It has been about a year in the making but the house is coming along extremely well over at Isle of Hope! Working with architect, Meech Huddleston, I have attempted to take inspiring elements from my “favorite house of all time” and translate them into a low country vernacular that allows for flexible living.
I can HEAR YOU! I know you are saying to yourself, “Just what does “flexible living mean, Laurie? WEIRD.”
What flexible living means to ME is that you will not outgrow your home and that your home will serve you as you evolve through your life.
Pretty simple: You design for the life you think you will have but make sure you have what you need just in case life doesn’t go like you think…
A single open to partnering up? Maybe you build a two bedroom house and take a roommate in the meantime. You have aging parents and they may need to move in eventually? You buy a house with a garden apartment or detached studio you could use for them. ETC.
Smart?
NO.
GENIUS (:
For the Isle of Hope home, I wanted to create flexibility for a family or (community of individuals) that likes to work and play at home. I wanted a smart floor plan that gave plenty of storage so that the open-ness would not get cluttered with “stuff.” I also wanted a small footprint that would be under 1300 sf on the ground floor.
The third IOH house in May 2019 with WINDOWS
The floor plan ends up being extremely open: the kitchen, living, and eating areas are combined underneath a vaulted ceiling. The side entry opens into a utility mud room with side by side laundry and HUGE storage. plus a coat closet. Perfect place to kick off the shoes before coming in!
Windows in Living Room
The two bedrooms in the main house each have their own bathroom. The Master’s bathroom is en sure and also has access to the screened porch via a door.
The side porch goes all the way from the front of the home and wraps into a “dog trot” between the main house and the 3rd bedroom/Mother-in-Law suite. The MIL suite has its own entry and walkway (opposite the side porch) to aid in giving a bit of privacy and independence.
And then there is the LOFT!! Up the sturdy library ladder we have designed a way to take advantage of all the lofted space, approximately 300 square feet that can be used for work, play, grandkids, working out, office, etc. FLEX space if you will.
Loft in April 2019
Hoping this gives you a bit of insight into how one favorite house helped me set up a design that is sensitive to Isle of Hope aesthetic and also work around my ideas of what flexible living means for me. Cheers!