Our Featured Family’s Point of View

Anecdote 2: Give and Take

You can’t always get what you want. But you can’t blame the Bodes for trying. Gene was partial to the coved plaster ceiling in the small breakfast room and wanted to try to retain that feature. Janice wanted to retain the back staircase. They both wanted a pleasant and usable patio off the back of their house.

Their new needs included space in a mudroom for the family’s various athletic shoes and gear and kennel space for Rim-Shot, the family’s beloved black lab. Janice also wanted lots of light in the new kitchen and first-floor laundry facilities. And they had to deal with an older, awkward garage addition that was right in the middle of the backyard, leaving little usable outdoor living space. 

Billie designed several variations to try to accommodate their wishes. Her first three concepts focused on a rear entrance through a new screened porch, leading to a new patio, but each option had drawbacks so the project would stall. The Bodes had to make three major “wish list” concessions that included eliminating the back staircase; scraping the rear entrance idea to focus instead on a new side entrance and build their patio in their spacious side yard instead of the back yard; and moving the laundry facilities to the second floor in what used to be the staircase and landing.

Once agreed upon, the design possibilities opened up and Billie was able to create the final layout.