I’ll Know It When I See It

Written by Jaqui Lividini

This week’s post is about the multiple changes and adaptations that must be made during a renovation project. Unfortunately, some of these happen way past the point of comfort. Even with great plans on paper, once on site, some of your plans might not work out according to the initial design. These types of revisions are generally costly and usually disappointing to some degree. However, we made it work and even found some benefits to the changes!

In our case, the design for the front of our house had to change in two ways – the garages and the staircase. Our initial plans had both garages set back equally with a pass through under the front staircase to get to the garage on the left. When Charles Riley (our design guru) and I were on site, we realized the house would be in greater balance if the left garage door were moved forward to sit flush with the staircase. In addition to balance, this change actually gives the house more dimension and texture and makes the front more interesting aesthetically.

Another change was to the front stairway itself. The original design was always a bit funky with the stairway actually extending beyond the house. Our Design Development Project Manager Jeff Thomas figured out (after much measuring) that by putting in a dogleg we could alleviate the awkward step situation. This change not only looked better, but it also had superior functionality.

Although these changes demanded additional costs, they were well worth it in the end. These were design changes that needed to be made – and ones that we couldn’t have realized until we were actually on site.  So, the takeaway is that you must plan for last minute changes in your renovation project—they will probably add to your budget, but they will almost certainly also add to your renovation’s success!