Adding and addition to accomedate sewing room, Your Thoughts
 

Hi All,

I have not been around for awhile, but am still interested in quilting, to the point I bought a Grace Long Arm, which came with a Pfaff Grand Quilter 1200. I am just about to finish my first quilt and I think I have gotten on to it pretty quick, have been doing FMQ.

First let me say, I LOVE IT! The problem is, the 10 foot frame is set up in my living room, which is a bit uncomfortable.

DH and I are seriously considering adding on the house to accomadate a larger quilting room for me and add an additional bedroom. If we built out one area of our house that is 25 feet wide, say adding 16 feet = 400 sf. Currently our home is 1500 sf, this would be adding on a little over 25% of what we currently have. Has anyone tackled such a project?

We are in our 60's DH is still working I'm not currently, and we are getting along fine.

I would appreciate your opinions.

JulieM

That would be a major project. Hope you can do some homework on what is needed to obtain permits for any plans you want to make. Good Luck!

You would certainly enjoy the space -- who would do the work?

It will raise the value of your house for sure if you plan on selling in the future. One thing you may want to think about is a separate building for your quilt studio with room for a guest bed.

while I think you'd love the additional space there are some things to consider:
will the building/zoning allow that type of addition?
If a bank loan is needed, will it be approved based on expected assessed value?
will the addition make your home worth so much more that you would not be able to re-coop the expense in a sale?
also, without knowing the floor plan, be aware that you will be living with the "mess" of addition construction for anywhere from 5-10weeks, depending on a number of factors. (if you do add on, please be sure to ask the contractor to hang plastic sheets between the addition and the rest of the house while they work--this will help)

Lots to think about, but if it all aligns for you, then definitely think you would enjoy having the extra space and ability to "get away" from the frame when you are relaxing. And as someone else suggested, you might want to look at a studio--but that also has lots of issues--like additional electrical, Plumbing ?, heat/cooling, etc And again, there is zoning....

Yes--we did do this with one house. Frankly, we did not really increase the value of the house much beyond the construction costs, but it made it much more livable for us and that is often well worth it. And your idea to increase bedroom space is a good one--could you add one room that would do both? Or do you really need another bedroom?

We didn't build out, but we finished about 1,000 sq ft in the basement about a year ago. We went from 1800 ft to 2800 of living space. That's where my sewing room is now as well as a family room and library. We're in our 60's, my husband is still working, and we felt we could afford it. We're very happy with how it turned out. We hired a contractor and the project was about $65,000. When we got our new home value from the tax assessor, it didn't add a lot to our home value but we think it will make our house more marketable when we move. I think if you can afford it and you know you'll enjoy the extra space, go for it. I also think it won't take long to get really tired of that big frame taking up so much room in your living room! This craziness is what happens to us quilters, although you seem to have hopped on the quilt train pretty quickly! It's great to have an understanding husband.

I think you need to be very careful about who you hire to do the addition. When not done completely right, an addition can create problems for the existing house. Also, since you are in Indiana, wouldn't you need to excavate at least a crawl space underneath the addition? If so, I would want in-floor heating (electrical mats imbedded in the floor) to keep my toes toasty in the winter. If electricity is expensive in your area (it is inexpensive in some parts of the country), then you will need to factor in extra monthly heating and cooling costs for the addition.

Unless you or your husband understand construction (and can therefore keep an eagle eye on how things are done), my idea would be to sell the house you have and look for a house in your neighborhood that already has the space you need. Major remodeling projects are difficult to live through, often take longer than planned, and often cost more than planned. Perhaps find a house with an unfinished basement? That would be a much smaller project than an addition. Perhaps compare costs on those two options before deciding on what to do. (I *do* think that having enough space to pursue our interests in later life is important!)

I'm going to add another thought here, how about buying a different house that fits yours needs? My DH and I are in the process of doing that right now. I have a long arm too and need 16' for it and I need a bigger quilt room. We looked and looked at what we have now and decided since there were other factors involved in moving, we chose to buy another house. It is a 3 bedroom with a basement and I will use the two extra bedrooms for quilting and the basement will hold my long arm and many books and magazines. Good Luck in whatever you chose.

Having lived through a major addition to our home, much of what has been said by others has lots of value. First check with your local zoning and planning boards regarding the addition. Also the building permit officials.

We tore off one room from the back of the house and added to the entire width. With the increased square footage, we additionally had to upgrade the electrical system for the entire house. Also the smoke/co detectors to (then) current code. Because the original portion of our house is 200+ yrs old, also had to add lots of exterior decking to meet (then current) code for egress. And since we live in NJ - the 'if you've got it, we'll tax it' state, that increased our property taxes significantly. (Exterior decks are considered 'living space' here so you get taxed at the same rate as the interior of your home). We also had to either add another heating system or upgrade our existing. We decided to go with a new system to accommodate the entire structure vs 2 separate systems.

All of that said, it was still the correct decision for us as the house was just too small otherwise to live comfortably and buying another was even more costly on a monthly basis. Just do your research carefully and exhaustively before making final decisions.

Your addition
 

When we built our house we put both ceiling spotlights and a center fixture and fan in the sewing room.
Adding the extra light source makes a huge difference. I never need a sewing lamp other than what my machine provides.

We thought about that also. Went so far as to draw up plans. Then we got contractors to give us estimates, it was very cost prohibitive. Long arm is in the Master bedroom.

Don't know where you live and the weather, but a friend of mine added a large room to her house for her sewing studio. The front wall was all glass windows and a sliding door she could exit from onto the patio. I loved to visit and go in there - you could sit, sew or quilt, and it was almost like you were outdoors!

Thank you for all of the replies. DH and I live in a rural subdivision, with no covenants, just 20 minutes north of Indianapolis.

I found a house that I would love to live in, that is just north of where we are now, 35 minutes north of Indianapolis, we go to Indpls for Dr. appointments, groceries, dinner out, etc. This house was built in 1921, 4 bed, 2.5 bath remodeling but not to the point of removing the charm of the hardwood floors and tall baseboards. It has a unfinished half basement, I am unaware of the condition. DH is 65 and still working full time, I am 61, not working, am a Retired realtor.

We have considered permits, codes, double hung or casement, is my furnace large enough to cover the addition?

We are still in the think about stages, but I can not leave this long arm in my living room.

Thanks again for the good advice,

JulieM

Maybe this doesn't apply to where you live, but when we added on we could only add one more bedroom. Why? The septic tank size was only big enough for 3, not 4.
Who knew the number of bedrooms determined that??!??

I am in a similar situation. We have decided to add a room over our garage which will need a shed dormer and Windows as well as insulation, heat, etc. It will be approximately 22 x 26 but I don't have any other place in our late 1700's home for a LA. I have rented an APQS over the past couple of years but it has become inconvenient and the drive is about 40 minutes to the longarmer's home. Good luck on your decision.

This is off the subject a tad, but I think I am as excited as you are and I have solved my problem. I took out two or three shrubs yesterday (from the front of the house under the two windows) and for a 78 year old broad, not too easy, especially since I still have the roots and lilies and violets to get out yet. I just wanted something different to look out the window too, so I called my handy-dandy (my jack of all trades) and he is going to build me a window box 70" long to fit under the window and then for Christmas I will put in greens and lit "icicles" and in the summer (being that it is facing east), I will put in either Impatiens or Vincas and then put in a whole garden of the same flowers underneath it. One project is expensive and requires a lot of planning, like yours, and one is inexpensive and requires little planning, but is just as exciting as the other. I would like more room too, but I can't push out the front because on our block all houses are the same distance back from the sidewalk! Good luck to you.
Edie

We did this about 8 years ago and have not regretted it for one second. But we had other things to consider as we still had many children still living at home. But, we built a huge exercise room on the first floor that has a large bathroom, (built handicap accessible, in case any of our parents or relatives needed to come live with us), a washer/dryer combo closet, and a refrigerator closet. My long arm machine lives in this room along with all the thread and rolls of batting.

Above that we added 3 bedrooms, one of which is my sewing room. At one point it had a queen size guest bed in there, but as the children have married off we moved it out to the unoccupied room. I would give up my sewing room if I had to, but so far it has not been needed (it is the largest of the 3 new rooms). We did need to replace the heat pump/AC unit to accommodate the addition, but the new ones are so energy efficient that our electric bill has gone down 50% and the house is much cooler because of it.

We were cautioned about resale value, but decided that we wanted it for our needs now and would let the future worry about itself. We have enjoyed our home and there can not be a price on that for me. My daughter-in-law and 2 grandsons just spent the summer with us and 3 days after they left my daughter came with her family to recooperate after having their 5th child. My husband and I have no regrets on our addition. I think in the long run it was cheaper than therapy as I very easily could have lost my mind on any given day.

Hope that helps ~ Pat