Right away, Davis zeroed in on the front entry. "It's confusing," he says. "There's a window where the door should be, and the door is hidden away to the left of the stairs, so it's practically invisible from the street." Moving the door to a front-facing spot would create a more welcoming facade and improve the floor plan because it would open into the mudroom rather than the living room, as it does now.
For the rest of the makeover, Davis took cues from the house's design. "The one-story structure and stone base have a Craftsman-like quality," he says, so he added square porch columns and other period-style touches. He also extended the porch to match the bumped-out facade on the left, topping both areas with open-truss gables. "I'd never have thought to widen the entry steps," says Mark. "The bigger porch alone makes the house feel so inviting."
Contribute to This Story Below