Portfolio · Decatur
Modern Transformation
This 1960s brick ranch had good bones and no room left. Rather than move, the owners went up, gaining a full second story and an exterior that reads nothing like the house they started with.
Location
Decatur
Scope
Second-story addition and primary bath
Duration
9 months
The project
The centerpiece is a floating staircase set within a two-story atrium, where oversized windows and acoustic slat paneling turn a stairwell into a statement piece. The exterior moved just as far: sharp lines, thermally treated wood siding, and oversized windows replaced the dated ranch face.
The part the owners still mention is that they never moved out. The schedule was sequenced so the family stayed in the house for all nine months, which takes planning, a clean site, and a superintendent who protects the livable half of the house as carefully as he builds the new one.
Before and after
The rooms that changed most, shown as they were and as they are now.
The exterior
Before
After
The staircase and atrium
Before
After
The primary bath
Before
After
What we did
- Second-story addition with two bedrooms, a full bath, a laundry room, and a children’s play area, plus a primary bath renovation, all completed without the owners moving out
- Exterior transformed from dated ranch to modern, with sharp lines, thermally treated wood siding, and oversized windows
- Interior finishes including white oak flooring, a metal stair railing, dual shower heads in the primary bath, and acoustic slat paneling on the ceiling and accent walls
Ready When You Are
Planning something similar?
Read more about second-story additions, or tell us about your house. Twenty minutes, no cost, no obligation.