I am excited to preserve the basic original floor plan of the Ridge Road house with a few changes. Guests, instead of just entering the dining room door on the south side, will see a covered deck along the entire side (the really old renditions of this house had a porch there). The porch/deck roof will be fairly flat to still let light in during the cooler months when the sun's arc is lower. The dining room entry door instead of being on the far-right-hand corner on that side will be centered off the porch with French doors.
From the dining room instead of having a half wall into the kitchen, it will have an island separating it from the kitchen, so hopefully a similar feel. I will maintain the dark lower kitchen cabinet bases (mostly drawers), using oak which the older 1920s kitchens often had. I am hoping this will be reminiscent to the 1960s kitchen Harry created but with oak instead of the plywood cabinets. Above the base cabinets will be a few shelves instead of cupboards to try and preserve an older house look. One tall (but not deep) oak cupboard will hopefully make up for a lack of upper cupboards- sort of a pantry cupboard. This tall floor-to-almost-ceiling cupboard will be near the island against the adjoining living room wall (about where the refrigerator used to be for those 'in the know.')
The living room which was always fairly open to the dining room will now be completely open with only the small wall behind the wood stove separating it from the kitchen.
The stairwell (oak to match kitchen cabinet bases) will be open and seen from the living room (which used to have a wall separating it from the stairwell hallway). Stairs can be beautiful and this will also make the living room larger and let in more light from the side lights surrounding the front door. I want to keep the shape of the original banister in the house, a squared off post with sloping sides at the top. Remember it? (I will post a photo below.). I want to also reuse the charming glass 'bubble ceiling light fixture' from the original house at the base of the stairs.
The downstairs bedroom (our master bedroom) will be in the same place as it was in the original house, on the north/west side, with a similar bathroom off it which can also be used by visitors via the kitchen (same as it always was). It will be a little more spacious than the original bathroom, with double sinks and a wide walk-in shower, oh and a window.
One of the best changes will be using the original space in the house that I called 'the room to nowhere' which held a work bench (in the north/east corner of the house). You could not get into the house from that room in the past. It will still have a door on the back of the house so you can enter it from there, but will be a mudroom/laundry which connects now to the kitchen. Ha! what an idea!
Another nod to the past will be a doorway that went from the dining room to the saltbox house (which had the fireplace room, garage, and upstairs two bedrooms). Instead of the saltbox house which we don't need and can't afford, we will have a screened-in porch there. It will have windows on 3+ sides- one side facing south, one west, one side east, one side north, and be a 4-season room with its own entry off the southern deck as well. This will give us extra living space, a little more shade than the south/west deck provides, and screens to exclude the mosquitos. We can sit out there at night with comfy armchairs and lamps or have our morning coffee there.
The back door to the kitchen from the driveway will still be there but with a small covered deck entryway. You can pull up along the back and enter either the mudroom or the kitchen/dining room off the back of the house.
The upstairs will still have the spacious hallway with two bedrooms on either side- to the south and to the north off the hallway. The bathroom will still be straight ahead but will have a very small (about 12') dormer to create head space there. Instead of just a toilet and small sink, it will have a tub/shower, double sink, and of course toilet, and again, an improvement- windows.
The beloved 3rd bedroom will not be walled off but will create a space for extra guests to sleep or Danny's work desk while he gazes at the fields and mountain view from the upstairs two windows of the house. I am calling it the sitting nook (thank you Sara Tucker for the inspiration). I wanted to maintain that wonderful upside-down V shaped big dormer off the front of the house and these windows are great for light in the hallway upstairs and a beautiful space to sit. Definitely a room with a view.
I will reuse the original upstairs bedroom doors for the same purpose, one closet door, and the door to the secret passageway up here for storage space.
