DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

Assessing value of layout changes

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  mae-ling 
#1 ·
Could use a few opinions, and bear with me as without pics it is tough to visualize. I am debating changing the layout of a room on the 1st floor. Basically it currently is an odd layout as a 2 story colonial that used to be a 1 floor ranch. when the 2nd floor was added by the prev owner, the 1st floor bedroom became a small den or office space with 1 standard doorway from the hallway, and doesn't get good natural light being shaded by the farmers porch. there is also some wasted space with the new stairway being built adjacent to this room.

the house also doesn't have a dining room and a good size dining room table can't fit in this den/office.

i am debating tearing down a wall (and rebuilding 3 feet away) to expand this room so it may be used as a dining room. however, in doing so i would need to choose between 2 options in changing the layout.

option 1-just expand the room and use the existing doorway as the only doorway to the room (from hallway, about 5 feet away from kitchen)

option 2-expand the room per above, but in addition to the existing doorway, create an open case doorway on the opposite end of the same wall that would put you at the bottom of the staircase and open up flow directly to the living room, also creating better lighting to the room. however, since this was a ranch with a narrower foundation, the bottom of the stairs is an elevated landing that has 1 step sideways to the living room on the opposite side. so, this new doorway would require to build a step up to the landing from the dining room, creating a "double step landing".

would creating this "double step landing" seem like too wierd of a layout and actually detract value from the home? or would having 2 entrances be beneficial and more like a common dining room even though it would be an odd step up and step down to get from the living room to dining room? or would it also lose value with the room no longer able to be "private" and unable to be closed off. on the other hand if we just expand the room without creating an open doorway, would that add value as a dining room with only 1 entrance and no flow from the living room?
 
See less See more
#3 ·
pics for reference

thank you. i have attached 3 pictures that will help visualize this. the "wasted space" is a storage closet, so not really wasted but could be used better.

pic 1) office/den wall to be demoed and moved back 3 feet

pic 2) storage closet opposite that wall. you will notice that there is a "closet within a closet" here. the inner closet is the part that juts out into the office/den. that is the only part that would be lost in this closet. due to other complications can't move the wall further.

pic 3) adjacent stairway. that nook would lead into the new dining room space, and the same stair you see here to the landing would be built on the other side.
 

Attachments

#4 ·
best pics i could take with a dying camera battery and limited space to move in the office to get the whole wall in. i am looking to hire a pro and have received 1 quote so far, and am trying to figure out if the new layout will be good or bad for the value of the house, and if the money ($4,000) would be well spent. just moved in 6 months ago and finding that this was a frankenhouse, added to and revised many times along the way, leading to some funky layout and space issues.
 
#6 ·
Okay from a woman's perspective, I would not want a dining room there. If you really want a formal dining room, I think you need to swap the living room and office/den. The living room would be the dining room and the den would be the living room.

If I were walking through as a prospective buyer with your new proposed layout, I would think it odd and a detractor.

Think of it this way. Would you want to carry a 20lb turkey from the kitchen through that hallway to the dining room? It looks a little awkward.

Just my 2 cents.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top