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Great Room Ideas for Expansion

Our current  kitchen is darling but it’s small.

It gets crowded REALLY fast if you add even just a 2nd person.  Imagine having 3 people working in there at the same time.  We’re a family of 7 and this kitchen is cramped for us.  One day I’ll show you photos of the  kitchen we had when we lived in a small 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment in Korea.  It may have been more functional than this one.

We met with an architect last week.  We talked about our goals for the space and I showed him the pictures in this post.   He’ll have a draft for us by the end of the week.  Please take a look and share your thoughts. . . . I don’t want to miss anything!

(To get an idea of the size of each space, I used 1 square =1 foot.)

Floor plan of our current kitchen, dining and family room:

Original Kitchen and Great Room Floor Plan

This is the first sketch I drew up when we were considering expanding.  I told my dad that even 2-4 more feet would make a big differences, he  told me it wouldn’t be worth the price for that small of change.  So I drew out some ideas at 8′.

Kitchen and Great Room Extension *’ with 2′ Cantilever in the Family Room

And I drew out another idea with a 12′ extension and quickly became sold on this idea, because I can tuck the dining area next to the kitchen and end up with a HUGE Family Room.  There’s even room for an 8′ island! Maybe dreams can come true.

Dining Room relocated and larger Family Room
Kitchen and Great Room Extension 12″

I’d love French Doors leading to the back yard.

Behind the kitchen there will be a utility sink, lower cabinets and a “mudroom” for everyone’s shoes and coats, etc.  If I had my druthers, I’d like to see an exterior door near the utility sink. Not sure of the exact placement of the Washer and Dryer or sink.

Have a WONDERFUL DAY! I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

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Sort of Before – Basement

These posts are called “Sort of Before” because I don’t have any true “before” pictures. But I do have these photos showing the progress of the flip, which I LOVED seeing progress on the house through photos.

We bought this house before we ever set foot inside, which worked for us, but I wouldn’t ordinarily recommend it. It worked because my dad walked through every inch of the space, measured every room and took photos of every angle in the house we could think of.  I knew before we moved exactly how large each room and every closet were, I knew the exact size of the yard because I took the measurements my dad sent and compared them to my current space and sketched out a floor-plan, too. I knew it had an entry way, brushed nickel doorknobs, granite counter-tops,  a great room, three bathrooms and a nice bathtub – all on the top  of my “want”  list. I knew it had plenty of bedrooms and was newly renovated and had NO POPCORN CEILINGS!!!!  (maybe the lack of popcorn ceilings was my true top priority, we had them in our previous home and did.not.love.them.)

Here are photos  of the basement taken during the flip.  The walls have all been painted, flooring is removed and some of the old light fixtures are still up.

Bedroom five – grey paint, white trim and waiting for flooring.

Doorway looking into the craft room on the left, stairs, then storage room on the right.

Downstairs bathroom, I like the tile on the floor, but I’d love to replace the vanity and remove the shower doors.

Bedroom 4 with a good sized closet and lots of built in shelves.

Craft Room, this door leads into 5th bedroom,  Lighting has been updated.

Family Room.  I love that there is a fireplace so I can put a TV above.  I’d like to have a lower mantle and some built-ins flanking the fireplace.

Lighting was already updated in the flip.

 

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Sort of Before – Exterior

We bought this home in 2015, it was a flip, but we still had/have some work to do. You can see in the photos what we were up against when we moved it.

Front Yard, old roof and one CRAZY tree. Look at the those roots!

Do you can see a second crazy tree in the back yard to the right of this tree?

The daffodils are pretty. =)

Back yard, splintery swing set, & sad grass.

Backyard, backdoor and second CRAZY tree!

Garage with drywall and tape, but not painted, walls were FILTHY from 20 plus years of dirt collecting on the drywall. Garage door is being cleverly propped open with a 2×4 and the garbage can.

Our plan:

  1. Remove the crazy trees.
  2. Paint the garage.
  3. Fix garage door (that was done in the flip)
  4. Remove  the swing set.
  5. Revive the grass.
  6. New roof.
  7. New windows.
  8. New house numbers.
  9. Landscaping.
  10. Sconces. (done in the flip)
  11. Hot tub??

Stay tuned to see the changes.. . . . this could take a while.