Silver Spring Addition

These clients came to us with a request to combine their four room kitchen and living room spaces into one great room, to add a new primary suite for them above the existing one story kitchen area, and to add a stair to the attic space. We modeled their existing Tudor style house in our 3D drafting program to better explore the massing of the addition and how to tie the stairs into the existing attic roofline. We replaced the first floor walls with large decorative columns and a dropped beam, allowing us to create a separation between the kitchen and the living room, while creating a beautiful open space. The clients opted for sleek European style inset cabinets with a leathered finish granite countertop, creating a soothing and modern kitchen. We worked with them on a “command center cabinet” – a 4′ wide cabinet with retractable doors for the microwave, coffee machine, and snack areas. As we always say: the coffee machine is the most important part of any kitchen. On the other side of the great room, we closed a second front door to create space for a television room. Then we added a side entrance and stair that opens onto a small drop zone and built in banquette.

Above the new kitchen great room, we added an addition for a primary suite. The contractor matched the look and feel of the traditional Tudor look with modern materials that create a more energy efficient enclosure. The bathroom has an efficient layout, fitting double sinks, a toilet, and a generous shower in a small footprint. The clients chose a gorgeous herringbone accent wall in the shower to contrast with the more staid subway tile on the other walls. A vivid navy vanity rounds out a clean but visually interesting bathroom. The suite includes a king size bedroom, a large walk in closet, and a laundry room. Casement windows, in lieu of a more traditional double hung, allow for ore airflow and crucial egress requirements, all in the same opening size as elsewhere on the house.

Finally, we removed a very small bedroom to allow for a new staircase into the attic storage space. Oak stairs and handrails create a rich contrast with the light walls and ceiling. The under stair space was reclaimed for storage, and the new attic over the primary suite is additional storage space, freeing the attic for livable space. A large pendant light fixture illuminates the new double height stair space.