Lauren Dee and Andy Davis couldn’t ask for much more of the place they’ve called home for 11 years.
It’s just across the street from St. Paul’s Como Park, affords them views of Lake Como and a sizable backyard gives the avid gardeners space to dig, plant and create a flora-filled sanctuary.
But if the family wanted one thing for their 1939 Garrison Revival Colonial, it was better flow.
“We’ve got three kids and lots of people coming in and out of the house. Sometimes there’s 100 pairs of shoes at the back door,” Dee said. “There were doors that opened into each other. ... We also garden a lot, but it didn’t have that connection to the house — so it was a very practical desire.”
Ultimately, a remodel and modest one-story addition (425 square feet) shows that one doesn’t have to build large to live large.
The Rehkamp Larson Architects project, called “Como Gardenside,” was named a Home of the Month winner, the Star Tribune/American Institute of Architects-MN program spotlighting top residential designs. Judges lauded the right-sized addition that solved the family’s space needs while seamlessly connecting the old and the new.