..what roarah says. but will be more than that.

I'm 99% sure your house contains asbestos..so take cost of professional abatement into account everytime you're thinking of disturbing these walls. check first of course, maybe it doesn't, maybe it doesn't have it everywhere(like ours did..walls, floors, HVAC, you name it) but I'd be very very surprised

invite a GC (several, really) when you close..let them walk the place, give you quotes on different scenarios for different scopes of your project.

Decide what you can afford to do

(and know that it will still most likely turn out to be more expensive because you'll find additional things, something will come as unexpected, etcetera. Most likely will also take longer. Than you think)

Then enlist somebody that can design. Or you don't have to-we didn't-but just know it's easier that way. The more pros you have by you(the ones you can trust) the better.

During such major reno it ll be very hard or maybe impossible to live in the house. I trust you have somewhere to live meanwhile?

It'd be studs.

As for it being small, ours wasn't also very big(under 1700..we did added a bit so now it's underv 1900 sq f) ..still took us 27 months(I think..) since purchase to moving in. We didn't count the money we sank into it as not to oversadden ourselves..:) and we still have the backyard to take care of (since as we added, they had to dig foundation and all), hardscaping etc. But it wasn't 100 K. It wasn't 200 K either.

Maybe cheaper in Florida, I don't know. (we're in CA). Not sure as you have your own requirements, hurricane windows, and other stuff I don't know about. But everything you put in new-has to be up to the current code. At least here

Having said that-the right for you and your family location trumps so many other things. Which is why we got into our remodel as well.

And it's for sure anything but boring.

But we were a bit naive as per costs and time, since I found this forum too late in the game..:)

Be prepared, find good pros..will help with both expectations and execution living up to these expectations.

If you want collective thinking beforehand, about design aspects-post plans. There are some very talented people here. Not me-I'm pretty bad and slow in reading plans and suggesting layouts. But many here are extremely talented and helpful in their suggestions.

You need an architect, an engineer and a designer. This is NOT a DIY or GW Community project!!!

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5249252/unrealistic-expectations

What Anglo said. This can't be crowd sourced here as we don't know what else is in the walls, etc. And HGTV is not reality.

Just about anything is possible … you just have to have lots of time, money, and patience to make it work. I am currently remodeling my childhood home. (To the studs!) Do yourself a favor and meet with a few builders. Bonus if they are a design/build firm so you don’t have to hunt down a separate architect. You want and need the experts working on the same page from the get go. Get several bids and know this will take a lot longer that you expect. That being said, it will look wonderful when you finish. Keep the faith!

Then you are waaaaasy ahead of the game. You have a team than can do the work … that is awesome. I would love to be married to a general contractor right about now.

My labor and GC commission fees( 20%) were half the cost of my resent addition, which came in at over 650 per sq ft. So your costs might be halfed with free labor! :) still materials are pricey. The best advise I received when moving into a new place was to live in it for at least a year before making structural and expensive changes. I really got to know what worked and what my change priorities were by taking my time. You live outside in Florida let the interior wait a bit!