Just checked in on an addition I designed a few months back. It's a 1-1/2 story house built in 1929 in Portland's Alameda neighborhood.
Contractors Riggs & Martin have taken a lot of care with the project, and somehow managed to dodge the weather despite needing to open up the roof during our rainy season.
The old house looked lovely from the street, but the bedroom in the front gable was tiny, dark, and accessible only by going through another bedroom. The plan proportions were like a bowling lane, and the low sidewalls made it difficult to furnish.


I proposed to raise the roof 3 feet higher in the front portion, which also created an opportunity to improve the front porch — the old porch seemed to suit the house visually, but functionally it was too small for more than one or two people to wait comfortably. Plus, the homeowners really wanted to have a more open-feeling porch. On this walkable street, it will be a great place to sit and greet neighbors. Here's the schematic 3D model:

And the nearly finished addition, ready for a fresh coat of paint:

Closer view of the new entry porch:

Interior of new front bedroom, with a side dormer to gain added windows and to extend the new 8-foot ceilings:

Often the ideal place for a dormer just happens to conflict with the chimney location. No one wants to look out the window at the chimney, so we usually avoid it and find another spot to add space. But after looking at other old houses around Portland, I noticed that chimneys are sometimes integrated into the dormer. So we decided to literally embrace the brick chimney with our new addition. It greatly improves the bedroom space, and I like how it turned out from the exterior too:

Keep an eye on the website for finished photos soon!