24” Deep, 30” wide Full height cabinet into the adjacent room.  Drawers on bottom act as dresser space and shelving above is more than adequate for additional clothes or for linens or other storage.  We placed a GFI outlet in the cabinet perfect for keeping the hairdryer and electric toothbrush recharger close at hand but out of sight. 

Lot’s of Energy-Efficient Light:  The sconces installed on a wall of mirrors feature warm-white fluorescent bulbs with instant-on and non-buzzing electronic ballasts.  At 18 watts each, they are the equivalent of 75 watt incandescent bulbs.  The light bounces off the mirror magnifying the brightness.  A medicine cabinet is recessed into the wall with its mirrored door flush with the surrounding wall mirrors.  A small stainless steel disk over the magnetic push latch provides unobtrusive instruction about how to open the door. 

A 2nd Medicine Cabinet:  We mounted a 2nd medicine cabinet on the adjacent wall.  By adjusting both doors, you can view your back to check your hair or clothing.  It, of course, also provides conveniently located storage for makeup and toiletries.

Luxury of Some Spa Features at a Small Price and with Water Efficiency in Mind:  We located a rain shower head on the ceiling.  It’s designed to provide a drenching light rain at reduced water flow.  A multi-function hand-held on a bar is mounted where you might normally find the main shower head.  It can be lowered  and set to massage your back while also using the overhead fixtures.  Both fixtures can be operated at the same time or separately and both temperature and flow can be set independently. 

Heater:  Rather than go to the expense of in-floor heat, we opted for an exhaust fan/heater/light combination.

Few Grout Lines:  We used 12” x 24” oversized tile for a clean look and fewer grout lines.  This client wanted a monochromatic, serene feel.  I might have used a darker grout in other circumstances to highlight the vertical feel of the tiles and to add a little definition.

Tactile Enjoyment:  We replace the hollow-core doors and brass doorknobs with a single recessed panel solid wood door that reflects the cabinetry and has a nice feel of solidity with greater sound-proofing.  We used stainless steel lever handles by Omnia.

We borrrowed 35 Cubic Feet of Storage From an Adjacent Room

Spa-Like Features Without the Expense

A Wall of Mirrors Adds Depth & Light - The Medicine Cabinet is Mounted Flush with the Mirrors

We Added Tactile Pleasures Like a Solid Wood Door & Stainless Door Levers

BEFORE The Remodel

Use Barndoor Hardware to Hide A Pocket Home Office - Courtesy of Sunset Magazine

A home office is almost a requirement today.  As with all design projects, start with objectives and needs.  Too often, homeowners jump to thinking through available space.  When you start with the solution instead of defining the goal, you can miss important opportunities.  Write down the answers to the following questions: 

1. Is this your primary work space or secondary?
2. How often will you use your office (all day, a few hours a day, a few hours a week?)
3. Will you have clients visit?
4. Do you need visual or acoustic privacy from other members of your household?
5. What equipment do you need?
6. How much storage do you need and does all it need to be proximate? 

Then answer some questions about your work habits:

1. Do you need everything at your fingertips?
2. Do you want to be able to hide everything away either so you can put work out of your mind or to hide it from visitors?
3. Do you need distraction or need to block it?
4. Do you need a certain aesthetic environment to work?
5. What do you need to feel connected to … (the family, the garden, your colleagues …)?  
6. Do you need to multi-task while working?  And if so, what other tasks do you handle at the same time – maybe child care or cooking?

The answers to both sets of questions will help you figure out where in your home you should locate your home office.  Don’t rule anything out.  Thinking through your objectives can also help you see you way clear to realizing that space you originally thought was unavailable can be made available. 

For example, if you need to meet with clients, you’ll absolutely need to find space near an outside door so your clients don’t need to traipse through your messy kitchen.  If your “formal” living room is never used, consider using it for your office.  You can separate it from your living space with French doors – either etched or clear – that say this is private.  Putting storage on the walls adjacent to your living space will also provide an acoustic barrier to make meetings with clients private – or to just separate yourself from the family activities.  And when you need connection, open the French doors to invite the family inside.
 

Convert Your Living Room For a Client-Focused Home Office

As another example, if you need to multi-task but also need to create “out of sight / out of mind”, you’ll need a location centrally located but that can be easily closed off – like creating or converting a closet space.  In the image at the top of the article, a project by Greene Partners,  the homeowner uses barndoor hardware to create a large door that will completely conceal the workspace – and the clutter – when not in use.  In another example, below, an office is built-into a modern cabinetry right off the living room.  It’s completely hidden when not in use. 

Built-in Pocket Home Office - courtesy of BHG

 These are but 3 examples of using space in unusual ways to create an effective home-office.   Are you having trouble figuring out how to make a home office work?  Contact me with your problem and I’ll try to help find a solution.  It might become the topic of another article.  Like the recent one on creating privacy for a home office with an arched doorway.

“When is a bump out no longer a bump out but rather an addition?  And when doing a cost estimate, is the cost of a bump out the same as an addition, approximately $200 per square foot?”

The short answer is that, for all practical purposes, a bump-out might cost even more than $200/sf.  This is because the bumped out area still requires support and roofing and might require HVAC and other systems.  For example bumping out a wall to create a dining nook might only be 3’ deep and 10’ wide – or 30 square feet.  It might cost $10,000 to properly support and roof the system plus to add windows and lighting.  This would be over $300/sf.

This is the problem with ballpark pricing — without knowing the details it’s hard to provide guidance.  In general, very small areas and areas requiring specialized systems or materials (baths, kitchens, etc.) cost more than the average.

The term “bump-out” is, at best, a term of art.  Generally, bump-outs refer to situations when a single wall or portion of a wall is extended a few feet.  While the space gain might be negligible, the effect can be powerful.  A bump-out can transform a flat wall into one of great architectural interest — for example, giving focus to a dining nook.  The whole table need not fit in the bump-out but by the pattern of windows or even just by the existing of a slight off-set, the dining nook can take center stage (see rendering below).

Bumped Out Dining Nook

In the kitchen, below, one wall was bumped out 5 ft which allowed us to greatly improve the traffic flow and to include a u-shaped kitchen off the family room.

5' Deep Kitchen Bump-out

However, both of these “bump-out” are in fact additions.  They require foundations or other support, roofs, HVAC and all the other systems required by an addition – albeit a small one.

Here are 4 solutions to the problem.

Solution 1: Select one side of the house to open up and create a foyer and study on the other side

Solution 1: Take Room for the non-public side

Floor Plan of Solution 1 - After

Existing Floor Plan for Solutions 1 & 2

Solution 2: Create an open “center hall” with Views Straight Through to the Back.  The load-bearing center wall is replaced with a wooden beam and columns that echo the columns on the front porch.

Solutions: Create an open hallway with columns

Solution 2 - View from Front Door Thru to Back Garden/Deck

Floor Plan for Solution 2

Solution 3: For a 1950’s post-war construction home, modern built-ins and a re-faced fireplace create a functional and welcoming entry and living room.  The built-ins provide views into the living room and a place to display sculpture as well as hanging space and drawers

Solution 3: Custom Build-ins

Solution 4: Add a powder room and closet to bound a new foyer.

Solution 4: Use Soffit & Flooring with New Closet & Powder Room

Solution 4: Floor Plan

Solution 4: Existing Floor Plan

When the projects are finished, I’ll be sure to add images of the remodels.

All computer renderings courtesy of Braitman Design/Build.

Laminate Countertops

One of the readers of my newsletter asked me to pull together some thoughts about ways to keep kitchen remodeling costs down — So here they are:

1. New Cabinets are one of the highest costs in kitchen remodeling.  So the first thing I do with clients is to assess the existing cabinets.  If the boxes are solid and in good shape – I think first about replacing the doors and drawer fronts instead of replacing the whole cabinet.  If it’s primarily the color that you don’t like – think about staining the doors, drawer fronts and frames instead of replacing the cabinets.  That’s what we did in the kitchen, above.
2. I hate using cabinet bases that have doors instead of drawers – but if you’re keeping the old cabinets and staining them, you can use after-market organizers if you want greater access to old door front base cabinets.
3. Mix & Match.  If you can keep some but not all of the cabinets or need additional cabinets – for all but the most modern of design themes, you can very successfully mix and match different designs and woods.  In fact, an un-fitted kitchen can make today’s kitchen feel more like the center of the home that we all crave.
4. Another major expense is construction labor.  You can keep those costs lower by eliminating complexity – create rhythm and interest by use of materials instead of using lots of levels or soffits.
5. Keep plumbing costs lower by leaving the sink where it is (or close to where it is) and any gas appliances close to their current locations.
6. Appliances & Plumbing Extras are a 3rd major expense item.
   -    Use a 30″-36” Range instead of separate cooktop and ovens
   -    Plan for Single Sink — unless you usually have more than one cook in the kitchen
   -    Forego the Pot Filler — you’re going to have to carry the heavy pot full of hot water when you need to drain the pasta anyway
   -    Design for a stand-alone Refrigerator – make it look built-in instead of going for the built-in model
7. Use Laminates!  I know that granite is all the rage – but laminates have come a long way since the 1950’s!  Laminates are used extensively in European-style modern cabinetry and countertops.  Using laminates can save thousands of dollars.  If you can’t live without an undermount sink, use stone just around the sink area.  Use a large stone trivet near the range.
8. Lighting  – Fluorescents have also come a long way in terms of color and function.  We can now design in quite attractive and functional fluorescent fixtures at a fraction of the cost of large areas of recessed can lights.  Similarly, fluorescent under-cabinet lights keep cabinets cooler and save money over halogen or xenon lights.  Save money by finding unusual, but lower cost, pendants for a design accent.

Use the money you save to open the kitchen to the rest of the house and to the outdoors.  Create eating and sitting areas on either side of the kitchen so family and guests along with the cook visit together in comfort.  The un-fitted, lower cost kitchen remodel can make the kitchen blend seamlessly with the rest of your casual, comfortable home.  And you can relax knowing you haven’t mortgaged your soul.

Stain Cabinets Instead of Replacing Them

Stone Mosaic Shower wall with matching Art Glass Cabinet Doors

Built in 1903, this vernacular farmhouse had small rooms, limited closets, and poor flow.  The owners wanted a luxurious master suite without increasing the footprint of the house.

We consolidated two small bedrooms into a spacious master bedroom.  A bit of additional room was taken from the overly large stairway landing to create ample closet space.  Both a sitting area and the bed enjoy a new fireplace and can view the TV.  Large windows on three sides flood the bedroom with light. 

A hall bath was gutted and rearranged to allow for a spacious shower in the master suite, his and her sink vanities, and a large art-glass fronted cabinet that screens the toilet as well as providing 6 large shelves of storage. 

Custom installed art adds to the luxury of the material.  Custom work includes a stone mosaic, stained glass cabinet doors, and 2 glass sinks.

Click on Image to View Larger.

Images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build