Note: To find out what a Statement of Significance is, go to this page where I introduced it. To read all published pages of this document, click on the “Statement of Significance” link in the Categories menu on the right. Enjoy!
Category: Architectural Drawings
Statement of Significance – Page 11
Note: To find out what a Statement of Significance is, go to this page where I introduced it. To read all published pages of this document, click on the “Statement of Significance” link in the Categories menu on the right. Enjoy!
Statement of Significance – page 3
Page four tells a bit more of the story you already know and adds a hint of the green building features we would like to employ.
One thing has changed since this was written: we are not subdividing the property. We are going to consolidate both lots into one lot. That means no future owner, including us, will be able to sell off the little yellow house. We feel that the entire site has heritage value in its original layout and we would like to preserve it.
Does anyone know who those visiting neighbours are in the photo?
How big is your dormer?
Why not run the dormer across the entire width of the house? That would give us more space and eliminate those pesky sloped sections of ceiling in the kids’ bedrooms.
Well, even before we started considering the requirements of the Heritage Revitalization Agreement, we were sensitive to maintaining the character of the house.
If the dormer roof ran from North to South it would become the main roof of the house, changing the look considerably. We thought that would create an imbalance between front and back. With the dormer inset like this, the original roof still defines the shape of the house.
The Heritage Department at the District of Maple Ridge did not make any special requirements for us to do this, but they did approve our plans.
The Upstairs Dormer
I can’t find the sketch I made for the upstairs dormer. You may recall I had the idea of matching the front gabled dormer which forms the roof of the front porch with a rear gabled dormer. Annabel pointed out that Craftsman-style cottages had a clear front and back and, in this case, gables at the front, shed roofs at the back.
The purpose of this dormer is to give us a simple bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower for the two bedrooms upstairs as well as a smaller room we can use as a guest bedroom and a playroom.
Sorry, Dave the Father-in-Law, an extra bedroom does not necessitate a third child.
My plan was very awkward. Check out Annabel’s elegant solution:
Simple bathroom and three windows facing east. The guest room is big enough for a queen-sized sofa bed. You have to go through the guest room to get to the bathroom, but we’re all friends, right?
The ceilings of both kids rooms are raised at the dormer section. The landing at the top of the stairs is expanded enough for a linen closet. The kids closets are a reasonable size and Annabel suggested some fun ideas with built-in drawers taking advantage of the attic spaces.
Leanne has a fun idea of adding a secret door into the back of the kids’ closets.
Here is the side elevations: as-built and as-planned.
What’s wrong with the upstairs?
Nothing, really.
But there are two kids up there and they are getting older. Yes, it’s cute to hear them sleepwalk all the way down the stairway that is behind the wall behind our headboard and then see them, zombie-like, go into the bathroom in the middle of the night, and they don’t complain, but maybe we need another bathroom.
The son is six, the daughter is seven. Sometimes the bathroom is occupied and we have some minor emergencies.
Dave the Father-in-Law likes to remind us that one bathroom is plenty. My Dad believes that one bathroom per floor is a reasonable luxury. Guess who I agree with. I guess blood is thicker than…you know.
Here are Annabel’s drawings of the top floor as it was built in 1926:
A very cute (but a little narrow) staircase takes you up to a small landing with a chimney and the doors to two bedrooms. Daughter’s bedroom is straight ahead and Son’s is on the right. Son has the stairwell bending his room out of shape a bit. The ceilings are sloped on both sides and the ceiling height at its best is not that great.
I hope I can find the concept sketch I did before Annabel got involved. It’s hilarious.
When we started considering making a comprehensive plan for the house, we knew that a bathroom with a shower up here would be great. Leanne loved the idea of a guest room which could be a neutral playroom for the kids, as well. The Father-in-Law thought we needed a third bedroom for our third child. Not going to happen–sorry, Grandpa!
Foreshadowing: you can start to see the challenges to making this top floor energy efficient. The sloped roof sections only allow for that much insulation to be stuffed in there.
Oops, that’s a definite flaw–energy efficiency. Another flaw is the closets suffer under the low sloped ceilings and they are awkward shapes. These are minor problems compared with the non-existent bathroom.
When I see newly constructed houses with their six or nine bathrooms, I really wonder whether home buyers are really demanding them. I suspect the builders, developers, banks and real estate agents are up-selling huge houses that occupy the maximum allowable space on their lots to people who are never going to need so much space.
And what was there before that “monster house” was built? Was it trees? Was it an older home with a smaller footprint and mature plants and trees surrounding it?
All that being said, however, I am against suffering. “Suffering is optional.” I think it was our life coach, Christine Sirett, who told us that.
If you are spending a lot of your time feeling uncomfortable in your home, I think you should change it. It may have suffered under several “band-aid” solutions in the past, but you can be the one to give it the TLC it deserves and rescue all that energy and resources that have gone into it so far.
Life is too short to live in someone else’s house while you wait to be able to afford to buy your “dream house.”
Is it easy? No.
And you know what? It should be easier. And that’s what this blog is about.
Why we hired Annabel the Architect
When you get a fee proposal from an architect, it’s natural to ask yourself if it is really going to be worth the money. There is a voice in the back of your head saying, “hey, you could just sketch something on a napkin, give it to a guy, and ‘Bob’s your uncle’”
However, Bob is not my uncle and when Annabel taught us about gabled roofs in front, shed roofs in back I figured she had earned her fee. (Yes I will tell you exactly how much we paid her).
To make clear my point, here is a sketch I sent to her on July 1st, 2011 as a concept. Notice the gabled roofs all over the back of the house!
You can see how I imagined we might add to the side of the house a “new extension”. The roof would have to be peaked, I thought. It would look ugly but it would get the job done.
Also in this sketch, I imagined a gabled dormer on the top floor that would give the kids a bathroom upstairs and maybe a playroom, too. We had started to dream bigger and explore a concept of the house that would allow us to live comfortably here forever.