Signed on the Dotted Line

We signed the contract and wrote the first of many checks to our architect / contractor based on the first concept designs he did for us.  We requested a number of changes already and are waiting to hear back but here are the first ideas:

Old house on top, new house on bottom.

We've chosen a contemporary design - what is called maison californienne, which has a positive connotation.  I'm sure there are other words not so nice if it's not of your taste.  No more neo-provençal for us!

Unfortunately, I don't have a south-facing diagram which in some ways is most interesting because it's the "front" of the house.  We will move the exterior walls on both the south and east sides outward to create a large open living space (see below), with large windows on both sides (see above) that open into the garden.

Ground Level:

We're building the extension in wood - a relatively unusual choice. The current house is built in the ubiquitous concrete blocks but we've decided to go for wood because it's a) light in weight and b) a renewable resource.

Top Level:

The next steps are to go through a couple of iterations until we reach the final design we want and to create an overall estimate to be sure we don't go above our budgeted amount.  In addition, we will do a little politicking with the local building authorities and the city hall and in the region to lay the groundwork to get our application approved.  Once we complete the application (~4-6 weeks from now) it will be approximately a 3 month wait until we can start.

Which is good because I'm dreading having to move out of my house into a tiny apartment while this transformation takes place!   
 

Comments

[kathleen]

beautiful! you should be featured in DWELL magazine :-)