# Help on Ideas for remodel needed please



## unhique (May 10, 2009)

Good morning everyone.

I'm trying to figure out a way to remodel this house so we can move into but the floor plan flow is pretty odd. Please give opinions. 

A) Needs/wants:
- 2 car garage
- keep 3 beds, 2 baths; sizes are okay for now
- a little bigger kitchen if possible
- separate living & family rooms
- curb appeal: entrance should be up - front (right now it's on the right side, all the way down in dining area.

B) Have/limits:
- Big yard to the right & deep back yard, can extend out and/or backward another 20' easily
- Budget: I think a 200-500 sqft addition should be okay. Roof redo is also okay too since it's old already.

I was thinking to somehow turn the existing garage space into living room/entrance, then add a double car garage to the right. But not sure how to arrange everything.

Floor plan is included. If is there any other information needed, pls let me know. Thank you in advance.

https://www.box.com/s/8989df1dab78b0044cf9



Nhi


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## ScipioAfricanus (Sep 13, 2008)

Are you aware that you have not included any pictures or even a rough plan of the present layout?
This thread is useless without something of the sort.

Andy.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

ScipioAfricanus said:


> Are you aware that you have not included any pictures or even a rough plan of the present layout?


The hosting site for the image isn't friendly with the forum software. Should be a clickable link in the OP now.


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## ScipioAfricanus (Sep 13, 2008)

Oh my god...that plan really bites.

Is the entrance to the house leading directly into the kitchen or is something missing?

Off hand I would say open the area between the kitchen and the living/family room area and maybe put the kitchen in the top right corner showing on the plan.

I have no idea about the exterior as I can see nothing regarding that.

This needs professional help...hum...like me.

Andy.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

Like Andy said, post front, side and rear elevations... where you want the addition...from what you have there now, with entrance going into the kitchen doesn't make much sense.


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## unhique (May 10, 2009)

Thank you for the replies. That's what I'm talking about. The current floor plan sucks big time. Entrance goes right into dining room/kitchen, which is all the way to far right. 

I'll post some elevation pictures later, but they're pretty plain. Front elevation doesn't even have any window except a tiny 3020 over the tub which I forgot to include. 

So I'm looking for ideas/advices on bullet points in my original post. 

Thank you. 

Nhi


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## ScipioAfricanus (Sep 13, 2008)

Well, good luck to you on your plan. 

I for one don't give free chit anymore.

Andy.


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## Red Adobe (Jul 26, 2008)

For me the kitch, din, Living should all be open concept.....turn the center kitchen island and put on the top exterior wall, due away with the wall between the lr and dining/kitchen

Master bed needs direct access to bathroom....turn bathroom 90 deg counterclockwise and put closet in the bathroom ?

the 3 bedrooms I see in this small of a foorprint rarely have a seperate dining area due to space...

Laundry in garage? if no then you need to loose that hallway outside bed 1 and add luandry area in the new larger main bath between bed 1 and kitchen


thats my thoughts if I was building or remodeling this


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## unhique (May 10, 2009)

Thanks everyone for the inputs. Andy, I know free doesn't always sound good. But, a helping hand is much appreciated. I really need professional opinions like yours. 

Here's what I come up with after playing around with some of your ideas.

- The entrance/garage still just a temp fix without lots of creative thoughts yet. 
- Master bath / closet combo gives privacy, but I think it can have some improvement.
- Back sunroom would be a killer addition if I can pull it off.  Room for the 2 boys, and a little corner for my long dream pull table. 

Please advice.

Thank you.

Nhi


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## unhique (May 10, 2009)

*Current front & side elevations*

Here are the front & side elevations. Look soooo bad. hahaha.

Nhi


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## ScipioAfricanus (Sep 13, 2008)

By no means ideal but I think it works better.

Andy.


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## redwood (Dec 5, 2007)

Looks like a tear down to me.

If you are a whole house remodeler, you must have access to person's that can help you.


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## unhique (May 10, 2009)

Thanks Andy, for the insight. I think it works better too. Just have to live with smaller closet. Private bathroom or bigger closet space, I'll ask the "boss" to see what she wants. 

@ Redwood. Thanks. I do have a couple of architects I'm working with. It's just that this is my own place I'm moving into. And I just bought it with ... lots of mortgage, hahaha. Wanna save some $$$, that's all. Also, instead of just ask one architect to work on it, this forum has all of you pro's. So I'm hoping for getting some opinions on what can be done without braking the bank. 

A total tear down is easy. But that not what I'm looking for. What I'd like to do is moderate enough kinda remodel that I can do quickly to move in, but still give me a nice flow, functional space/use of space. I'm saving up money to build a custom home in the back of the lot of this house (this is a duplex lot, 20,000 sqft). Once that's all done, I'll move to the back and rent this one out. So this remodel serves dual purposes: make it worth my while for a temp stay (maybe 1-2 years max, for the duration of my hopeful-custom-build); also make it curb appeal - pleasant enough to charge a higher rent & keep tenant longer for for better looking, better functioning floor plan. So yeah, it doesn't have to be perfect, but I'd like to get the most bang of my limited budget bucks for it. 

I think for now the two areas I'd really like to get opinion on are:

- master bed/bath configuration. Andy's idea is pretty cool since the work is minimal. Only concern left is closet space - if we can find some other place, get closet organizer or something, then we're set.
- Front entrance/curb appeal: Ultimately I'd like to have a 2 car garage and a front entrance. But that's lots of work. So I guess 1 car garage isn't that bad considering the cost saving. But front entrance is a must.  What everyone thinks about the bump out I suggested in the last floor plan? That's just a rough thought put together. Details can be improved more to make it looks & functions better.

Thanks again for keeping the ideas coming. 

Have a great weekends everyone. 

Nhi


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## txgencon (Jan 4, 2011)

Here's another alternative. 

Oops. Probably won't want the window from the Kitchen/Dining into the garage.


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## unhique (May 10, 2009)

Actually, this would be one of the best case scenarios. But the remodeling would probably cost a lot more than our original budget.  But I think I'm going try to convince my wife. 

Cool, thanks txgencon.

Nhi


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## txgencon (Jan 4, 2011)

unhique said:


> Actually, this would be one of the best case scenarios. But the remodeling would probably cost a lot more than our original budget.  But I think I'm going try to convince my wife.
> 
> Cool, thanks txgencon.
> 
> Nhi


You mentioned that a "roof redo" wouldn't be an issue. Have you given much thought as to how you would put a roof over your sunroom full width extension idea? That would require a pretty significant restructure of half of the roof on the present structure.


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## CompleteW&D (May 28, 2011)

txgencon said:


> Here's another alternative.
> 
> Oops. Probably won't want the window from the Kitchen/Dining into the garage.


Day-um.... pretty nice work for a Sparky. Opps, I see you're a GC too. Well, it's STILL nicely done! :thumbsup:


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## unhique (May 10, 2009)

Well, garage addition was one of our thoughts as well, but in the wish-list rather a do-list because of the major cost. That's why we only thought of it but didn't go into detail of how everything would change after that. So the credit to the conversion & addition still go to him . 

Regarding to the sunroom, since it's gonna be a sunroom, which I am a dealer of, I only need to pay for materials plus minimal labor for some helpers. Flat insulated aluminum roof. And that'll come after we move in (gotta save up first, hehehe). 

Even if we go with the garage addition, my thought was just making a decision on go/no-go with the final design. Then proceed in phases. So 1st phase: interior remodel; second phase: sunroom; third: garage. 

Thanks for the inputs everyone. 

Nhi


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