Sitting Pretty

Like the children's song about the old lady who swallowed a fly, incorporating an outdoor living area into the garage structure of a remodeled 1909 downtown Orlando bungalow was a progressive process … though this story has a happy ending.

It started with plans for a new two-car detached garage, a modern harkening to a period carriage house designed to complement the home's historic features. Its placement on the back corner of the lot would provide a straight shot down a strip driveway along one side of the house.

Then, to take advantage of a local zoning ordinance allowing a secondary living unit on the parcel, the garage grew up to accommodate an efficiency apartment above the carports. The resulting tall box, however, looked unbalanced — being so far to one side of the parcel — not to mention a bit plain. So the design/build team extended its footprint and roofline to the other side setback by creating a 360-square-foot outdoor room.

Despite increasing demand for outdoor living spaces in the Orlando market, builder Stephen Gidus, a partner in PSG Construction, was unsure if the lot would accommodate such an amenity after he doubled the length of the original house and added the garage. “The outdoor space evolved out of the [design] process,” he says. “It wasn't part of our initial thinking, but it fell into place and fits in well with the master plan.”

A brick-paved motor court bridges the house and garage structure and extends the outdoor living space. A fountain and pond feature add sensory interest, fronting a wall that shields the space from neighbors as well as blocking the view of a backup generator serving the house. The comfortable furnishings of the outdoor living area contrast with the more formal, traditional interior design of the main house. “We wanted to make it very inviting and cozy,” says Jessica Iaconis, a designer with Robb & Stucky Interiors. The outdoor-rated furniture is designed and built to withstand the elements. “This is a place you can enjoy year-round,” Iaconis says.

Credit: James F. Wilson

The area is decidedly outdoor in its form and finishes. Open on three sides to capture cooling breezes, the space features a mortared flagstone floor, a brick fireplace and full-height chimney, and the same siding, trim, and light fixtures on its “interior walls” that adorn the exteriors of the house and garage.

The interior designer, meanwhile, specified wood-look plastic furnishings and outdoor-rated upholstery and fabrics to withstand the elements; reinforce the cozy, natural environment; and reduce maintenance chores.

The area also benefits from an open-air brick-paved motor court connecting the house and garage. Created to provide drivers with ample turnaround space, the motor court extends the footage of the outdoor living area as an entertaining venue. “It allows the owners to roll out the barbeque grill [which is tucked smartly in a closet under the stairs to the apartment above the garage] to cook and gather in the open air,” says Karen Kassik, the project designer at Lucia, Kassik & Monday in nearby Winter Park, Fla.

The design/build team opted not to include a permanent outdoor kitchen within the living area, in part because of space constraints but more so due to maintenance issues. “In this environment, you have a lot of moisture, which fosters mold and captures [seasonal] pollen dust,” Kassick says. The surfaces of an outdoor kitchen, she says, would constantly be subject to those elements. “The owners would have to clean it every day.” The rollout grill not only lessens that chore, but also allows cooking smoke and odors to vent into the open air of the motor court instead of getting trapped under the ceiling of the outdoor living space.

Similarly, the team also nixed the idea of simply extending the back of the house with an attached porch to create an outdoor living area. With the house already more than 60 feet from its back to the front, a rear porch would have eliminated the motor court and all of its virtues.

“Making the outdoor living space part of the garage allowed us to enhance the detached structure and make it a destination,” Kassick says. “We really wanted to put something out there with some wow-power.”

While the outdoor living area is shielded from the street (only the carriage-house-style garage can be glimpsed from the curb, to maintain the home's historic appeal), it is revealed as visitors make their way to the back of the house, either along the driveway or inside the home. “Obviously, it's not something you'd see in the early 1900s,” Gidus says. “But it helps the house transition into modern living.”

The balance between history and a contemporary lifestyle is apparent throughout the space. There's the fireplace, of course … fitted with an efficient, heat-generating gas-log set. The brick chimney above the firebox, meanwhile, features a niche for a flat-panel television, which is supplemented by audio speakers that remotely access the sound system inside the house.

The view from the stairs that lead to the apartment above the garage reveals the volume ceiling and exterior finishes of the outdoor living space, anchored by a full-height brick chimney with a flat-screen TV niche above the firebox. The volume ceiling was critical to keeping the living space cool, enabling warm, moist air to rise, as was having the space open on three sides to catch breezes. Motorized pest/sun screens are installed in every opening to protect against various elements, as needed, their tracks and works concealed in the columns and trim.

Credit: James F. Wilson

In addition, the peaked volume ceiling is finished with tongue-and-groove engineered wood planks and two ceiling fans to optimize air flow, while the simple yet stout columns and trim are notched and designed to conceal a motorized screen that encloses each opening of the space.

Made from a tough polymer mesh, the screens serve as a sunshade, pest shield, and dust, leaf, and rain blocker; the ability to raise them up or lower them down — and anywhere in between, or in any configuration among the five open bays of the space — provides ultimate flexibility. “It's the perfect alternative to permanent screens,” Gidus says, referring to the conventional, if often inconvenient and high-maintenance, solution seen in several other homes in the local market. “Screening here is important, but not all the time.”

All of those elements, including the adjacent motor court, combine to create a year-round living space, despite the fact that it's detached from the house. “Floridians love being outside on a chilly night when there's a fireplace and portable heaters to keep people warm,” Gidus says. “And there's plenty of coverage and breezes through the space to cool it down in the summer.”

It's also a design element that the team anticipates will attract special attention. “I expect it to have a positive influence on the home's sales potential and price,” Kassick says. “It really completes the space and makes the whole house come together.” —Rich Binsacca is a freelance writer in Boise, Idaho.

Project Team: Builder: PSG Construction, Winter Park, Fla.; Residential designer: Lucia, Kassik & Monday, Winter Park; Interior designer: Robb & Stucky Interiors, Altamonte Springs, Fla.; Landscape architect: Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Orlando, Fla.

Garage doors and openers: Overhead Door Corp.; Retractable pest screen: Phantom Screens; Engineered wood siding and trim: Georgia Pacific; Exterior gas lamps: Charleston Gas Lights; Roofing: Millennium Tiles; Flagstone pavers: Daltile; Fireplace: Isokern; Audio speakers/system: Bose; Brick: General Shale; Flat-screen television display: Dell.