The Non-traditional carriage house

[elvee]

My wife and I bought our house a little over three years ago partly because the lot was large enough to build the workshop we both wanted. We weren't able to find a house with a suitable garage, so we decided we would just build what we wanted. What we thought would happen right after we moved in has taken a few years to actually make happen. This project started August 27, and should be finished in the next 10 days.

The original plan was for a simple garage that would give both of us workspace, but evolved into the building that we now have. Some things we wanted - like making it look good to go with the house. Other things ended up being mandates from the county - like attaching it to the house in order to build to the height we wanted.

Most of the pics are online, though I do need to get some current shots with the siding on, and more of the detail work finished. Yes, we hired out the build. Neither of us really have the time to do it ourselves, and we didn't want the project to take several more years. The goal was to use the space, not spend our time building it.

More pics can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/elveith/NotTheTraditionalCarriageHousePics

 

[TrixR4Kids]

What a great looking garage. You got it all going on, can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Ryan]

Man, that is incredible... Very similar to what I will be doing on my property next year.

 

[daddylama]

when i read "carriage house", i was thinking something along the lines of mine... a ~94 year old small out building that can make a tuff-shed look like a palace

your carriage house is nicer than my HOUSE!

looks great.... love the carriage doors!

 

[elvee]

Thanks guys. It really is so much more than we originally planned to do. Of course, there is a price tag that comes along with that. What is so scary is this is the result of cutting back from some of the ideas we had...metal roof, poured concrete drive (will be gravel for right now) holding off on HVAC..you get the idea.

As soon as my wife is back from the conference she is attending, I will get more pics. By the end of this week it should be in exterior paint, and the interior should be primed. Hopefully the electrician and plumber will even make it out and get fixtures set. Then we're on to the fun part - finishing the interior and having the move in party.

 

[elvee]

when i read "carriage house", i was thinking something along the lines of mine... a ~94 year old small out building that can make a tuff-shed look like a palace

your carriage house is nicer than my HOUSE!

looks great.... love the carriage doors!

Right now the garage is nicer than OUR house. Two years - we plan to blow off the roof and make the rooflines match. The doors were the big thing. We have a bad habit - once we see the really nice way to do it, we can't allow ourselves to settle for second best. Even the builder and the subs are impressed with the finishes.

 

[Kevin54]

What is so scary is this is the result of cutting back from some of the ideas we had...metal roof, poured concrete drive (will be gravel for right now) holding off on HVAC..you get the idea.

Those are some things that can always be done later on down the road though. It looks great!!! I also like the carriage doors on the front. That detail really sets it off.

 

[ersatzs2]

Very very nice. how big are the doors? They appear 9x9 but the scale looks really good. I also like how you brought the eaves down low; it helps maintain the overall building proportions while masking the really high ceilings you have. What are the interior dimensions? Hats off on a really nice original project.

 

[elvee]

I guess I should have put some more details in the first post. The overall size is 26ft wide x 30ft deep. The side porch is about 5ft wide. Ceiling height downstairs is 12ft. The upstairs is 16ft between the kneewalls, which are 4ft high. Clear floor upstairs before the staircase is about 22ft. Garage is set back 35ft from the house. Door openings are 8ft 6in x 8ft 6in. Doors were built by **** Hampton at Evergreen Carriage Doors in Washington State. He was half the price of any of the millworks on that I talked to on the east coast. That isn't to say the doors were cheap - they were just less with shipping than getting them built locally.

There is a central floor drain downstairs, as well as a half bath. The upstairs is plumbed for a work sink, but the water and sewer lines are large enough to support a full bath if we ever want to finish it out as an inlaw apartment or guest house.

I'm glad to hear that people like it. We cannot wait for the builder to be done so we can get it finished out and set up for ourselves.

 

[cletus66]

I like it. Very nicely done. The breezeway will be great in bad weather.

 

[daddylama]

Right now the garage is nicer than OUR house. Two years - we plan to blow off the roof and make the rooflines match. The doors were the big thing. We have a bad habit - once we see the really nice way to do it, we can't allow ourselves to settle for second best. Even the builder and the subs are impressed with the finishes.

wouldn't call it a bad habit... too much 'cutting corners' goes into building, in general. doing it a really nice way makes a big difference right now, and even more in 20 years when the stuff is still in nice shape, instead of falling apart.

sure does add to the cost, though...
we're spending thousands for hand split cedar shingles to match what was on the house new (94 years ago), rather than going the cheap way out...
the only thing keeping us within any type of budget with the restoration of our house is that i'm the contractor. can't spend more than i can do at one time, not hiring anyone out for anything. the down side is it takes time away from any other projects of mine...

 

[ScottC]

Great job on the finish details. Like we've talked, I'll end up with similar front elevation, with the metal seam roof over the doors. I've had alot of "it's tall" comments, but I built within the zoning requirements & to my liking. It's my garage, right?!?!

 

[elvee]

I finally updated the online album today. I still need to get some detail shots in there, but this should give everyone a pretty good idea of what we are working with.

http://picasaweb.google.com/elveith/NotTheTraditionalCarriageHousePics

 

[JMURiz]

What a great looking garage!
Where'd you get the lights that are outside, over the doors?

 

[jimvannoy]

when i read "carriage house", i was thinking something along the lines of mine... a ~94 year old small out building that can make a tuff-shed look like a palace

your carriage house is nicer than my HOUSE!

looks great.... love the carriage doors!

That's what I was thinking too. Something like the one our 100+ year old house has. It's pretty much just a big square building with doors. It had a dirt floor with wagon wheel ruts when we got the house. I concreted the floor and built a new door. Seeing yours makes me want to do something different to the roof.

 

[elvee]

The lights over the main doors are from Lowe's, but have been discontinued. They still offer a small version in galvanized finish. I had to call around to several stores around Atlanta to find one that still had some on the shelf. Once I had them and a pair of the small lights for on the porch, I disassembled, primed and painted them with Rustoleum metal tone brown. The hanging lights in the breezeway came from Restoration Hardware Outlet on closeout for about $30 each. They were originally about $100 per light. It would have been more work than it was worth to take those apart, prep and paint, so they will stay green.

 

[JMURiz]

The lights over the main doors are from Lowe's, but have been discontinued. They still offer a small version in galvanized finish.

Bummer, I was hoping that wasn't the case, I could only get the small ones, for my man doors (actually going to paint mine about the same color). I guess I'll start looking in the lighting books for something else.

 

[MattSteele]

Beautiful carriage house! Very tastefully done!

Just out of curiosity, do you have a drainage issue? A lot of the later pictures on your Picasa gallery seem to show standing water all around and inside the carriage house.

 

[Weber1]

Nicely done!

 

[elvee]

Beautiful carriage house! Very tastefully done!

Just out of curiosity, do you have a drainage issue? A lot of the later pictures on your Picasa gallery seem to show standing water all around and inside the carriage house.

Matt, thanks for the compliments. I do have drainage issues in that the company I brought in to do the grading and gravel didn't know how to use a level or transit. I have resolved some of those problems, but still need to redo the approach to the garage to get the water moving away from the breezeway walkway. Hopefully over the winter I can get that project done.

 

[ducnut]

Beautiful garage.