This homeowner and his family enjoy their Takoma Park neighborhood and the privacy that their cul-de-sac offers, but wanted amenities and space that their current one story home with an unfinished basement afforded. Instead of moving, he contacted us to help him transform his home into a great place for his kids to grow up in and to come home. His ambitious goals included making the existing space work better and to add a swimming pool and a master bedroom/bathroom.

Because of the practicalities of construction, we phased the design/construction in two phases, one phase for the existing house, one for the addition. The walk out basement was an obvious area for immediate improvement. It represents nearly 50% of the space of the home, yet it is only used as storage. With an eye toward the swimming pool addition on the same level, it seemed wises to use the basement as a family/entertainment room.

We began by blocking out the space. A mechanical room and electrical room with louvered doors were blocked out in one corner. A laundry room, near existing plumbing was blocked out, as was a basement full bathroom in the location of the existing bathroom. The bathroom was reconfigured to add a shower and a door in a new location, but to keep the toilet at the existing flange. A large open family room area, site of a future entertainment center including a pool table and a television occupied the rest of the space. A wood-burning fireplace was located in a corner. We also planned to replace the steps to the kitchen with new, finished oak staircase with a handrail.

During this first phase, it also made sense to achieve the homeowner’s major goal with respect to the kitchen. He wanted to open up the kitchen to the dining room and the existing living room. The basemen staircase walls were all that was in the way, so we designed away these walls and inserted appropriate structural support overhead.