Storybook Addition, Tutor, Maplewood, NJ

This storybook Tudor languished on the market due to the lack of bedrooms and their inequitable sizes. In a pre-purchase consultation, we assured the owners that we could yield a four-bedroom house - one primary suite and three additional rooms of near equal size - while maintaining the distinguishing details of the home such as the grand stair. Further, the owners were looking to improve the first-floor functionality of the existing home to support a young growing family. Strollers, shoes, and outerwear were visible and disorganized in the enclosed porch that had become a de facto mudroom. The home had evolved over time to include two forward facing doors; the homeowners primarily used the door into the porch/ mudroom, but consequently felt that the formal entrance for visitors was hierarchically unclear. The first floor’s only bathroom adjacent to the mudroom was dark and cramped.