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. ​

This is a project I'm currently working on - a passive solar home for a rural site in the Town of Viroqua.  The 8-acre property is one of six parcels which make up a community of organic farming estates.  Owners of these farmettes agree to grow or produce organic food for sale or their own user and to use their land in a way that enhances natural diversity for humans and wildlife.  

Most of the 2,000 square foot home will be slab on grade, although there will be a small basement for utilities, storage, a hobby room and a root cellar.  The long face of the home is oriented 15 degrees west of south.  This orientation was arrived at as a compromise between a due south orientation for maximum solar gain and the southwest orientation of the site's contours.  The concrete slab floor will absorb heat on sunny winter days and release it at night.   The main rooms - dining / living room, 2 bedrooms and screen porch - are on the south side of the house.  The stair, bathrooms and laundry room are on the north side.  The kitchen borrows light and heat from the living and dining room.

The site is gently sloping, and the north and east sides are partially bermed into the hill to work with the natural slope.  The west side and half of the south side of the house are completely above grade.  

A separate 2-car garage to the west of the house will include a workshop and storage area.  The plan includes future solar panels and a cistern for rainwater collection.

Located on the north shore of Lake Wisconsin, near Merrimac, this vacation cottage was originally designed in a half-timber chalet style.  The owners' goals were to change the exterior style, expand the kitchen, add a bedroom and 3-season room and replace the flat-roofed garage. 

My clients' original idea was to add a bedroom suite above the garage, but I showed them how a new bedroom could be tucked under the kitchen addition instead, resulting in a smaller overall addition and eliminating the need to run plumbing and heating to the garage.

The "before" picture below shows the half-timber chalet style, reflected in applied trim boards and Swiss-style railing.  A deck wrapped around all four sides of the cottage, but only the lake-facing side was ever used.  The flat roof above the garage on the left side appeared to be designed as an outdoor seating area but had fallen into disrepair.  

The "after" picture above shows the style transformation that occurred by eliminating most of the wraparound deck, replacing the original railings with cable railings and changing the original stucco on the upper level of the house to lap siding and shakes.  The new exterior color scheme of french blue with accents of white and pale gray gives a more nautical feel to the house.

I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Dubuque to photograph a remodel / addition project that I designed.  The home previously belonged to the grandmother of my client, Cathy, and has been in her family for over 100 years.   Although it had a lot of charm, the home needed a more functional kitchen and dining area, a larger living room, an updated bathroom and a dedicated office for Cathy, who works from home.  Cathy also requested a large open space where she could teach yoga.
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Above is the original house.  Below is an "after" photo with the addition on the left and the original house on the right.  The new yoga studio is on the lower level of the addition, and the living room is above it.  The addition utilizes the same proportions, roof pitches, siding, roofing and window styles as the original farmhouse.
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The new living room includes a cozy reading nook with built-in bookshelves, drawers, lighting and a custom cushion.

The living room also includes a wood-burning stove, shown in the two photos below.

​Below the living room is the yoga studio.

Below are "before" and "after" photos of the east wall of the kitchen.  The existing kitchen was in a small nook off of the dining room, containing the sink, counter and cabinets.  The refrigerator and range were located in the adjacent dining room.  

In the remodel, the dining table was moved to another room.  To create more wall space for appliances, cabinets and counters,  the basement stair was relocated, a door was eliminated, and the window sills were raised.  The sink was relocated from the small nook to the former dining room, creating a more functional work triangle.

The next four photos show before and after pictures of the former kitchen, set back in its little nook.   With the kitchen sink relocated, the space becomes more of a pantry, offering supplemental work and storage space.

I'm very excited to be able to share photos of the Lake Wisconsin Home that I designed for a lakefront site near Merrimac Wisconsin.  These photos were taken by the very talented interior designer on the project, Lauren J Piskula of Deluxe Design Studio in Minneapolis.   The photo above shows the living room fireplace from the dining area.

Here is a view from the living room looking back at the kitchen and dining area.  To the right is the stair to the entry foyer, with a sitting area in the loft above it.  The dark-stained trusses contrast with the white shaker-style cabinets.

This is the stair leading from the entry foyer to the second floor.  The dark-stained wood posts and cable railing combine rusticism and modernity.

This is the sitting area at the top of the stair, which overlooks the great room.

The bunk room is one of five sleeping rooms in the home.  Its custom-built bunk beds can sleep up to 10 people.

The master bathroom contains his and hers vanities, a beautiful free-standing tub, separate toilet room and large glass-enclosed shower.

The screen porch overlooks Lake Wisconsin. The stone patio beyond includes a swimming pool and outdoor kitchen.  A wood-burning fireplace is the interior focal point of the room.

This current project is an addition and remodel of a one-story ranch home in Spring Green.  With a growing family, my clients' goals include enlarging their kitchen and dining area, creating a new family room and adding a master bedroom suite.  The larger kitchen that they envision will not fit within the existing house, so most of the existing kitchen will be closed off to create a new mud room to the garage, and the new kitchen will occupy the former dining area, as well as part of the addition. 

Although the owners desire an open plan, they also want a feeling of separation between the kitchen / dining area and the family room.  Nonstructural columns and stairs between the dining and family room areas will create that sense of separation, as well as giving the family room a higher ceiling.

The new master suite is almost twice as large as the existing master suite.  The former master suite will be shared by two of the children.

Challenges include working around the existing exterior stair to the basement, making the rooflines work and keeping the proportions of the addition similar to those of the existing home.  Construction is expected to start this summer.

View of the existing dining area from the existing galley-style kitchen - the addition will sit to the right of the photo.

View of the galley-style kitchen from the existing dining area - the addition will connect beyond the sliding patio door on the left.

I'm currently designing a new Prairie Style home for clients who own property in the Town of Dodgeville, overlooking Governor Dodge State Park.  Two big ideas shape the house:  a band of clerestory windows above the great room and a covered porch facing the back of the 60 acre property.  

The clerestory windows are a band of high glass on all four walls of the great room, which bring light into the middle of the house.  The living area will be dramatic, with a 19 foot high ceiling.

The porch facing the back yard is defined on three sides by the walls of the house.  It is surrounded by the sun room, great room and master bedroom and provides a sheltered place to sit when it's rainy or too hot to sit in the sun.  The yard beyond the porch will include a fire pit, seating, trellis and garden.

Typical Prairie Style features include wide (3 foot) overhangs, hip roofs, horizontal wings stretching out into the property and stone columns.  Windows wrap around the corners of the dining area, master bedroom and sun room.  

The children's wing includes a den with pool table, foosball table and TV area where the children can entertain their friends without disturbing the adults in the great room.  The master suite is located at the opposite corner of the house from the children's wing for privacy.  Double garage doors will allow the owners to drive straight out of their garage instead of having to back out.  Planning ahead for their retirement years, the owners asked for 3 foot doors throughout the house, a no-threshold shower in the master bathroom and no steps from the garage and porches into the house, common features of Universal Design.  With no second story and no basement, there are no stairs to navigate.

The great room, although open, is visually separated into three areas.  The living area is defined by its high ceiling and columns.  The dining area is defined by a 8'4" ceiling height and by walls and windows wrapping around three sides, creating a more intimate space for watching wildlife in the back yard.  The remainder of the house has 9' ceilings.  

This recently completed project was designed for clients in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, who own property overlooking Lake Michigan.  Staying within their budget was important to them, and they were willing to keep the size somewhat modest in order to keep costs in check.  The main level holds the great room, entry, 1/2 bath, mud room/ laundry and master suite.  Two additional bedrooms, a full bath and family room are in the walk-out basement.   Total finished area is approximately 2,000 square feet.  All of the main spaces have views of the lake. 

The footprint of the main level is 1,300 square feet, not including the garage.  Priority was given to the great room, which has a vaulted ceiling and extra high windows overlooking the lake.  The master bedroom, at 12' x 13', is smaller than typical for a custom home.  Eight foot ceilings throughout the main level, aside from the great room, also help to keep costs down.  Another cost-saving measure was to keep the roofline simple so that it is easier to build.  

The main level floor plan is efficient and compact.  To keep the project in budget, most areas of the house are modest in size, but the great room is spacious.

The street facade is simple but nicely composed and well proportioned.

The majority of windows are on the east side, facing Lake Michigan.