Disguising the New Addition
Jackie and Dennis hired Fairhope architect Lea Verneuille to design their addition, with one stipulation: "We wanted it to look as though it had been there all along," says Jackie. Verneuille suggested the new kitchen/great room extend the full two stories on the bay-view side of the house. Jackie and Dennis loved the idea, since they were planning to tear off the old bathroom bump-out on that side anyway.
In his design, Verneuille paid strict attention to scale, repeating the existing house's window shapes and extending the roofline to the dormered wing. He also continued the home's ample front porch so it wrapped around the great-room wing.
Inside, the great room was connected to the rest of the house by a wide entryway, which also serves as a new dining room. In fact, Jackie and Dennis and their architect found themselves rejiggering rooms and their uses all over the house. The old dining room with its prime views of the water became the new master bedroom suite, a downstairs bedroom became the new study, and the old kitchen and an adjoining closed-in back porch contributed space for a new master bedroom.
