You could have the stairs to the basement run straight down what is now the hallway-side wall of bedroom 3. They should go down enough that you can still have the door to bedroom 3 in the same place. You could also start those stairs more where the spiral stair is now, and then turn them to the right along that same wall.
Either way, you can remove the kitchen wall and have a kitchen that is open to the family room at a point that is inside what is the family room now.
Or, you can have the basement stairs going down roughly the way they are now, but have them start back where the spiral stair is and they should get down far enough to turn under the floor for bedroom 3 without encroaching on bedroom 3. Your kitchen would still expand but not quite as much.
Hmmm… one thing that would make this difficult/impossible is that underneath the 3rd br wall where the current stairs are, and going all the way across under the family room wall, is a 10" poured concrete wall which is pretty much holding up the entire house. Turning the stairs to go under the bedroom would require making cuts in this wall, which I don’t think would be feasible.
Also, in the basement underneath the kitchen is the laundry room and a 3rd bathroom, and the basement under the family room is finished. These are along the back wall of the house (the deck side) so turning the stairs away from these would be pretty inconvenient.
On the other hand, if it is possible, I wouldn’t mind moving the laundry room upstairs. It’s the only thing preventing single level living.
I’m not great with architecture but I would blow out the kitchen and run the stairs in the back corner and move laundry room onto that back wall next to the stairs (unless there’s a view there, then ignore all this) move kitchen further out and turn it to enjoy views
I think I see what you mean… interesting idea, but I guess I should have done a floor plan of the lower level. There is an exterior door on the lower level approximately directly under the kitchen door that goes onto the deck on the side of the house. So running the stairs along that wall would mean losing the door.
One other thing I didn’t adequately show on the plan - the closet for the 3rd bedroom extends out over the lower landing of the basement stairs. In order to create headroom the floor of the closet is raised about 2 feet. I would like to keep a closet somewhere in the bedroom.
I would put 2 steps where circular is. Open up kitchen, re-position for views, maybe add an island. Hall Bath: borrow some space from MBR closet and push sink that direction. Make present MBR a laundry room. And then put new MRB bath and big closet in part of Atrium. In the covered walkway from the garage, could some of the atrium be used for the the circular stair? (not sure what it is going to). I’d also try to put a hallway storage closet in the covered walkway. (of course, I have no clue where the load bearing walls are…)
Looking through the rest of the pictures gives a much better feel of how everything is situated. It looks like the balcony is just part of the attic carved out to create some extra sitting area and room for pictures? There are no other rooms up there, correct? If you’re enclosing part of the atrium, you could move the door from the garage further up near the front of the garage. Then wall off the lower left corner of the garage and put the circular stairs there, entering from the end of the downstairs hall. That would have you entering the balcony from the right end instead of the middle. And hopefully leave enough room in the garage for cars to fit. Or one long car and one short car!
Enclose the atrium up to the MBR window, leaving an entry hall along the right side. Put a MBR walk in closet in the top half of the left part of the enclosed space and bump out the MBR bath in the lower half. You could leave a wide enough entry corridor to put some closet space for coats, etc. along the garage side. Then eliminate the current MBR closet and that tiny hall closet to expand the bedroom space, although you might need a diagonal door.
So your front entry would be through a small atrium then an entrance hallway. Not perfect, I know, but there doesn’t seem to be any alternative to a front entry way.
Not sure I’m explaining this clearly - too bad I can’t draw a picture!
Then you could straighten out the basement stairs, take out the kitchen wall, and expand the kitchen up to the next window, incorporating a dining area, and leaving it open to the family room. Maybe put a breakfast counter along the window with storage underneath, and the dining area next to it.
Yes, there is nothing up on balcony. It is only 5’ wide, there are no rooms off of it, just unusable attic space.
I would like to get rid of the spiral staircase altogether, that thing is a hazard. So if we enclose the atrium I’m thinking we build a regular staircase along the garage wall up to the balcony, leave a 4’ wide hallway, and that leaves 4’ to 5’ to expand bathroom space/master bedroom.
You could also lose Bedroom 3. Turn it into a proper staircase that goes both up to the balcony and down to the basement, and put in a full bath accessible from the hallway. That way the Master bath can take over the other bath space and the kitchen can get larger.
I like the lose bedroom #3 idea. If the house is for you to enjoy and you are not expecting a ton of guests, it would be ideal. Or you could carve out a small office space somewhere in the Bedroom #3 changes. For resale, a small office space is a good idea. You can always finish up the basement area in the future for visiting kids or guests.
Yes, that staircase would work along the garage side of the atrium with room for a closet and other storage underneath. I agree spiral staircases are not optimum as the birthdays mount!
I think there might be some structural issues with putting a staircase up to the balcony inside of bedroom 3. The roof structure above the bedroom/bathroom “wing” uses roof trusses on 24" centers. Removing/modifying a truss to accommodate a staircase seems like it would be difficult and therefore expensive.
And the staircase down would put you on the wrong side of a 10" cement wall to get to the finished part of the basement.
I think losing the third bedroom would sacrifice a large amount of value of the property as well, more than gaining dedicated office space (which you could use the 3rd br for if that’s what you needed).
I just realized there might be a big issue with the ‘Bedroom #3’ option. You mentioned that there is a concrete foundation wall underneath bedroom #3. I’m guessing that concrete foundation wall is the side of your basement below. So, cutting stairs in bedroom #3 would compromise the structural concrete wall. Not good and a lot of money!
Take the circular staircase out of the interior of your home. You can install an inexpensive pre-made spiral staircase to the upper balcony in the outside corner of your deck (behind fireplace) where garage meets house (tucked around corner). The balcony is probably only used during good weather so it won’t matter that staircase is outside.
Keep stairs where they are to save money, put in some kind of handrail/short wall to make them safe.
Enclose part of atrium for new entry and remove wall that is currently blocking views as you enter the living room. It’s all about the views, you want to maximize views as you enter the house. Because that wall is the ‘exterior of your house’ it is probably load bearing. You will have to put in a large beam or keep some posts, strategically designed to blend in. Go up into the attic (if you can) and look to see if any roof rafters or tie ins are resting on that wall to help make decisions on how much money you want to spend opening it up.
Remove short wall that is currently behind the spiral staircase. Now the entire area that is currently called ‘covered entryway’ is part of the living area.
Blow out kitchen walls
Move laundry to back of garage by the garage door that enters house (it will be inside the house now). At least it will be up on the same floor. Or, create a laundry with folding doors in the alcove that is currently in the kitchen next to staircase going to basement. Close up the side door out to the side balcony and lay out kitchen to take advantage of the views
The circular stairs go to an interior balcony, I believe, overlooking the living room and most likely with views through the windows to the water. The outside deck is on the main floor.
It’s very easy to set up an extra bedroom as an office with a sofa bed or day bed for guests.
Good idea to fit the laundry into the back of the garage if possible, especially if the current covered walkway becomes inside space.
We can’t go from the garage to the balcony. You can’t really tell from the pictures, but the roof line of the garage and house are not the same. If you cut through from the end of the balcony into the garage, the opening would only be around 4’ tall because of where the roof of the garage is.
Garages in NE are generally not heated, and will get below freezing on a cold day. Especially a garage that shares almost no wall space with the heated part of the house. Putting plumbing in the garage is just asking for trouble.
This. Except that there are no views from the balcony, really all you can see is the deck and part of the back yard. It really is not very usable space. One idea we had was to get a “library ladder” to allow access to the balcony, which would require a pretty small footprint. But that’s a safety issue as well.
A third option is to not provide any access at all. This is not my favorite, as there is space up there to create a reading nook or put a sofa bed (the end near the kitchen is a little bigger, there’s about an 8’ x 8’ space) for overflow sleeping. But I’d hate for someone to have to climb down a ladder in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Or little kids playing on it. Etc.
Sorry, didnt know balcony was interior. The spiral staircase is really in the middle of opening everything up. There has to be a better location. Maybe disconnect them and move into the back corner of kitchen area, where the exterior door is. That door is not really necessary to exit kitchen. The whole back of house opens to deck, or at least it should!
Well, there’s always folding stairs - like the ones we had to get into our attic when I was growing up. That might be feasible if you don’t plan on using the balcony very often because the drop down stairs would undoubtedly block something while in use.
I’d suggest just getting rid of the “balcony” and its spiral staircase and adding clear-story windows along the upper wall to bring in more light to the room. period.
What the point of trying to save a non functional balcony that is virtually inaccessible??
The spiral staircase is in the way of opening up the kitchen to the rest of the house.
Trying to figure out ways to use/ save that useless balcony is getting in the way of improvements that will make the house much more livable.
Opening up the room, reconfiguring atrium and entryway, modernizing kitchen, and maximizing view and natural light will bring the highest value to the house
Can’t really add more windows, unless they are skylights. It’s a sloped cathedral ceiling up to the roof peak, the wall at the back of the balcony mostly accesses attic space. The two spots where there is exterior wall on the balcony already have windows.
The spiral staircase is definitely going, the question is how (or if) to provide access to the balcony. It’s 250 sq ft or so of finished space, I’m reluctant to just write it off and not have any access at all.
Have you seen the Progressive Insurance commercial where two guys are down in the man cave, and everything gradually turns white? By the end of the commercial, even the nacho chips are white.