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Outdoor Living Friendship Heights, DC
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| Key Themes: |
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Urban Retreat |
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Living
Large in a Small Footprint |
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Opening Up to the
Outdoors |
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The Project: |
| Like most
homes built in the 1920s, this one had small rooms
that were completely cut off from the outside.
This home, on a relatively small lot, was off 2
busy streets in Northwest Washington DC. The
owners wanted to update their home and gain
better natural light. |
| After
discussions, the scope included garden rooms front
back and side. opening up the floor plan, and
updating the finishes. |
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result was an urban retreat that the owner never
wanted to leave. They found that they
entertained more frequent. The home was comfortable whether it was an
intimate dinner party or a cocktail party for 100. |
| In the
front patio, two walls are formed from the house
itself. And just like rooms in your house, you can
enter the garden room from the adjacent enclosed
rooms — from the living room and from the sunroom.
The other two walls of the garden room are created
by an 8′ tall pergola. The canopy of a tree — along
with the pergola — create the ceiling to the new
garden room. We benefited from existing mature
plantings — shrubs and trees that aid in the sense
of enclosure and increased privacy. Note: The cobble
patio was raised above the roots to to avoid
stressing the tree. We also worked around the water
meter which became part of the fabric of the patio. |
| Strategic
views of the street are blocked by stained glass
panels in the pergola. Now there’s no need for
curtains to provide privacy — the Garden Room
visually and physically expands the home and
provides a buffer from the street — and making use
of an often wasted front yard. |
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Braitman Design/Build
Licensed & Insured
MHIC License #125978
301-891-3800 |
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Working at the Intersection of Art,
Architecture & Design |
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Before Pictures |
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