connecting a dilworth family room...

this dilworth bungalow had a family room, but it needed some serious renovating. you can see the issues in the before photos (below). It was dark, with practically no natural light. It was completely disconnected from the backyard (a huge problem for this family, who liked to play outside). It had a massive beam running off-center through the room. And the traffic patterns were all over the place.

we worked with the some of the most charming details of the existing bungalow to re-imagine this family room. using large, cottage style windows, we could set the window sills along the existing shingle watertable on the exterior of the house - consistent with the original window configurations - while raising the head heights to match the new 8' patio doors. this flooded the family room with light, while simplifying and cleaning up the interior and exterior trim details. we created a pattern of dropped beams to balance out the existing eccentrically placed beam, and slightly lowered the finish ceiling to mediate the heaviness of the existing beam. we converted an old hallway secondary access to a small, built-in office to correct the traffic patterns through the space. the kitchen got a gorgeous facelift, too. there is a large screened porch off the back, linking the new family room to the backyard.

this all sums up to dramatic changes in the family's quality of life. the original, fragmented architecture left them disconnected. the new spaces - open, light-filled, and balanced - provide a sense of togetherness.

this home falls within the dilworth historic district and this project was approved by the HDC in july 2008.

blending into the blue ridge

this article was originally published in the raleigh news & observer and charlotte observer on june 27, 2009.

cotswald man-cave

i had the pleasure of designing a man-cave for a wonderful family in cotswald recently. it was such a fun project! hoping to get photos up soon...

garage retrofit...

you'd never know that this space was once a garage! this family needed a maxed out side entry, mudroom / laundry, and playroom with full bathroom. the house had very generous spaces so it was critical that this project feel equally generous and not cramped. quite an impressive transformation! photos coming soon...

re-thinking a tight master bath...

what a great dilworth master bath renovation - this one was a bit of a mess in the beginning! very cluttered and claustrophobic... the space itself wasn't bad, but it was laid out really poorly and was low-functioning for this family.

we love the peaceful qualities of the finished master bath (and how high-functioning it is now!). it took some re-working, but it feels really generous and it's gorgeous. (opposite this photo are a custom shower and private toilet area.) this interior renovation actually used the existing room - the generosity of the renovated space is an amazing transformation.

my living room - in progress...

we've been working on our house from time to time - whenever i can find a break in my work schedule to give it some attention! one of our recent projects has been our living room. like most bungalows, you enter directly into this room. and we spend all of our time in here. i have a lot of goals for this space. i'd like it to easily transform from a casual to formal space. i'd like it to handle the mess and chaos of our family life, and easily clean up so that i can meet with clients here. i'd like to improve on the scale and proportions. i'd like to showcase my husband's and grandfather's photography and my grandmother's art. i'd like it to be a working library because we are always reading. i'd like to integrate the sound and lighting so that it has a feeling of reductive simplicity. and i'd like it to feel consistent with my craftsman home - as if the changes are refreshingly contemporary but could have always been this way...

here are some progress shots. we still have a lot of work to do - ultimately we have different plans for the furniture, rug, gas logs, window seats, shelf arrangements, etc. but the foundation is there and i'm really happy with it! i spent a lot of time designing different configurations and nuances of the built-ins so that the 'thick walls' on either side would function on many levels.

i love that the design of this space helps me be a better mom. i never worry about the mess and chaos... this room has so much storage for my kids toys that it takes all of 3 minutes to clean the place up - and my 3 year old really gets into helping. we spend all of our time in this room and it easily transforms into everything that we need.

oh, and we salvaged the little undersized mantle original to the house and used it on the chimney upstairs in the baby's nursery. it is such a great detail up there, and i love how it honors the history of our home.

crafty retreat

this article was originally published in the raleigh news & observer on april 26, 2008.