Two-Bedroom Home Addition And Exterior Makeover

Eric and Amber are millennial professionals with a young family living in the Quarry Cove neighborhood in Madison. In 2018, we completed a basement finish for them, including a fireplace and wet bar just in time to watch the Super Bowl. We were thrilled when they contacted us to work together again on their next ambitious project. They wanted us to give their home an exterior makeover to up its curb appeal and design and build a 2 bedroom addition for more living space.

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A Second Story Over the Garage Addition

A site visit helped us to determine the most feasible option for adding living space. Eric and Amber both work from home. Along with needing another bedroom, they also wanted additional office space. Because of the home's basic, builder-home design, the house felt like it was begging for an addition over the garage. As we walked through the neighborhood, we found neighbors who had done similar projects.

Meeting the Challenge of This Home Addition Project

Every project comes with challenges, and this home addition was no different. We needed to find a floor joist for the home addition that could span the entire garage to avoid the need to place a support post in the space. After some research, we determined that topchord-bearing floor trusses were the best option. Our choice solved two issues. Spanning the garage without a post and having a flush opening from the existing house into the new home addition.

Upping The Curb Appeal

Eric and Amber told us they wanted a home that stood out but didn't stick out. We met this challenge in several ways. We chose for the main siding a neutral desert tan color. Most of the homes in the neighborhood are very earth-toned. We kept this look but brightened it up, helping Eric and Amber's home to stand out. For the accent siding, we chose the color Everest, it's bright but cool and offsets the warm Desert Tan siding. The homeowners also wanted the stone around the garage door to be as similar as possible to the dry stack stone we put in the basement on the bar and around the fireplace. Click here to see the finished basement project that we completed several years before.