Adding a little, gaining a lot - house remodeling

Sunset, April, 1991

To the eave line or just slightly beyond are the limits for these sliver additions. Even though they expand floor space by no more than 135 square feet (if at all), the additions open up and change the rooms they adjoin. They also show ways to expand when setback regulations prohibit larger additions. Most of the additions start with a wide opening cut in an outside wall. Structurally, this means that a header and load-bearing posts must be installed. Some simply cantilever outward and tie into the existing foundation. Others require new foundations tied into the old.

These additions range from unobtrusive to dramatic. The quieter ones blend with matching paint or siding. Others, like the glass-block bays (page 104) or the curved-top addition (page 105), add contemporary flair. Each meets a particular need: to incorporate furniture, to create an intimate eating area, to open the house to the garden, or to edit unwanted views.

5 feet more and a breakfast room

Explaining why her 92-inch-wide breakfast nook stops at the edge of her old front porch, homeowner Kathryn Kilcoyne explains, "We didn't want to do any foundation work." But the 5 feet of added depth allowed room for built-in seating on three sides. The intimate space sits out of the way at the end of a slender kitchen. Because of the porch's shallow-pitched roof and low eave line, the nook's roof was raised slightly to make it seem less cramped. The kitchen ceiling was also opened up to the rafters, revealing a ridge more than 10 feet high a surprising volume in the ranch-style house. The addition's floor rests on angled sleepers that secure to the old porch and bring the floor level with the rest of the kitchen. Dark-stained hardwood floors and white-painted walls and cabinetry unify the spaces. Design was by Molly Ruth Hale, Menlo Park, California. Dining under eaves-almost outdoors

It goes without saying that houses generally have walls, windows, and doors between the interior and exterior. But when architect Robert Peterson remodeled his own house in Menlo Park, California, he designed the kitchen with a wall of glass doors that he can fold out of the way on warm days to make it seem as if he were eating outside.

By placing the folding doors at the eave line, the remodel expands the kitchen by 3 feet. The new opening measures almost 14 feet wide at the old outside wall, but since part of the added space has an angled side, the opening for the doors narrows to a little over 10 feet. The three wide doors and the fixed windows at each end all have the same design, so that, when the doors are shut, they all look like windows. To further brighten the kitchen, three skylights cut into the roof above the extension. Running above the beam that replaced the old outside wall, the skylight wells reach into the room.

They went just beyond the eaves

The greatest value for any improvement we've made in the house" is how Melinda and Ron Barth describe their glassenclosed sliver of a breakfast bay. They and their sons use the sunny 70-square-foot nook for casual dining, reading, homework, and end-of-the-day chats.