What's the best decision in my situation?

Question

Hi,

I'm about to close on a property in Seattle area. The property is 3B1B and I plan to add an extra bathroom it 3B2B. However the layout is not very straightforward (like below). I should add that there's stairs to the basement which is finished and it has a big area. What I'm thinking about is to combine bedrooms 1 and 2 into a large primary and add a full path adjacent to the current full path.

This will make it something like this (the dimensions are not accurate, just for representation) plus there's going to be the 3rd bedrooms in the basement, making it 3B2B.

Should I make this change? What other think about it?

I'm not sure whether having a bedroom in the basement is good enough. I'm open to ideas if anyone would like to share their opinion.

Peyman Ayoubi · Answer

@Jaron Walling Sorry for late response. Yes, you're right. I'll open the kitchen a bit and add a counter top (not sure if an island would fit). Kitchen is not huge but decent size.

I plan to keep this thread as a diary for this project. Will keep you updated on the progress and what we decided to move forward with.

Peyman Ayoubi · Answer

Hi, at the stage of painting the exterior of the house. Does anyone have any opinion on this color? I'm thinking Sherwin Williams Alabaster (SW 7008) and white windows, and it's fairly common and well reserved in our region. My roof is not dark (it's metal, orange-like color) but it's not really visible given the higher elevation compared to the street. I'd appreciate it if you could share your opinion

Jaron Walling · Answer

There's no wall extensions with the powder room so I'd guess it "feels" open and nice. Seems like a logical place for it when guest come over.  Depends on the size of the kitchen. Kitchens and baths sells houses. If the kitchen seems cramped I'd get rid of it. In my opinion a half bath doesn't hold the value of a big modern kitchen.

You could even add an island or bump out peninsula for more sitting and storage.

Peyman Ayoubi · Answer

Do you have any opinion on the location of the powder room? Do you think it should not be close to the living area and kitchen so that I can open the kitchen up as much as possible?

Peyman Ayoubi · Answer

Another idea is to expand one of the bedrooms (see the plan below). Making this particular bedroom bigger has three benefits: 1) bigger primary as I add ~100 sqft, 2) no need to change anything else except for face lift, 3) the garage is exactly below this bedroom and it's a single car garage, with this addition, it'll be two car tandem garage. The con is obviously the cost because in addition to waiting a long time for permit, it requires serious structural changes + roofing, etc.

Peyman Ayoubi · Answer

Thanks @Jaron Walling.

That's a good suggestion. I'm not sure about it being load bearing or not (thought I think it is). In the second drawing, I had removed some portion of that wall. Do you think it needs to be more open than that?

For that particular scenario, I'm just not sure if having a powder room very close to the kitchen and living area is a good thing.

The purchase price for this is 760k (it's 1150 main floor + 800 basement + 0.25 lot) in Shoreline, WA. The ARV should be around 950k and I'm planning to spend 100k on this. I'm having contractors over the next two weeks to see the project and bid on it.

Jaron Walling · Answer

@Peyman Ayoubi The updated drawings look great. The wall between the kitchen and living should be as open as possible (could be load bearing) but the wider that door way the better. I did the same thing on our last property and it made big difference. Wiring and light switches are tough to relocate but opening things up never hurts.

What was your purchase price, what is the estimated rehab cost, and what is the ARV? I assume you're flipping this property based on the scope of work.

Peyman Ayoubi · Answer

Hi, sorry for a very late response. I came back with some detailed floor plans. The property is a single family in Shoreline, WA. The main floor shown below is roughly 1150 sqft. The property also has a ~800 sqft basement, 400 sqft of which is finished and I plan to finish the rest by adding a full bathroom, and making two bedrooms (both will be egress but one will be more of a family room than bedroom).

My goal is to have a primary in the main level plus a powder room. So, at the end, the house should turn into a 5 bedroom (2 of which in the basement) and 2.5 bathrooms (3/4 bath + 1/2 powder room), and 1 full bath in the basement.

For having a primary unit in the main floor, there are two ideas that we're thinking about. First idea is to add a powder room close to the kitchen. The con of this is it's going to take some space in the already small living area and I'm not sure if having powder room close to the kitchen is bad or it's considered ok.

The second idea is to add the powder room in between the two bedrooms, making the left bedroom smalle (the primary in this plan is similar to the previous image, I forgot to update the floor plan again, sorry about that).

Please tell me what you think, and also I'd appreciate it if you have an innovative idea that you can share that's better than the ones I mentioned above.

Thanks in advance.

Yanina Panfilenka · Answer

3-2 will worth more that 2-2. What's the basement situation? You can share the address in messages - let's see.