1- Have you checked setback regulations already?

2- Do I understand things correctly: you want to add a ground floor master bedroom that is 9 feet wide to the left of the first photo?

3- Is the architect who designed your house still available?

Thank you so much for responding. There are no setback regulations, or any regulation here to speak of, as this is outside of city limits. This camp sets in the middle of our 4 acres. Yes, you understood correctly. We are wanting to add a ground floor master bedroom that is 9 feet wide to the left of the first photo. We didn’t have an architect the first time. We designed and built it ourselves with the aid of his carpenter uncle.

Set back is not a concern as the addition is behind the front elevation. First 9' wide bedroom is barely sufficient. Second, a nine foot wide addition in the middle of your home is just never going to look like it belongs let alone was original to the build. You would be adding an arm to your home. Roof line would be curious. Would you mimic the existing roof line? I assume you won't take this addition up to or beyond the window?

Right, we would not take the addition up to or beyond the window. That’s why we only have 9 feet to play with. And, yes, what I don’t want is an arm (I called it a tunnel to my spouse). The roofline is still on the table.

Thank you

Thanks for info. The house has good proportions and is quite attractive.

Plan A- A 9 foot wide addition can't easily fit either a queen or king size bed because it doesn't have enough room to walk comfortably around the bed. You can use some blue tape out on the grass to show a 9 foot wide addition, then add some more tape to represent the bed sizes. Allow for wall widths, too. Story poles and line flags can be quite useful since you can move them around.

Plan B- Have you considered duplicating the existing house as an addition? It would be more space than you were planning and it would take some reworking of the existing floor plan to provide good foot traffic flow and window ventilation. An alternative would be extending the house by (say) half the width it currently has.

Plan C- Work with the idea of a roof slope that is different from either of the existing steep or shallow slopes and either moving forward or eliminating the front side window as well as the one you are converting to a door. Then make your addition wider than 9 feet.

Please add a photo of the floor plan of your existing house, with measurements. The 10 year old plan from when you built it would be fine.

Thank you! All great considerations!

I will try to find that original floor plan.

What about maybe starting as a 9 foot width coming away from the house, but then widening as we get farther away, with alcoves and such?

No regulations to deal with why stuck on 9' make it 10' then a queen bed and night tables will fit. Is the door to the outside a must I needed a to scale floor plan of the whole existing house and honestly 9' is just not going to work unless it is atwin bed in there The length is not the issue

How about a narrow 9 foot wide breeze way connected to a bigger room?

Foreside Cottage · More Info

This is the interior wall that would be affected. The window that could possibly become a door is on the right with the blind halfway up.

We were stuck on 9 so we wouldn’t have to take out both windows.

I like the breezeway! That hit me a few minutes ago, too, when I commented that once we come off the house, we can go as wide as we’d like.

The old iron bed downstairs in the picture is just a twin that’s nestled between a closet and the bathroom.

What a lovely cottage. The breezeway is such a good idea. And like the picture above - add windows to the breezeway so that the walkway and the original structure don't become a dark hole. It will be the equivalent of the window you are removing.

Is there a sightline to a lake or body of water somewhere that you want to maintain or expand. What I'm getting at is the orientation of the new room(s) - do they need large windows to appreciate a view or is the space mainly going to be for sleeping only?

Does your cottage have running water currently? Do you need a second bathroom, or even a powder room? Do you need to have laundry facilities? Maybe a closet to accomodate a stacking washer/dryer. If so, now is the time to consider those items in your floor plan.

You could put french doors from the breezeway into the new addition to add to privacy, and like the picture above, you can add an exterior door as well to the breezeway.

You'll want an easy exit from the addition in the event of an emergency.

Would you want/need a deck with a walkout (maybe a sliding door or french doors to a deck?) That's where I'd be having my morning coffee if it were me! Is that a screened in porch on what I'll call the back of the building. If you put a deck on the back side of the new addition - could it join up with that part of the old structure?

If you're building I'd say go bigger than you think you need (within reason) to obtain storage closets. Things like towels and bedding, cleaning supplies, vacuum etc - they all need a home and it looks like you've got pretty limited space currently.

I'd definitely consider a 3 piece bath in the addition and if needed, a stackable laundry could be in a bathroom space.

If you built 18' wide, same as the current structure - your interior space would be 17'. Take 6' for a 3 piece washroom and maybe laundry. And assuming a 6" wall width, that leaves 11.5' for the bedroom space. That gives room for a Queen or King size bed with some night tables or dressers.

Thank you so so much, MV, and everyone. To address some of your questions…first, you’re very thoughtful to think of a view. There is a creek on the backside of the camp that flows into a large river about 1/2 mile away. Yes, our camp has running water with an L shaped kitchen and full bath. We are discussing putting a half bath into the new addition. Yes, we‘re planning an exterior door on the new addition. That is a sunroom that leads to a deck in the back of what we have now. Such great things to think about.

Add a washer and dryer, too.

Yes!

The breezeway is a great idea! It would solve your width issue + make the addition look like it belongs.

If you can't or don't want to add a breezeway - instead of "losing" the second window, I would move it over (closer to the wall). Because the other window will no longer be there, you don't need to worry about any symmetry issues + you would be able to increase the width of the new room from 9' to 10 - 11' or so.

Is that a TV mounted on the wall between the two windows? It seems like an odd place for it (it looks squished in between the two windows - and would still look that way if the window on the right was turned into a door).

Maybe there is a better way to layout your furniture? If you add more photos + a scaled drawing of the space - you could receive some advice on how to make the space function better (if you want - feel free to ignore my suggestion re: furniture layout/tv placement if you are happy with the current layout).

Do you have another house on your four acres? It seems like this little house is just an added area (camp) - not where you reside on the land.

I love the idea behind the breezeway. It allows you to play with the facing of the rooflines more easily than if the two halves are directly connected. But, consider your climate and if you are creating HVAC or plumbing inefficiencies by splitting up the two halves. Maybe not, just something to consider. Do you want four independent walls on each half of the home or will you be more efficient with heating or cooling if they share a wall?

Thank you, both! Yes, dani-m08, I completely agree, the tv does look squished. And, replacing that one window now with a door and what it will do to the current interior has me rethinking the layout.

We’re on board with the breezeway idea! It will happen, I’d say. Although, moving the remaining window is a great idea if we would happen to choose against the breezeway.

Our main home is about 30 minutes away from this camp. We used to set up a tent in these woods while visiting the state park next door, however, it seemed to rain every time! One night while in the tent during a small storm, I made the comment to my husband that I’d just like to have somewhere to get out of the rain. He and his uncle then built this.

Kendrah, my husband is talking with the HVAC guys about those very issues.

I really appreciate all of you.

Thank you for responding and for working that up!

Enjoying everyone’s thoughts. So much help!

What a cute camp! Love the breezeway. The breezeway could be a laundry room hallway leading to the bedroom en-suite.

Inspiration

Yes, an enclosed breezeway with the bedroom attached. Something like this:

I really like the idea with the breezeway and interior suggested by Diana Bier.

Yes, thank you, and my heart skipped a beat when I first saw your picture! The following is a photo of my childhood home.

@mathorne - Very nice!

lisedv, love that design!