To the right of the center hall is the original half flight of stairs up to the bedrooms. By eliminating one bedroom, they were able to create a study area, enlarge the hall bathroom for the Guelchers’ two girls to share and make room for a full flight of stairs to the master suite.
The original half flight down leads to the former rec room. The girls, 11 and 8, watch TV and entertain friends there. The existing kitchen, which had been renovated a few years earlier, was opened to the great room. One side has a seating arrangement and built-in entertainment center with TV; the other has a round, counter-high table and chairs for family dining.
On the new top floor, the master bath boasts a skylight above the shower that helps brighten the room. The light from the skylight passes through a glass block wall that divides the oversize shower from the rest of the room. Above the sinks are windows with tree-top views rather than the traditional mirrors. A single mirror mounted between the sinks rotates from side to side for applying makeup or shaving.
When construction started in April 2007, the family moved in with Christine’s mother and stepfather in Chevy Chase. They didn’t move back until New Year’s Eve 2008. The initial contractor was unable to complete the job and “the house was boarded up for months,” Christine says. “My friends called it the crack house.”
The Guelchers decline to say what they spent on their hybrid house, but it was “well in excess of our original budget,” Jeffrey says. “Having to replace the contractor ended up costing us an extra $75,000 to $100,000. But part of the added cost was our choice. Once we got into the process, we realized that this was our opportunity to make the house everything we wanted it to be.”
Nancy Lundell is a freelance writer and former editor of SpaceCoast Living magazine in Melbourne, Fla.
