The way houses are added on to is often chaotic because solving a specific problem is paramount and the big picture is ignored. You start with a modest two-bedroom home and realize that entertaining is difficult in the confined spaces, so… you add a sunny room to solve that problem.

You are tired of parking in the inclement weather and can only afford to build a single car garage, so you make it extra deep for storage. As money loosens up, you build a breezeway to connect the garage, and it is so big you try to use it as a family room, forgetting that traffic slices and dices the space up.

So is the case with this project. An overview of the "remodeled" house in Dearborn is not quite right. My point is that if you need to solve a particular problem, create a master plan that will allow modifications in the future to work as a whole. PROBLEM

The original house was quite small. The front entry (A) was a confined air lock entry leading to the living room (B). The stair (C) up and down is centered between the kitchen (D) and living room. The small dinette (E) became simply a wide hallway when the dining room addition (F) was built.

The bedrooms (G & H) were minimal with minimal closets. A single hall bath (I) had to serve the entire house. The homeowners’ main desire was to enlarge the master bedroom, add closets and a second bathroom. Outdoor living was an afterthought on the postage stamp concrete patio (J). The long, narrow garage (K) and breezeway/turned family room (L) clearly didn’t work. This family needed a family entry and less disjointed living spaces. SOLUTION

The plan was to leave the bedrooms (G&H) and hall bath (I) alone and create a new, up to date master bedroom elsewhere. An addition was needed for this, but we added less square footage when we made an “inverse addition”(M) - creating spaces out of existing structure. A master bathroom (N) and closets (O) nestle neatly in the back of the garage. The actual addition (P) is for the master bedroom, utilizing a door that was in the family room (L). We took the front part of the family room (another inverse addition) to create a proper family entry (Q), complete with a closet and “To Go” shelf. The remainder of the family room became a formal dining room (R) - a room with way less traffic. New French doors (S) lead out to a new, large patio (T). The kitchen (D) was expanded out with a bump out, since we didn’t want to change the stairways (C). Now we have room for a kitchen island and a closet style pantry. We removed two walls of the former dining room (F) to make the whole space an open kitchen/family room (V). Marcia Lyon is a professional remodeling designer and freelance writer, producing projects in Ann Arbor, Metro Detroit and several other areas across the United States and Canada. Her new E-book on remodeling design is available on her web site www.creatingspaces.net. Reach her at Marcia@creatingspaces.net or at 515-991-8880.