I went for a smaller renovation myself. I didn’t feel that the floor plan was all that bad, and I really feel the open staircase can be a bonus feature.

I tweaked the walls in and around the south bedrooms to allow for greater storage for each space, particularly the smaller of the bedrooms. I also modified the second bath, but I’m thinking a shower instead of a tub could open it up a bit more.

In the master bedroom I left the bath alone, but added a small window on the east side for morning light and ventilation and modified the terrace access.

In the hall I added storage to the open study area. Since they are such a kitchen table kind of family I felt that space could be better utilized.

A while back in one of the popular building magazines they showcased a home with a skylight over the stairwell that drove the light right down to the main floor. Rooms on the upper floor also used internal glazing to access the light as well. I’ll see if I can find an image.

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Moved master to the back of the house. Located new family bath and master closet in narrow space adjacent to the stairs. Two new bedrooms added at the front. The first bedroom has a square bump out added to create space for a chair and add light to this interior space. The second bedroom is created using space from the old front deck. I have shown angled walls to match the first storey walls but better might be to square this off. In either case the front facade of the house will change.

The key to this design was is the thought that the space adjacent to the stairs is too narrow to accommodate a bedroom as shown in the existing plan.

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The ideas and creativity that can be applied to these homes is amazing. Some may laugh but I’d kill to have one of those indoor slides to the main floor.

Hey Brad, could you imagine a slide from the third floor, “Cheaper than than Canada’s Wonderland, and no line-ups!). Whooo, hooo!

Speaking as one of those boomers, yes, the knees aren’t so limber for stairs. I’m wondering if security issues are more common to city dwellers. Without an alarm system, perhaps they’d like to be able to hear what’s happening a little better?

I’ll be getting to my plan a little later…

My initial plan required changing the front facade of the house which, on second thought, has alot of character. So here is a plan which adds a third floor. Minimal changes are done on the second floor – the bathrooms are unchanged – only some walls in the back bedroom are moved and the stair to the third floor uses the empty study space. Food for thought…

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James – I looked at that and agree it is better. I was concerned the stairs would be interfere with the door to the front bedroom. I did not want to modify much of the second floor to retain enough budget for the third floor. I’ll post an update later.

To Terri and Doug’s point about older boomers not being able to cope with all the stairs, how about we install a residential elevator. These are becoming more popular and are not as cost prohibitive as you might think. One problem is I believe stairs are still required…you know in case of power failure, fire, etc.

I decided to put a laundry on the upper floor, because that’s what I’d like. It’s a stacking unit with a solartube for lighting during day.

The master bathroom is above our renovated kitchen (last week’s final plan), with matching corner windows above the kitchen’s. This allowed the dressing room to have a window.

Both kid’s bedrooms show large closets. Depending on whether or not they would prefer space for a desk, these could be smaller. Shelves would need to be incorporated into these closets in either case.

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CL — We had our Solatube installed by a professional installer referred to us by the dealer that we bought it from. I think the installer charged us around $200 and it did not take him very long. We never had any leak or condensation problems and the house was in Oakville, Ontario, so we had our share of winter weather. In our case the Solatube brought light all the way down to the basement because it was mounted in the upstairs (second floor) ceiling above a staircase that curved around an eye-shaped opening that ran from the basement to the second floor (if we needed to talk to someone who was on another floor and were too lazy to take the stairs we would call up or down and ask them to “come to the eye” so that we could talk to them). If you don’t have an open staircase, or some sort of chase or flue that could accommodate the tube, then I suspect that it would be very difficult to use a Solatube to get natural light to the basement.

As long as your walk-in closet has nothing but attic above it, then a Solatube would be a great way to light it up during the day (or even on a moonlit night, as James pointed out above).

PS: We went with a Solatube brand, which used a rigid tube constructed of aircraft aluminum. There were some cheaper brands that used flexible foil tubes (similar to a dryer vent), but our understanding was that they would not have been as effective at directing light down to the diffusing lens mounted in the ceiling.

Terri,
I like your plan. The idea of straightening out the hallway circulation by switching the bathroom to the other side of the plan is quite nice and it leaves the open space around the stair. I am not sure about the second bathroom sink in the master. I think it is a bit too close to the toilet. I would suggest one sink and lots of counter space and cupboard storage.

Brad,
I really appreciate all of the different schemes you have developed for this project. It is important to explore all of the possibilities. It has also been very informative for everyone to watch your work evolve through the day’s discussion with James. It reinforces the idea that design can be a collaborative conversation.

Brad,
Yes, the second and third bedrooms follow a definite “pecking order,” in that whoever gets the bigger second bedroom is obviously getting the better deal. I thought of dividing this room in half and incorporating bedroom 3 into the overall space (before division), but that bathroom was kind of in the way, and since I’d already moved the master bath, I kind of thought I shouldn’t touch the main bath. And you’re absolutely right, I’m guessing the change to that main bath would be a no-go, as the cost to change the sink and toilet around probably isn’t worth it.

These discussions are much like client discussions in that we have to find ways to prioritize the changes and then go back to the drawing table (or computer).

You’ve come up with some very bold changes, and the Biloski’s could possibly decide to stay more than the three years they currently envision if they could also envision such a grand design as yours being a reality.

(BTW, how do you turn out your plans so quickly? Have you created some kind of macro? I’m impressed with your speed, while I’m still struggling with Paint–quite obvious from my plans!–but I’d like to be able to do more options, as you usually do.)

Terri,

It takes me approx. 10-15 minutes to draw each plan using Paint. I don’t try for perfection – I just try to illustrate a concept or direction.

This is as far as I got on my design, but I thought I’d toss it up for comments anyway.

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Jim,
The main drawback to your plan’s hall is the way it emerges where you need space for your bathroom. There is a jog happening to get to that hall, which uses even more space.
Perhaps if you made the stairwell less open or maybe moved that bedroom doorway next to the well back so that the hallway wall doesn’t protrude into the space…

Brad,
A thought just occurred to me regarding your third floor addition. It seems that the flue goes through the main space of the master bedroom.

loving the collaboration. someday i may try paintbrush again and move my revisions outside of my head!

Terri, most flues or heating ducts can be relocated. Many new HVAC systems direct vent. The only thing that is difficult to deal with is a masonry chimney. Heating for the third floor could be a totally different system like a split system heat pump and electric radiant floor heat in the bathroom. In a perfect world, I would install solar panels on the flat third floor roof and try to engineer the hot water and heating cost towards zero.

And Terri, remember, I am not trying to get all the details right.

Plants are established and mature in the module prior to placement on the roof. ,