How to Bring a renovation to life
copyright: upsplash
Pennsylvania has an enormous number of very old houses - at least to American standards. When I drive through the countryside, I’m always amazed at how many stone homes there are. Many are from the early 1800s with others dating before that. All of them use local stone for the entirety of the body of the structure. Elements such as the number of windows and overall dimensions are very common - with only slight differences from place to place. Along with what they have in common, they also often have been added to and renovated throughout the years. These difference characteristics give each individual dwelling their unique flare - but they all still speak the same venacular and whisper back to a time before the modern way of life.
Design before Installation
For more than a year, we’ve been working on one of these homes. First we helped to figure out how to address and design some of the necessary changes to the overall property. After that, we began to envision how the interior of the house could be updated. This house, pictured below, is a combination of three different eras. The taller stone house was built in 1816 while the shorter house pre-dates that. Then, in the 1980s, a larger renovation occurred that added an entirely new wing to the house. You can see the youngest part of the house in the photo with wood siding.
copyright: chambersdesign
The interior of the taller stone house is in need of some changes. It wasn’t updated during the large renovation back in the 1980s and so it continues to have small rooms divided by very thick walls. Some of the floors still are finished with the original wood. An image is below showing the wooden floors. We want to salvage as much original wood as possible during the demolition phase - and try to reuse it in the house. We’ve discussed customizing doors and other features with the repurposed materials.
copyright: chambersdesign
There has been a lot of attention to connecting the old house with the newer portions. The existing flow of the house has you going up a stair and through the older parts to the newer master bedroom. We resolved this path and made it more rational while working with a structural engineer to make sure we maintained important components while opening the interior up. The final layout is below: the first floor is on the left and the second floor on the right.
NO TIME TO WASTE
As a design + build studio, we are now moving into the implementation phase. With any project, we submit building permit applications. Sometimes we have to wait for approval. We always use this time to make sure we understand more detailed aspects of the project. Finishes for walls and have conversations about lighting in different rooms. The magic of a design + build project is that all of the final decisions don’t have to be made before construction starts. The approach allows people to see the progress and be more flexible with the pace of design decisions. Plus, this is a good time to be in pre-construction with material costs potentially coming down. We are looking forward to the next steps., and having a front row seat for bring this to life.