At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design » Curb Appeal, Comfort & Safety – At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design

Curb Appeal, Comfort & Safety

Jackie Braitman — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:11:07 +0000

Curb Appeal, Comfort and Safety

My client, in Silver Spring, MD – a close-in, older neighborhood outside Washington, DC — had already done some modest interior renovations before I was referred to her by her neighbor. About a year before I had done extensive interior, exterior and landscape renovations for her neighbor a few doors down the street (see that work: interior renovations; exterior renovation front, exterior renovation back).

My new client’s meticulous interior wasn’t matched by the exterior. Erosion on a relatively steep hill just off the street was tamed with ivy and periwinkle. But as you can see from the “Before” picture, below, that’s about the only benefit of the invasive ivy. The stairs were narrow and uneven. The straight brick walk got you to the porch but without much interest in the journey.

Before Work Started

The new landscape tames the hill with a curving brick retaining wall with blue stone cap. The deep, wide curve of the wall allows plantings both below and above the wall – helping to soften the look and to invite visitors up the stairs and onto the porch. Too often walls create boundaries that scream “keep out – you’re not invited”. This one does the opposite. The clear foreground, mid-ground and background help make the home feel more private and protected from the street even though no fence or privacy plantings were used.

Property as Viewed from Left - See Before Picture at EndThe use of small boulders throughout the plantings help ground the landscape and make it feel natural. New trees include a young purple-leaf plum, a willow oak, and 3 river birch. Right now, the shrubs, perennials, and grasses have center stage. As the trees mature, the feel of the yard will change dramatically but the trees will complement -- not overwhelm the space. The other plantings were places such that most of them will either tolerate the new shade well or will continue to receive adequate sun. Eventually, the roses might have to be moved as well as some of the grasses -- but not for many years. And much sooner than that, the trees will offer welcome shade in Washington's brutal summers. Property Viewed from Right - See Before Picture at End

The curved walk slows the approach to the house and puts the plantings on center stage. The walk is regular flagstone on concrete. This stable surface provides easy walking even with heels. It also provides a good base for shoveling snow. However, it’s retains a natural look that will feel even more natural as the plantings fill-in. This fall, the bare spot by the stairs to the porch will be filled with a Carol Mackey Daphne that provides both a delicious scent in the early spring and delicate variegated leaves throughout the summer months – sometimes, you have to wait to find the plant you want at your local nursery.

View Back to Street - The Curved Walk Helps Slow the Entrance

A focus on Foliage Yields Year-Round Interest: The plantings were selected to present foliage, bark and flower interest year-round. You can see some of mid-summer interest in the photos below:

Foliage Detail Makes the Garden Pop All Season Long

Folliage Interest and Rocks Create An Inviting Tapestry

More Examples of the Tapestry Created by Striking Foliage

Computer Renderings At the Conceptual Design Phase: To give you a sense of what the client saw during the conceptual design phase that allowed her to move forward with this extensive front landscape remodel, I’ve included 2 of the design renderings she viewed of this option. This was one of 3 design options I presented. Note that we changed many details of materials and plantings while still retaining the overall feel of the design.

Computer Rendering of Concept During Conceptual Design

Additional Rendering of Design Concept

Additional “Before” Pictures:

"Before" - View from Right

"Before" - View from Left

The Front Porch – An Extension of Your Living Room

Jackie Braitman — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:36:48 +0000

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

Curb-Appeal: A 2-Week Make-Over

Jackie Braitman — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:56:28 +0000

A back porch Welcomes Clients and the Neighborhood

I live down the street from a 4-Square built around 1915. It’s at a prominent intersection and is zoned commercial. A string of non-descript businesses have leased space there. The house wasn’t a blight on the neighborhood but it didn’t add anything either. Then “The Still Point” a well-respected holistic spa took up residence. First they built-out their interior; then they moved on the exterior. In the course of approximately 2-weeks the outside of the building when from non-descript to warm and welcoming. Thoughtful paint, lighting, furniture and decoration turned a cold, inward-looking structure into a nicely scaled building that beckons the neighborhood into its doors.

AFTER - Main Neighborhood View

BEFORE - Main Neighborhood View - Courtesy of Google Earth

The, above, After and Before pictures are the view from the main intersection. A new, wide stairway from the back porch welcomes visitors. As seen in the introductory image, outdoor drapes help create an intimate space while ceiling fans, furniture and potted palms help make the space intimate.

A Closer View of the Back Stairs

AFTER - View of the Front of the House

BEFORE - Front of House

The front porch (see After and Before, above) received a slightly more formal but equally inviting make-over. The line of semi-flush light fixtures – while providing more light than is strictly necessary – creates an extremely attractive rhythm. The door, made prominent with black contrasting paint, is no longer over-emphasized.

Notice that they also cleaned up the various phone and cable lines coming into the house so that they no longer distract from the front porch.

Carpeted Front Steps

Porch steps were carpeted in a deep forest outdoor carpeting to avoid the slipperiness of painted wood. A water feature near the front door, providing a welcoming auditory break from the street.

Welcoming Front Porch

The mocha and crème color scheme brings out the subtle colors of the roof and highlights the architecture much better than did the former white, dark grey and red scheme. The more subtle palette also contrasts nicely with the black powder-coated furniture and lighting fixtures. Our eye likes contrast and texture and the new palette caters to these preferences.

Other than the back steps to the porch, there were no structural changes, but now the building is a part of and beckons to the neighborhood rather than standing apart.

A Sense of Place

Jackie Braitman — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:50:00 +0000

A New Front Porch Welcomes Family and Visitors

A gracious, comfortable front entry — the neighbors who have been closely observing the year-long inside and outside renovation of this 1940′s Colonial in a close-in Washington DC suburb — remark most often about the transition to the front of the house. A neighbor across the street enjoys a more peaceful, relaxed morning coffee — she says sitting in her breakfast room now feels like she’s across the street from a park. Neighborhood kids ask if they can play on the oval of grass at the top of the steps — rather than play in their own expansive back yards. It’s all about a sense of place.

Full View of House and New Entry Stairs

Gone are the unsafe front brick steps — at only 30 inches wide and with treads that varied in width and without a handrail — the wife’s mother gave a big thanks. Gone also is the trip-step in the middle of the front walk — that I personally tripped over at least 3 times. New brick steps were moved about 6 feet down the wall to create a curved walk in approaching the house and a more gracious division of the front entry garden. The steps are now 4 ft wide and are taller to fully tackle the grade. The bottom of the steps and the handrail curve to welcome visitors.

Gone also is the 1970′s vestibule — a response to the 1970′s energy crisis. The homeowner complained of having to set groceries down on the concrete stoop, open the vestibule door, move the bags of groceries into the vestibule, open the front door and only then bring the groceries into the house. Now she simply sets them on the generous bench right beside the front door. She also sits on the bench to chat with neighbors, read the mail, or to observe the neighborhood children at play.

Before Picture (courtesy of Google Street View)

The history of this house is a story of several separate additions that responded to the needs at the time. Visible in this before photo are the vestibule that was added to the front of this modest brick colonial just outside Washington, DC, during the 1970′s energy crisis — this was a common response to the crisis. It might have helped with heating bills but in almost every other way this add-on was an inconvenience. Also visible is the addition to the left side of the house — a side porch converted to a small room. This addition while providing nice light, is of a completely different style from the rest of the house.

The roof of the addition was lowered to meet the roof of the new front porch at a hip. The porch is only seven feet wide but these changes greatly help the proportions of the house. A new front door and a high-end full view storm door provide the energy savings of the old vestibule. The new porch, new walk and steps dramatically change the sense of welcome and grace as you approach the home.

Low maintenance plantings provide year-round interest. Early spring interest is provided by a fragrant, flowering Carol Mackey Daphne at the curve of the front bed just as you arrive at the front door. Later spring interest comes from flowering shrubs, summer interest is created by a variety of ornamental grasses and a lavender crepe myrtle in a place of prominence, fall interest comes from the changing colors of the ornamental grasses, and winter interest comes from the bark of the crepe myrtle and the red berries of the nandina. A mix of foliage color and texture adds year-round appeal. A day’s maintenance spring and fall are all that’s required. [That's, of course, after more frequent weeding as the plantings take hold and the deep-rooted weeds, persistent weeds are eliminated.] Well-placed, aged western Maryland boulders help ground the plantings to create a natural look.

The facade was made made more transitional (and less colonial) by removing the shutters, replacing the aged aluminum siding with fiber cement siding, balancing the long windows on the addition with patio
doors on the other side. The grey tone of the siding and new wood-replacement white window trim replace the need for shutters to create architectural interest.

Concrete Was Grooved & Acid-Stained

We used concrete for the porch to eliminate the need for future maintenance. An acid stain was used to create an antique amber color and blend the porch into the landscape — it coordinates with the cedar-colored Trex used on the back deck. Before acid staining, the concrete was scored on a diagonal to create the look of large tiles with a solid border. The window well was covered with a glass and concrete paver panel created by Circle Redmont. The panel is set into the concrete and still provides good light into the basement.

The front bench — in addition to providing visual interest, a place for packages and to sit – hides the gas meter and the electrical service. The gas meter is hidden in the right leg of the bench. The column hides the electrical service except for a window to view the meter.

Front Bench Hides Utilities

Front Bench Recycles Flagstone Removed from Hearth

Ceiling Fans on either end of the porch provide mosquito-free future seating areas.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

Remodeling within the Existing Footprint – Case Study

Jackie Braitman — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:35:35 +0000

A new Wrap-around Porch Provides a Connection to the Outdoors

This article is both about a particular remodeling project and about the process of solving problems through design. When I first meet with any homeowner, the first thing they talk about are the problems. Here was the litany of problems for this home:

A kitchen that was too small– it was made even more inefficient because it also doubled as a mud room and passageway.
A lack of privacy due to the proximity of a too-close neighbor with windows aligned with my clients
No connection to the outdoors
No bath on the first floor
Old wooden casement windows that were rotten
General disrepair of the existing home
An old addition that was in bad repair and seemed to be falling off the side of the house, and
A too steep entrance that was hard to navigate.

These homeowners came to me after talking with other contractors about putting on a big addition. They thought that the only way to solve the problems was to tear down the old addition and build a new, larger one to include a kitchen and family room. But the ballpark price they were getting was $300,000 for the new addition — and that didn’t include replacing the windows or fixing myriad other problems in the existing house which would have raised the total price to well over $400,000 — out of their ballpark.

While clients always bring up problems, I usually have to prod them to talk about how they live and how they want to live. After talking with this family, I could tell that they didn’t really need more space — they needed different space. Because they couldn’t imagine how to rearrange the existing space they thought the solution was more space. But too often, in cases like this one, a family adds on to an existing house but don’t put money into making the existing rooms more livable. The result is wasted space that’s never used. The family lives in the new addition and only walk through the older rooms — but they still pay to heat and cool them. They purchased the house, in part, because of some of the period details such as the stone fireplace in the foyer and the high ceilings. But a previous remodel some 20 years ago had stripped the house of many of the trimwork and other period details of this 1905 vernacular farmhouse just outside Washington, DC. After a little thought, I proposed spending most of the money on re-arranging the existing space. We would bump out just a small section of the existing house by 5 feet — to allow for better flow. I also proposed a new wrap-around side porch. This would give them needed outdoor space, connect them with the neighborhood and better balance the home. Finally, I proposed spending some of the money they were saving by not putting on a new addition on restoring some of the period charm.

Floor Plan After

Floor Plan Before

Here are the fixes:

A too-small kitchen that also served as a passageway:
- Moved to a nook created by bumping out the old dining room 5 ft.
- Turned old kitchen into family entrance, powder room & coat closet
A lack of privacy due to the proximity of a too-close neighbor with windows aligned with my clients
- Put art glass in windows facing neighbor (see below) –
this was much, much cheaper than building a new addition
No connection to the outdoors
- New front wrap-around porch
No bath on the first floor
- New powder room where kitchen used to be
Old wooden casement windows that were rotten & General disrepair of existing home
- Had money to do this since we didn’t build the new addition
- We also updated all the finishes in the original house
An old addition that was in bad repair and seemed to be falling off the back of the house
- Soil tests revealed that we could underpin the foundation for $10,000
- The old addition was folded into a new Family room & Dining
A too steep entrance that was hard to navigate
- The new wrap-around porch provides an easy entrance to the home
& the mud room is so gracious that it’s more formal than most foyers

Kitchen - Art glass used to block view of neighbor

The new kitchen as plenty of counter space and storage. It now takes it’s rightful place as the center of the family’s activities — with a deep eating and homework counter. Custom art-glass windows block the view of the too-close neighbor while skylights and an adjacent window let in light and views. A custom concrete counter and backsplash create a single sculptural composition along with the windows and range hood. Open upper cabinets create an open, informal look.

Family/Great Room Composed of several smaller rooms

The new Family/Great Room has both a generous seating area and a recessed dining nook. The table can be opened to accommodate a larger dinner party or kept small for the family and for even larger parties. Large windows on 3 sides creates generous lighting and an open airy feel. The single patio door currently leads no where but allows the future addition of a deck without additional structural changes. Elegant trim detail looks like it could be original to the house but is mostly new. While the trimwork appears to be quite detailed in execution, we used many labor- and material-savings techniques to keep costs down.

New Family Entry with Art Glass Blocking View of Neighbor

In the new family entry we also used art glass to block the view of the the too close neighbor. Not visible are built-ins that corral all the coats and bags and other items we need right at the entry. Stools are available to sit and take off your boots in the winter — but they also add to the dramatic focal point in the room. A new angled wall creates a dramatic view from the living room. Stone-look porcelain tile creates an easily cleaned by durable finish to the floor. Right off the new wrap-around porch this had become the main entry to the house for family and friends.

Foyer Looking Into Family Room

In the formal foyer, the stone fireplace sports a “new” salvaged old-growth redwood mantle. Interior square columns mirror the columns on the new wrap around porch, below.

Wrap-Around Porch Connects Home to Neighborhood

One of the pleasures and benefits of remodeling within the existing footprint is that there is often money available for details and finishes that the client couldn’t afford if all the money went to a large addition. That’s what we were able to accomplish in this remodel — solving problems as well as feeding the soul. You can see from the floor plans that the client has lots of space on the first floor for both family and individual activities. In a few years, the family may go on to phase 2 — outdoor living on the family room side of the home. A patio door was included in this phase to facilitate future remodeling — another benefit of planning for your lifestyle instead of simply problem solving. Phased remodeling can accommodate both today’s budget and tomorrow’s dreams.

Images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build