The Best Laid Plans

Written by Jaqui Lividini

As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes even the best laid plans have to change in the middle of a renovation project—and that was just the case this week! We met with our contractor to discuss the construction of the porch, and learned that the top of the porch’s shingle column as drawn on the design sketch would create an obstruction of our ocean view. 

This news created a bit of a predicament for us because we obviously can’t lose the view—that’s the greatest attribute of a beach cottage! A discussion seeking out possible solutions ensued, including thinner shingled columns and tapered columns similar to those of our neighbors. These ideas were eventually discarded because it would involve a whole new type of porch construction and that would add time and expense to the project.

In the end it was John who came up with the winning solution. We will build a shingle column base that is only 30 inches off the porch and then put a round wooden column over that—this solves the problem and gives us back our view! It’s a substantial change to the exterior design of the house—but it works, we are all happy with it, and that enables the renovation to keep moving forward!