Description: Having in mind that old, well-constructed house is preserved, construction changes were not made in order to reduce costs of renovation, as well as to keep the budget as low as possible. In the same manner, dimensions and positions of rooms and openings (windows and doors) were not changed. Other requirements that make the family house personalized, cozy, natural, simple, warm and comfortable, were not neglected.
Throughout the whole house, use of natural light is maximized, since it is an important criteria for healthy and comfortable life. This is achieved through organization, specially chosen colors of walls and openings and, of course, bright furniture colors – pastel ones. A good example of using natural light can be seen in the sewing room/bedroom. This room has a rectangular shape, covers a large area, but has just one window. In order to maximize natural lighting, shelf unit construction is made thin and has a glass base. This shelving unit was selected because of its transparency and light reflection. Advice: there should be some empty space on the shelves so that light can go through. In this room walls are painted white because white color reflects a lot of natural light. Small kitchen window was preserved in order to bring some natural light into this room. Additionally, the whole house is covered with ceiling lights and lamps, as well.
Connections between rooms are painted existing doors. Between new living room/winter garden and dining room/kitchen, connection is provided through sliding doors made of old renovated doors. Existing, very cute pieces of furniture, such as table and two chairs were reused. Table was used as sofa-side table and two chairs were used as bedside tables.
Newly built part of the house with large windows is prefabricated (e.g. wooden pillars). This minimizes the costs and makes implementation simpler, compared to the traditional approach.
Estimated costs: Taking into account that design consists of two parts - renovation of the great grandmother’s house and the newly built part of the house, we think that it would be practical to divide construction works into two separate phases. This would make organization, as well as management and construction costs, simpler. These two phases and their estimated costs are shown in the table below.
Phase 1: Renovation of the great grandmother's house: Estimated costs of the renovation and proposed furniture is $6,992.75.
Phase 2: Newly built, prefabricated part of the house: Estimated costs of the newly built prefabricated part of the house include construction materials and proposed furniture is $11,625.93.
Therefore, total estimated cost is $18,618.68.