Even though I promised myself last night that I wouldn’t doom the scrolls, I woke up at 2am and did. It immediately made me anxious and I eventually realized it wasn’t doing me any good. This morning’s election news wasn’t as bad as many had predicted, and there were plenty of bright spots, including a victory over abortion rights in every measure on a national vote. Thank you to everyone who called, canvassed, texted, talked to friends and family and voted. This is important.
Today, I’m taking a different angle to share our process of adding a dining room and living room. Read on to learn more.
Dining + Living Room Increase Plan
Last spring, when we were trying to decide how to create a better layout for our house, it was unnecessary for us to sit on the deck and talk about how big it was. Then we have a lightbulb moment. We should enclose our huge deck and make it a living space. This is the most feasible and economical way to expand the size of our house. Craig immediately started making plans. We were back in RI in the summer and Craig was obsessed with the “how to”. He wrote and rewrote the plan several times, and by the fall he was ready to get to work.
Our house is small and not ideally laid out. The kitchen faces the backyard which is great, but the living room faces the road. The two rooms are mostly separated, which makes the flow of the house less than ideal. The deck runs from the kitchen to the backyard, making it the perfect place to build an open plan dining and living room. Fortunately, the deck’s foundation was strong and Craig was able to start building on it.
The floor is very solid and mostly level, which makes Craig’s life easier to put down the subfloor and frame the walls. Before we started, Craig did a detailed layout plan, especially the doors and windows (which we ordered in late summer). One of our main goals with this space was to make it feel like we brought the outdoors inside. We installed 7 windows and 2 large sliding doors.
Craig starts with the walls, then the ceiling, then the subfloor. When it was done, he installed the windows and then the sliding doors. Craig did everything himself except for the metal roof and wiring we installed. Everything is more expensive now, materials and labor.We waited as long as possible for the price to drop, and they’ve done it, but they’re still a lot more than what we paid Last time we added it in Rhode Island before Covid. Wood and spray foam insulation are by far the most expensive.
Plans and inspiration for new spaces
continue Our Nordic New England Farmhouse Inspired, our space plans incorporate design elements from classic New England, Scandinavian design and Vermont farmhouse style. It’s a ranch, so the house has very little “personality” or unique details, but it also gave us more space to be creative.
In terms of design and decorative elements, we will use a lot of natural wood, textured walls (plaster) and neutral fabrics.We plan to use Sawyer Mason. We now use Sawyer Mason floors in both spaces (Our additions in RI and Our kitchen in Vermont). I really can’t say enough good things about their floors. With three animals and a toddler, they withstand heavy use well, they look incredible, they are easy to install, and they use sustainable practices and green materials.
We also installed Jotul’s wood burning stove (yay!). I’ve been looking for a good corner section to place the interior walls. I usually buy furniture from Sixpenny, but all of their stuff is way too big. I found this L-shaped section from Crate & Barrel Comes in perfect size (and condom). If anyone has experience with this style please let me know!
We will do unfinished pine on the ceiling and possibly continue on the interior walls. One of Craig’s exterior walls will be plastered in shades of beige or grey. We will place a Jotul wood burning stove in the corner on the same side of the living room space. On the other side of the room we will make a farmhouse table with a bench and chairs. Here are some inspirations we’ve been pinning.
The process is ongoing and we expect spray foam insulation to be complete by the end of the month and fireplace installation to be completed by December. I’ll share more progress as we go along!
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