The Master Plan is Here!
Rebuilding a Beautiful, Vacant Historic Detroit Home (Episode 53)
“Speramus Meliora. Resurget Cineribus.” (Translation: “We hope for better things. It will rise from the Ashes “)
— City of Detroit Flag
Where to Begin?
Through our contractors, Cal and Christian of Maxwell Construction, we were connected to Elise DeChard and her team at END Studio and they quickly got to work. We asked them at first to reimagine our garage, driveway, and landscaping plan to create a completely new experience. We had very specific requests for not only the design, but the funtionality as well.
Our list of Demands:
- 1920s Design Appropriate — The design of the garage needs to be in-line with the age and tudor revival design of the home, using historically accurate construction wherever possible.
- Functional — Not only do we want the garage to be modern in its size to accomodate a modern vehicle, we want space for 3 cars and room to store my mopeds, as well as our bicycles and lawn equipment.
- Modern Features — We need EV charging for 2 cars, and the design must be able to accomodate things like solar panels should we want to install them.
- Outdoor Entertaining Space — We want a living space outdoors to throw parties, enjoy the weather, have a bonfire, cook and serve a meal, and enjoy what will be our completely new back garden.
- Maintain Topography — Our double lot as it stands now is nowhere near flat, and we’d like to keep it that way. The ebb and flow of our yard adds to the feeling of privacy, natural growth, its age, as well as visual interest.
After acquiring a Topographic and Boundry Survey from Land Development Services of Michigan, and compiling some design inspiration images, Elise and Sophie got to work on their first round of proposals.
The Proposals
After a few weeks of the architects taking photos, measurements, the survey, and our inspiration, END Studio came back and shared three directions. After looking them over, we decided to take bits and pieces of each to blend into one cohesive direction.
Direction Decisions
We liked the overall landscaping, driveway, and entertaining plan of Proposal 1, the garage design from Proposal 2, and the use of wood trellises in the yard and garage in Proposals 1 and 3.
We also decided that we wanted even more storage space in the garage, so we asked Elise and Sophie to extend 2 garage bays even deeper than in their original proposal. They also designed in accomodations for a drop down staircase to attic storage above. In particular, the use of a trellis in Prop.1 to connect the garage and the home passively became a thought starter for Brandon and I.
Coming and going constantly from the back door, we don’t have a good place to “land” in the home. There’s nowhere for shoes, coats, and keys to go. Plus, in Winter weather or with family and friends visiting, it’s hard to find a place for everything and keep things clean and trip-hazard free in the kitchen.
Addition of a Mudroom
We asked Elise and Sophie therefore to investigate the addition of a mudroom to the plan at the back of the home. Currently we have an small wood porch at the back door. This mudroom would be connected passively via the trellis to the garage. END Studio quickly got to work refining our plan based on all of our comments.
The Master Plan
After back-and-forths of proposals, feedback, research, inspiration, and updates, we’ve come to what we largely consider to be “The Master Plan.” END Studio created a master document for Cal and Christian to begin seeking out sub-contractor quotes and timing estimates. Things are still changing slightly on a regular basis, but the document END created largely encapsulates our overall design intent for the property going forward.
The Garage
The Garage will become much larger, able to accomodate three cars as well as all of our other bikes and lawn equipment, with extra depth and attic storage. The garage will have EV charging for 2 cars and the ability to hold about 15 solar panels if we choose to install them. Vines grown on the trellis would eventually provide some natural shade and weather protection.
The garage will be turned 90 degrees compared to where the current one faces, so we will now drive into the garage from the South, rather than from the East. This means we also are forced to move the driveway to the other side of the home.
The Driveway
Moving the driveway offers us a few benefits. We suddenly have a modern-width driveway, taking advantage of the extra space our double-lot affords us. The new driveway to our home would become a more obvious part of the layout and design of the property, and allows us to fully enclose our yard with a fence which we can’t do now. It also makes a 3-car garage possible, since presently, the space is too narrow to safely get even the second car into the garage with the current layout. Some significant regrading of the yard will need to occur to acheive the correct pitch and placement of the new driveway. We intend to pour the driveway with exposed agregate concrete to blend into the landscape better aesthetically.
The Entertaining Space
We have a large patio designed which is 1/2 covered by a wood trellis to offer partial shade. The other half is designed to hold a firepit and conversation space. A pathway connects the patio to our driveway and garage area, and steps down connect it to the dropped yard and garden.
The Mudroom
The new mudroom will offer us alot of functionality. With a customized space to drop dirty shoes, hang coats, etc, it will really make our home much more functional for ourselves as well as visitors. Built-in closet space on the North wall will hold shoes and coats for about 10 people, which is great for visiting family at the holidays.
The Landscaping
Largely, this plan is TBD. We are in conversation again with B&D Garden Design about helping us come up with a full landscaping plan that includes lighting, irrigation, and more. Given none of this work would happen until the Spring, this isn’t dire for us to flush out completely yet. Once the new driveway is graded correctly into the yard, B&D will begin that plan for us.
One Final Request — The Solarium
We’ve grown to love our Wendy’s-style solarium, but with all of the other work going on, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and really invest in this space we’ve grown to love in our home.
We started with the intent of using another kit solarium for the new space. However, after seeing what current pre-fab companies are able to acheive with these kits, we’ve decided that for the money, a custom made structure would get us a better, more period-correct look as well as higher quality construction overall.
We’ve asked Elise and Sophie to help us come up with a new, more historically appropriate sunroom space, and are currently waiting on design proposals to add to our current plan. We’ve begun by exploring layout options, and with a Detroit ordinance requiring all structures for the home to be a minimum of 10 feet from the garage structure, we are under tight conditions for the size and shape of the redesign. We expect to get the drawings for our new sunroom plan next week!
Down they go!
Well, it’s here. Demo Day finally arrived, and the crew made quick work of our garage, solarium, and back porch!
It took a crew of about 5 men only 3 days to take down all 3 structures. We are now down to just the concrete pad, and a original 1927 brick porch that the solarium kit was built on top of. Our mason, Franco will be taking the brick apart by hand to try and salvage as much of it as possible for later use.
It’s very strange seeing everything gone off the house. But it’s always darkest before dawn, and we know better things are ahead of us!
What’s next
We expect Franco Masonry to start this coming Monday or Tuesday. He will be making some brick repairs along the side of the house where our new driveway will be going. After that, he will be taking stock of the brick we can salvage, as well as beginning work to repair our front porch which is in serious structural decline.
After that, Dennis Blackie with Blackie Concrete will finally arrive to regrade our yard for the new driveway, as well as pouring the foundations for all of our new structures, the garage, the mudroom, and the new solarium.
And next week, we are also expecting drawings for our new sunroom from END Studio. I am looking forward to finalizing that plan, and seeing some images of what the space should look like when finished, as I miss the old sunroom already!
Our journey isn’t over
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