Keeping the same “footprint” of the house was an option for us because of the two “bonus” rooms on either end of the building.
One room was once a carport that had been enclosed and used as a sunken living area with three steps down that led to a cement floor at ground level. The other has a hastily built closet and was used as a bedroom even though it was also the front door entrance. Both areas are contrary to any sort of traffic pattern that we wanted to establish once we transformed this place from “fixer-upper” into “fabulous”.
The old carport room will be raised 18-20 inches to become the Master Bed Room with an en suite bathroom. The rough dimensions of the space being about 16ft wide and 24ft long with a hall that will lead into the Dining/Living Room and then on into the Kitchen. The “front door bedroom” is on the other side of the kitchen and it’s best use will be for it to become an Entrance Foyer at the front, and a Utility/Laundry at the back of house, with a French Door and outside deck to be added to the outside wall between them.
Off the kitchen there are the original two bedrooms and bath that we want to salvage and use for family guests and visitors. The bath will get a total renovation and update but we’d like to restore the bedrooms with their hardwood floors and old woodwork.
In order for the guest bedrooms to have more privacy, and to keep the bathroom door from opening into the kitchen, we’re going to pull down a chimney stack, that is no longer needed, and use the extra space for a hallway connecting the bathroom with the bedrooms. The brick chimney stack was about 2ft by 2ft jutting out into the room and is concealed with studs and drywall as seen behind me in the selfie picture. The “open” floor plan between these original rooms and the kitchen is wide enough that a four foot hall will still leave a four foot wide access into the kitchen from dining/living room.
Pictures will be added soon to help better visualize the above description. -Kevin
