Bob and Jane Hobbs frequently find themselves relaxing in a 12-by-13-foot room, enjoying the sun as it streams through a large triangular window at the peak of a cathedral ceiling, and sipping tea as they catch views of local wildlife and take in the view of nearby Mount Tom.
Prior to a recent renovation project, this calm and tranquil room was a simple open deck off their kitchen that was difficult to enjoy, because the sun would beat down on it all day and annoying insects would pester them in the evenings.
After a lot of planning and four months of work, the former deck is now a multi-functional room that serves as a family room, a place to have breakfast or a quiet area to read by the fire, as well as a nice spot to bird-watch and take in mountain views.
“We now spend more time in this room during the daylight hours than any other place in the house,” Bob said.
The Hobbses, now retired, moved into their three-bedroom, two-story Easthampton home in 2017, relocating to western Massachusetts from a larger home in Newton where they had raised their family.
“It’s funny that we downsized from our other home, then we move here but put on an addition!” Jane joked.
The addition is the result of an ever-changing plan that the couple solidified and had built this summer.
“We weren’t thrilled that the deck was so open,” Jane Hobbs said. “We were both sitting out there one day and the gnats were just driving us nuts, so we first thought about putting in a screened-in porch.”
After bouncing around the idea of a screened-in porch, they realized that an actual room would be more usable and meet more of their needs.
“What we really wanted was a first-floor bedroom, and this could be used as a bedroom if need be,” Bob said.
They settled on the idea of building an entirely new addition, but wanted to be sure that it would still have lots of sunlight, and maintain their view of the mountain and the frequent sightings of red-tailed hawks and the occasional bald eagle.
“We like to bring the outdoors inside as much as we can,” Jane said.
The couple chose Mark Bonde Construction and Design out of Easthampton to build the addition, as they had heard of his work and said he came highly recommend.
“He was really great to work with,” Bob said, noting that Bonde had previously done work for their daughter.
“I kept waiting for the honeymoon period to be over but he talked us through making our ideas practical, and he was a good listener,” Jane said. “We learned that we could trust him to do it well and we are sold on his workmanship.”
One of the first hurdles to figure out was building a roof strong enough to hold the large amounts of heavy snow that used to thunder down onto the deck in the winter.
For this the couple said Bonde designed and built a double-buttressed roof to withstand the stress and weight.
“The roof is also closer than the deck was so the snow doesn’t have as far to fall,” Jane said.
The Hobbses were meticulous in planning their design, measuring out every window and the height at which they wanted them to be.
Jane wanted to be able to visualize the space, so she drew it to scale on graph paper.
“I needed to see what it would look like, and that really helped. I did spend a good bit of time on that,” she said with a chuckle.
She said Bonde worked with them to get the room just as they wanted it.
“The design piece was a little tricky,” Jane said. “The contractor would give us ideas but we both had strong feelings about what we wanted the room to look like inside and out.”
To keep the sunlight in the room, they had a large triangular window installed on the south-facing wall near the peak of the roof. The east and west walls sport several windows, which give them nice views of their surroundings.
As well as preserving their view, the couple included a fireplace, which makes the room cozy and inviting.
“We really wanted a fireplace,” Bob said. “This is gas and can operate without an electrical start so it is also good for backup heating if we need it.”
Their original plan also included a full basement, but the couple said that option became too complicated and they decided to go with a crawl space instead, which also kept the price down.
“I started out thinking we would do it for about $200 a square foot, but that is not how it turned out,” Bob said.
“It was a littler higher than we had hoped, but it meant a lot to us have it done the way we wanted and to go with someone that we had confidence in,” Jane added.
The total price tag for the project was roughly $60,000.
Work started in April and was completed by the second week in July. Using the existing sliding doors to the deck as a barrier helped in preventing the ongoing construction work from disrupting life in the rest of the home.
“That really helped with the noise and the mess was not nearly what it has been on other projects we have done in the past because that barrier was there,” Jane said.
“The sliding doors stayed on until the second day before the work was finished,” Bob added.
The retired couple briefly wondered if they would be overbuilding by putting an addition on the home, but those thoughts faded in the face of what they would be gaining.
“We worried a little about overbuilding and being able to get our money back, but honestly, we are at a time in our lives when we wanted to treat ourselves,” Jane said. “I spend a lot of time at home and it is very important to me that it feels good.”
The room has red oak floors, and the walls are painted in a soft yellow. The cathedral ceiling has a fan, and a mini-split for heating and cooling is located on one of the walls.
“Having this open area near the kitchen makes for a nice family room where we can spend time with our grandchild,” Jane said. “It is not that the room is that big but it really expands the sense of space and we can see out of the room in three directions.”
The Hobbses say they love the new addition to their home, and now that the planning is over and the work is complete, the only real burning question they had toward the end of the year was how to hang the stockings over the fireplace for Christmas.