adding new clearer picture of the new plan. thanks.

How long are you planning to live here? And, how many bedrooms upstairs?

The reason I ask is... if I were to buy this (new) house, I'm not sure I'd set it up the same... I'd probably use your LR as my office. The your dining room as my LR. Which means, I'd probably actually use your study, as a bedroom (at least potentially). And, because of that, it would be nice to have access to more than a 1/2 bath from the hallway.

With that in mind. What do you gain from the large squareish storage area/closet facing the new family room by having it so deep (and taking away space from the 1/2 hall bath)? I wonder if it would be wise to make the closet less deep, and add a tub to the 1/2 bath.

On the otherhand, if you are building for you, plan to live here a long time, and have a plan for how you'll live here when you are retired, then it may not really matter how the next person will live in it.

Also, if the upstairs will have 4 bedrooms, and it would be unrealistic anyone would use the former bedroom/new study as a bedroom, then it also may not matter.

Kirkhall,thanks for the response.
We are planning to add 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and laundary upstairs. We are still working on the plans for upstairs, so didn't posted it.

The large closet from family room is for keeping kids toys and other family room clutter. we don't need it, but won't mind having it either as we only need 1/2 bath instead of full bath next to it.

I agree with you that the living room actually can be used as an office, but we already had extra room behind it, that is why made this more like away room. For now it will be used as playroom for kids...with a door.

The two things we are still working on, but cannot find solution to are:
1. Kitchen - would like to get little bigger kitchen or a pantry.
2. Living room - if there is a way to take the back wall down so that the room becomes large and somewhat open. the main problem is the bathroom door behind it.

You could lose the closet beside the half bath and make it into a vestubule for the half bath instead. Not ideal, but you would gain a lot of space in the living room.

I wonder based on kirkhall's comment about the baths if you could move the storage closet to use the space under the stairs (I assume you don't have a basement).

Then could you add a tub into a shared area between the powder room and the other bedroom bath? This would make it sort of a Jack & Jill bath, except each with a separate toiled and vanity and only a shared tub. I think it would be much more universal to do that if the room you have labeled as office ever became a bedroom and for re-sale and house value a bedroom is worth more than an office.

It currently qualifies as a bedroom since it has egress and closet, but without a bath access re-sale would be a negative even though you could list it as a 5br house it really isn't usable as that in case somebody would want a good 5 bedroom house.

Sorry to get everyone focused on your bath. But, it is something valid to consider (Lyfia makes it more clear than me--your office IS a bedroom, which you are choosing to use as an office).

Also, we just did almost a very similar addition 2 years ago. It will be very handy to have access to the half bath from where you primarily spend your time downstairs. For your kids, this will be in the informal areas of your house (ie, the family room). It is a long walk/run to the bathroom from the family room. (I know you said that the LR will be the playroom for now, but I am thinking that functionally, it will end up the other way around... If you are like me, we spend a lot of time in the kitchen--preparing snacks, meals, etc. And, to keep an eye on your kids, your layout doesn't allow that for the playroom space/LR. It does though, for the FR.--so in this case, another useful tidbit might be if you/your spouse is a SAHparent or if really the kids occupy the space only a few hours a day).

Also, while I am discussing my experience with our addition. Are you sure you can do this addition? Are you on septic or sewer? What we learned in our addition is that septic systems were historically built out the back of the house behind the kitchen sink/bathroom. Since your former house plan has the kitchen and baths in essentially the same location as ours, you may want to make sure you are able to build without covering your septic tank (or moving it). Or, if your house was converted to sewer from septic like ours, you may find that you will still need to decommission your septic tank (an added expense to plan for in budget that will pop up when they start digging if you didn't already know about it.)

I will think on your kitchen concerns, but in the mean time, can you tell us what is under your stairs, and why there is the cutout in the kitchen wall between the kitchen and stair/hallway?

Three houses ago we considered a remodel of similar size. I did a preliminary plan like yours and then spoke to 3 contractors to get an idea of cost. It was still a rising market at that time and it made more sense to sell and move to a larger house.

In todays market there are good deals on existing homes, but contractors are not cutting their profits. You should look at the numbers very closely as it might make more sense to move.

I'm a little confused as to how the existing plan is laid out. When you enter, do you go down or up the stairs to get to the level shown? Is it currently 2-stories, or is it just split between the living/kitchen areas and the bedrooms/baths?

Are you chopping off the existing living/dining/kitchen to get everything on that floor plan shown on one level?

How much of the existing house are you keeping without making changes to? It almost appears like it could be cheaper to raze the existing house and start fresh.

This is SO going to be an expensive project. 300K-400K+ to +++ depending on your location. (You're basically building a new house plus have all of the issues of tying in with and modifying an old one.) Is this home and neighborhood really worth sinking that kind of money into? Moving would be cheaper, and then you wouldn't have the issues that a split level inevitably brings.

I have to agree with GreenDesigns...why are you spending this kind of money, to totally transform the home? Is it on a beautiful piece of land? Wouldn't it be easier (and cheaper) to find a home that would fit your lifestyle, rather than so drastically changing this one?

Also, stairs can be very expensive to move...and are you going to have lots of stairs up to the front? What are you doing with the lower level? And...with a new upper (third) level, there will be a lot of additional support needed...starting at the lower level, to support all the additional weight.

Have you seen anyone else do this type of remodel? Is it common in your area? I'm concerned there will be many additional costs, associated with this project. Have you gotten any bids or been advised by professionals that this is the best way to approach remodeling this particular home?

Sorry, to sound negative...but better to find out all your costs now, than to be surprised, later.

hello all, thanks for all the comments. In the NE area where I am, it will be less costly to get this project done than to find a new home for our wants and needs.

In regards to the existing plans, it's a split level home. You enter in the stairs landing and then can either go into basement or go 5 flights up to the main floor. Our plans is to move these 5 stairs outside of the house with a landing.

@Lyfia and @kirkhall, I like your suggestion to share the shower so that current office can be used as bedroom for resale. Also in regards to 1/2 bath current position away from family room, this is something we can look into, but not sure if we have a solution. One option is to move the stairs on the kitchen wall, so that 1/2 bath is accessible from stairs hallway. but this means kitchen is not accessible from hallway.
BTW, we do have full basement with garage and open space for storage and later planning. So daily we will be coming in upflight from basement.

In regards to the hidden cost, good point on looking into additional support if needed for the new structure. Will ask the contractor I am planning to work with.
Sewage is from town, so shouldn't be a problem.

Really appriciate all the comments, keep them coming.