Should we reconfigure our new house to make a great room?
Question:We just bought a house and its pretty old.. currently you walk through a small hallway into a living room.. to the right is a master bedroom, and the left side is divided into a kitchen and bathroom on left side and 2 smaller bedrooms (one after another) on the right side. (so, the kitchen has a door opening to one bedroom). We are thinking about taking down the wall to connect the bedroom to the kitchen as well as take a portion of the preceding bedroom also to make a "great" room. But if this is done, the new bedrooms will be at the front of house, and person entering will have to walk down a hallway to get to the back of the house to a living area. Is this a good idea? or should we keep it the way it is?? oh, we are also planning on adding french doors to the back of the house (at the back of the new "great" room) which will open to a new deck and the big backyard. will it make property difficult to sell if entry is to a long hallway?
Answers:
Hi 'May I'. Ignoring the structural implications of reconfiguring your first floor, I got distracted when you said "big back yard". If your backyard is big enough for you to add on into it, I think that is what i (personally) would do. The long hallway thing seems as off-putting to me as it does to you... in the sense of reselling. The last thing on earth that you'll want your house to be at sale time is "odd" the second one opens the front door. Beyond that, I don't think it would cost you any more to add on than it would cost reconfigure...You won't have to reconfigure the plumbing or electrical, re engineer any existing structure and maybe more importantly, have your dream compromised by having to work within any structural limitations that the existing building may impose (i.e, " you can't move THAT wall" and etc). Adding on may well actually be less expensive too. It FREQUENTLY is.
Have fun and don't overspend your market.
my house had a similar original floor plan, this is what one of the home owners did:
Seal off the front door, and build it out into a window seat. Bedrooms are now in the front of the house on either side of the old entry. Relocate new entry to new family room to the side and back of the house. New pavers welcome people and direct to new entrance.
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