Conservative Contemporary

VAKOTA architecture featured small renovation:
I had been recommended to this client two years prior for the smallest project I’ve ever designed, a stairway.I’ve learned to take on work, no matter how small the design scope is because you never know what will become of it for future work. When the client purchased this new property – a dated looking Ranch style house, he contacted me to design the renovation of three rooms on the interior and give the exterior some curb appeal, including renovating the entry portico. The client was looking for a slightly industrial look, so I introduced the exposed decorative rafters concept to make the structure prominent in the design. The client wanted to bring more natural light into the spaces, and I wanted to break up the long horizontal roof. The best way to achieve both was to add dormers. It’s about working out the exterior design and the interior design space in tandem to make the form and function happen for both. A shed dormer above the entry gives it the feeling of a grand entrance and brings light to the interior. The Living Room also needed some interest and natural light. This created a balance to the exterior and a playful undulating visual when you look up at the ceiling on the interior. One dormer distinguishes the Foyer space and the other the Living Room space. In order to distinguish the kitchen space, I changed the exposed rafters with scissor trusses to lean toward the industrial look. By using a natural Douglas Fir, it would complement the harder surface of the counter tops with a softer, warmer material above. I’m always seeking to balance soft and hard or warm and cold materials with each other. Throughout the house, I designed slight stepping in the profiles and subtle details in the trims and the columns by using reveals and recesses to have shadow lines. It creates a sense of layering and overall texture. I configured trim at the dormer walls in a pattern that resembles traditional recessed wall paneling, but is scaled back and simplified, so you recognize it, but still works with the contemporary style around it. In all the bedrooms, I put in a simple stepping profile for a fairly flat crown that was applied to the ceiling instead of the wall. In the end, I would call this new style created “Conservative Contemporary.”