One of the charms of many homes in areas like Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Washington, D.C. is the history and character contained in their walls. One of the drawbacks, of course, is that these same homes often also carry the legacy of a time in our history when families lived and worked very differently with fewer bathrooms, single-car garages, and less space.

 

One of our latest projects is a great example of this. It would seem very foreign in today’s market, but it was not uncommon for many older homes in this area to be built without a bathroom of any kind on the first floor. That’s a big problem for these clients because grandma is coming to live with them soon – not only are they going to need more room, they’re going to need a fully accessible bath easy for her to use on the first floor.

 

To address these needs we’ve designed and begun work on a screened in porch addition,  a new full bathroom for the 1st floor , the addition of a washer and dryer on the top floor along with a small pantry, and a beautiful new sliding glass door cut into the brick for easy flow out onto new porch.

 

(See exterior rendering below.)