Sometimes a house will seem to have everything you want on paper, but in reality the pieces just don’t add up. That was the case with this 1947 ranch located just south of the University of Denver, which had been well-maintained and tastefully updated, but still didn’t seem to fit quite right.
There was an attached garage, but it was barely big enough for a single car. There was a well-appointed kitchen, but it was stuffed into a narrow galley space. And there was a primary suite of sorts, but the closet and dressing room took up far too much space, and left far too little for the bathroom.
The owners decided to build a new detached garage off the alley, and the space occupied by the new garage was transformed into a expanded kitchen and dining area, increasing the main floor living space by almost 300 square feet.
Taking down the walls that enclosed the stairs to the basement and the existing kitchen created an open main floor with an oversized kitchen island, a formal dining area, and a sitting room all bathed in plentiful natural light from new windows and sliding glass doors.
The doors connect the kitchen to the back porch and patio, effectively doubling the home’s living space in warm weather.
On the other end of the house the too-small bathroom and too-big dressing room were reconfigured to create a true primary bedroom suite, with a walk-in closet and spacious four piece bathroom with a free-standing tub, oversize curbless glass shower, and double vanity.
The home’s exterior façade gained some visual balance by adding a gable over the new dining room, which mirrors the gable over the primary bedroom on the south end of the building.
