Family Ties

With five kids, even a large house by most family standards wasn't enough for Alex and Kelley Mitchell. The couple, recently relocated from Texas, bought a home in a Shawnee neighborhood they loved, knowing they would need to invest in an addition. Kelley, a stay-at-home mom, wanted a larger kitchen with more countertop space and room for a dining table that could fit seven people, plus a TV area within eyeshot of the kitchen for close parental supervision. She also wanted a second laundry room on the second floor so she wouldn't have to trudge all the clothes downstairs near the garage. Alex, who works from home, needed an isolated office, and as a former competitive swimmer, an indoor lap pool for exercise and stress relief.

Chris Migneron of G3 Collaborative designed an addition in three levels straight off the back of the house, requiring a new foundation and framing up three stories from the existing walkout basement to the second floor. Remodeler Clay Lyon of Lyon Construction + Design says adding square footage can be a difficult task, but in this case, it couldn't be avoided. The family needed more.

“The challenge was to increase space to accommodate the bustle of their growing family while increasing its utility in ways that balanced aesthetics, personality and lifestyle preferences,” Clay says.

The family lived there even after the entire back half of the house was removed. Clay staged a kitchen area so there would be little downtime. Everyone continued living their lives as six new rooms became part of the structure. The bumped-out lower level includes the office and pool; the main level, a breakfast room and family room; and the upper level, another bedroom and laundry room.

The addition has complete sound and data wire systems in the walls, including smart wiring in the main-level family room to control household media, and is insulated with soy-based expanding foam to improve energy efficiency and decrease noise. Alex's soundproofed lower-level office features double layer sheetrock, elastomeric sound isolation material, sound board and other materials that create an efficient, professional office setting, although it's still hard to muffle screaming solos on Guitar Hero playing on an 82-inch TV in the next room. Inevitable chaos is hard to hide from.

But Alex is not all work and no play. Enjoying the outdoors was another motive for the remodel. An outdoor kitchen was left until the end while the bigger decisions regarding the interiors were made first. Interior designer Jill Tran had been working with the Mitchells on the material selections when ideas started transferring to the exterior. She sketched some ideas over Chris' original drawings, coming up with a “pointy” design that subtly reflected the 45-degree-angle walls inside. The design leaned more contemporary in style, which appealed to the Mitchells, while the materials — nontextured stucco from the front exterior and tile from the kitchen backsplash — were gleaned from elsewhere around the house to tie it all together.

Soapstone countertops were selected for their ability to withstand heat from the fireplace and pizza oven. Temperatures inside the oven can reach more than 900 degrees, which is just right for baking a pizza in about 90 seconds. The Big Green Egg also retains heat well and will evenly cook anything placed inside. It was a spontaneous purchase Alex made at the store, requiring another modification on the fly to replace the stainless steel grill Clay had planned on installing. That's just how remodeling goes sometimes. But now that the hammering and nailing are done, the Mitchells have a home that suits all seven members of their family.

“It's definitely made their lives easier,” Clay says.

Exterior Space:
Decking Materials: Sun Lumber; Deck Rail Materials: Kansas City Deck Supply; Deck Construction: Lyon Construction + Design; Masonry: American Masonry Contractors; Pizza Oven Supplier: Wildwood Ovens; The Big Green Egg: Fireplace & Bar-B-Q Center; Soapstone Countertops: Metro Specialty; Tile: The Tile Shop; Stucco: Stucco Repair Specialists; Pool: Endless Pools; Stamped/Stained Concrete Patio: K&E Flatwork