I'm not sure I have the options correct, but I think it's fine to put a master suite on the ground level off the family room. But, I would not lose the great deck if possible. Allowing windows and natural light in all rooms would be a priority in my decision on where to build. I like the idea of modifying the family home, but maybe you can look into new builds that has the size and single level you want.

I think it's a good idea, but you need to have an architect. Instead of adding to the family room side ( which looks like it would mean changing the sloping roof line of the family room to a gable before coming off its back?) I would look into adding off the back of the dining room. Do you have a full bath on the first floor? If not, that needs to go in as well. Maybe repurpose the dining room for some of this? Just a thought.

well, resale be darned if you are going to stay in the house a long long time. but are you going to decide you dont want all the unused bedrooms upstairs in a couple years?

my advice is always 1. don't break a good house with awkward additions 2. get an estimate from a realtor for how much your house is worth as is. get a good general contractor to give you an estimate of exactly what you want to build. add those 2 numbers together and go to some open houses for homes that have exactly the features you like. remember, you'll be looking at houses a fair amount more than your current one, that addition with bathroom isnt going to be free.

it pays to know the dollars and cents up front.

Sell as is and move unless you want to spend 150K on something that you will only use a few years and then not recoup at all in a few years when you do decide that it's too much house overall for you.

It looks like the side of the garage is best or off of the dining room.

Thank you for all comments. We have looked into new builds but they are more than we want to spend or not in an area we are willing to move to (yes we know we are being stubborn).

The house in now on 1/3 of an acre, the last house on a dead end next to an empty lot that is full of trees and wildlife. We haven't been able to find any fully improved lots so that would add to the cost of a new build (even in new subdivisions). This is a unique block not in the middle of the city but a little west.

We realize we won't get the money back when we sell but with all the money we've put into this house including the yard, we won't get our investment back anyway - we have had a realtor come in to appraise the house.

The deck can be rebuilt around the master bedroom so there would be a walkout from the bedroom. There is also a lower deck that isn't shown on the pictures.

The family room is dark anyway. We were thinking either skylights or on the back wall adding a couple of large windows facing south for more light.

We will be having an architect look at the situation but wanted to get an idea of what others thought of our ideas. This is just the beginning stage and we haven't looked at costs yet. We were figuring between 100 to 150K though.

There is a half bath on the first floor but we would be adding a full bath onto the master. We added a walk in shower on our current master a few years ago and would want that again on the first floor.

This started because we were going to move out of state and while doing research for that we realized with the kids and grandkids here (at least for now) we don't want to be that far away. Don't want to rip up roots and start over. We figured with the cost of selling, buying, moving and probably renovating a new house somewhere else we could probably just redo this house.