You've got to figure the foyer at close to a thousand dollars..maybe a hundred or two less..so that put your 700 sq ft of engineered Brazilian ch at around 9 grand...that is just shy of 13 a ft installed with rip out and the base..I mean every area is different..Around here an engineered like you are mentioning would be less money. There are different calibers of engineered. the three that you mention as alternatives will probably not save you money from the Bruce. I will be honest, Bruce is my least favorite of the 4 you mentioned as their quality control at times is terrible.it sounds like a lot of money for 800 f of flooring, but you are talking about top end cost points because of it being Brazilian cherry and ceramic I think you mean...Or is it really slate? Carpet wise if were me it would be either Anso or Smart Strand..both will give you performance...It's really hard to ridicule the price on the hardwood, as areas are so different. Also a good hardwood installer is worth more. We did a new house last week and were crunched with our crews...so we put a b quality crew in this home for 5 inch wide oak with a brand new builder that we acquired and we did not do a great job, so I now will be scrambling this week to get it corrected or replaced...No every store takes that approach either, but damn it , i ahould have made the customer wait an extra week and put an a crew in there. i should have known better. I will say that Home Depo and Lowes have very few what AI call craftsman working for them. let me say this, when you install new hardwood in an existing home, in can not be any tom dick or harry that installs it. It needs to be a carpenter..not a carpet layer.. There are few carpet layers that can be a craftsman with hardwood....but a lot of them think they are...So you must know what you are getting for an installer of hardwood or ceramic for that matter. Just some words of wisdom...You got my email..let me know if I can be of any more help to you. Thanks and good luck...Sorry for the lack of caps and spelling ...its late and I do not want to correct them all. Let me know.

Okay, let's see if I can catch up on all of your helpful posts! I met with a landscaper and we were pretty much on the same page but there were a few things that I didn�t agree with. Maybe I just have no clue what I'm doing and maybe his recommendations are truly better than the picture I have in my head! I'll be meeting with another designer on Monday to get his take on it. The first guy was free and we just talked about what the plan would be. The second guy charges $50, but will draw up a whole design. They also do driveways, which the first company does not do. The one thing that I really didn't like about the first guy was that I felt like I had seen all of his ideas in my neighborhood already. I don't want something crazy that doesn't fit the house or neighborhood, but I also don't want the same thing everyone else has. How do you get your house to stand out from the others but still "fit"? Just because everyone else has "x" number of garden beds and "x" amount of front yard grass doesn't mean I have to, right? I did read over our HOA docs and they simply state that no more than 20% of the yard can be raised garden beds or container gardens. I would really like to make maintaining the lawn easier and to shade the front a little more. He wasn't on board with that. As I said before our yard is quite short, only 25 ft deep from the sidewalk to the front brick. So that will definitely play a big part in the design. The front tree is a cherry tree (with fruit) and I have been told that it will grow large enough to provide cover for the front window, not too sure about the door. Every arborist and landscaper that I have talked to seem happy with that tree and tell me not to touch it. The shutters have actually done quite well with all of the sun and heat that they get exposed too. No warping or anything. Considering the roof color is a good point. I think the wrought iron color would look great. I still don�t know what I want to do with the door. I have been playing with pictures of the house for days now. I've cut and pasted so many different designs I'm stuck. I think that there are some styles and looks that definitely work, some that definitely don't work, and then there are the in-between ones. I don't mind having my house look a little different then the neighborhood. I have two tri-levels on each side of me and three true 2 story colonials across the street from me. From my mock-ups I think can get away with some different looks that neither of the other two styles could pull off. And that is why I'm stuck. Too many ideas. I think a designers eye is what I need. The other challenge I am having right now is prioritizing what to do with the house first. The inside still needs to be painted. I could use some new furniture too. If I did do painting I would want to update the lighting while the ceilings are getting a fresh coat. As far as the outside goes, we obviously need landscaping. But we could also use new gutters and soffits, possibly a new door, and new hardscaping. My husband would also like to close in the carport. There is just so much to do and I don't know where to start. The changes we have already made to the inside were easy because they were done out of necessity. Really none of these other things have to be done. I think that I would like to focus on the outside simply because I have a 4yr old and 1yr old that make it a little harder to maintain the inside versus the outside. And I can handle the inside myself. I obviously need professional help with the exterior. So, any ideas on how to prioritize my projects?

We're doing a remodel + addition of our split-entry / split-foyer to move the kitchen downstairs. The reason is because we need a multi-generational home in a very aggressive housing market (metro Seattle). In most cases this may not make financial sense, but the ability to cook and serve food on the ground level is a key consideration for us due to accessibility concerns. By tying in to a new addition for a full bath and bedroom, we get the desired outcome for a fraction of a new construction equivalent. A new construction home would also be on a much smaller lot and require a change in school districts so everything considered, this changes makes sense in our scenario. Unlike the original poster, we will not be relocating the front entrance and I echo the thoughts of others about the costs outweighing the benefit of doing that. Our existing garage and new addition are at grade, so we will simply add entries via both of those locations to gain access. We'll see how much, if at all, this changes our market evaluation. Home buyers will certainly be expecting the kitchen and dining areas on the upper level. But having the kitchen downstairs means that a homeowner won't be carrying (1) groceries up, or (2) trash, recyclables, and compost down. I believe a good listing and proper staging can highlight this change. We'll further tie-in the downstairs kitchen and new addition via an outdoor kitchen and eating area. Given the current change to remote working due the pandemic, the upstairs dining and/or kitchen areas are now available for remodeling to a dedicated home office which is now desirable. By making the addition and downstairs ADA compliant, we also open ourselves to that market. My only concern is that the house may stay on the market longer until it finds a family in a similar multi-generational situation as ours, which seems to be increasing in demand.

I am very grateful for your creativity and time in working out that idea for us JDS! The contributions you make on this forum are amazing. I think the idea of a sky light to balance the loss of light throught the front door from the entry overhang is very clever. Overall, I think the shelter at the door is a nice improvement! Atlas, the new door is taller in real life than the Sketch-up file I sent to you (as mentioned). The door is 8 foot with a transom adding an extra 14 inches of height over top. I'm guessing a taller roof over the tall door would not work as what you show is a nice looking extension to the existing roof (same pitch as existing roof). Any way to change it to accommodate the tall door's height? Again thank you for lending your creative eye to our house elevation,. Carol