May 4, 2023
One of the biggest challenges in designing and building a home addition is the stylistic connection between old and new. The design approach can either match architectural styles to blend seamlessly together, or you can ...
April 13, 2023
When space is getting tight in your home -- whether it’s in Arlington, Cleveland Park, Rockville, or anywhere in between – an addition is one of the first solutions that comes to ...
February 2, 2023
You get up in the morning and head to a bathroom you share with too many other family members – no surprise, someone has beat you to it. The familiar wait begins. You’ve been ...
November 17, 2022
Sometimes a prospective client will ask, "What's the cost per square foot for building a home addition?" When most people ask this question, they simply want to get some idea in ...
October 6, 2022
Will more square footage make my addition more valuable? Let me take you back to a time when we all felt the need for more room. In the late 20th Century, families who had grown ...
August 18, 2021
Every time Lisa Kristiansen and Steve Robinson looked out their french doors to nowhere, they knew they had work to do. Those doors were supposed to lead to a deck - or something ...
March 16, 2021
When young men returned from military service after WW2, homes couldn’t be built fast enough around Washington, DC and around the country. More and more families were looking for ...
November 14, 2019
It’s time for an addition to your home, but there are a lot of factors to weigh. Two big considerations: how long will you be there to enjoy this home addition, and how will it ...
September 13, 2018
Cost Per Square Foot: Home Addition vs New Home Sometimes a prospective client will ask "what's the cost per square foot for building a home addition." Our standard answer is: ...
August 28, 2018
It is not uncommon for owners of older homes in places like Arlington and NW Washington to crave more space especially with a kitchen addition. Utilitarian brick houses were built ...
June 26, 2018
A Bigger Home Addition Is Almost Never Better Ideally, the size of a home addition is driven by its planned use within limits of the property size. Families with young children ...
June 19, 2018
The Cost of Home Additions vs Buying New Homes Sometimes a prospective client will ask, “What’s the cost per square foot for home additions?” We can give you a reasonable idea of ...
June 12, 2018
Updated by: Kevin Gilday Home Addition Plans: Exploring the Most Practical Options You’ve got problems with your home. The kitchen isn’t big enough. Your clothes and shoes won’t ...
April 28, 2016
According to one of the homeowners, the old kitchen was ugly! A previous home remodeling at this Chevy Chase residence had made room for a breakfast area and powder room. But ...
January 16, 2015
Exploring the Most Practical Options for Home Additions The Tudor style of this two story home addition in Chevy Chase mimics the architectural style of the main house. The ...
November 17, 2014
Considering Porch Design -or- How the Greeks Invented Outdoor Living Are you looking to add curb appeal to your home? You'll probably like the idea of expanding your living space ...
December 9, 2013
A home addition involves major structural changes to the home. How do you find the right design build firm to plan your home addition? The photo (left) shows progress on a ...
November 19, 2013
Home Additions Are Still Good A Investment In Washington DC, home remodeling has evolved into a sophisticated and highly professionalized art--particularly for home additions. ...
May 25, 2012
If you live in Chevy Chase and you are planning to build an addition to your home, you will also have to plan a "home" for all the rainwater that the new addition is going to ...
May 24, 2012
Home remodeling, can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster even when all goes according to plan. We get that. The design process is exciting and gets the creative juices ...
May 7, 2012
The Great Outdoors -or- The Great After-Thought Gilday Renovations completed a two-story home addition to a Washington DC residence several years ago. We squeezed the budget in ...
May 1, 2012
Something Is Missing Curb appeal. You know it when you see it because you feel it. But, what is it exactly?
April 11, 2012
A previous owner of this Chevy Chase Maryland home had put on a very, very small breakfast room addition. It was the right idea but didn't go far enough. This stingy little ...
April 9, 2012
Humble Beginnings New additions all look pretty much the same to me at the beginning--as do new people. It takes time and good genes (or in this case, a sound design build ...
March 21, 2012
When we talk about the fine points of home additions we tend to make it all about the designers. In fact, a design plan is just the beginning. An enormous amount of thought and ...
March 16, 2012
Home Addition Adds New Space and Revives the Old This drawing shows the before and after second floor plans for a typical brick colonial in Bethesda, Maryland that received a two ...
March 14, 2012
It was around the 5th century, I believe, when the Greeks (who invented Greek Tragedy) introduced the expression: "Aieeeeeee!" The exclamation is wailed out by the the proud ...
March 13, 2012
Should you move or should you stay? Should you invest in a home renovation or move to new house? This question comes up frequently when we discuss major renovations and additions ...
March 8, 2012
First of all it isn't "only" a porch. In custom renovation there is no "only" anything. It is all about details--studiously conceived and finely crafted details. All those ...
March 5, 2012
"We Don't Want To Price Ourselves Out of the Neighborhood" We hear this a lot from prospective clients. They are trying to weigh the cost/value of investing in a home renovation ...
January 30, 2012
Prospective clients will often say “we want an addition that doesn’t look like an addition.” People want home additions to respect the architectural character of their house. We ...
January 13, 2012
Home additions come in all sizes--some you might not even think of as additions because they are so modest in scale. Here is a design solution that draws on the big benefits ...
December 8, 2011
In an earlier post (The New Family Room Addition Is a Porch) we talked about how the luxury porch is gaining popularity in the category of home additions. The example here is a ...
November 30, 2011
So? Get small. Here's an example of how home additions (this one in Bethesda Maryland) can solve a space problems beautifully without taking up a lot of backyard space.
November 28, 2011
Additions Come In All Sizes When we speak of residential additions in Washington DC, we most often ooh and ah over the wonderfully spacious family rooms and light filled kitchens. ...
November 17, 2011
A new generation of porches is bringing indoor aesthetics and comfort to the great outdoors. The screen porch has been steadily gaining the sort of popularity that the family ...
August 25, 2011
If your home renovation dream calls for an addition or significant alterations to existing interiors, you need to hire a specialty firm, one that is capable of the planning and ...
May 25, 2011
In the field of home remodeling, design build is a specialty. It is both a business model and a specific methodology. As a method, design build offers an ideal way to navigate ...
May 24, 2011
Some times bad things happen to good houses--in the best of neighborhoods! This otherwise gracious Chevy Chase Maryland residence suffered what we call a "band-aid" remodeling job ...