The only issue is cost. Adding a bath where their is existing plumbing near or not is very pricy. A toilet needs a waste stack so what is under the area will also matter. A full basement is less expensive than a concrete slab but the finished basement might be altered to accomadate the new plumbing. You can expect to pay easily over 400 per sq ft to add a master bath where there was none.

thank you!

I’m confused by the proposed layout. In these houses, do you currently walk into a living room with an adjoining DR. Would it be walled off so you walk down a hall to the rest of the house? Sorry to hear you can’t find what you want. I’m surprised you can’t find a large house with 4 bedrooms (or whatever you need) with everything on the first floor. Good luck with this search. I know that helping our aging parents can be challenging.

Thank you for asking. If you look at the floorplan, I would imagine french doors instead of the open passage from LR to foyer, and then a "regular" door from DR to kitchen (or closed off entirely on this side). The rest of the family enter the front door into the foyer, and travel down the hall to the kitchen/FR area.

I don't know what you mean by WIC. Walk in closet?

I wouldn't think it would be too hard to find a house with a master bedroom and adjoining bath that could be more easily converted to an in-law suite. I'd think that adding an extra entrance (if needed) ought to be cheaper than adding a new bath, but I'm not a pro. If you made it a small deck, maybe you'd be able to recover more of the cost when you sell? Just a guess. Again, I'm not an expert, just a DIY homeowner.

With (say) 3 other bedrooms, that should leave plenty of space for you and the rest of the family.

FWIW, I knew someone several years ago who finished his cellar as an in-law suite. It was a really nice setup when he was done -- even had a little kitchenette. I have no idea what it cost.

Thinking about turning the existing living room and dining room into an in-law suite, and having the owner "live" in other rooms of the house is probably not the best strategy one could conceive for a number of reasons.

That questionable strategy may be compounded in the wrong direction by saying "...alright if the conversion later affects resale value..."

I'd suggest that the OP be looking at existing houses where the bedrooms are separated from one another on opposite sides of the house (or on different floors if the in-law is ambulatory.

Having an owner's bedroom suite on one side of the house, and an in-law suite on the other side of the house (or on another floor) is probably a much better strategy while living in the house, and when selling the house.

Good luck on your project.

Virgil, I am unclear on where you are going, but thank you! In our previous home, we build a MIL suite (WIC, full BA, BR) at the front door for her - we loved it! It took 2 months to sell, but the new owners love the layout, because it suits their needs too.

We are unable to "build" currently, and granny must be on the 1st floor. The layout and functionality and family dynamics speak to converting the LR/DR combo into a "1st floor master" or "in-law suite" - even though there is a master on the 2nd, as well (mostly, these homes have 4 BR's total), and we are willing to take a small hit on future resale, to make granny comfy, and have her one the first floor. I hope I explained it better? Thanks for the guidance. I am really interested in *feasibility* of doing this, and approximate costs ranges - we definitely know it will suit our family :)

Well...let me try to say it differently.

Just about all homes are designed with the living-dining-kitchen areas as the central and main spaces in a home--these spaces are often the "heart" of a house.

All of the other spaces in a house--bedrooms, baths, garages, morning room, family room, whatever--are almost always located adjacent to and around the living-dining-kitchen "center" of the house. It's the living-dining-kitchen that links most of the rest of the house together to form a house.

If you attempt to remodel the living and dining rooms into an in-law suite you are carving out the center and heart of the house. That means nothing in the house functions well or can be accessed well after that.

In addition, since most living and dining spaces have no plumbing, you will likely have some extensive and expensive new plumbing work to be added.

Apparently you have done something like this in the past and think it would be a good idea to try to do it again. The fact that you did it, and managed to resell it afterwards apparently encourages you to try to do the same thing again.

As I said earlier, it would be easier and much more functional if you considered buying a house with separated bedrooms on each side of the house, and remodeling a bedroom wing on one side of the house to meet your in-law's needs. That would allow you to meet your in-law's situation, while leaving the heart of the house undisturbed. The bedrooms and baths on one side of the house would almost always be easily remodeled and reconfigured, especially if the house was purchased with that work in mind. It would also make the house more appealing to a much wider market when resale time comes.

As for cost ranges...no one here can give you any idea of costs since you have neither an actual house nor a remodel plan. What we can tell you is that your concept is likely to be the most expensive approach you could choose to remodel space for your family member. And it is likely to be the least appealing for the resale market.

You appear fixed in your thinking. Good luck on your project!

Thank you Virgil for taking the time to answer again. I sense your frustration with me.

May I ask one further thing? If you look at the floorplan (here: https://goo.gl/VRrWhJ) can you see where the morning room, family room, and kitchen are? They will be untouched; they are the heart of the home. My realtor (who may or may not be truly knowledgeable) says that recently many clients have been using only the morning room for dining, and re-purposing the formal dining room. Of course many of them are not altering the dining room permanently, as we would.

We are priced out of acquiring the home you describe - it sounds perfect, however! The "best" home for our needs at $300-350k is the layout shown in the link... about 50% of homes in that price range have *that* type of layout. Availability is good, hence why I would like to spend $20k to "alter" it. I assume resale will be slightly affected - mainly by a longer selling process. However, as we learned this spring upon selling our old home, there are others in our situation (caring for elderly or handicapped, or enjoying grandparents/in-laws) and eventually the home will sell.

Do any of my thoughts sway you? I trust your judgment - you are a pro.

Availability is good, hence why I would like to spend $20k to "alter" it

I'm assuming she's getting up there in age which means she probably needs a walk in shower? It's going to cost more than $20,000 to do what you're suggesting.

CPARTIST - some of the homes would have $20-$28k "wiggle room" in our budget. If we are approaching $30k, I would abandon the idea, though, as we simply do not have the funds. Thank you for responding! And yes, you are right about the shower.

Barbara, if you can get the bathroom done well and within your budget, I would do it. I think the particulars, though, are so local that you need to start making phone calls.

My grandmother lived with my parents for many years, from the time I was born until she died about 30 years later. She would have loved the sort of set-up you propose -- unfortunately, we lived in a small NYC apartment lol -- especially being off the kitchen like that, because she loved to cook and bake, and when she couldn't sleep, she'd wander into the kitchen and start making something, or just at the kitchen table and read.

Good luck with your project -- if you're able to make it work, please come back and let us know : ) .

If this is your plan I think you need a contractor on board as you’re house hunting. Run any house in serious consideration by him or her before buying to find out how feasible your plan is. Good luck!

We were looking for houses like these, and were priced out of them too. Or lets say we didn't want to spend that kind of money (So Cal here)

We decided to go with an older smaller cheaper house that we could add to, and that would have a layout not ideal but making sense and doable, for having our MIL with us.

While I love the result it took us 2 years and in terms of price, we'd better pay right away for the house that fitted our needs.

(maybe your area is totally different in terms of costs and labor, that I wouldn't know. Talking to builders where you live is an excellent idea)

More than that, we ended up buying a condo for MIL (very very close to us) because for now she prefers her independence. We did live together during the remodel, or part of it.

If I knew all that I'd just talk my very savvy husband into buying a house with a casita or something.. Would be same financially if not less, and I'd definitely be a healthier person than I am now.

Back to you though-look into one store-y properties if you have them around where you live, with a wing of bedrooms/bathrooms, ranch-like..along the lines of what Virgil was talking about. That's our house's plan..MIL's room is right next to the hall bath. We use it as a guest room currently, but she also stayed here to recuperate after hospital, etc. The hall bath has a tub though(she's fine with tubs but if you need shower that's something to consider), it's the only room we didn't fully remodel, and only that room would be about 12K worth of labour only, without moving plumbing around, and not including finishes.

I so get what you're going through..greatest luck to you.

Barbara, I've looked at your plan. I agree with you, in the case of this particular plan, the designated dining and living spaces are really ancillary and not the "heart" of the house.

I believe it would be possible to add a new bath and closet to transform the existing spaces into an in-law suite, with living, bath and sleeping areas, but it will take some careful design exploration and planning to find the right solution within the existing spaces.

I can't venture what the costs may be, especially since I don't know your local area.

Good luck on your project.

Could the existing bath be enlarged to add a shower, taking room from the office? It would not be private for granny as the rest of the house would still use it as a guest bath. This would allow for easy reversal if the next owners did not want an in law suite.

If you flanked the dr windows with closets and put a window seat in the middle, it would not look too crazy to leave that set up in a dr for future use.

I think it would be difficult to create a bathroom where it doesn't exist for $20,000.

Aren't there homes with master suites on the first floor - or ranch homes with divided floor plans. Since there are no children at home, whoever is upstairs would effectively have sole dominion of the bathroom anyway even if not en suite. I am assuming MIL would have downstairs so she wouldn't have to walk up and down to get to her living quarters.

Are there any homes with MIL suites already built in. It's not that an uncommon configuration - or a duplex with a larger landlord unit and small unit for MIL.

What about a home that could accept an elevator? Not cheap either, but would probably increase resale value due to many people having a need for an elevator to be able to access the second floor. Since you have basements it is probably an easier remodel to add in an elevator. I am guessing as I know nothing about adding elevators to existing homes, but it would seem to be a remodel that would have a positive effect on future resale value.

We could have used an elevator last year in our 2-story home when my DH had a total knee replacement and then shoulder surgery.