A Tudor-style house on a sloping site had been renovated over the years in a manner that gave its interior a disconnected, chopped-up feeling. Our clients were also looking for additional space as they were now working from home more than ever before.

After studying several options, including the conversion of an existing screened porch, we designed a new addition with a large entertainment room on the ground floor to accommodate their billiard table and grand piano. On the second floor of the addition, there is a new primary suite with a luxuriously proportioned bath.

We proposed small but strategic changes to the existing house to make it more suitable for contemporary living. By removing an interior wall, we could expand the kitchen and join it with the dining room. New millwork and pocket doors provide privacy and architectural clarity to an informal TV room that had been awkwardly connected to the kitchen.

Upstairs, a new bedroom and home office are created within the footprint of the old primary bedroom. Subtle tweaks to the floor plan give a sense of order to the circulation joining the new spaces to the original central stair hall.

The exterior of the new addition adopts the Tudor language of decorative half-timbering found on the existing house, but the new timber frames are infilled with vertical wood siding instead of stucco. The siding and timbers are stained dark charcoal, visually setting the addition apart from the existing construction and allowing it to recede into the wooded lot.