BEFORE THE ARCHITECT – Mrs. AG's House Designs AND HOME BUILDING PLAN DESIGNS
COLONIAL MAKEOVER
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This is a case study in house designs and home building plan designs involving the transformation of a colonial from tired-old and dumpy to chic and pricey.
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SETTING
Ritzy section of a New England town. River boundary behind the house, backed by a long ridge. Place started out as a creamery, and had some original tiling, counters, and wash tub in L0. Then it was added onto for a greenhouse/florist/large planting business. And then a residence for who knows how many families.
AG & The Missus bought this as a dump. It was in a house design sense a very big sow's ear. The two more or less gutted it and started over again. The living room became the dining room with old fireplace, chandelier, tile pictures from Williamsburg, fine oak floors, and muntined picture windows and moulding and more moulding. The foyer lost 15' of walls and opened to a newly fire-placed living room that was the out-sized dining room with steps to a forward-looking library w/ passages to both foyer and living room, brick highlights and more moulding. The back porch was transformed into a sitting area between a large backside deck, the family room (that wasn't anything describable when we moved in) and the living room. The kitchen was all but totally replaced with a side porch to the outside by the driveway, wonderful and poofy Dutch white-white-white counter tiles, a big rangetop and ovens with a chase to vent outside (quietly w/ an exterior fan), another 15' of walls gone to open to the family room and the great views to the river and ridge. Add lights, moulding, refinished floors, move some walls and open others and you end up with a very classy L1.
L2 ended up with 4 beds and 4 baths after some additions (master bath) and wall rearrangements. Better lighted naturally and by luminares plus a well-placed octagonal, bevel-glass window or two to let natural light discreetly, refinished floors, rehung doors (every one throughout the house had to be recrafted for a) poor carpentry and b) abuse and c) decades of neglect.
In two years time and about 15% of purchase price in materials (the AG and The Missus) sold this one for double.
Here are four pics to come - one each of the partial front and drive-side faces before and one each of the entire front and rear after.
Front before. It's a farmhouse with good bones for better design.
Side before. Dull and antisocial.
Front after. This house came up several notches. Note the remake of both the front porch from farmhouse shed to Greco-colonial and the addition of a substantial side porch and steps into the rebuilt kitchen.
Backside after. Add muntins, a fireplace and chase (far right), railings, plantings an enclosed back porch cum sitting room and a very large master bath (center, L2 - the windowed section fronted a big jacuzzi and overlooked about 300 yards of sloping land to the river and ridge beyond) and all sorts of interior and exterior improvements for convenience and safety (wiring, pointing, repair, etc).
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