Plan

The house started out as 1750 square feet, more or less, in 1958. Like most tri-level homes of this vintage, it was trying to accomplish a lot with that small amount of space. We got to thinking about how we live, and how we would like the house to function. We really dislike wasted space, so more was not better; it was actually disdained. We knew we wanted the flexibility to change the space over time, so we made sure to eliminate walls in the living area, so there would be a big open plan. We landed on about 2,500 square feet, broken out into several areas.

With the original plan, the living area would not comfortably accommodate more than two families with children coming over for a visit, so the living area needed to be enlarged. To get the space, we decided to scrap the existing kitchen, and take that space into the living area, creating a much larger living space. The living area will open to a new outdoor living area off the front of the home through three french door units, and will allow us to blur the lines of the indoors with the outdoors by kicking open all those doors. This patio living space will have a fire feature for cool evenings, and guests can wander in and out of the living room and back out onto the patio.

The kitchen was next on the hit list since we deleted it from the original floor plan. My wife rocks in the kitchen (she caters…), and so even though we moved from a house where I designed and built the last kitchen (which we both loved), she was looking for more upgrades and in particular more prep space. We are bumping out the back wall on this house about ten feet to create the new kitchen. This kitchen will boast a ten foot island and a large walk in pantry, and room for a big long table that will seat a bunch of friends. I expect great meals to be born in that space.  Click the plan below to get a bigger view.

Next we needed to solve the bedroom situation. We have three children, and the three bedrooms on the second level would be dedicated to them and to a guest room. That left my wife and I without a bedroom. We decided that we would like to try to maximize the views of Pike’s Peak and the surrounding ridges, and so we opted for going up over the living room with a master suite addition. Bedroom, bathroom, and master closet will live up there and this space will open onto a balcony that overlooks the park, and provides a roof over the heads of those down on the front patio below.  Click the plan below to get a bigger view.

Last, I need an office space, away from the squeals of the kids, so we carved out about a hundred feet from the garage, and dedicated that to formal work space, complete with a big sliding barn door, so that I can open up a whole wall of the office on beautiful Colorado days.