For a family looking to trade suburban living for a farm in the country, this 1980s house on a 10-acre lot in Franktown, Colorado had a lot going for it, but awkward exterior design and a cramped main level layout prevented it from living up to its potential. A two-story addition and new wrap-around porch gave the house the extra space it needed and an improved connection to the outdoors.
The first order of business was to give the house a proper front door. The existing doors facing the driveway were hidden away under a small porch, and what was probably intended to be the main entry was around the corner, halfway down the south side of the house.
Extending the house 14’ to the east gave the house a well-defined front entry adjacent to the driveway.
Inside the house, the living room was on the second floor, isolated from the kitchen and dining room. This meant it was hardly used, and a single 300 square foot room on the main level had to serve as a mud room, dining room, and living room.
The addition made room on level 1 for a proper entryway and a seating area that gave the main level a living space of its own, and made the space adjacent to the kitchen a dedicated dining area. On the second level the addition made room for an additional bedroom, giving everyone in the family a space to call their own.
The existing deck that wrapped around the house had seen better days, and while it was oriented to take in the views it baked in the summer and froze in the winter, so it was torn down and replaced with a new wrap-around porch.
The porch’s roof made both the indoor and outdoor spaces more usable, providing protection from the sun and weather. A new 12’ sliding glass door allowed the dining room to open up to the porch for indoor-outdoor living on warm days and evenings, where the owners can watch the sun set over the foothills as they enjoy dinner.
