Arshia & John's Light-filled Addition

Arshia and John’s light-filled addition provides a new family room and screened porch for a growing family. Arshia and John own a classic bungalow in a lovely suburb of Washington, DC. They wanted to modernize their home to meet their young family’s needs without contrasting with the existing home.

As with most young families, Arshia and John and their children spend most of their time gathered around the kitchen area. They wanted to open up the back of their home, expanding and bringing light into the kitchen/dining area. To pull this off we expanded a formerly enclosed porch into a family room and popped out a screened porch addition off the kitchen/dining to bring in natural light and ventilation. The extension of the family room on the main level automatically enlarged John’s office on the lower/ground floor while giving Arshia a living roof outside her office on the upper floor.

We splurged on Nana doors to separate the porch and kitchen/dining areas. Nana doors are all glass and fold back to one side essentially creating a seamless transition between both spaces. Now the family room flows into the open kitchen and dining space, and sliding glass doors can be opened to double the space or closed for intimacy.

The screened porch is a surprise as walking through the house from the front entry; you pass through a couple of traditional bungalow rooms, and then, burst out into the sky via the screened porch. It is almost as if a tree house…  Likewise, as walking around their house – they have a corner lot – the screened porch challenges the texture of the bungalow. The new work rippled throughout the first floor – all the public rooms – especially the enlivening wall colors, giving each room its unique ambiance.