The Batson's are big fans of the Not So Big House book. They definitely come from the perspective that they'd rather make their not-so-big house be a dream to live in. They worked with architect Lawrence Reeves to come up with a design that - in their opinion - radically improved their home.

For the Batson's, we worked on about 1/3 the house:

We recently completed a bathroom remodel for Jim Baker and Parkee Jones of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The bathroom remodel is the first step of an extensive first-floor addition and kitchen/bathroom remodeling project. We completed the upstairs bath first, so we could concentrate our efforts and contain the mess to one floor at a time. We expanded and remodeled the upstairs bath to move the laundry room from the first to the second floor. The old bathroom was approximately 6' x 10' and the new bath is 12' x 10'.

Mid-summer of 1999, Home Energy, Inc. undertook a kitchen remodel for Doug and Melinda Crossman of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Ten years earlier, the Crossmans had remodeled the kitchen, adding a family room. They decided the kitchen needed to be updated and procured the services of architect William March for the design work. Mr. March redesigned the kitchen space, proposing to add a breakfast nook and a screened porch with a deck to the rear of the house. Upon reviewing the plans we were eager to land the job.

In the summer of 1998, we designed and built a living room/sunspace for Bruce and Jade Reitman of Boxford, MA. The Reitmans had purchased a new traditional Cape Cod-style home about eight years earlier. The home had gorgeous pond views on three sides of the house. To take advantage of these views, the builder designed a long and narrow house, approximately 24' x 60'. Subsequently, the kitchen/dining room area was only about 12' wide. The Reitmans wanted to expand the dining room area into a family room/sun room that would bring in more light and and expand the view to the outdoors.

In September of 2006 we began a addition/remodel for Shaun & Laurie Petersen of Haverhill, MA. Sean & Laurie had been looking at new homes in town with potential for an in-law apartment. Laurie's father was ill and she wanted her parents to move in with her so she could help care for her father. Because the cost of new houses was very high and her mother was hesitant to leave her home, we were asked to put together plans to remodel her parents' home and build an addition for the Petersen family. Lauries parents lived in a cottage-style home in Haverhill on a large parcel of land.

In December of 1996, we began a project designed by Peter Sandorse of Phoenix Collaborative Architects for Tom & Amy Brady of Andover. The Bradys lived in a 26' x 32' bungalow with a hip roof and dormers front and back. The second floor had previously been remodeled to provide a small bath and master bedroom. The house was a bit cramped for a family of four with two huge Labrador Retrievers. To build the addition, we demolished the downstairs bathroom and connected the addition to the main house.

A 19th-Century Makeover Early in 2001, we met with Harry and Joyce Trout of Newbury, MA to discuss an addition/remodel to a property they owned on Water Street in Newburyport. The property housed Hairport, Joyce’s hair studio, and a two-story apartment in the rear of the building. The referral for the job came from Kelly Seyler, for whom we had completed a master bedroom suite addition in Newburyport earlier that year. The Trouts had received a building variance the previous year to remodel the apartment and add a master bedroom suite to the third floor.