It's All About Sunlight

When you have a house surrounded by large, mature trees, it's so peaceful.  But sometimes not as bright as I'd like in the summertime, when all the leaves are on the trees.  So we set out to change that by adding more glass to the house.

Let’s start with the front door.  The front door leads into a small vestibule that is frigid in the winter.  I don't think the front door is original, my guess is the vestibule was originally a small front porch, which was enclosed later.

I simply wanted a new front door.  A front door with lots of glass, to let in the morning sun (and see the water views!).

That's when the fun started.  Because once the guys started to replace the front door, they discovered the supports weren't sufficient.  Once they dug into them, they discovered rot.  Once they pulled that out, they discovered the joists holding the vestibule floor up were never nailed in place and were held up by a few tiny nails in the plywood (that's why it was so bouncy!!!).  Once they.... well.... you get the picture.



So now, we suddenly had a giant hole on the front of the house, what looks like a crater below it and my fancy new front door is no where to be seen.























But - I'm trying to look at the bright side!  Because while the previous owner had put nice insulated windows in the vestibule, the floor was open to the cold and sloped at a noticeable angle.  It was cold and drafty in there.  Now we're getting it all structurally sound, with lots of insulation to keep it warm in winter and it will be nice and level for my fancy new tile.

We still need to get it painted, but don't you think it's a huge improvement?  And look at the foyer?  I love seeing that beautiful sunlight streaming in the room.

View from Foyer to Living Room - Before

The other change to gain more sunlight is in the living room.  We added a new french door, right between the existing windows.  Thankfully, this wasn't as big a job as the front door.  But it made just as big an impact.  Suddenly, you have a great link to the yard as well as sunlight that you notice as soon as you come in the front door.

We're incredibly happy with the changes!  Now we just need to get them painted and finished up!




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