For one reason or another, your current home is no longer large enough. You may need another bedroom, bathroom, larger kitchen, private in-home office, or more family living space. The simple solution is to add bulk square footage to fill the need. Pay attention to homes during your travels, and it becomes evident that this basic solution is all too common. Boxes devoid of imagination or creativity slapped onto homes like a cancerous growth where the prevailing philosophy was if “x” square footage is good, “2x+” must be even better.

Over the years, I have worked on many period homes, and no matter the style of the original structure, a cube rarely improves the base structure. I am not an elitist, but architectural integrity, aesthetics, and creative license are very important to me and should also be to you. I am in no way promoting spending above your comfort level, but decades of experience have repeatedly confirmed attention to detail can yield significant benefits far above your initial cash outlay.

Excluding those who have the sole purpose of gaining the biggest bang for their buck, there are several very acceptable philosophies on architectural integrity. Some believe any addition or modification seamlessly blends new into old. Others have no qualms with well-defined demarcation lines proudly emphasizing the boundaries of new work. I view an addition as a new member of a family. Every addition, like a baby or partner, will bring something new to the table, changing what already exists forever. The hope is that the addition will enhance and not detract. A dysfunctional or unattractive addition should have the same appeal as your youngest daughter bringing home an unmotivated, emotionally unstable, couch-surfing man-child. Harmony is always the key, and whether the work subtly modifies or radically changes your home, the addition must fit and complement what already exists.

Attaching value to an addition based solely on the cost per square foot is easy, but this approach is shortsighted. The true value equation is considerably more complex. The new level of comfort quantifies tangible factors, how it fulfills your changing needs, supplements your quality of life, and, more abstractly, how you believe it reflects on you. If you have cognitive dissonance wishing you put more thought into your addition, when you sell, any future buyer will also wish you had done so as well. An addition must make sense on the outside as well as the inside. Saving money now could potentially cost you later. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring any work is truly an addition to your home and does not subtract.