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Click thumbnail to view more Hopkins & Porter Additions
A new arbor trellis helps create a series of outdoor rooms. Future grapevines or wisteria will add a sense of seclusion from neighbors and traffic. The refurbished garage is a charming link to the backyard's past.
A young couple with their high school-aged son were pushing the limits of this Bethesda home, not because of family size but because of the spatial demands of their many interests, requiring the basement be given over to a music rehearsal/recording studio, the front parlor to a grand piano, and the family room to an enormous rolltop desk overflowing with family projects.
The family believed in the unique quality of their location, and believed they had a choice of either tearing down and replacing their existing house, as many of their neighbors were doing, or totally renovating the major spaces in their existing house and expanding living areas into the rear yard. After much analysis, Hopkins & Porter and the owners agreed renovation was the right path.
The resulting design was a complete opening up, re-organization, and integration of the old house into previously congested addition spaces, allowing for a free flowing new kitchen, family room, and living area that continues into a new twin-gabled screened porch and deck. Steps lead down to an arbor-sheltered rear yard that is laid out to afford a series of outdoor "rooms". An adjacent "antique" garage was able to be saved and returned to life. The basement was transformed into an open-plan apartment for the son, connected to a newly finished music room. A new basement bath with glass block shower, a new powder room, and two renovated upstairs baths were included. A new front portico and walkway celebrate their newly energized Bethesda home. And by simply relocating a doorway, the grand piano that still occupies the front parlor does so now with deserved comfort and grace.
A new front portico and walkway enhance the original architecture.
(Right) New twin-gabled screened porch and deck.
To see more photos of this project go to Kitchen and Bath
Two months before completion, the owners wrote:
"We want you to know how pleased we are with your design work. Every part of it— the front portico, the back porch and deck, the basement (especially the glass blocks, which were installed yesterday and look great), and the kitchen/family room, now feel welcoming and comfortable and are interesting and open. And it's not even finished!"
Adding to the owner's belief in Hopkins & Porter, H&P's Production Team's efforts allowed the owners to move back into their renovated home almost three months ahead of schedule.