This home, currently on the boards, is designed for a flat site in the Town of Arena in Iowa County Wisconsin.  My clients came to me with the idea of building an A-frame house on their rural site.  However, we quickly came to the conclusion that the tight space constraints of an A-frame would not meet their requirements.  A-frames, with their steeply pitched roofs which double as the walls of the house, are big on ceiling height but small on floor area.  

​Instead we opted for a design with a 1-1/2 story great room, with the remainder of the house being 2 stories in order to create adequate space for four bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths, a large walk-in pantry, loft, mud room and laundry.

The front and sides of the home utilize standard sized windows, saving the drama for the great room window wall which overlooks the forested south end of the property.  Exterior materials include black metal vertical siding, black standing seam roofs and black windows, with stained wood entry door, overhead doors and screen porch framing providing warm accents.

In addition to the interior conditioned space, there is a screen porch for enjoying the summer months bug-free, and a patio which wraps around two sides of the great room.

This was a fun project that was constructed earlier in the year.  It is the first carport that I've designed.  My client wanted a carport to blend in aesthetically with the home, just like the existing pool house and shed do.  The shape of the roofs, materials and colors all reference the other buildings on the site.  

The carport was built under the existing trees, and beautiful new landscaping connects it to the site as well.  Downlighting built into the ceiling of the carport is wired to a motion sensor which turns the lights on when the car approaches the carport or when the owner walks out of the front door of the house.  Rather than pour a concrete slab, my client opted for a gravel floor, in order to keep the feeling casual.  When there's no vehicle parked there, the carport can be used as a covered outdoor space.

This recent project illustrates a remarkable transformation that occurred when my clients decided to upgrade their recently purchased lakefront home overlooking Lake Wisconsin near Lodi.  Previous owners of the home clearly had some interesting ideas about how to make it unique, but when my clients purchased the home in 2019, it was woefully in need of an update.

The home consisted of a small cabin with a full basement and a later addition which stepped up the hill and had no basement below it.  The family room and main level bedroom had windows overlooking the lake, while the kitchen and dining area were in the newer part of the home, facing the street.  This project involved a total gut job on the inside, and the entire front part of the house ended up being replaced when it was discovered to be sagging.

The new design flips the kitchen and downstairs bedroom so that the kitchen and family room flow together as one space, with two large patio doors onto the enlarged lakeside deck.  The stair to the basement was relocated so that a laundry room and powder room could take its place at the front of the house, making more efficient use of the space.

On the second floor, part of an upstairs balcony overlooking the lake was enclosed to create more interior space for the bathroom and three bedrooms, two of which have doors onto the balcony.

The exterior of the home was dramatically changed when the street-facing balcony was replaced with a steeper roof and the T-11 siding was replaced with engineered siding.  The second story low-slope roof was also replaced with a steeper roof.  The front facade was given taller windows, a more attractive entry door and larger entry roof.  From the outside, the original home is barely recognizable due to the altered rooflines, windows and deck.

It's been a while since I've posted to my blog.  It's been a very busy spring and summer, and I only had the chance to photograph one of my completed projects.  The home was designed as a second residence for a couple living in Waukesha, who own property in a beautiful valley between Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills in Crawford County, Wisconsin.  It was important to my clients to have outdoor spaces where they could enjoy their beautiful property, and so there is a large deck and a screen porch on the main level.  Also on the main level are the great room and master bedroom suite.

The walkout basement contains utilities, a guest bedroom, office, exercise room and additional bathroom.  Unfortunately my photos don't do it justice.

Not long after the house was finished, my clients decided to sell their Waukesha home and make this their full time residence.

The general contractor for the home was Kickapoo Homes, Inc. of Viroqua.

I'm currently working on this remodel of an existing ranch-style home near Madison.  The three additions - a family room and a laundry room on the back side of the house, and the addition of a second story containing three bedrooms and a bathroom - will almost double the floor space and completely transform the exterior appearance of the house.

The laundry room sits directly behind the existing garage and serves as a mud room as well as a laundry.  The family room will have a vaulted ceiling, a large sliding door facing south toward the new patio, and a gas fireplace as a focal point at the east end.

The second story addition will be located above the existing kitchen, dining room and living room, and will contain three bedrooms plus a full bath.

I'm illustrating three alternatives for the new second story roof.  The first has a relatively low pitched gable facing the street, and reflects the mid-century vibe of the existing neighborhood.

The second has a steeper-pitched roof running parallel to the length of the house and gives it a more traditional appearance.

The third has a steep roof with shed dormers on the front and back to create head room for the bedrooms and bathroom.

All three versions make a dramatic change to the look of the house.

Here is a recent project that is currently under construction.  This vacation home sits on the south side of Lake Wisconsin near Lodi, and was purchased last spring by a family from the Madison area.  The home had some quirky features - such as cedar roof shingles and rock walls used in the living room, and second-floor decks on the front and back that continued as narrow overhangs on the sides of the house. 

The first floor was divided from front to back by a central bearing wall which created a long and narrow living room.  The kitchen had little connection to the living room, and the space opposite the kitchen was poorly utilized as a dining area, with a lot of wasted space.

The new owners chose to move the kitchen to the north (lake) side of the house, where it would be adjacent to the living area, and a dining area was incorporated into the new kitchen.  The shape of the new great room has nicer proportions and gives the public spaces of the house better views of the lake.  

The master bedroom moved to the south (street) side of the house and gained a walk-through closet and private bathroom.  The space previously utilized for the dining table and basement stair became a laundry room and 1/2 bath.  

On the second level, the three bedrooms were re-configured and expanded to include part of the lake-facing balcony.

The existing low-slope roofs were replaced with steeper ones to give the home a less squat appearance, transforming the exterior look of the house.

This project is titled "Boscobel Country Home #1" because it is, by coincidence, one of two homes that I've designed for two separate clients, who have properties in the same development outside of Boscobel Wisconsin.  The two clients both contacted me in the spring of 2014, within a month of each other.  

The clients for this project are from the Chicago area, and construction of their home was completed in 2017.  The general contractor for this project was Richard Kinney of Knapps Creek Builders in Blue River, Wisconsin.

The clients requested a home inspired by a famous fishing shack in Rockport, Massachusetts called "Motif No.1", shown below.  I hadn't heard of it, but according to the New England Historical Society, it may be the most-painted building in the United States.

This will be a vacation home and eventual retirement home for my clients.  They purchased most of their cabinets from Ikea, and many of the furnishings for the home were acquired from thrift stores.

I am currently working on construction drawings for a new home near Readstown, Wisconsin.  My clients will soon be empty nesters, and this will become their full-time home after they retire in a few years.  

On this site, the best long distance views and sun exposure throughout the day are to the southeast, and so all of the public spaces, including the screen porch and deck, as well as the master bedroom, are lined up along that side of the home.  

The garage is tucked under the house in order to make use of the site slope and also to reduce the amount of basement space.  With the exception of the guest entry / mud room, all of the living spaces are on the upper level.  A covered patio on the opposite end of the house from the garage is sized so that it could be used as a single-car carport in the future if the clients find that walking up and down stairs becomes too difficult.

The 3D floor plan below shows the arrangement of the public spaces and master bedroom along the southeast side of the house.  A den, guest bedroom, second bathroom and laundry occupy the northwest side of the house.  

The living room includes a 10' ceiling and large window grouping flanked by built-in shelving and a window seat.  It is divided from the kitchen by a partial wall which helps to define the two spaces but allows some visibility between them.  In place of a formal dining room, there is a dining nook with built-in seating, which is given a sense of separation by a partial wall and a 7' ceiling height.

The long 3D section through the house, shown below, clearly illustrates how the utilitarian spaces (garage and basement) sit below the main level of the house.  It also illustrates how the ceiling is highest in the center of the house (the living room) and steps down towards either end.

My client, Erin, was kind enough to share photos of her recently completed home makeover.  I originally began working with Erin and her husband Jeff in 2014.  They purchased their home years ago as a spec home but were ready to make an investment to turn it into their "forever home".  

Their first idea was to build an addition to the front of the house in order to expand the kitchen and dining area, (see "Lancaster Addition" post on 5/18/14) however they were not able to get a variance to extend the house into the front setback.

Next we looked at expanding the house upward, adding a second story and moving most of the bedrooms upstairs.  That was going to result in a much larger addition and a much bigger deal, since it meant taking off the existing roof.

The final concept was to add on to the side of the house, moving the guest bedrooms to the addition so that the kitchen, dining room and entry could expand into the former bedrooms.  This is the idea that was actually constructed.
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The result is a home that has gone from a plain Jane spec house to a spacious Craftsman-style home.  Erin did an excellent job of bringing the Craftsman theme throughout the added and remodeled areas. Erin's vision was expertly carried out by her general contractor, Jon Pickel Construction Inc. of Cuba City, Wisconsin.  The real stars of the house are the incredible cabinets and woodwork by Broihahn Custom Woodworks of Lancaster, Wisconsin.

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The front of the house "before"

The front of the house "after" - the addition of roof gables, replacement of the skinny porch posts with beefier Craftsman-style posts, higher quality siding materials and better detailing give the home tremendously more curb appeal than the original house had.

The original kitchen was too small and rather plain.  Most of it was turned into a new mudroom / laundry room, a space which was absent in the original house.

The new kitchen is situated in what was previously the bedroom wing.

Craftsman-style details are carried throughout the house, including in the range hood.

The tall cabinets in the kitchen conceal the refrigerator (right) and the passage to a hidden walk-through pantry (left).

A wet bar sits to the side of the dining room.

The entry foyer includes storage cabinets and a message center . . .

. . . as well as a built-in bench.

The back side of the bench is a china cabinet.

The existing living room was enhanced with new Craftsman-style trim, a new color scheme, new windows and door, replacement of the carpeting with hardwood flooring and an improved fireplace and mantel.

New bedrooms in the addition replace those that were repurposed for the kitchen and dining room.

Option #1, above, requires the least amount of alteration.  The existing doors and walls remain, and a new bathtub and window are added to the original closet.  To get to the new closet, the owners would walk through the new tub room.  One advantage to this arrangement is that the owners don't need to walk through the main part of the bathroom to get to the closet. ​