Friday, January 28, 2011

The "Denovation"

What I like to refer to as the Denovation is a type of "almost there" renovation that people perform in order to add that extra space onto their home.  Most commonly, the denovation occurs on the rancher, or ranch style home, but no home-type is immune to the denovation. 
The most conventional form of denovation is the garage transformation.  This consists of walling up the garage door, throwing up some drywall, a little wall to wall on the floor, and wa-la: the new den!  Here in lies the problem: the actual driveway leading up to the former garage, now denovated, is very rarely, if ever, removed.  So, on the exterior of the home you have a perfectly functioning paved roadway leading all the way up to and abutting the new portion of your abode. 
No.  Bad idea.  At no point does this say - "Oh, what inviting and curb-appealing new square footage you have added to your home!"  Instead it says - "Huh, weird.  Oh, I get it, that was their garage.  And now it's like a wall with some sort of strange, high windows.  Huh."
Yeah, it just doesn't work.  Often times there is an awkwardly placed bench or shrub at the end of the now-defunct driveway, but this never really works to distract from the true nature of the denovation.  And within the interior of the home, you are left with a cold, somewhat clammy, and awkward space.  This is the room that anyone touring a home for sale always asks the realtor, "What would you use this room for?"  To which the realtor responds, "Um, I don't know.  It looks like their using it as a den right now." 

2 comments:

Brian David Morley said...

Well, you're too young(I'm sure) to remember a show called "The Mother in Laws" that featured such a "denovation" In the sit-com. This garage space was turned into the new love nest for a young couple...only they never sealed the garage door, so off and on during the series,the door would get activated, looking like a stage set for a barn players production of some sort...zaniness prevailed. Keep it coming Ms.W

Ms. W said...

Leaving the door on is even better!