Black Dog is now registered in Maryland and is working out of Silver Spring! Work requirements have led us to get an apartment in DC, and my sister and her family live in Silver Spring, so it was a natrual! And to celebrate (actually, to make my decision for me!) that self same sister and husband (http://www.onthemarkpr.com/) decided to build the addition we have been designing for 7 years! (Insert reminder for clients to plan ahead...).
Their house is a modest post-war house typical to the older Silver Spring neighborhoods. Small, but great neighbors, close to the Metro and parks, good schools, et al. They were lucky in that their corner lot is bigger than most and they already had a one-story family room added on previously. 
With her office overflowing the bedroom, a terrific southern exposure but very poor access to the back yard and a small and isolated kitchen, we decided to remove the back wall and bump out the back, treating it like a sunroom, but with windows locates to it still feels like a living room. A new office "bookends" the sunroom, a wider door opens the old dining to the new family room, and the kitchen wall was removed and the kitchen expanded and updated. A new deck connects it all. Since we are providing a new roof, we took the opportunity to super-insulate the roof, as well as the basement and new walls. Expanding the HVAC system has let us rectify old inefficiencies and properly service that area.
In the family room we removed old run down closets and are putting in a pair of large closets for storage and hiding the TV, with a counter between and the HUGE fish tank as the room's visual axis. Plans also called for relocating the house's front door to recognize the primacy of the new space, but the budget wasn't there. Likewise, we looked long and hard at a new 2nd floor which would have offered a nice master suite and an additional bedroom, but for a small family we couldn't justify the costs. It remains an excellent idea for future owners,though.
Construction starts in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
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