Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Beach Cottage - Floor Plans

We've been working hard to translate our 'wish list' into building plans.  At long last, we have something we can share with you.  We've gone through multiple revisions, but now have a plan that will really optimize the existing house and create a wonderful, updated home.

Let's start with the exterior, to get the big picture of our plans.  We're not changing the footprint of the house at all.  We'll add shed dormers - front and back - to provide more light and headroom on the 2nd floor.  To do this, we need to increase the peak of the roof by 4'.  That will allow us to have adequate headroom, egress windows, and also provide enough space to insulate to today's standards.  The final design is a New England, cottage style home, with the 2 over 2 windows.  The porch over the front door keeps your guests dry when they arrive during inclement weather.  We're still debating on moving a couple of 1st floor windows (the one over the garage is in a funky spot) and we want to replace the front 'picture' window with double hung windows to match the rest of the house.

The first floor didn't change dramatically.  We removed 2 walls to open up the living space.  This creates an open concept and (my favorite) a circular traffic pattern.  The first floor bedroom can be used for sleeping, a home office, or a playroom.  Don't pay too much attention to the kitchen design at this point - we're still working on that!  All we know right now, is that it will be a great open space!


The second floor will see a lot of changes.  The low, cramped rooms (which have very little space to stand upright!) will be replaced by bright, open interiors - thanks to shed dormers with lots of windows on the front and back of the house.  Each bedroom will have windows and light from at least 2 directions, which is great for sea breezes in the summertime.  And we've managed to include a family bath as well as a master bath.  We're also trying to figure out whether we could squeeze in a stackable washer/dryer!

What do you think - is this a livable design for the 21st century?  We're hoping to get started soon.  Stay tuned for demo photos!



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14 comments:

  1. This looks amazing! How many square feet is the house (not including the basement)? Seems like you are truly maximizing every inch!

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    1. Thanks Jules! We'll have about 2000 square feet when we get it finished. Not huge, but we've tried to make the most of all the space! We're doing all the infrastructure stuff now - but hope to get to the 'fun' stuff soon!

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  2. Oh my word, I love your blog. The transformations are so amazing. I will definitely be keeping track of your adventures now.

    I like that you are adding a dining space to the cottage, but it seems like a slightly awkward trek from the kitchen to the dining room. You should have a little cart in the dining room when you stage it so people get the idea to use something like that to make it easier to take dishes, etc back and forth between the rooms, if that makes sense.

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    1. Great suggestion! It would be nicer if the dining room was right next to the kitchen (I supposed you could swap it with the living room), but it's really only a few steps away and a cart is a great idea. Come to think of it, I think I have one squirreled away in our storage facility!

      Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

      Laurel

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  3. love the addition of the huge dormers to make the upstairs so much more liveable!

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  4. Wonderful transformation. what was the original budget and end budget? The wall that was
    removed from kitchen to living area did it need a beam support? load bearing?

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    1. It's really impossible to share budget numbers - every region has different pricing, so I'm loathe to share specific numbers, because they'll never match what you will find. I always laugh when I see the shows on HGTV - the prices vary wildly, depending where the show was filmed. I should be working in Waco, Texas - it seems much cheaper!

      Regarding the beam, we were lucky that the biggest wall we took out was not load bearing. However, we had another one that was structural and needed a special LVL installed.

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  5. The first floor of this house is almost identical to a house I'm buying...except the kitchen is oriented toward the left as the garage is to the right of the kitchen and living room. This means no pretty windows around the fireplace and kitchen. We also have a door coming into the kitchen from the garage. Our porch is much larger and extends to the garage, so my thought is to perhaps open up the exterior wall instead. So much to do! I'm reading up on your blog! Design Build or architect? Should I download CAD and try to work it out myself? Builders insurance...your results are an inspiration. I do not want to lose a bedroom however(would not get it back on our lot size)...so no dining room.

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  6. How much higher is the new roof compared to old?

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    1. We raised the peak of the roof by 4 feet. It made a HUGE difference!

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    2. Thank you! I realized that if I had read through, I would have found the answer! Beautiful home! If you have a home with a lower pitch, could you still do dormers like that or would it look odd?

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    3. You could certainly do it - but you need to make sure you'll have enough headroom to justify the investment.

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  7. Hi there! We have an almost identical 1950s Cape and are looking to add a shed dormer and front porch. You indicated this was a four month project - as we are already living here (with three little kids!), I know we'll have to be out for a while. For us, it will only be changes to the second level, so I was wondering how long that part of the project took for you guys? I am THRILLED to have found this post; your inspiration pics are the exact ones I have been looking at! Congrats on great work...

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  8. Hi Meghan - I'm not sure I could accurately guess what just the 2nd floor timing was, since we worked the whole project at once. But if you are only doing the 2nd floor, talk to your contractor - you may be able to carve out some living space so you could stay in the house on the 1st floor. It will be cramped, but probably doable!

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