Designing the addition

We're in the process of trying to add on to our living space at the inn. This is going to be a long process. I've been trying not to think about it, out of fear I'd get my hopes up and then something would happen and we wouldn't be able to add on. However, we have to submit a site plan to the town as part of getting the building permit, so I have to make some decisions.

We want to add a living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Because this doesn't make much sense from a business perspective—future owners are unlikely to need four bedrooms, and even our need will change as the kids get older and head out on their own—we are designing the new piece in such a way that it can connect to our space now but be closed off and rented separately later.

This means we can't just plunk it on where our current porch is. That would work great for now, but it wouldn't work at all for renting the space out separately. Our back door would open into the new space, and I don't want to get that cozy with the guests.

So we're designing a connecting piece to join the new addition to our existing space. There are just a few constraints: Nothing can be closer than ten feet to our existing well cap, which is very inconveniently placed. We have to enclose the existing entrance into the basement. We have to work with the placement of the back door out of the existing space.

I had graphed out a plan that did all of that while letting more light into the kitchen window.

And then the contractor came.

He thinks it would actually be easier and cheaper to enclose the entire existing porch (of course, that would make it impossible for me to have a door that opens into the mudroom from outside). So I have two choices: I can have my kitchen window open into my mudroom, or I can create an oddly sized space between the mudroom and the wall and have the kitchen window open into that.

I'm not found of looking at the mudroom all day long, since the whole point is to hide the mess. I get to look at piles of boots, coats, and ski pants under the current system. I won't miss it.

On the other hand, I don't quite know what to do with a 5.5 x 10 foot space. Computer nook, maybe? I want to figure out how we're going to use it before we start building it, so I can be smart about placements of windows, electrical outlets, phone jacks, etc.

What would you do with a small open space near the entrance, mudroom, and new living room?