Benjamin Andrew Construction

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Reclaimed Space

Usable space inside our homes is at a premium. Closets, storage, enough bedrooms for growing families, places for studying, entertaining, eating, cooking -- all important spaces in our homes. Is your home running low on space? Time to start the house hunting process, right?

First, you may want to look around you and see if there are any pockets of unused space, and then ask yourself, what would it take to reclaim that space? An unused area under a stairway could be turned into storage or a study nook. Small unfinished spaces can be turned into hobby rooms or storage areas with a little sheetrock and some shelving. What about those vaulted spaces in your home? Those hard to reach (impossible to dust!) spots do not seem eminently usable. And nearly impossible to reclaim, right? 

Wrong. 

Check. This. Out. 

Ring the doorbell at many an Atlanta area home and as you step inside the home, look up--chances are, you will see a two-story foyer, empty space, really, with a lighting fixture dangling overhead. Where you see empty space floating above your head, Benjamin Andrew Construction sees potential. When owner, Ben Kitchen, needed a quiet space for his home office, he decided to remodel instead of add on or move. 

Step One: Joists

This step is where the magic happens. New floor joists go down and all of a sudden, the possibility of new floor, new ceiling is right in front of you.

Step Two: Subflooring & framing

The new walls is framed out & subflooring goes down. Love the lonely pendant still hanging. It has not realized that it's starring role in the foyer is coming to an end. This reclaimed space already had a window--a major plus for a small workspace. 

Step Three: New Ceiling

New drywall is nearly ready to go up on the ceiling. 

The first steps provide the structure, but it is the finishing touches that take these 60 square feet and make them into the customized, efficient, yet stylish home office.   

Step Four: Brick Flooring

This thin-brick product is right way to bring brick inside your home, whether you want a brick wall, back-splash or flooring. This flooring works incredibly well even in this small space. It has huge visual impact and a rugged, industrial feel -- perfect for this contractor's office. 

Step Five: Storage

Customized cabinetry that accommodates even oversized blueprints, a large desk with enough space to spread out, and more traditional storage solutions like file cabinets and open shelving complete the wall of built-ins. 

Step Six: Pocket Door

This sliding door was a perfect solution for this found space turned office. A traditional door would have taken up space at a critical intersection between two hallways, while the pocket door quickly and quietly slips out of sight. 

Step Seven: Accessories

Accessories such as chrome finishes on the ceiling fan, office chair, and laptop are the industrial balance to the more rugged details of the oil-rubbed bronze hardware choices, the dark stain on the desk surface, and the brick flooring. Pops of red provide just the right amount of color in this working room. 

The Final Product

What an amazing transformation from empty air with a pendant light fixture, to a simple, crafstman (with a nod to industrial stylings) home office that packs in a lot of user friendly details.

Interested in reclaiming some unused space in your home? Let's start a conversation today to open up some new possibilities. 

Vendor: Never the Rock Photography