Opinions on split level and value

Hi,

I’m new to the forum. I am renovating a 2 story house on Sydney northern beaches. The house has great ocean views from the top floor and also a nice back yard with swimming pool I put in last year.

Currently the kitchen and living room are up stairs along with 3 bedrooms and bath room. Downstairs is a smaller living room one bedroom and laundry/bathroom.

The layout of the house doesn’t work as it’s too cramped upstairs and we pretty much just live upstairs the whole time. Ideally the house would work best with all bedrooms upstairs and kitchen living downstairs opening out onto the back lawn and pool.

Would the view be wasted to put all the living areas downstairs and just bedrooms upstairs and would this impact the value?

Without the view it would be a no brainer to have all the kitchen and living downstairs but the view changes everything.

Cheers

 

I think you need living upstairs given the views

 

The view is what will sell it when you leave. Can you build a big deck off it to overlook the backyard and give aces from the deck?

 

I’d keep the living room, dining and kitchen upstairs. Maybe reconfigure and move one or two bedrooms downstairs.

An ocean view is worth maximising. To only see it from bedrooms would be a waste.
Marg

 

There Is currently a new balcony on the top level that I built 2 years ago (3m wide running the length of the house). It is 4m above the ground so stairs down to the back yard won’t work well.

I was also thinking maybe having living downstairs and a second smaller living room / sitting room upstairs that accesses the balcony. Then putting a small outdoor bar with sink and fridge on the deck so it still functions for entertaining without going up and down stairs all the time.

 

Another newbie here

If you could post a rough floor plan with room dimensions, I/others could probably be in a better position to offer you some ideas.

 

These are some crude drawings. Things shown as proposed are now built. Hopefully the upload works.

 

I should also say none of the downstairs walls are structural as it was originally open underneath and filled in around mid 80s. Also its also a truss roof so internal walls upstairs can all be moved provided there is enough bracing for external walls.

 

Do you need 4 bedrooms or would you be okay with 3? If so, you could combine the 2 upstairs bedrooms to make it the lounge. The present lounge in front of the kitchen could be used as the family room?

 

I’m thinking three full rooms and a study with pull out sofa bed. The 2 small rooms I have been thinking about combining to make a master bedroom as that’s the ocean side and you can actually hear the waves from those rooms at night. Those rooms are tiny and currently kids rooms whilst our main bedroom is road side. I think it was a project home as I can’t see why master boodroom wouldn’t have been put there.

I think maybe master bed and bathroom upstairs with kitchen dining and living, then 2.5 rooms downstairs with bathroom/laundry. I can cut some room out of the garage and also thinking about maybe extended out the back downstairs.

 

Move one bedroom downstairs as follows:

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Sorry, this is just a crude cut paste job.

 

Good idea about a large ocean facing master bedroom, WOW! I thought you wanted separate formal and family rooms

 

I don’t really want to change the footprint but it seems each level is just not quite big enough.

I was planning to make up my mind which level has the living areas and then get an architect to do the rest. The answers so far seem to prove living upstairs for the view is the go. I have an idea in my head, but I just want a complete fresh pair of eyes and who knows what they are doing.

 

I want it all open plan, but we are just all on top of each other living in a 3 bedroom unit upstairs and down stairs is wasted. We have 2 young kids and it’s going to get more and more cramped as they grow.

If we have living areas upstairs and sleeping downstairs for the kids I need to figure out how to make upstairs flow down to the back lawn and pool.

 

I love the idea of upstairs living, downstairs sleeping.

Here's a pretty simplistic idea of what I thought fit your criteria, though there are some pretty heavy drawbacks.

Advantages;
- Huge Master Bedroom in the ideal location.
- Much more space upstairs in open plan.
- Upstairs flows down to back lawn and pool via stairs.

Disadvantages;
- You've lost a bedroom (and more than likely, some capital value with it).
- No living area downstairs (kids wanting their own living area/gaming room as they get older?)
- Bed 2 and 3 are not ideal dimensions.
- Wasted space by downstairs staircase.
- You're going to have to pay for a brand new kitchen.

 

Do you need to retain the garage? Is the front yard big enough and suitable for a carport? Or adequate off street parking?

If you can use the garage area you will have more options to maximise living space.
Marg

 

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

After spending a lot of time on it over the weekend i have come up with this. I think i have nailed it. 4 decent bedrooms, large open plan kitchen/dining/lounge, 2 bathrooms, 1 laundry/bathroom. I have also added a second large lounge room opening on to a big deck downstairs.

Opinions on the attached welcome.

 

That's a pretty extreme reconfiguration and extension, though I do love the plan. It's going to be an ENORMOUSLY expensive endeavor- you haven't kept a single wall from the original plan.

 

Yeah there’s some work in it but i do it all myself so only trades I use are plumber and sparky. Walls are cheap when you just pay for materials.