Homeowner’s Objective: To Have a Functional Home to Accommodate a Multi-Generational Family

Project Overview: When our client had to move her family back to the East Coast to care for her mother, she wanted a way that she could live with her mother while still maintaining an independent family space. Her childhood home, where her mother still lived, was an ideal space to transform. It was a Colonial style brick home in the Chesterbrook area of McLean, an established neighborhood full of mature trees and traditional homes. The design needed to be in keeping with the neighborhood’s aesthetics, provide private living space for both the mother and her daughter’s family of three, and be built in stages over several years.

Phase One added a second kitchen and family room to the home so that the care giver’s family would have their own living space. This space was designed with a flat roof so that it would look like finished space for the two years it would stand alone before Phase Two could begin. We also added window header trim details and a copper roofed porch over the front door to tie the existing house style to the addition. The project was designed and built to look as beautiful after Phase One as it did after Phase Two.

Phase Two added a master bedroom, bath, walk-in-closet, sitting area and laundry alcove above the Phase One kitchen and family room. In addition, to make the entire house have an integrated look, mother’s space (the left of the home-looking from the front elevation) was given a new sewing room niche in a dormer on the front elevation to provide a face lift to mirror the moldings and windows in the daughter’s new space. The house functions well and has provided a beautiful way for both family entities to live harmoniously.

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