Reclaim and Relax

Last year some of our past clients reached out hoping to come up with a solution for a pretty, but not-functional courtyard in their backyard.

A family of four, they’d purchased the home from someone whose lifestyle didn’t quite lend itself to wobbly toddlers and tired parents. Although pretty, the courtyard was not well protected from the sun, and certainly not from the summer’s mosquitoes. It also was seemingly full of steps. Everywhere you looked there seemed to be a brick step just begging for a little boy to skin his knee or stub his toe.

So we brought in one of our long-time favorite architects, Dan Wessel, to design something covered, protected and one level. But not without the charm of the original design.

We maintained the use of a standing seam roof and even salvaged much of the brick.

One of the primary concerns of the client was that their living room would lose quite a bit of natural light with this new covered porch. So we installed two skylights in the sea-salt painted ceiling to do the trick.

To extend the porch’s season, we also wired up a couple wall heaters, making early Spring and late Fall gatherings possible. But one of the coolest features of this porch was that when faced with an either/or decision of “to screen” or “not to screen” the clients didn’t have to choose. There was a third way. A retractable center screen gives them the flexibility to enjoy an open expanse and also hunker down away from mosquitoes when needed.

To cap things off, the homeowners engaged with Kobel & Co to furnish the reclaimed space. Now it’s the perfect place to relax with both lounge seating, an eating area and a television to watch the Chiefs go back to the Super Bowl next year!