While the television series The Brady Bunch brought two families together, a very-Brady-style addition was tearing this house apart. The pre-existing structure was a traditional center hall colonial, but the 1970s modish addition with heavy, dark wood, exposed beams, a raised hearth fireplace and an entire wall of sliding glass doors did not pair well. Functionally, the addition did not work either - the appended family room, closet and pass-thru bar were completely cut off from the adjacent kitchen.
When new owners moved in, they had no use for the bar and wanted a larger, more functional kitchen with a more direct connection to the family room. A few simple plan moves, a stylistic makeover, and a total transformation was achieved.
Thornhilll removed the pass-thru bar and closet to open up the kitchen and create a direct connection to the family room. The house’s navigation was rerouted to form a clear path from the front of the house back to the family room. By keeping the circulation out of the kitchen, this provided a more efficient work area. A breakfast bar was added so there was a place for people to sit and eat without interfering with the cooking.
Elsewhere in the house, a proper mudroom was created with closets for each member of the family. The heavy ceiling beams were softened with new paint and added design elements to change their shape. More traditional multi-pane french doors replaced the outdated sliding glass ones. Wooden columns that fit the design character of the house were inserted under the existing overhanging roof to give scale and rhythm to what was a long, unmodulated exterior elevation.
These layout changes and cosmetic alterations created a space which now blends with and enhances the charm of the existing house.