I am sitting in what used to be my formal living room, at a desk looking out a window watching the tips of a yellow twig dogwood bush moving in the Snoqualmie wind. My daughter is talking on the phone and watching tv 30 feet away, yet it is still quiet in my work space. I am writing with a child in the house without my sanity being jeopardized.
Sadly, I’d never really noticed the view of the dogwood bush before because in all honesty, we didn’t really use the formal living room. It was wasted space. That’s the loving term many real estate agents use to describe today’s formal living rooms as more and more families live in their great rooms. All the while the formal living room sits on the sidelines, under-utilized, waiting for its chance to play in the big game.
That’s where contractors come in. It’s their job to make that hardly used substitute player into a star. For us, all that took was two sets of glass french doors and a couple transom windows. Yes, I said two sets – not one set of french doors and a wall. That would’ve ruined the flow of my home’s floor plan. Two sets of doors protect the circular flow and add versatility to the space.
We undertook this project for us. The decision was based on our lifestyle and the need for our home to be more functional. According to Snoqulamie Ridge Real Estate agent, Laura Flodin, the formal living room to home office renovation won’t necessarily add value to our home. She says if we decide to sell, though, it would probably increase the home’s desirability and speed of the sale.
Contractors sometimes get a bad rap. There’s even phrases coined after them like “contractor time.” We experienced none of that. There was constant communication. If an arrival time was changed, texts were sent and calls made. I wrote and worked at my corner desk while construction went on around me. I worked; they worked; it all went smoothly. The french doors were even delivered to my front porch – met by the contractor even though I was home. Each different contractor was an expert at their trade. Devon built the walls, perfected the moldings and made sure the doors closed perfectly. Darin, the painter, spent hours meticulously painting the intricate trim work of the glass panes. Tom, the owner, organized it all from behind the scenes.
Thanks to Banducci Construction – Tom the owner, Devon the framer and KDS painting – our vision became a reality. The doors look like they’ve always been there. A quiet work space now exists on the main floor of our home – and not just for me; the kids love it equally. They’ve discovered a way to be loud on the computer without being sent upstairs – shut the doors. My “mom sanity” is greatly improved which trickles down to the rest of the family.
You can see earlier construction photos in a previous Living Snoqualmie story on this project. Banducci Construction contact info is located on the Local Contractors page.
