1. A kitchen that was too small– it was made even more inefficient because it also doubled as a mud room and passageway.
2. A lack of privacy due to the proximity of a too-close neighbor with windows aligned with my clients
3. No connection to the outdoors
4. No bath on the first floor
5. Old wooden casement windows that were rotten
6. General disrepair of the existing home
7. An old addition that was in bad repair and seemed to be falling off the side of the house, and
8. 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.

1. 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
2. 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
3. No connection to the outdoors
   - New front wrap-around porch
4. No bath on the first floor
   - New powder room where kitchen used to be
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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.

Images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

Custom Monorail Lighting

Whether your home is modern or classic in style, custom lighting can show your architecture and furnishings to advantage.  The first 3 images are from a split-level 1950′s home that we recently modernized in Washington, DC.  The custom monorail fixtures lead the eye and the feet toward a focal point in the garden room beyond the kitchen. The sleek brushed metal of the fixture complements the stainless steel railing and the charcoal tile of the entryway.  The reddish/orange of the diffuser coordinates with the reddish rust of the rug.  In the same home, two additional custom fixtures help bring all the elements together.  The chandelier in the dining room, below, the artist used the same striped glass but in a pumpkin color and designed a more lyrical style to complement the modern lines of the kitchen.  The third fixture — a semi-flush fixture, is over the eating area in the kitchen (image 2 below) which shares a shape with the entryway monorail and a color with the dining room chandelier (in the background). 
 

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

Custom Glass Sink & Tile

Splurging on just one custom detail can make a budget bath really stand-out.  In this article we’ll show you 4 hand-made sinks that make stock materials shine!

In the Powder Room to the right, the custom glass sink is accompanied by coordinating custom glass tiles.  However, all the remaining materials are mid-priced to low-priced stock materials.  The price for the countertop was limited to the homeowner’s own labor — the cararra marble was salvaged from the junk pile of a marble installer. Since the room is slightly less than 3′ wide, only a small piece was needed.  The countertop sits on a console table purchased unfinished online.  The home-owner blended a custom stain for the vanity and for the mirror frame.  The faux slate on the walls was purchased for less than $2/sqft. The faucet from Grohe was less than $250.   

custom glass sink & glass tile

This powder room also features a salvaged countertop and stock tumbled stone tile (purchased from home depot for <$5/sq ft.) alongside a custom
glass sink and coor-dinating custom glass tile.  We’ve used this
faucet from Porcher several times because the lines coordinate well with the glass and it has the height needed for tall vessel sinks.  At trade prices, we’ve purchased it for about $400.

custom glass sink

In this master bath, we again used custom glass sinks juxtaposed with rough, tumbled stone.  We kept costs down by purchasing stone by the pallet from a wholesale supplier.  Using the same stone throughout the house (kitchen, fireplaces, and baths) we created
continuity as well as saving money. 

custom glass sink

The vanity to the right is the wife’s side of the master bath, above. The sink has a more fluid form.  The beadboard wainscot (80″ high) throughout this bath is from sheet goods which has a lower material cost and a much lower  labor cost than tongue and groove beadboard siding. The tile countertops are significantly less expensive than stone or solid surface materials and still give a luxurious feel.

In these 3 baths, the custom touches are the focal point.  The stock materials so beautifully compliment their respective looks that they feel much more expensive than they are.