After moving in to the small house in May of 2010 and living with the reduced space for six months, we decided that we wanted to find a way to give ourselves a little more space. In Andover it is very common to see additions that are twice the size of the original house, or to see the original house torn down completely and a 3000 + square foot home built in its place. The large American home is not a sustainable model and yet it continues to be increasingly the norm. We wanted to find a way to add more space, without creating a huge environmental impact by using a large amount of new building resources. Ultimately we decided that using the existing space in the basement to create a family room/guest room and a 3/4 bathroom would be the most effective way to accomplish those goals. We would be utilizing existing space and resources, and still increasing our living space.
We had been using the basement to store a lot of outdoor gear, craft supplies, photo albums, ect… and realized that we would not be able to use it for this if we made it into a living space. So we had to figure out where those items would go, but again we wanted to find a way to utilize our existing spaces. The attic was an unused space, but had only a little square in the ceiling to access it, so we decided to add a pull-down stair case, reinforce the beams and put in a plywood floor. The work was done throughout March, April and into May of 2011. When it was completed we had not changed the footprint of the house, but we had gained a family room, which doubles as a guest room, a 3/4 bath, a utility sink area, and storage in the attic.
The basement family room
The deck with the awning retracted.
Our downstairs can feel very cramped at times and we have this wonderful large deck off the back, but in the summer it gets too hot to use. We thought about putting on a screened-in porch, but that would be resource intensive and costly. So we found that a low impact/low cost way to go about that would be to buy a retractable awning. It is not the most attractive option, but it is economical and versatile. We have it up all summer when it provides shade for the deck and the
kitchen, and in the winter we can put it away and get the passive solar heating in the kitchen. We also now have more living space utilizing the existing deck because of the awning.
