Project Description
The owners of the home were in need of a downstairs master as they were looking to age in place and have their son and his wife move in to help take care of them. The existing structure would need to be lifted in order to comply with current FEMA regulations if we were going to do an addition for an in law suite on the main floor. One of the owners main concern in doing this was to make sure the look of the front of the house stayed as close to the same as it was before it was lifted. We demolished the entire garage side of the home, as most of it was getting removed to accommodate the reconfiguration of the staircase to the room over the garage and new addition, and then lifted the main body of the house. We then added some additional footings and foundation work to reinforce key areas under the existing house that weren't supported sufficiently. There were key items in the home that were sentimental to our clients and they wanted to be able to reuse them – flooring that was in the original Living room, porthole windows, and some interior doors. Originally there were 3 bedrooms upstairs that we were not going to touch; however, as the project got underway that plan soon changed when we came up with ideas to better configure the rooms. We removed a closet in one of the bedrooms in order to gain a larger MBA shower upstairs. Another closet was shortened in order to gain a better entry into the upstairs hall bath and a full wall was cut back in the upstairs hall bath in order to open the room up more. Small reconfigurations that had a big impact to the overall design picture. The owners removed all the oak flooring in the living room and painstaking removed all the handcut nails. The flooring was utilized in the upstairs bonus room. The remainder of the house was laid with Brazilian Cherry. Recycled materials can be found throughout the house such as: 1) the hatch window at the pantry door was recycled from the old bonus room entry door 2) porthole windows that were in the old bonus room exterior wall were placed in a hallway off the bonus room and inside the bonus room shower 3) the original house door lock was removed and reinstalled in the new front door 4) brass lights flanking the Living room fireplace were refinished and rehung and 5) an old interior door was reused for the closet barn door in the laundry room. Shiplap was featured on the fireplace wall in the living room, above the fireplace in the family room, and inside the TV cabinet on the screen porch. A built in chairlift was installed in the garage for the owners to have access if and when the time comes for them to be in a wheelchair. Being on the water, the owners spend a lot of time outside and they wanted the back of the house to look just as good as the front. As soon as the house was finished, they asked us to build a shed. He wanted something that reflected the same character as the back of the house and they let us design the finish product. Not only does he love it for the storage but she loves it almost as much as the house!