Newly married Cornelia Haggart wanted her children to experience a childhood similar to her own, so in early 2008 when her mother offered her the chance to move back into the home where she had been raised, she and her husband jumped at the chance. They packed up the contents of their Germantown condo and returned to the old neighborhood. With its wide, tree-lined streets and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, the quiet neighborhood of English Village near the heart of Bethesda remains the kind of community where neighbors stop to chat or share a cup of coffee.
“Its beautiful here and also a very safe neighborhood. And the schools are great. The neighborhood seemed pretty much the way I remembered it,” Haggart said. “And the house had a lot of pluses. We have a huge backyard now, and it’s just 10 minutes to the Metro, but it was weird sleeping in the master bedroom!”
| Resources: |
| The Alexander Group Inc., Kensington, 301-230-3040 www.alexandergroup.net/default.php |
Haggart’s mother had rented out the 1940s, two-story Cape Cod for nearly two decades. Showing signs of age, and lacking substantial updates, the house was an ideal tear-down candidate. Drafty windows and poor insulation made an enclosed porch and an interior living room almost unusable in cold weather.
Not willing to see the house torn down, Haggart’s mother agreed to help the couple renovate it.
“I looked at updated properties in the neighborhood and knew I didn’t want to end up with a tear-down with a boxy addition just tacked on,” Haggart’s mom said. In the end, a niece referred Haggart to Alex Dean, owner of the Alexander Group, a design-build firm in Kensington.
“Alex showed me there was hope for the house, His projects have tremendous curb appeal, and it was important to me that the renovations turn the house into something that looked like it has always been there,” she said. “I also wanted [it] to be as energy efficient as possible.”
The house now features a new two-story, left-side addition with a first-level living room and a master bathroom above it.
“In the end, we made a lot of changes to the exterior, but there were really just a few elements necessary for the addition — some added storage, a master bath suite and creating livable space from the existing footprint,” Dean said.
The master bathroom features his and her sinks, a shower with bench and a whirlpool tub. A wide hallway connects the original second-floor master bedroom with the new master bath suite. A built-in bench and cubbies were incorporated into the hallway along with a spacious closet for much-needed storage for the growing family. An existing second-floor bathroom was remodeled.
Outside, the exterior plan features a new front porch with a barrel-vaulted gable entry area. Overhangs were added to the front dormers and to the existing gable ends, adding dimension and character to the front facade.
“The home had very little insulation, an old, inefficient HVAC system and old, drafty windows,” said Dean, who has been building green homes and additions for more than two decades. “We removed old rock-wool insulation and installed Icynene foam in the attic, new low e, insulated glass Pella windows and a new high-efficiency HVAC system. All of these improvements were implemented to help reduce energy costs over time.”
Haggart said the family loves the new addition and plans on staying put. “This house is perfect for three people,” she said.
