MS Paint: Carport Alterations

In the rear of the house built into a hill is a two car carport.  The carport was added in about 1980 in conjunction with the general remodel of the house occurring at that time.  Attached to the house, the carport allows for access to one's car without having to get wet when it's raining.  But it was also designed to function as an outdoor entertaining space, with a built-in kitchenette, an overhead fan, lighting, connectivity with the sunroom and the den, and a general aesthetic tying with the rest of the house.

Above the carport was an unconditioned attic with a window on one end and a small french door on the opposite end.  The attic space has been used for storage and as a recreation room for grandchildren, with a ping pong table and other games inside.  Access is a bit difficult because the French door and the staircase leading to the attic are both very narrow. 

Rough Rendering of Existing Carport Attic:

Jane and Van decided to alter the carport's attic to make it more functional and accessible.  To this end, they decided to add heat and air, to remove the existing staircase and make the existing entrance into a decorative Juliette balcony, and to add a dormer and a new access point in the back.  For now, they envision using the attic space for storage, although they could see it used as a home office or a bonus room or a guest suite at some point in the future.

Below are the plans for the attic, which were conceived with MS Paint and generally adopted/followed by their contractor in altering the carport attic.

The railing for the Juliette balcony was the subject of some debate.  Initially, their contractor proposed a decorative iron railing.  I felt that an iron railing would not be in keeping with the house's architecture (which features no iron work but extensive wood railing details), and instead proposed a custom wood railing with a decorative Chippendale accent.  Jane and Van agreed, and this is the rough plan they adopted for the Juliette balcony.

MS Paint: Brainstorming on a Floorplan

Before Jane and Van got serious with the renovation plans and hired a designer, I played around on Microsoft Paint to try to try to dream up a layout for the remodel.  I never imagined that it would be feasible (or not prohibitively costly) for all of the load bearing walls between the kitchen and sunroom to come down, so my designs all keep a significant amount of those wall in tact.

Current Layout - As discussed previously, the layout prior to renovation had some shortcomings.  Notably, the kitchen was tiny, interior, isolated, and dark, and there was no powder room on the first floor for guests.

Proposal 1:  I was trying to cram a lot into this first attempt:  I wanted to enlarge the closet to the first floor master bedroom, add a powder room, add a new primary back entrance, and create a large kitchen with an island.  To do this, I proposed taking space away from the sunroom to create the new back entrance, a mud room pass through area, and a laundry room (currently, the laundry room is in the basement).  I combined the kitchen and breakfast areas into one large room, and called for a long kitchen island with breakfast bar in the middle of the room.  I closed off the old hallway connecting the den to the front of the house and combined it with the existing bedroom closet to create a bigger, walk-in closet.

This plan would not work for several reasons.  The kitchen space is not wide enough for the island I proposed (a focal point of the plan in my mind).  Cutting off the den from the front of the house created an awkward flow.  Losing space in the sunroom would have taken away a special place in the house while also disturbing the flow. But props to me for thinking outside the box. :-)

Proposal 2:  My second proposal is significantly scaled back from my first proposal.  It calls for combining the kitchen and breakfast areas into one room and opening up the back wall to create a breakfast bar peninsula overlooking the sun porch.  It also calls for sealing over the existing windows between the kitchen and sun room to allow for more overhead cabinet space along that wall.

This proposal is fine, but certainly does not have much "wow" factor.  The kitchen would have limited natural light and limited interaction with the adjoining living areas. 

Proposal 3:  My third proposal refined the prior one a bit by creating more flow into the kitchen from the sun-room with a true island.  In this proposal, I also began to explore how the sunroom windows would be replaced.   I envisioned a set of side French doors leading out to a patio/outdoor living area.

In the end, none of the above proposals hold a match to the ultimate design.  Removing the wall completely between the sunroom and the kitchen will really create a total "wow" factor, flood the kitchen with natural light, create interaction between the kitchen and the living area, and so forth.