Choosing to remodel your home, especially when it involves an addition, can be life changing. The ever-changing and uncertain climate of the past year has made this decision even more difficult for most homeowners. For Laurel and Don, the need for a better functioning and more comfortable environment within their home was essential. The couple had both been working from home from time-to-time, even pre-Covid, but with Laurel’s mother staying with them for extended periods of time and their two boys doing virtual learning, things became chaotic. Creating a full-time working environment at home, and comfortable living environments for the whole family, was now essential for this family to live in harmony. Understanding how each of our clients live is so important. This part of our discovery process really allowed the design to take shape, in a way that worked just right for Laurel, Don, and the whole family.
The real issues stemmed from a lack of designated space between the five family members. The boy’s bedrooms and Laurel’s office were located on the main level, and whenever her mother moved in for an extended period of time everything became cramped. Secondarily, Laurel and Don desired to increase the home’s curb appeal. All of these considerations resulted in a pop-top addition, to include two bedrooms and a central bath for the boys; a universally remodeled kitchen to improve layout and function of space; a redesign of the rear exterior of the house, along with many exterior enhancements, and enclosing the side porch to create a new mudroom.
The pop-top addition was designed to allow both boys to move upstairs and enjoy their own space. The rooms they had previously occupied on the main level were then repurposed to be Laurel’s mother’s room, and Laurel’s home office. The added living space improved the family’s quality of life, and the further designation of everyone’s own spaces relieved them of all previous tension.
There were a handful of obstacles for both our clients and our production team to overcome during the construction phase of the remodel. Enduring the early stages of Covid restrictions while maintaining our trades, who were still able to operate at that time, were only a few. Greg Gunther, Project Manager, shared, “Trades, materials, permits – everything had a new process and way of doing business. Having gone through all of that and finishing this job in June of 2020 is a testament to the whole team to be able to pull together and make this project happen. I’m thankful for the team we have here and to the clients for their trust in us to take their project to the finish line.”
Due to our proven process and core values, our team at Sun Design is able to persevere through the most challenging of circumstances that accompany any home remodel. Sometimes the solutions are simple, and sometimes they require us to go over and above, but we do so happily to make our client’s vision a reality.
About the Author:
Helen began working at Sun Design in January of 2019, as our Sales and Marketing Assistant. She assists both the Sales and Marketing departments in everyday tasks and strives to support both teams to be successful. She coordinates our events and executes them to meet Sun’s standards and vision, creates marketing materials, and generates content through blogs and articles in collaboration with the Marketing team. Helen also assists our Director of First Impressions in her work, by keeping in touch with interested clients and helping our Design Consultants prepare for their meetings, as well as speaking with clients in order to understand how we can best help them achieve their remodeling goals.
Helen previously worked as a teaching assistant at a Montessori school, assisting with school events and administration. As well, she was a tutor at Virginia International Academy, and taught English to boarding school students. Helen’s experience teaching has prepared her to work well with other’s and helped to develop communication skills that she utilizes everyday with our clients.
Helen said, “I truly value honesty, thoughtfulness, and charity – without these I don’t know how any group or company can thrive, and fortunately these are the values that Sun Design shares!” In her spare time, Helen enjoys going to breweries with her friends and family, meeting new people, and writing.
