This well kept colonial cottage style home was built in the 1940’s with 2 floors and 1800 square feet, two bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The back of the house was completely shut off from the back yard and had minimal natural light. The kitchen and dining room were jammed into one small space and the home just felt tiny and congested. Our client had recently purchased the home and wanted to add a sunroom on the back of the first story so she could enjoy her eventual gardens and bring more natural light to the space.
During our initial consultation we discovered that the home had a magnificent but unfinished attic space with a lot of potential for expansion of the home. More on that later…
Our design proposal for the sunroom addition included removing the rear exterior wall on both the master bedroom and the dining room to open up the floor plan and create two separate entrances into the addition. We recommended to the client that she invest in a future project given the size of her unfinished attic by adding a second story to the addition. Large windows would be installed on all three sides to maximize line of sight and natural light.
The client accepted our proposal and work began mid year 2021. We built an 11’x16’ two story addition and installed six large Pella brand sliding and casement windows. We also chose to use a matching 8” aluminum lap siding on the main floor exterior that was later painted to match the existing home. We installed vertical board and batten style vinyl siding on the upper level. The fence was replaced and landscaping completed. We finished the addition about 4 months from launch with only a few weather related setbacks.
One of the challenges we faced was to preserve a large tree that grew only a few feet from where our new footings would be dug. It provided the only shade in the yard and was a focal point of the landscaping and our client didn’t want it damaged. We enlisted the help of our Arborist to help determine the age and health of the tree and whether or not it could survive the project. We received a full report on the excellent health of the tree, its beneficial impact on the yard and home, and the all clear that our work would not damage it. The finished space included over 300 square feet of windows, new craftsman trim, new LED downlights, a lockable double pocket door from master bedroom to sunroom, and large format vinyl floor tiles. The addition and the yard looked great!
before and after of lake grove addition
The Attic
In 2022 we proposed building out the attic space to include an additional bedroom and full bathroom, a storage space and a sitting room. The existing space was wide open, and well built and we couldn’t stress enough how much potential value it had for the home. We had staged up the second story of the addition to act as the bedroom of the new attic space. We discovered a previously closed off dormer that faced the front of the house and opened it to the rest of the space.
Before Photos of Lake Grove Attic
Our design team came up with a great new layout that would include the new master bedroom with a large walk-in closet, a large bathroom with walk-in shower and custom glass shower door, and a multifunctional living space. We installed new bamboo floors and a mini-split heating and cooling unit in each room. Solid core pocket doors were used everywhere to maximize space.
We opened up the west facing dormer and installed a new Pella brand double hung window, framing the space to be a well-lit reading area. The home, like most from the 40’s and 50’s lacked any form of functional storage space sans the basement so we added a large storage space in one of the eaves.
The finished space was bright, warm, and inviting and the total square footage is now 2600sf with 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths.
