Hi,

My husband and I have a small, 2 bdrm/1 bath, 1958 ranch house. I like the house a lot, but the layout is a little strange. Essentially, it's a square: a 9-square grid, with the dining room originally in the center square, which made it a pretty dark, unused space. The living room and "sunroom" are both sunken (i.e., about 5" lower than the rest of the rooms. (sorry about the crappy drawings!)

This is the house plan now. The "sunroom" (which isn't very sunny) is about 7'x13', and the central dining space is about 9' x 10':

The kitchen is all original, and small. Very small. The little "U" is less than 3' wide, and the counters are only 22" deep. My husband and I really struggle to use the space at the same time. The first thing we did when we moved in last November was to move the china cabinet and fridge, which were between the kitchen and dining room (making two small spaces seem even smaller). No, that door into the kitchen did NOT open any more than it is in the picture.:

Here's a picture of the dining room (from the sunken living room), before we moved the china cabinet (and before we moved in - that is not our chair!). The level change adds a level of complication. :

So, the first floor plan that I posted shows the current location of the fridge - and a plywood bar that we built. I had thought that we'd sit at that bar, but we don't. The "dining area" at the center of the house is dark. We tend to sit at the kitchen table, by the window. I like that the space has been opened up - it all seems much bigger. But we only use the counter top next to the fridge when we are using the fridge. The rest of the time, we are crammed into the tiny space over by the sink and stove.

We have one very serious constraint: budget. I actually want to try and re-use the cabinets we have now. I don't dislike them, and they are in good condition. Because of the budget, I also don't want to do a lot of movement with the plumbing, or moving walls. But we DO want to add a door out back to a deck (that we will build some day). We have a great yard - (a third of an acre) that we want to enjoy. We'll also get new counter tops, and new flooring.

Here is my best shot (so far) at a new layout. I've borrowed some of that central space for the kitchen and pushed the fridge back into a storage unit in the next room. But it's not right yet:

yes, I know it has problems. The oven/stove placement is problematic. We DO use all the doorways to pass through the space, all the time. But we don't cook much. And I do want the new back door to be where it is in the new layout - I like that the front door and the new back door are roughly in line with eachother, so you can see straight through the house. The distance between those two doors will only be about 30'.

What do you think? I know this drawing is rough. We want to get the back door in soon, so we need to finalize the kitchen plans, even if we don't complete all the renovations at this time.

thanks in advance - you guys are awesome!