Split-entry - Anyone made them attractive?

12 years ago

Hi all,

We are working on a large home addition to our raised ranch (a.k.a. raised bungalow, bi-level) home. We are trying to plan on what we can do with our split entry. On the new home forum I posted on our idea regarding a possible two foot increase in size we are considering by borrowing from the garage and also from a nearby room.

I also wondered what others have done with their split entries to lesson the elevator shaft kind of feel to this foyer (i.e. tall ceilings but very small floor space). I am stongly considering replacing one wall with a low railing to make the space feel wider. We will also be taking the carpet off the stairs and doing in hardwood. Both of these changes should help. I read on an older thread about using a chair rail to break up the long walls. Anyone tried that? What does it look like and where exactly did you put the trim? What have you found that works? Any and all ideas appreciated. Thanks!

Carol

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Comments (5)

leafy02
12 years ago
We have a split foyer and no, I haven't found any way to improve the entryway :(

Ours doesn't have a long wall, but it also doesn't have much floor space. Looking straight ahead as you come in the front door, you can see a spacious area at the bottom of the stairs going down, and the French doors going out to the back yard, so the view isn't too boxy, but the space is very limited.

Other than the tiny entry, the layout of the house works well for us. If only they had extended it out a few more feet!
chispa
12 years ago
I searched on google 'bi-level house entry remodel' and got quite a few links with photos. I thought the link below had good ideas. Hope they help.

Here is a link that might be useful: remodel ideas for splits (bi-levels)
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My definitions correspond mostly to christopherh and to this wikipedia entry. Side split: Walk in to living, dining, kitchen on one side of house. Walk sideways up six steps to bedrooms or down six steps to family room. There is often a fourth level subbasement below the living dining kitchen (completely underground) Back split: same as side split but you walk up toward the back of the house instead of at the side. Raised ranch -- Walk in to basement. Walk up 12 steps to upstairs (living, dining, kitchen and bedrooms all upstairs. See the picture window indicating living room on the second floor of this house: (but when I did a google image for raised ranch, I got lots of split entries) Split entry: Walk in to a landing. Go up six steps to main floor or down six steps to basement. I like side splits the best, but my husband dislikes them as they're hard to add on to. Unless they were built with spacious bedrooms upstairs you're very limited for adding a master suite. Split entries are the least desirable for whatever reason. Lots of people love them. You get a daylight basement out of them, which is nice. But there's something about being confronted with stairs as soon as you walk in a home that seems to turn buyers off. I live in Canada, so basements are almost mandatory, but I also live in the land of granite bedrock, so basements are very expensive. So split entries are SUPER COMMON here as a way to avoid blasting out a deep basement. This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, May 5, 14 at 9:39
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Hi live wire oak, Thanks ever so much for your continued support. I am lucky to have found this forum and people like you. Beleive me, we will not be making any changes without seeing the effect in 3D in walk through style like you mentioned. Like you said, I want to see what the view (outside and inside) will be to the bedroom gables if we redo the garage roof/and or bump the bedroom gables forward. If we do go this route, we will be sure to investigate tying in a roof plane for a potential foyer bump out/and or porch. I am investigating as many options as possible before spending another dime on construction. The architect that we worked with is experienced in both residential and commercial, he is a fully qualified architect and he has an amazing wealth of construction knowledge. He owns his architect firm and works in his profession full time. He was recommended to us by a structural engineer. Our architect used AutoCad for the design -- I don't think that is viewable in 3D. I imagine we could have paid for someone to have taken the AutoCad file and transferred it to something like Sketch-up. We should have pursued that. I simply did not realize until now how different a 2D elevation picture would be from the 3D real life creation. Tough lesson to learn for us! Carol
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@mama goose_gw zn6OH I do want all drawer bases, and I completely understand their utility (Ikea has so many awesome ones in their example kitchens!), but I wanted the clean lines of the slab doors, plus the expense of all drawers is significantly higher, and that concerns me. I did consider making the one under the sink a pullout. My compromise, thus far, was to do slab fronts and add pull-outs to the inside. I have an interior pullout drawer in the cabinet by the range and it serves me well. My earlier layout does keep with the same plumbing, though I'm not averse to changing it, if I can afford it. Part of the consideration for the layout was to keep the existing boxes for the cabinets, veneer them, and replace the bottom of the cabinet in the sink box. I think (by my estimate) it would save me around $1500 on those wall/base boxes, excluding installation. I still need to find a pro to give me real estimates, though. I made simplified versions of your plans in Ikea (takes a lot longer in sketchup). I like the corner one, though I lose a lot of storage cabinets. I can't get myself to like the plain Galley-Style kitchen. I'm not sure what bugs me about it. I do want a hutch-style, if I can, because we are big tea drinkers (boba, hot & cold) and I'd love a "tea station." That was the reason for the spot on the left in my earlier post.
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loribee
12 years ago
In my former home, a split level also, I put something pretty to look at right at the TOP of the stairs, so your eye would travel up...How about that?
arcy_gw
12 years ago
Back in the early '90's it was new construction. The foyer was very large. They added a bench seat for shoe/boot removal. It did not give the box feeling, but still when you do the math it was a large space for one purpose, to get in the house. The large it is the more tempted one is to put furniture there. The furniture then gets in the way when people groups are attempting to get in the house. Is it really where one wants a "mud room"?
ontariomom
Original Author
12 years ago
Hi,

Thanks for the input guys. That is a beautiful display, loribee. I collect plates as well, but would not have the hall space to put the table. The view upstairs will be a small part of the kitchen (not the cluttered part for sure!) just the edge of an island. Beyond will be the great room with a beautiful French door. So, maybe I will get the effect you described in your foyer, leafy02. Thanks so much for the link, chispa. I had found that a while back, but need to take another look at it as it did have excellent ideas for outside choices especially. Arcy, I am so glad we will not be trying to have the mudroom in this small foyer, and we will be lucky enough to have a mudroom at the garage entrance. For years this tiny foyer has been our only entry and mudroom to boot. I will be glad to give the boots the boot to the lower level!

Anyone tried chair rails here to play down the tall walls within this relatively small space? For those of you who have a railing along either the right or left side wall of your entry, do you like the look?

Carol

Split-entry - Anyone made them attractive?

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leafy02

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Split-entry - Anyone made them attractive?

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leafy02

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