BeachBum
08-15-2008, 03:29 PM
We are doing some big projects at our house to get ready for the twins. I feel conflicted about a couple of decisions. I'm not sure that anyone really can tell me what to do, but I need to talk about it anyway. :)
#1We are closing in a very large porch (10x20)upstairs to enlarge a bedroom and make space for a small playroom. Currently there are french doors onto the porch, with about a foot of wall on each side of the door. I'm conflicted about keeping doors, removing the doors but keeping the doorway, or totally opening up the space to the hall (removing the doors and the wall stubs). The play room will be small--10x10 and by removing everything the hall would feel more like the same space. One wall would gain about 4 feet. We wouldn't be able to put furniture there, but it would be usable floorspace. But in leaving the doors we would be able to contain the chaos. Thoughts?
#2 Same project--enclosing the porch, but now we are in the larger bedroom space that the twins will share. It currently has a standard sliding door reach in closet. The architect has drawn the new closet as a walk in, by stealing the linen closet that backs up to it and enlarging the linen part by 2 feet. We have another hall closet, so we are ambivelent about loosing that one. The problem is that our GC told me today that extending the closet renovations would be about $1000. (yikes) There are some issues that make it more complicated than it looks. The other option is to use a "nook" in that bedroom that is about 4ft wide and 2 feet deep and put a built in of some sort in there--maybe for folded clothes. In the new space there will be room for 2 dressers. The new bedroom will be 12x20. Thoughts?
#3 Kitchen remodel. Paint the cabinets a funky color or white?
By doing these remodeling projects we are committing to staying in our house for quite some time. So, resale is not a concern with any of it. It is really about what is going to work best for our family.
thanks for any thoughts!
#1We are closing in a very large porch (10x20)upstairs to enlarge a bedroom and make space for a small playroom. Currently there are french doors onto the porch, with about a foot of wall on each side of the door. I'm conflicted about keeping doors, removing the doors but keeping the doorway, or totally opening up the space to the hall (removing the doors and the wall stubs). The play room will be small--10x10 and by removing everything the hall would feel more like the same space. One wall would gain about 4 feet. We wouldn't be able to put furniture there, but it would be usable floorspace. But in leaving the doors we would be able to contain the chaos. Thoughts?
#2 Same project--enclosing the porch, but now we are in the larger bedroom space that the twins will share. It currently has a standard sliding door reach in closet. The architect has drawn the new closet as a walk in, by stealing the linen closet that backs up to it and enlarging the linen part by 2 feet. We have another hall closet, so we are ambivelent about loosing that one. The problem is that our GC told me today that extending the closet renovations would be about $1000. (yikes) There are some issues that make it more complicated than it looks. The other option is to use a "nook" in that bedroom that is about 4ft wide and 2 feet deep and put a built in of some sort in there--maybe for folded clothes. In the new space there will be room for 2 dressers. The new bedroom will be 12x20. Thoughts?
#3 Kitchen remodel. Paint the cabinets a funky color or white?
By doing these remodeling projects we are committing to staying in our house for quite some time. So, resale is not a concern with any of it. It is really about what is going to work best for our family.
thanks for any thoughts!