This 1907 Brown Shingle Arts & Crafts home had significant dry rot damage at a 1970’s addition that required extensive re-building to repair. We took the opportunity to explore what the owners most wanted for their home and make design changes that would improve their experience of living in the house. The project brought the mismatched previous addition into harmony with the style of the original house, added a deck with good spaces for socializing, and made two home offices fit the needs of the owners. Design sketches and a cardboard study model with removable parts helped the clients visualize ideas and evaluate options.

“Alexandra Sheets Saikley helped us turn a remodel necessitated by dry-rot into a real upgrade of our living space. It's our first home, and we had no idea what was ahead of us. Alexandra worked with us effectively from the beginning to help us define our own aesthetics and desires for the house, even defusing some of the marital tension that seems to accompany a house remodel. She built a cardboard model of our house that was indispensable for us to use and play around with to bring the drawings into three dimensions. And the result was so much more than a fix to our dry-rot--Alexandra gave our deck and two home-offices a functionality and elegance that makes us happy every day.”

--Client