COLUMBIA CRAFTSMAN - FULL REMODEL / ADDITION
Location
Bellingham, WA
Year
2025 - In Construction
The family living in this 1908 craftsman love their home’s character and charm, but simply needed more space. Instead of purchasing a new home, these clients opted to add just the space that they needed to their existing home, taking care to preserve the character of the home while creating a more energy-efficient envelope and preserving a large sycamore tree in the backyard.
In this remodel, the important factors were in providing ample natural light in the morning, visually connecting the kitchen to the backyard, and creating little moments of joy within all of the nooks and unique spaces within the house. Given the small existing footprint, and the desire to keep the addition small, rooms are rearranged in the existing envelope efficiently. A stair is tucked into what is now a cramped hallway, with built-in shelves wrapping an existing mechanical chase. The toilet is tucked into the nook under the stairs so that there is ample room for a large, tiled shower. The remainder of the under-stair nook is used for built-in linen storage.
The existing kitchen is transformed into a wainscoting-clad dining room where holiday meals are set to take place and that serves as a new transition from living space to kitchen. The addition contains a new kitchen with a built-in nook for cozy family pancake breakfasts or for one to sit, watch the kids play outside, and enjoy a cup of tea and chat while the other makes dinner.
Connecting the indoors and outdoors is a greenhouse-like mudroom with built-in storage in a bench and cubbies that line the stairs to the new basement. Laundry is moved to the basement where it will not create excess noise upstairs in the living space.
On the way upstairs is a cozy reading nook built into the shelf at the top of the stairs that will make its reader feel as though she is in a tree house. On the second floor are two new bedrooms and a new bathroom as well as a flex space for crafts or family movie nights.
