I don't have any feedback for you but I'll be interested to watch this topic. We are considering buying a home that currently only has access to the basement through its own exterior door. There is no way to get downstairs from the main level. It was built this way to have the basement as an independent apartment that the owners rented, but we want to envelope that space into the house as added living space for our family. To do this we too would have to build an interior staircase where there currently is none. We'd have to cut a hole in the floor and start from scratch! Anyway... I didn't mean to ramble, but to share that we are in the same boat, or a similar one anyway. I'll be interested to read the responses you get.

Anyone? We are in Michigan. I am not even sure if I can have a room with a door and a closet without a window, even if we don't call it or use it as a bedroom.

I never come over to this forum, but peeked in today. Personally, I would never consider purchasing a home with the laundry in the basement. I have always had mine on the first or second floor, with the second floor preferred, as it is closer to where everything needs to be put away. Since you are combining two bedrooms, is there any way that you could put a small laundry on the second floor, even if it is in a closet, and get the fourth BR on the 1st? We had a previous home with a flex room with a full bath on the first floor. It could be used for an office, BR, nanny suite, children's playroom, etc. The other option might be to put the fourth bedroom in the basement, since you are finishing it off anyway, and leave the laundry on the first floor. In our area, for a basement level BR, you need egress and a closet.

Cp, thank you for those photos and again for all your input. Your staircase is beautiful: I think I’ve covered the rest of your questions. bedroom one dimensions are 14’1” x 13’8.5”. Closet is currently 8.5’ by 5’1”. In the kitchen if you're planning on keeping the fridge where it is, I'd put a prep sink on the island. Otherwise move the fridge to the right of the sink. (Although I believe the prep sink is a better option since then the fridge and pantry are next to one another making it easier to put away groceries or take food stuff out when cooking. —I don’t like anything in the island but would consider your suggestion about the other option. I recently set up a cardboard life size layout of the kitchen (because I’m just that nuts I suppose) and felt good about the arrangement that we currently have. But I’m not married to it. The weird jog in the kitchen is unintentional (at least I think!) The change there was in an effort to shave off some square footage and I asked to see the kitchen (and rec room) 1-2 feet narrower. It looks to me like he moved part of the wall, but somehow not all of it. That wall will stay straight whatever dimension we end up with. Don't love the afterthought door out to the backyard from the living room. -I haven’t given much thought to it. For me it could stay or go. Double doors never work as well. First of all they leak air and air leaks in. Secondly where do you put light switches? Better to have a single door with sidelights. -I know there are disadvantages. But there also some pluses- much easier to move big furniture through. Mainly I just like the way they look. I don’t plan on them looking anything like in the rough elevation though- I’m thinking 3/4 glass doors. Clothing can't turn corners in closets. A bedroom closet isn't important enough to need double doors into a walk in closet. -yes....this needs to be fixed When you walk into a house, a bedroom should not be the very first thing you see. -I know this is a big qualm most people would have with this plan. I don’t think it would be the FIRST thing people would notice when opening the front door and I personally don’t mind it there. I can see why most people would. Do you have plans that show how the house sits on the land? That's something any good architect would do from the start. -No, though he did visit the site. The master bedroom suffers from the same problem as bedroom 1. -We’re in Tennessee. We are adding a window to both bedroom one and master because I’m a fan of natural light. It will face west but I don’t think that matter much as we won’t usually be in the bedrooms when the sun would affect us. Again clothes can't turn corners. At the very least have the clothes on the two long walls and have the entrance to the closet (a single door) as you enter the bedroom. I have thought about moving the entrance closer to the bedroom door. I don’t know how I feel about having those close possibly cross paths. Whatever route we go, it won’t be double doors. And if it’s kept on the wall it’s currently on, I was thinking of moving it to the far right so we’d have room on that wall for a piece of furniture. Also again are you ok if your spouse turns on the light in the bathroom in the middle of the night? I’d sleep right through it I’m sure. :) I don’t suspect that would happen; the few times either of us have stumbled to the bathroom (only one bath upstairs at our current house, not a master bath) I do note that we don’t turn the main light on anyway. Too bright. The hidden room is cute but if it were me, I'd rather have an extra closet in the hallway and a window in the bathroom. -I’m committed to the idea of the fort room. I worked and worked to try to figure out a way to have both an exterior bathroom that was not aJack and Jill along with the secret room but couldn’t come up with another solution. Neither could the architect. I’ve thought about doing a solar tube light in the bathroom...but I’m concerned about roof leaks (metal roof). If I could warm up to the idea of Jack and Jill maybe I’d change my mind about this, but I’m stuck on the disadvantages.