Next week, demolition starts on the house I ‘financed’ and received the keys on October 7th. I really wanted things to move quicker but it’s not appearing that way. I think we’re finally in a good place to proceed. I did want to share some photos where Heather & I worked with the contractor to make things to our liking. It may change further, we’ll see! Note, the left side of each image the facing the lake, the entry way door is facing the side of the house where the stairs go straight down to the basement which opens to french-doors facing the lake. Bedroom, bathroom and kitchen were all planned to be at rear of house:
In this first version version, we did our best to cram a bedroom with a closet along with a bathroom with a single person tight shower along with a full kitchen. It still felt very cramped. Not pictured to the left is the living area, stairs and entry-way
Below is a bigger view of that scenario:
Heather thought, why can’t we bring the kitchen out into the living space a bit to achieve a larger bathroom? It’d mean getting a smaller range and fridge though:
This is what our contractor put together based on our feedback. Left is facing the lake, entry way opens and when door closes, you can head down the stairs w/ a step down then down to the mud – room / french doors. The area at the bottom is another bedroom but will be my office.
The problem with the above design was everything felt too cramped and once you factored in appliances, we had no cabinet space…just one corner space and a few lowers. With the new design below, we did a few things. We made the breakfast bar an island so I could chop while Heather cooks and 3-4 seats can be added when friends come over as a mock-dining-table. We also made the bathroom larger as well as made the closet walk-in and the pantry larger as well. Most importantly, this configuration below allows for a 36” wide fridge.
There may still be further tweaks made but I’m pretty happy with it so far. The entire floor space of the 1st floor is 750 square feet. We plan on framing in the downstairs with the beer-cellar, home theatre, half bath, utility room and another office / bedroom.