Family dynamic

Remodeling the interior aesthetic of your home can sometimes seem a mission. Reconfiguring its entire layout to cater to the changing lifestyles of your family is an even greater challenge.

This was certainly the case for the owners of this house. While alterations conducted some twenty years earlier had made the house appear somewhat dated, the living spaces each had design faults that prevented them working well within the home as a whole.

Architect Bud Dietrich immediately saw the problems. The breakfast table was set against a wall with no windows, making it dark and oppressive. It was also right on a thoroughfare between the kitchen and the laundry.

"It wasn't a good place for teenage children to start the day," he says. "There were also problems with the sightlines. The first thing you saw when you came in the front door was the kitchen sink, which is not something you really want to showcase, " says Dietrich.

The solution was to remove the old kitchen area, which opened up the dining room. A central island reduced congestion by allowing circular traffic flow.

"The way the breakfast area functions alongside the dining room and the family room is a big change. At a recent family celebration the family were able to entertain fifty guests comfortably," says Dietrich.

Another smart and functional addition is a computer space for the children to do their homework. Instead of the teenagers working in their rooms, this space next to the kitchen allows their father to be involved with their learning while he's preparing dinner.

"Removing the structural barriers brings the family together emotionally as well," says Dietrich.

"It is something of an American tradition to have farmhouse-style kitchens with a large central table. Many of a family's most significant moments take place there. This project is a modern interpretation of this tradition, using a smaller island to create a central point around which all the living areas revolve."

Story by: Trendsideas