It’s a toss up between more room in master bedroom and the corner balcony. >>>>>>>>
The master and missus could easily spend a few last evening minutes on the fam room balcony before retiring; it’s not a long distance. I’d rather have the room in the master bedroom. I could use the other balcony. Which has the better view anyway, right?
I think cb said the new corner balcony would have the $$ views.
The long side of the FR deck faces NW, the short side of the BR balcony faces NW and the long side faces NE.
It’s hard to say which would have better views, although the BR balcony will overlook the alley, which may be less visually appealing. The FR deck will be better situated for looking directly west and southwest to the ocean, assuming the mansion next door doesn’t impede a direct western view.
There is something about opening the sliding door in your bedroom and walking out onto a small lanai and smelling the freshness of the morning air - even if the sun is still on the other side of the house. I would stage that with a Nespresso machine situated near the balcony slider. A cup of coffee without any mess - to be enjoyed straight out of bed on the balcony. 
The balconies have different views. Large balcony will look west over Mission Bay Jetty and Ocean Beach pier andSW to sunsets. Master bedroom has views NW to mountains, Mission Bay and up the coastline to La Jolla. That would have the “night lights” view.
It probably would be OK to just have windows but the balcony breaks up the back of the house. Also, buyers tend to walk out onto decks and balconies to absorb a view rather than stand at windows. I have to balance sales draw against how people really use the house,
Personally i would never use the balcony but also don’t need a lot of room in my bedroom.
Agent coming tomorrow so i’ll ask her
Both of my 2nd floor balconies are covered. My master balcony gets the afternoon sun and in the summer I enjoy reading out on the deck with a bit of cover.
I think decks and balconies with views will be a huge selling point.
Did you get a chance to view the light fixture?
Time spent in bed is the only time I pretty much spend in the bedroom. But if I had a balcony off my bedroom, I would spend time on it for sure! So my vote is for a balcony instead of a relatively insignificant increase in bedroom square footage.
I have a great master bedroom in my house. Deck with a ocean and sunset view with a large nice slider. High ceiling, fireplace and room for a seating area. It might be one of the best rooms in my house. I’m presently sitting on my iPad on a comfy couch with the slider open and sounds of birds chirping. I think the room would have a more closed in feeling without the large slider and deck.
Another great purpose for a master deck is for the menopausal woman who gets hot in the night. I’ve been known to venture out on the deck in the middle of the night to cool off.
Today i finalized the plans and i just need to move on and make minor tweaks as we go through construction.
Added outdoor shower and large storage under stairs accessed from outside which is a great draw for suffers and active lifestyle.
Created a three sided bay/ Tudor bump out in front of 2nd story with 3 windows. We turned staircase and are going up through pantry. Bedroom wall and closet expanded into pantry area. Changed entry door to bedroom to other side of room. Added back the glass door and big window. Now there is a large closet in back bedroom.
Laundry room got switched around a bit towards kitchen and door changed swinging inward. This expanded back bedroom about 15 inches.
And, good news!! Got out the tape measure and analyzed hallway. If we tear out existing bathroom door and move it east towards bedroom we can squeeze 6" and we will have just enough room to put a hallway door to provide a bedroom suite!! That’s going to get done this week. Thanks for forcing me to revisit and get creative to get a door in there
Also took tub out of master and expanded shower. This gives us room for a long dual vanity with lots of counterspace
“Bedroom wall and closet expanded into pantry area. Changed entry door to bedroom to other side of room. Added back the glass door and big window. Now there is a large closet in back bedroom.”
yay!!
" This expanded back bedroom about 15 inches."
double yaaay!!
“If we tear out existing bathroom door and move it east towards bedroom we can squeeze 6” and we will have just enough room to put a hallway door to provide a bedroom suite!! "
triple yaaaay!!!
when can we see revised plans[ that, I know, cant be revised any more]?
Hahhh! Magic question. I sat at CAD guy’s desk and forced him to make all changes in computer while I was there. Then begged to get everything done ASAP and into engineering. All they said was “you are highest priority” but would not make a commitment on when in the world they would be done
Have no idea when I’m going to see next revision
We can always make tweaks that don’t affect anything major
cant WAIT to see the new floor plan!!
:D/
Just noticed I added an outdoor shower for “suffers” apologize…I hope you all recognize I meant “surfers”
Electrician was working today and he got up on a ladder with measuring tape and I realized that 4’ high fixture is way over kill for the room. So I sent a text to the guy for exact measurements and he hasn’t gotten back to me yet
I think correct size will be 30-36" high and 24" wide
BUDGET UPDATE
I am trying very hard to minimize labor costs as we ‘hurry up and wait’ for the plans to get finalized and into the City. However, I do have a long list of things we can do that do not require permits. Right now I am trying to figure out how I am going to get past the fact that I vaulted the ceiling in the hall bathroom without a true permit. The inspector is going to have to go in there and check the plumbing stacks going through wall and up in the attic to the roof vent. Also, he likes to inspect that the bathroom fan vents out somewhere. Ideally, I would get the ceiling insulated and drywall up before he comes in… but then he cannot see everything he needs to see. It’s a real dilemma
We are about 9 weeks into project. If this was a TV show (or any one of my competitors) we should be done by now
I have nothing to show for 9 weeks of work besides some landscape infrastructure, rewire, new panel, one bathroom reworked, foundation pier reinforcement, some new windows and doors and some plumbing under the house. Ohhh… and some half plans sitting in some guy’s computer waiting to get into engineering!!! Pathetic. I deserve to be thrown under the bus and have a TV show titled ‘Flopping with a big F’. Did I mention that this is extremely stressful and having trouble sleeping at night because managing the plans through permitting process is so out of my control at this point.
SPENT TO DATE
Demo $5,000
Plumbing $2,500
Electrical $5,000
Bathroom $2,000
Landscape/Hardscape $16,500 (OMG!!! how did that happen???)
Other $18,000 (includes $10,000 worth of fancy custom wood windows and doors)
Total $49,000
I have about $210,000 left in budget to try to get this done. I can see a slippery slope coming really quick !!
Windows and doors arrived into Los Angeles yesterday from the window manufacturer. I am tracking this closely because we need to get moving. Dang ‘delivery’ company cannot get them down to San Diego until Friday morning. I hate these delivery middle men
One step forward and 2 steps back
One of the things I’m trying to do is keep track of every window and door being removed to try really hard to reuse somewhere in the house. For example, in the hall bedroom that is going to become the staircase, there are two newer vinyl dual pane windows that have to be removed. One of them was the exact size we need for the 2nd northerly window we are adding in the hall bedroom. We take a measurement and I’m all excited!!! It’s the exact same size as the one in the bedroom, we can reuse this one!!!
But NOOOOO… we pull it out of the wall and move it into the bedroom. Cut the hole and I realize… this vinyl window is not the same style as the one that exists in the bedroom already. For some reason it has different stiles and rails??? and the glass reveal is different. What the hey???
So, I had to scramble to Dixieline and find a window manufacturer with the exact same coloring and width of stiles and casings. Order it $200 and wait 2 weeks to get a replacement.
Sorry to hear of these difficulties! Naturally a project of this magnitude will be at a different level than your other flips. As with the others, it will all work out beautifully in the end. Try to find something totally unrelated to do in the late evening hours to redirect your mind - perhaps something from the Guilty TV Pleasures thread? Or a totally escapist trashy romance novel (I have tons of those). Or a nice glass of wine. Stop and appreciate the sunset for a few minutes every day.
Believe it or not I have to pick exterior colors this week. We are moving ahead with sanding, scraping and painting all the exterior wood trim to get ready for restucco on the part of the house that’s staying intact.
Agent and i stood outside with a bunch of print outs of photos from Houzz. Exterior stucco will be a slight off white due to architecture style. The clad windows are Chestnut Bronze which are a dark black brown. We have decided that window sills and window trim wood will match the window color.
Next i have to make a decision on whether we can introduce another color with the eaves and rafters. There is not a lot of large fascia board on the house so the eaves and rafters are minimally visible because of the roof overhang.
Main thing i have to work on is getting rid of all the red ,including red stuff up in roof. We are removing the whirlygig and vents right over entry area and patching roof because those things are eye sores right at front of house. We’ll paint all other vents (currently painted red) dark brown. We have to get up on roof and paint the valley stuff to get rid of the red. The only remaining bit of red will be the edges of the concrete tile. The place where its visible is above the front door. I wouldn’t put it past me to make the guys get up there and meticulously stain the edges of the concrete tile!
Im thinking of sagey green for rafters but i can sre a lot of paint samples in my future!
Ill load some photos of all these issues this evening