Belmont
Addition + renovation
As with most modern and growing families, insufficient living space and poor programming began to present a challenge to the owners of Belmont, a 1925 Charlottesville farmhouse with a classically cellular floor plan. Typical for houses of this era, public and private spaces were organized by floor with bedrooms and bathrooms commingled upstairs and the kitchen, living, and dining rooms downstairs. Taking the pressure off each floor meant adding a modest addition for a primary suite and reprogramming the first floor to promote better connection and functionality between adjacent living spaces.
Strategic repositioning of the kitchen within the floor plan allowed for a more functional connection between cooking, dining, and living. Nestled into a perimeter of bright white, flat front cabinetry, a modest island of misty quartzite functionally divides the kitchen's work area from casual onlookers and homework-doers. Heart pine shelving echoes the warm tones of the house's original floors.
A passage in the cabinetry creates an unexpected threshold between the house and primary suite addition, signaling privacy to guests and providing a whimsical entry experience to its owners.
Replacing the former kitchen, the new dining room seamlessly and more appropriately occupies the space. Three large casement windows allow natural light to flood the space and illuminate the adjacent kitchen.
Modern details and finishes were utilized throughout to create unexpected, but welcome contrast to the historic detailing of the house's interior.
The modest addition, containing the primary suite and connected to the house with a secondary mudroom entry, utilizes moments of compression and expansion to evoke feelings of pause and motion as appropriate.
The primary bathroom makes use of a soothing, spa-like color palette to create a sense of calm and relaxation. The undulating surface texture of the shower walls scatter the indirect sunlight, adding a sense of soothing warmth in an otherwise cool-toned space.
