We have a 1900 sq ft house which was expanded during the 1980s - the first round added or expanded the upstairs (we think it was originally a 1-story house or a small Cape.) Then, two years later after a divorce and remarriage, 20x24 extension was bumped off the back of the house. (Some or all of that extension may have been part of the original house according to contractors - perhaps it was a porch or something.) The previous owners used part of that extension as a master but we use only the 3 upstairs bedrooms.

In any case, we've been here 13 years and really need more space -- with 2 giant boys venturing into the tween years, I desperately want a master suite. Our upstairs bath needs a total gut, and before we do that, it seems like the right time to at least investigate whether we could fold that into a bigger project - popping up the back part of the house so that the upstairs space parallels the downstairs, to enable us to add another bedroom and small master bath. There is an attic over the back extension that we use for storage; it's about 6 or 7 ft at its apex. The plumbing and vents all run adjacent to the attic, and the HVAC runs through the floorboards of the attic.

Any advice as I start calling architects and/or build/design firms? We live in a psychotically expensive part of the country, so I know this wouldn't be cheap. We have a ton of equity, but moving just isn't a serious option - we are wildly conservative about house debt and any significant upgrade in space is going to require a much bigger mortgage.