Office Cottage

Last fall, I was contacted by a lovely couple in Old North Durham with a 1920s bungalow.  He needed to get his office out of the enclosed porch at the back of their home and to someplace with a little more elbow room, and while they were at it, maybe a guest house would make sense.  And maybe some storage too? So the Office Cottage began.  We worked with the details on the main house, including the crossed gables and nine-over-one windows, and then added a few interior bits of fun like a high ceiling and bungalow-style colonnade for storage.  Off the back, with the entrance well-hidden, is a large shed space for all their gardening, biking, and outside storage needs.

The whole process was a new challenge for 4/1, in that it is the first free-standing, all-together new structure that I’ve designed.  That said, given the reference point of the existing house to jump from, it was a pleasure to solve the puzzles.  The homeowners still need to wrap up painting on the inside before it’ll be ready for its closeup, but until then here’s a little peek into the interior: