Raise the Roof!

So excited to report that we are finally starting to work on our dormer addition. Basically it went like this...  our friend and architect called (to give us a kick in the butt) to say that he had the time (our job is on the side) to start our project so, we were like, well, this is soon but sure.  But then we realized timing really is right on as we hope to start sometime (preferably sooner than later) in 2014.

He hopes to have final plans to us by Feb 2014.

We met a few weeks ago to just discuss things we had to have and our other ideas.  I printed out all of the pictures that I have collected over the years and we discussed over a brewski.  Best way to make business plans. 
When we went to the Hofbräuhaus in Germany just after college (many moons ago), we heard that many a famous person had met to make big decisions there (even Hitler which is downright crazy).

Here were my must haves:
1. master bedroom
2. master closet large enough to hold all of our clothes (would love walk-in but not a must have)
3. master bath with walk-in shower.  No bath.  Waste of space to me and we wouldn't really use.
4. Second bedroom

Would really really like but would not be totally heartbroken (well, maybe) if we didn't have:
1. Half bath for other bedroom.  Nightmare to have kids tramping into our room during the night to use facilities.
2. 3rd bedroom or craft room/office....this would be Quinn's room, at least for a while, no matter what the size.  For those parents out there, you probably all feel my pain that I want both my kiddos on the same floor as us. 

Joe asked us all kinds of great questions, like what constitutes a small vs. regularly sized bedroom?  Some people (like us) consider a fair sized bedroom to be 10x12 while others consider that to be miniscule. 
And made some great comments, like: "Why don't you make the second bath a full bath (with shower) as there is room.  For about $500 extra, you will increase property value by about $2500 as it will then be recorded as a full bath.  Genius, Joe!  Plus, The kiddos will then be able to bathe in their own bath upstairs.  Hence, no wet feet tramping up the stairs every day after baths.

He said the pictures I gave him really helped as he realized that I like little compact spaces with lots of built-ins.  COZY is my game!

Left small picture is view from front of house and large design is view from side of house. 

Design 1: 4 way gabel dormer.   Most historically accurate.

 Design 2: One of least historically accurate but we loved the look of it when we saw a house with this design while out walking.  Would allow for a lot of square footage. 

Design 3: Raise the roof.  I liked this one but Steve was not in love. 

Design 4:  Super pricey and would totally look like a new remodel, which is not what we are going for.  Would look similar to last picture here.

What did we chose?  While we both loved design 2, the slope of our roof will not really allow for the design to look decent when built.  In addition, it would have been next to impossible to do a dormer like this in 1913.  SOOOOOO.... we went with design #1 as it will (woo-hoo) allow us everything on our must-have and desire lists for our upstairs while being historically accurate. 

I can't wait to see this all develop...  More to come soon. :)