We did some pretty major remodeling. One project carved up 2 bedrooms into 2 bedrooms plus laundry room plus bathroom. We sketched out what we wanted the layout to be, then took it to a draftsperson who measured our walls and drew it up sufficiently for permits and our own wall-building. It only cost a few hundred dollars, and we DIY-ed all the work. We did need to move one load-bearing wall, and on the drawings they wrote "install flush lam beam." I researched online (using a GW referred article) how to do it, we bought the beam from a local company who did the calcs to size the beam, and we installed it in the attic. If you've got a good sense for what you want to do, and a good network of people to help you with it, design-build or even an architect is probably overkill. It does depend on your local jurisdiction and what they require for permits. Ours was very DIY/homeowner-friendly. BTW, welcome to GW, newly part of houzz. These forums are invaluable. Come over to bathrooms and we'll help you with layout and construction.

I'm getting confirmation from the city on the ADU conversion in writing but new laws passed on Jan 1st of this year make it pretty clear I don't need to replace parking. The biggest land/hardscape I'm interested in doing is the entry walkway to the back. It may not look like it now but the walkway is almost 5 feet wide, from the tall wall to where the short wall steps up on the right. Stripping out the reeds on the one side and pulling the vines off the wall on the left. I like the wall of greenery but the clinging vine is terrible to maintain so commercial trellis mounted on alternating sides along the walkway with a non-clinging flowering vine attached would be nice I think. In-cement up-lighting placed opposite the vine to reflect light on to the vines at night? The maybe a glass door with intercom for security?

Thank you, Joseph. We love our old house. You are right, we aren't going to do a do-over because that would mean tearing down our 1937 house and the entire house is built like this with brick/plaster walls. This discussion helps me understand better why our house can "feel" cold on those rare days here that go below freezing. It is actually though a very comfortable house with radiant heat, original wood floors. We've been here almost 17 years and it is home. When we do put the backsplash in (most likely subway tiles now) what should the professional tiler do on the parts where we removed the plaster (seen in the picture) to help with the insulation? He knows our house and advised us on the old tile removal. We trust him. Thank you, Joseph.

Wow! Thank you for that mock up-- already looks better :) We are at the early stages but I do not think we "need to" replace windows- we could and do love the big dark colored metal windows look but unclear whether we have room in the budget for that or if we simply paint the windows black. Here are some other photos which we love and are looking to for possible inspiration / options: Black windows against painted hardiboard and stone: light colored if we choose that path- love the hardi shake look: another light color inspo (maybe we need to add some sort of front porch for charm? If we choose to go white, like this look (mixing hardi shake with siding and also pairing with black windows and accents).