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Hello! I'm seeking advice from homeowners, designers and readers alike. I'm sorry this is so long, but here is our situation:
We are new homeowners. We've been living in our home for less than 6 months and two weekends ago during the polar vortex, we experienced a frozen/burst heating pipe that caused over $20,000 in damages. Our insurance policy is covering the repairs, but the water damage affected rooms that we had been planning to tackle slowly over the next 5 years. Now, it's all happening sooner and faster than we anticipated, so I need your help deciding what to do.
The house has 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. 2 of the bedrooms and 1 of the bathrooms are downstairs on the main floor, with the other 2 bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. We currently live, eat and sleep on the main floor, because it's just the two of us for now and we feel more comfortable showering in the downstairs bathroom, because the upstairs bathroom needs to be remodeled (it's a little grimy). The way the house is laid out, our front door is in the living room, with the stair case to go upstairs directly in front of you when you walk in. The stairs and front door are open to the living room, which is to the right when you enter (with the kitchen behind it). Our bedroom is to the left of where you enter, but closed off by a wall. That bedroom has two closets, one of which is the former coat closet directly behind the front door, which was closed off to the entry and flipped around the other way to be a second bedroom closet.
Our five-year-plan was this:
-Renovate the upstairs bathroom within the next 1-2 years.
-Refinish the upstairs bedroom (needs new flooring and walls/paint)
-Move our bedroom from downstairs to upstairs
-Remove the former coat closet and open the wall to the left of the stairs, add a bannister to match the other side of the stairs and flip the living room from the right to the left.
-Use the former living room as a dining room, since it's right in front of the kitchen
The damage also affected the floors, so they will be refinished within the next two weeks. In the bedroom, there is a patch of flooring in the former coat closet that needs to be repaired, because there's a gap from where the wall used to be when it was a coat closet. The problem is: We aren't quite ready to move our bedroom upstairs, because the bathroom isn't done. My husband isn't a fan of the idea of sleeping upstairs and showering downstairs. So, we're not quite ready to lose the bedroom that's downstairs. However, since they're going to be refinishing the floors in both the living room and bedroom, I feel like it would be a good idea to repair the closet floor now, so the flooring is uniform for when we're ready to open up that wall and remove the closet.
The poll has the options I've come up with. Please let me know what you would do if it were your house or if there are any other options I'm not considering. Thank you!
Front door with closed off closet, where entry to bedroom/future living room would go:
View of stairs when you first walk in. Living room to right, bedroom to left:
Flooring in closet that needs to be repaired:
Closet and wall that would be removed/opened in bedroom to convert it to a living room. Stairs are on the other side of this wall:
That's going to look nice opened up with a double banister. You'll have to make sure you build the bottom step with a curve to match the other side.
I don't understand the problem with the bedroom and bathroom being on the same floor. You have two bedrooms on the first floor. You can easily move into that one until you finish the bathroom on the second floor. Even if the second bedroom on the first floor is small, it's a solution to not having to go to a different floor for the bathroom.
I say get moving on the renovations on the first floor. If you wait it could take forever. We made the mistake of starting with the upper floors. It was stupid because the main floor is what all of the guests see. I would have preferred a finished first floor first. Instead we had beautiful 2nd and 3rd floor that guests didn't see and the first floor was in disarray for many, many years.
If you're doing most of the work yourself, you'll probably have enough money to do the upstairs too.
That's going to look nice opened up with a double banister. You'll have to make sure you build the bottom step with a curve to match the other side.
I don't understand the problem with the bedroom and bathroom being on the same floor. You have two bedrooms on the first floor. You can easily move into that one until you finish the bathroom on the second floor. Even if the second bedroom on the first floor is small, it's a solution to not having to go to a different floor for the bathroom.
I say get moving on the renovations on the first floor. If you wait it could take forever. We made the mistake of starting with the upper floors. It was stupid because the main floor is what all of the guests see. I would have preferred a finished first floor first. Instead we had beautiful 2nd and 3rd floor that guests didn't see and the first floor was in disarray for many, many years.
If you're doing most of the work yourself, you'll probably have enough money to do the upstairs too.
Thanks for your advice! And good call on the curved bottom step!
You're right - the second bedroom on the ground floor is very small - it's also currently being used as an office, but we'd be able to move the office to another room after we make the switch with the living room/dining room.
We could temporarily use the small bedroom on the ground floor, but we'd only be able to fit our bed and one dresser, as opposed to both of our dressers. I think it'd work fine as a temporary solution until we're ready to finish the upstairs bathroom and move up there.
Personally, my vote is to just move our bedroom to upstairs and either use the shower upstairs or continue to use the shower downstairs. It's not that big of a deal to me. My husband on the otherhand...
Thanks for your advice! And good call on the curved bottom step!
You're right - the second bedroom on the ground floor is very small - it's also currently being used as an office, but we'd be able to move the office to another room after we make the switch with the living room/dining room.
We could temporarily use the small bedroom on the ground floor, but we'd only be able to fit our bed and one dresser, as opposed to both of our dressers. I think it'd work fine as a temporary solution until we're ready to finish the upstairs bathroom and move up there.
Personally, my vote is to just move our bedroom to upstairs and either use the shower upstairs or continue to use the shower downstairs. It's not that big of a deal to me. My husband on the otherhand...
Since he won't go upstairs until it's finished, the only logical solution is to move into the small bedroom on the first floor. The dressers don't need to be in the same room. Since you don't mind going upstairs, just put all of your stuff upstairs and keep all of his stuff downstairs. Heck you can even start using the bathroom upstairs. You'll have your own space, except for sleeping. It will be like having your own private bathroom and dressing room.
Since he won't go upstairs until it's finished, the only logical solution is to move into the small bedroom on the first floor. The dressers don't need to be in the same room. Since you don't mind going upstairs, just put all of your stuff upstairs and keep all of his stuff downstairs. Heck you can even start using the bathroom upstairs. You'll have your own space, except for sleeping. It will be like having your own private bathroom and dressing room.
What are the overall dimensions of the first floor, size of the bedroom you would lose?
How many other capes in your area have gone from 4 bedrooms to 3?
If/when you eventually have children, do you want 1 child bedroom up next to you and 1 child bedroom down?
If/when you have children and if you're down to 3 bedrooms -- where will you situate a playroom or home office?
My folks had a Levitt cape - staircase as you opened the door -- living room to the right, kitchen behind it. Master bedroom in the front (left of stairs) and a smaller bedroom behind it. Bathroom in between kitchen and back bedroom, coat closet in hall under stairs. Two bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom in the middle. My folks were downstairs in the master, the other 1st floor bedroom was a den/tv/guest room, I shared an upstairs bedroom with a little sister, and the other upstairs bedroom was a play area/children's desk area.
What are the overall dimensions of the first floor, size of the bedroom you would lose?
How many other capes in your area have gone from 4 bedrooms to 3?
If/when you eventually have children, do you want 1 child bedroom up next to you and 1 child bedroom down?
If/when you have children and if you're down to 3 bedrooms -- where will you situate a playroom or home office?
My folks had a Levitt cape - staircase as you opened the door -- living room to the right, kitchen behind it. Master bedroom in the front (left of stairs) and a smaller bedroom behind it. Bathroom in between kitchen and back bedroom, coat closet in hall under stairs. Two bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom in the middle. My folks were downstairs in the master, the other 1st floor bedroom was a den/tv/guest room, I shared an upstairs bedroom with a little sister, and the other upstairs bedroom was a play area/children's desk area.
It's not a levitt, just an expanded cape. There is an extra room off the back of the kitchen, which will be used as a computer/play room. While we'll only have three bedrooms for now, the upstairs is already rear-dormered and we're looking to front dormer within the next 5-10 years and split one of the upstairs bedrooms into two, so three will be upstairs, and the small bedroom downstairs will be a guest room/office.
We also have a finished basement for additional space. The bedroom we'd be losing is average - not large, not small. Enough for our queen sized bed, two night stands, two small closets and a dresser and bureau. In my opinion, it'll make a better living room than bedroom for us. But you bring up good points, so thanks for asking!
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