Sorry, I accidentally posted the same pic twice and can’t edit the post! This is the first floor drawings. It’s not perfect, the line where I’m pointing with my pencil shouldn’t be there, and there are some doorways that I accidentally closed in but I think you can see where they are

What’s your budget and general location? 500K goes a lot further in KY than it does in MA.

Nobody can read the picture. That said, your best "plan" is an architect, Capes, and their eaves and rooflines are notoriously challenging. Get an architect, and before you do, refine your goals, your budget etc.

Be a lot more specific than "adding square footage is fine".

Jan Moyer, uh I can read the picture. Touch it and it gets bigger. I’ll pull in an architect at some point but I’m brainstorming now

Architectrunnerguy- I’m not trying to do actual blueprints. Just sketched for ideas

Live wire oak - central Ohio and not 500k lol.
We would like to keep costs down, but realize it’s not going to be cheap. Let’s say no more than $200k

"Just sketched for ideas" That's exactly what I'm doing in the photo. A computer drawing may show what I know but a sketch will show what I'm thinking. Here's a detail of one done with the client sitting across the table from me:

You might want to read about average costs in your area for all of these ideas then. https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2019/west-north-central/

I agree with Jan...photos are too dark fro me to be able to read them.

Open floor plans are popular and effective in maximizing your experience of space. The flexibility offered enables variety in furniture layout as well. To further enhance the feeling of enlarged space, you might consider using ceiling details and larger wall openings. This maintains identity for each space and the layering of space multiplies the feeling of a larger space.

Bear in mind that open plans can be notoriously noisy and you should consider a space that can be closed off in some way.

Repurposing garages is a popular idea as a cost saver, utilizing the existing space. I caution my clients considering this as they usually suffer from poor comfort and energy performance. It can be challenging to heat & cool the space properly.

Gaining usable space on the second floor can be done through the use of dormers. This has to be done sensitively or risk compromising the aesthetic of your home.

You are wise to become familiar with your options and to seek input from experts. When you are ready to engage an architect, this research will make your discussions more productive. I think you will also find new and creative options that are not immediately apparent. I would recommend the following as next steps:

• evaluate lot building restrictions
• list needed/desired spaces
• how should each space feel?
• how does this relate to your existing home?
• create a scope of work list
• work with an architect or builder to establish a reasonable budget

Best of luck to you.

Easiest way to add to bedroom area in a cape is a whole house dormer on the back side. You may have to live without a true master bathr, but you can design the shared bath as though it were the master. Double sinks, separate shower, etc.

Even in central Ohio, unless you are supplying your own labor? Forget 200k. A reno, pound for pound is more expensive than a new build. I just lived this with insistent clients, and the upper reaches of NYS are not far different from the mid west. Which means one thing. You need an arch, a wish list, the can't do without list. Any addition would require the permits anyway: ) The money spent in a process as runner guy suggested? the best you can spend, BEFORE you rip and blow up and spend.

it’s too dark to see

200K gave us a renovation without adding anything to the footprint, we did 90% of the work ourselves. I find all my clients usually very unrealistic about costs. What you need is an architect from the beginning to help you understand costs for what you want to do. Then you at least have an idea .Garages are not as easy as you might think to turn into living space. I would also like to see your house exterior. I will tell you do not like too much opening of walls between kitchen and LR but do like open between kitchen and DR The new flooring all through the main floor will be pricey all by itself that is often one of the things my clients totally forget about. If you could also make sure you mark what every space is on the drawing. These are pics of a little house we renovated and we did a bumpout on the 2nd floor for the bathroom as we had really sloped walls too

If you are considering repurposing an existing garage, it will be a good idea to first check with your local zoning administrator or building official.

A number of jurisdictions have zoning restrictions requiring single family homes to have two covered parking spaces for autos.

The last thing you may want is to repurpose your existing garage, and then have to build a new garage as part of the project.

I can see your pics when I click on them. I agree an addition may cost less than a major renovation. I agree it is fun to play with ideas before bringing in an architect or builder. I have done a home addition. It was helpful to bring in builders and get their ideas. But they all said they can build whatever I want, I need to decide what I want and get plans for them to bid off of. But when I tried to work with an architect (apparently not a good one) they designed projects way over budget.........I took everything I learned from all and ended up using draftsmen to do the plans (that were nothing like what the architect was proposing).

I suggest you get names of builders/contractors and have them in to discuss possibilities. They can direct you to architects or draftsmen they have worked with before.

You get caught in a vicious circle in that builders can not give an accurate price without detailed plans, but you can't have detailed plans without knowing what you want/what it will cost. So at some point you need plans to bid off of and then the project can be adjusted up or down........

You may find an excellent architect that walks you through it....... so check for recs on that.

You will get a ton of judgy comments on this site about how you must work with an architect/designer etc without giving any helpful feedback. The whole point of coming to a site like this is to get feedback from diverse people with all levels of experience. If you just wanted one architect's opinion, you wouldn't have come here :)

Also consider looking at houses you can buy if you sell your home and add 200k to your home budget. Moving into a new to you place should be less stressful than living through a remodel.

Think about the spaces you use most in your house and the spaces you hardly use......can some of the unused spaces be more utilized?

It's not usually about "opinion" .It's about the site, what is possible, exterior, interior. codes, load bearing, non load bearing and a million other things.

When you come up with something solid from an arch? Put it out here! You will get plenty of "opinion" : ) Trust me on that, lol

"You will get plenty of "opinion" : ) Trust me on that, lol " You can trust me on that too!

BTW Tiffany, did you get or have you ordered any of the books I recommended?

Lafdr- thank you for the most helpful comments yet.

Jan, I don’t know where you are, but we’ve had some contractors come look and give us estimates of around $150k. I don’t need high end everything and we can do a lot ourselves too.

The house is a gem, we don’t own it yet, the landlord wants to sell and will sell to us for well below market bc she won’t have to do anything if we buy it. It’s in the top school district with a yard three times the average. If we did the add on and updates it would easily double the value in this area, so it’s worth it, and frankly if we make it what we want I could stay here forever

Pictures of the exterior would be helpful.

You mentioned a new master and bath. 1st or 2nd floor?

Which direction does the house face?

I had a friend say can you help? " We just want to pop the roof, blow out some walls, add trusses. We just need you to figure out traffic where stuff goes"

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH !!!

My reply? There is no "just". .......and what I just said above, for those million reasons.

And then? I will refine anything you like.

I believe strongly in the Peter Principle.

"the cream rises until it sours.”

I never want to be a clients sour cream. I want to be the cherry atop the fresh whipped cream.

PPF - either one would be fine. We have considered changing the current living room into a master and adding a bath

I have a 1 1 /2 story house. The 2nd floor was only 1/2 finished - one side was unfinished attic. In 1985, we had a full dormer put across the back of this house - it gave us 8'ft of extra space with a normal 9' ceiling, across the entire back of the house. We ended dup with 2 huge BR's and 2 ensuite baths. I think I remember our budget was about $90,000 in KY and that was a LONG time ago. No, the only work we did ourselves was interior painting and hanging wallpaper. It was well worth the money as I'm still living in this house.

Jan- you’re not being helpful. You seem pretty condescending. Feel free to stop replying since you’re not contributing

That is wonderful to hear the location and lot are great and you can get a good price since the landlord will not have to do any repairs to sell to you. Even if you change little other than updating paint and finishes you may gain equity.

If you could have your bedroom anywhere, where would it be? I like eastern light in a bedroom, but I also might like views.

I found that getting a draftsman to draw up an accurate floorplan, gave me a basis to start playing with design options. So you might get a draftsman or someone who does floorplans for realtors make a more accurate floorplan to play with and post here.

Even if you are sure you are getting a deal, if you are financing, you may need an appraisal. Be sure the home is worth what you are going to pay. :)

lafdr

How come you ignored architectrunnerguy’s question?

Have you considered adding a wide shed dormer to your attic roof?

https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2015/03/04/making-shed-dormers-work

Lafdr- the house will most likely appraise at 25-35k above asking price, which is low 200s. I’ve seen enough houses around here (lived in and around here for 20 years, and my work takes me inside homes) to know that with updating and a 4th bedroom it will easily be a 450k house.
I think east is good too, but I’m not super particular about it.

Cpartist- because it got lost in the other stuff.
Architectrunnerguy- no I haven’t, I may hit the library and check first. I don’t know how much time I’ll have though

Your spending six figures of your hard earned money but you don’t have time to educate yourself first?

"Your spending six figures of your hard earned money but you don’t have time to educate yourself first?" That was my thought too! No harm in reading and I highly recommend those books to all my clients.

Is the 12x12 roomon the first floor a bedroom now? I’m sorry if I missed that somehow.

For central Ohio, I’d think your costs would be similar to here in central

KY and from what I was quoted by a local contractor for our upcoming addition/remodel, I would say you’d be better off to add onto the house versus trying to remodel. I would think $150k would be sufficient to add on a modest bedroom and bathroom based on what we were quoted.

not a pro but a random stalker with an opinion :) - what I would do, other than buy books (yay!) is do some research online for the suggestions you're getting here. Look up wall dormer, shed dormer, cape cod wall dormer, etc. Once you have the key terms you need to do some good searches, you can then look at floor plans of cape cods that have that style, to get IDEAS, so that when you do talk to someone you're communicating effectively. Patricia's picture above of a recent reno is a good idea of what you could do. Idea gathering is fun, and will help you focus the conversation. I'm sorry I can't post more ideas for you like a pro can, but hang in here - - I think maybe a picture of the outside front and back of the current house would help them help you, as well as separating your requests in different posts (upstairs/downstairs reno). I did a quick search of wall dormers on cape cod and got excited on your behalf! This looks helpful ! https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2015/03/04/making-shed-dormers-work

Maybe these help. I tried to lighten them in Photoshop with some success.

I havent read everything that has come before. here are my thoughts tiffany

1. the interior walls are likely load bearing. Removing those might be expensive

2. are there 450k houses in your neighborhood? for example, if the most expensive house in your neighborhood is 300k, if you put 500k worth of improvements in your house it will still appraise for 300k

3. is your money better spent selling this house and then using the 200k to buy a house that has what you want?

just some thoughts.

btw, good luck in whatever you do. a remodel doesnt have to be 200k if you are not the kind who needs wolf appliances or $20 a square foot flooring, or $3000 kitchen snks

The absolute first thing thing that I would do is to attempt to remove emotion from this, and treat it like any other arms length house sale. Be suspicious of everything said by the seller. No one sells something that they want to keep. They are selling it “below market value” for a reason. That reason isn’t to do you a favor.

Pay for a home inspection. And then pay for a structural engineer’s inspection, since you want to change things do extensively. Pay for a plumber to do a plumbing and septic inspection, since you want to add a bathroom. Make sure you have a clear unencumbered title. Know of any easements. Know of any future development plans for any property development.

Treat this like any other house sale. Then treat this like any other renovation project. Remove your obvious emotional attachment from this situation. It’s kinda blinding you to be dreaming about things that may not be the best path to move forward.

The National average master suite addition is 130K. Doing that, and a budget conscious 50K kitchen redo, should be doable on the stated 200K budget, and still have 10% for the inevitable contingencies.

Removing many walls, with the electrical, plumbing, and flooring replacement requirements that go along with that, will not likely be possible on that budget. If I were budgeting for this project, I‘d suggest prioritizing either a kitchen redo, or the structural rearrangement.

This is is a well respected industry source for remodeling costs. It’s done the annual figures for over 20 years. It has location adjustments based on general area of the country and some local cites within those areas. It’s a very good objective guide to help you rough budget for rough plans. Any specific plans will need a local design professional involved to create them, stamp them, in order to get the required permits. (You’ll also need those documented design plans in order to get any realistic contractor estimates. Estimates are not bids. Especially without plans. Estimates are guesses. Know the difference!) You may also need Health Department approval if the house is on septic, as they control that. There are other locality specific reports and requirements that your local professional should be aware of and help you to navigate. It’s not nearly as easy or cheap as the TV shows make believe about! Good luck!

https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2019/

DE and Cooks Kitchen - thank you for bringing up excellent points and for not being judge mental or condescending while you do it. I’ll try to address them point by point.

DE-

1- I’ve had a couple contractors come look and any walls we’d like to take out shouldn’t be too hard.
2- There’s a mix, but yes, there are $450k and up homes in the area, alongside the $225k homes. On our street we have at least three that are $400k and up and one that for sale for $700k.
3- we don’t own the home, so no sale money. The homes we could buy other than this within our budget will either be a) not in the school district b) either not be enough house or not enough yard for us. We have to stay within this school district due to custody requirements, and it’s a high priced district. The yard is important because we have five dogs and a small yard will get destroyed and not leave space for kids stuff too.
I’m totally happy with “regular” appliances and fixtures and I’m a good bargain shopper. My ex and I remodeled a large kitchen from the studs out ten years ago and only spent $7000. We did it ourselves, but my current husband and I can do most of the work past the framing and electric and plumbing too.

Cooks-
I’m absolutely not basing my opinions on value on the seller. I have done some real estate assisting and have several friends who are realtors (who will not be involved in the sale, thus have no financial interest) who are telling me to jump on this! The seller is in poor health and has already made $50k in rent off of me. She doesn’t want to have to do the minor repairs and cleaning that should be done to list it, although I think she would rather do that, but her husband really doesn’t want to and he basically told her she’s being greedy because between rent and selling it at 20k over what they paid, with very minimal investment, they will still come out $70k ahead.
We will absolutely do an inspection! There’s no septic, so that’s not an issue.
I don’t need a 50k kitchen. If we did that ourselves, without any wall changes, I can do what I’d like for $15 and be very happy.
I’m not sure that my attachment is so much emotional, as it is that finding what we need in the area we need it is, within budget is darned near impossible. I detailed above in my notes to DE why.

Also, we have a chunk of money that we have set aside that would cover a large part of said remodels. Doing the math, our monthly payment would be way lower if we purchase this house and pay cash for remodel (or even half cash half financed) than if we buy a higher priced house that gets us everything we want now and use that money towards down payment.

Oh- Shead-thank you for lightening those up! I missed the question about the room downstairs. Yes, the 12 x 12 room downstairs is a bedroom or whatever you want to make it LOL. It’s currently serving as a play room/office. We have also considered combining that with the living room to make a really nice master suite with a walk-in closet and bathroom