This older couple have been residing in their Great Falls, VA home for over forty years. After all the kids had grown and moved away, they were ready to retire, and with that in mind, their plan was to build a first-story master suite addition and a two-car garage to age in place.

The property was oddly shaped, located on a pipestem lot with the house positioned at a 30-degree angle, wasting a lot of good real estate on the left side. Due to zoning restrictions and property lines, we had to carefully — and smartly, I might add — design this addition to fit the lot.

The plan was to convert the old two-car garage into a master bedroom, master bathroom, and closets. We raised the floor to match the existing house level, eliminated the center beam and post with structural beams, and added a mudroom and a new two-car garage with a side entrance to the backyard, built perpendicular to the existing garage.

The driveway, entrance, and turnaround access were all challenging to design, requiring a lot of planning to make everything work. We also created underground drainage systems to manage runoff and the slope of the driveway.

The seamless connection between the existing home and the new addition has made this project stand out in the neighborhood. We included wide doorways and entrances, a ramped walkway from the garage to the mudroom and bedroom — all to make this an ideal aging-in-place residence for the couple.

We installed a new HVAC unit for the bedroom and bath, added wood flooring to create a smooth transition to the older part of the home, and put in new windows to allow more daylight, making the seating area more inviting for them to spend time reading and enjoying the beautiful front view of their yard.

The curbless shower stall, wide hallways, double vanities, and heated floor were all amenities they desired for their retirement home. Now, driving into their new garage and walking up the ramp to enter their suite is easier than ever, and they no longer have to climb stairs to reach their living space.