I did know that a whole home reno was going to be a big mess, take lots of time and lots of money - and I also knew we'd be in for some surprises along the way.
I just wasn't expecting "along the way" to be Day 1 :)
There are 3 bedrooms upstairs - the "Office" (smallest room with no closet), the "Spare Room" (2nd smallest, with closet), and my bedroom (the largest room that stretches almost the entire width of the house, and has one closet). Note that the closets are very small, as they are tucked in under the sloped part of the roof. There is also a closet off the hallway, at the end on my bedroom.
The plan was to simply (hahahahhaha, "simply", ahahahhaha... anyhow...) tear down the walls and ceiling of the 2 smallest rooms, insulate, put up vapour barrier and drywall, keeping the footprint the same. For the large bedroom though, we were going to steal a few feet off the end, add that to the hallway closet, and put in a 2 piece bathroom (since there is only one bathroom in the house).
Good plan, right?
Until we saw this:
That would be the ceiling of the spare room, going right on through to the office.
Unsurprisingly, the floor does the exact same thing:
So, the wall between the two rooms was put in after the floor and ceiling were put in.
Le sigh.
So that wall has to come down. So we can get the ceiling and floor out. So we can put the wall back. Which won't be the correct height anymore.
But if we are taking that wall out...
Since we were going to tuck the second bathroom into an incredibly small space with a sloped ceiling, there would be no room for a shower (well, no room for a shower for anyone over 5' in height). But now, we have the option of making it a two bedroom house, by combining the spare room and office into one large room, and taking a corner of that (with the side window) and making that the bathroom, with room for a shower.
Potential new bathroom space
Pros: Larger, 3 piece bathroom with a window!
Cons: Making a three-bedroom house into a two-bedroom house.
Now, I cannot predict the future. I bought this house with the plan to renovate it, and maybe, 5-10 years down the road, sell it and get another house. But I really do like it here. I like the property, I like the neighbours and the community. And I didn't get this house just to flip it - I bought it to LIVE here. I know that a three-bedroom house has a greater "selling potential" than a two-bedroom one; but a large, more functional bathroom is also a good selling point. And while I do keep the housing market in mind while planning these renos, when it comes down to it, I need a house that fits ME.
So yeah, it looks like plans have changed... maybe...
Original layout (click to embiggen, all measurements are approximate!):
Original plans:
New plans:
I personally like the idea of a 2 bedroom, 1 bath. And, as far as "resale" value goes? 3 bedrooms with 1 bathroom is, I think, less likely to sell than a 2 bedroom 2 bath. But, that's just me. ;)
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