An update on a 60s classic

It was a couple of years ago that I got a call for a project that really excited me.  This client had a really interesting mid-century house and they wanted to rebuild a derelict sun porch.  The house was so cool in its circular entry, terrazzo floors, and quintessential 60s living room with floor-to-ceiling windows, a deep overhang, and a stone wall extending out onto the terrace beyond.  After a stop and start because of wanting to make sure they weren’t putting too much money into the house, I was given the official go on making a new sun room happen.  Here is what we started with:

Fitting into the framework of the existing style was challenging only in terms of the living room overhang.  I had to respect it and not obscure it, but in turn I only had so much room for my new roof and the volume of the interior of the new room.  I came up with two basic addition shapes and I presented them to the client, with an alternate window scheme for one:

They chose the taller structure, which was the one I was pushing.  I liked how I could hark back to the rhythm of the living room windows in how I broke up the sunroom’s.  I also liked how the chosen scheme opened up to their yard which backed up to an arboretum.

I’m writing about this today because I went yesterday to take some photographs and was really happy with the results.

I couldn’t get a good shot from back too far to take in the whole addition as it relates to the existing house unfortunately.  (I need these images for a fancy display board and there was a blue tarp I couldn’t move in the shot if I got too far out!)  I love the colors the clients chose, as yellow and grey is one of my favorite color combos.

I’m not really good at talking about my decisions on design because I feel like the answers are given to me by the surroundings or some divine worm that weezles its way into my subconscious.  So I feel that it’s unfair for me to take a lot of  credit for a job well done.  But this is one I am proud of.  I love the lines of the sunroom’s roof overhang, the coupling of windows/transoms/skylights show an attention to detail that not every house is privileged to have. You can’t even tell that the skylights are slightly off-centered from the windows due to a contractor framing error, my only complaint about the project.   Now that it’s built and not perceptible to the unknowing eye I’m glad I didn’t make an enemy of the contractor by making him tear the whole thing down and start over!

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One Response to An update on a 60s classic

  1. Lauren says:

    Kudos. I love the shot of skylights + windows. Very nice!