Say Goodbye to McMansions

I regularly read news on the internet, and an article on the WSJ's MarketWatch caught my eye this morning. It is about the trend to smaller homes in America!

As a self-proclaimed 'Not So Big' architect, I have seen this trend coming over the past 3-5 years. My clients tend to delight in the small, cozy nooks that I design for them, while foregoing some rooms that used to be standard in a home (such as the formal dining room).

The Armstrongs, a couple nearing retirement, hired me to help them make the home they built over 40 years ago work better for their Golden Years. One of the changes we made was a tiny addition to Margaret's sewing room - which doubles as a playroom for grandchildren - and triples as a dining room extension for holiday parties. In order to make it work well for these uses, and to make it feel more inviting, we basically pushed out one exterior wall 2'-6" under the eave. We added a row of windows and a window seat with storage underneath. By improving the functionality of this room, with just a small addition, we greatly increased the amount of activities that could happen there!

The Importance of an Entry Place

Here's my new basement office entry! My husband, Thomas, and I started moving back into the house just as the heavy snow started to fall in December. Right away, we appreciated the generous entry that we had created to the basement. If you read my Lwebuga House blog, you'll see that excavating for the new entry was not a small task, but it made the basement a comfortable place to be throughout the snowstorm.

If you hope to build a home office space that will welcome customers, a proper entry is perhaps the most important aspect of your project. It is important to recognize that the entry doesn't start at the door! When designing any entry space, I start by thinking about the entire process of entering a space, from the sidewalk on. What impression do you want to give?

In my own home office, I designed the entry to feel more business-like than a home entry... thus the wide walkway, heavy concrete retaining walls with planters, a commercial-type trough drain in the concrete sidewalk leading down to the door, and a door that looks a little more commercial than residential.

Small Projects

It seems to me that many people aren't quite sure what to expect from an architect... many times, I hear the comment, "I'd hire an architect, but my project is too small." Even with a small project, an architect can help you think through different design options - and 0ften he or she can present options you have never considered! Last year around this time, I started working with Janet. Her project was small - converting an existing detached 1-car garage into a guest bedroom + bathroom. Here's a photo of how it looked before:

For our first meeting, I sketched up 3 options for us to review together. Over about an hour, we walked through the pros and cons of each of these design options.

After reviewing these options, Janet decided that we should proceed with Option C, so we did. Below are some finished photos of the project, skillfully completed by a local builder, Matt Sears.

Calculating Sun Angles

A powerful (and free...) tool for modeling is Google's 'Sketchup'. We regularly use Sketchup to help our clients envision their new addition or new house. For Stacey and Matthew Flier, a primary concern for their new sunroom addition was: how will the sun come through the windows or be blocked by the eaves throughout the year? We designed the roof overhangs in Sketchup, using a tool to view the sun angles throughout the year. This animated model shows sun angles in the afternoons from January to December.

You can see how the overhangs effectively block the sun in the early summer months, but not in the late summer and early fall. This study told us that a pergola would be necessary to help shade the lower windows and glass french doors for those months.

Making it Look Like It's Always Been There

Why do some house additions stick out like sore thumbs? Most times, it's because the addition was just 'done' without drawings or a consideration of how it would really look.

Most of our clients at Spinnaker Architect come to us with the question... "Can we build this addition and still make it look like it belongs to the original house?" Of course! That's our specialty!

Dan & Fran Compton's House - can you tell what part is the addition?


Here's a BEFORE picture. If you didn't spot the addition, don't feel bad - several of Dan & Fran's neighbors and friends missed it, too! After they completed the addition in 2005, some of their friends (who hadn't seen the construction) asked them, "Weren't you planning a big addition project this summer?" They were delighted to answer, yes, and it's done - can't you see it?

This picture (above) is the house my husband and I live in, and it's where I operate Spinnaker Architect. In 2008, I managed construction for a whole house remodel that we had been planning on doing for 4 years. When the new roof was being installed, neighbors who are kitty-corner to our house stopped by because they needed resolution on an arguement they were having: the husband thought that we were just getting a new roof, and the wife said, "No, they added that whole new piece on the roof!" Sure enough, she was right - we had added a dormer, and enclosed the front porch. The photo below shows our house BEFORE the project.