Just a general rearrangement.

What's to the left shown on your as built plan?

Basement stair?

Thanks for the advice on dims. I'm slowing fixing all that, just need a general idea of layouts. 2 walls for the center hall way are the low bearing walls so not much I can do with those. Wife does not use a walker, but maybe in 15 years yes. Ty for pointing that out. the upstairs has 3 bedrooms, the 4th Br on the 1st floor plan is actually a guest room that we would swap to upstairs.

Consider contacting a local architect that can investigate existing building conditions that may effect the design. Such things as existing plumbing, electrical, room finishes, heating and cooling ducts, and structure can have a substantial impact on the way the spaces are laid out and the cost of the project.

Its on a basement. Shouldn't be a issue. I'll be doing most the the work myself.

Have you thought about installing an elevator? If your stairs are open in the middle, you could stick one right in there.

I did some research on Chair lift and elevator. We have small kids soo probably be broke in a week lol

What type and how much experience do you have in residential construction?

we had a stair chair in my parents house that lasted almost 30 years.

Not a pro, but learned from my father. Have done whole home remodels before. horrible at drywall and mudding but will outsource that. Just looking for advice on weird floor plan. I hate colonials but this is the only house we could afford that needs to be gutted.

Steps are challenging --indoors and out. Any home needs a master bedroom suite on the main floor for when going up and down steps ceases to be practical. Continuing to be able to access every space on the main floor, including the bathroom and kitchen, is important for someone with a disability to being able to continue to live at home.

Step one might be decluttering -- getting rid of furnishings you don't actually use, keeping only the bare minimum.

Once you have decreased the possessions for which you need living room space, you could wall off the back half of the living room behind the chimney for the master bedroom and rebuild a new, handicapped accessible bath/dressing room combination in that middle room in the back (bedroom marked bathroom?). Then remove the fixtures in the current bath -- the one by the stairs with no window -- and use that space as a walk in closet.

The most difficult/expensive/challenging part of remodeling can be changing the kitchen so someone with a disability can still cook. What is now a closet in that back middle room could become a pantry facing the mudroom/pantry so that items now stored in the overhead cabinets in the kitchen could be easier to reach by someone with a disability.

Adding a corner china cabinet in the dining room could make any dishes in the overhead cabinets in the kitchen more accessible.

Why would your elevator be "broke in a week" with kids?

They need to be told the elevator is not a toy and is for your wife's use. Same if installing a stair lift (one thing to be aware of, if there is concern about your wife's ability to do transfers in the future, or to be able to "hold steady" - which is a factor in many progressive disabilities - a stair lift won't be appropriate in long run.)

I looked a lot into elevators when my mother was terminally ill, so she could have access to upper floor of her home. There are elevators out there that are easy to retrofit into structures, like pneumatic vacuum elevators or through floor two-stop systems that don't need hoists/elevator shafts too. Many can be installed within days. Through floor ones don't take up much space as you can "park it" on one floor out of way. It is easy to fit those retrofit style elevators into spaces like yours because of the open staircase.

They cost $15,000-$30,000+ (for a non-hoist/shaft system) depending on size, style, etc but that will be a lot less than what you are planning for a remodel, your plans include moving plumbing, electrical, walls, demos, building a new bathroom, new kitchen. Would be better to move, in that case. Even if you do work yourself, it is going to cost, and it is likely going to take months (optimistic) to years (more realistic) of living in a construction zone for you and your family.

Kinda getting going in wrong direction with post. Just looking for ideas on how to move the master from 2nd floor to main floor. Thr problem is it's a center hall construction so I have to work around the powder room and center stairs. The stairs both go up or down to basement.

Should your wife eventually become wheelchair bound, you'll need 60" of open turning space in the bathroom. You may do all this work and still not accomplish what she needs to be mobile. I agree with the suggestion of a lift elevator. You and your family don't want to live in months of construction trauma (and maybe divorce court) for a non-functional reno.

Elevator is a great idea. I'm looking into it now, she will never be wheelchairs bound. Just major back issues that stops her from climbing stairs very easily.

Sorry...but you're simply banging spaces together and filling them with furniture, fixtures and finishes, without any good sense of space, spatial sequences or function within a space. Your "kitchen" is a good example of something which won't work. Your powder room can't work. And why would anyone place a large square dining table in a small space and limit circulation on three sides?

The best way to "update or modernize our Colonial floor plan"?

1. Stop playing the CAD system since it's dump and won't solve anything for you.

2. With a pencil and paper, make a written list of your highest priority needs, which you and your spouse both completely agree. After that make a separate list of mutually agreeable wants. Needs and wants are not the same thing.

3. Base on your list of needs, use a pencil and paper and make several bubble diagrams of desirable linkages.

4. Take numbers 2 and 3 to an experienced and talented local architect and have a discussion. Also take a dimension existing floor plan and your budget. Buy 1-2 hours of the architect's time to get you started in the right direction.

You'll save time and money with steps 1-4. Believe me.

Good luck on your project.

I live in a late 70 Colonial and also have no main floor bedroom or full bath. Honestly, I don't see the changes you want to make being anything but a loss money wise. Your house will have an excess of bedrooms but be low on living space when it comes time to sell. Our neighborhood has a number of 70's ranches which are much more able to be changed in the way you want without losing money - some already have been. If your neighborhood is similar, consider waiting for a ranch to go on the market where your changes won't devalue the home.

I have 4 bedrooms now, master on 2nd and guest on 1st. Just wanted to swap guest and main.

We have a dinning room that we never use now. I don't mind lossing it.

I see - the square labeled bathroom is actually a bedroom, but it is not big enough so you are trying to make a larger master with a bigger bathroom. It still seems to take away a good portion of living space.

"...I don't mind lossing it..."

Says a lot. Nothing further to contribute to a lost cause.

If you wife has trouble with stairs and the children's rooms are UPSTAIRS, how is this going to work, even if you have a 1st floor bedroom?

Find a good local architect or a good ranch house.

What you need to do Semp, is to get a local imaginative person to come out to your house, and have a three or four hour design session over your dining room table involving yourself and any other decision maker(s).

I do these all the time and call them "charrettes". We first measure up the parts of the house (or maybe the whole thing...LOL!) we need which takes about 30 minutes, creating a template to freehand draw over. Below are photos of a typical template (and it's fun to go around a whole house, taking maybe 60 measurements and for the last measurement that bring us back to the starting point, I say "It should be 28'2"" and upon measuring they say "28'3 1/2""...Close enough!!) and photos of the creative session. We look at many approaches including some where the owner says "We never thought of that!". At the end of these we have a basic concept worked out.

That's what you need to do. Not trying to outsource an expensive endeavor with no "do overs" over the internet to folks of unknown skills (although some lay people here ARE pretty good) with no knowledge of the structure.

We plan on having someone come out. I was just looking for ideas or if it was even possible. I didn't know this site was so critical of everything.

I wasn't being critical, just trying to give you my best FREE advice from someone who has does what I suggested for a living.

No toy gave best advice, meant others. I don't want to invest in a property if I can't move the master to main floor. But.... People get carried away.

Where is the guest bedroom that is already on the first floor?

Center hall in first picture. Near bathroom.

Hey Doug,

South Carolina is lovely this time of year AND we didn't get blasted by the recent snowstorm.... just sayin' :)

I am guessing the room labeled "Bathroom" is the guest bedroom in the first image.

Correct

What you're doing for your wife is beautiful. Your plan is doable with a few tweaks. You don;t need an architect. If you move load bearing walls you will want a structural engineer and a draftsperson. I am sorry about some of the responses you have received. Sadly there are some impolite people of this site. I need to identify the appliances and the purpose for other things drawn in your planned change. I have your bath and closet reconfigured to give you ample passage space. I think you will like it. The ideas I have for the remainder will depend on the appliances and storage you have allowed in the kitchen. I will wait to hear from you, Breathe deeply, this too will pass!

Thanks a lot!

Opps in kitchen was looking to put a island cooktop, wall oven. Normal sink and DW. I'm actually draftsman and do commercial structural stuff. I have all that taken care of :) I can't cut it to hell and illl keep it up lol.

Not a pro, just a lay person with an idea for how I would try to revise if it were my house, without moving much, just a few walls added & re-purposing space. blue - new walls, orange - pocket door, pink - split pocket door, bifold (?) doors on closet-turned-pantry. Leaves the original bath intact with a new walk-in-shower bath, sort of "dual master bathrooms", with original still serving "powder room for guests duty". Nothing is to "scale" or accurate, I just drew in shapes for the idea. I would want the elevator in addition to these changes, for 2nd floor access for your wife. Good luck!

Oh man.

You have some good, sometimes blunt, advice from four architects (PPF, Architectrunnerguy, Mark B, and Virgil), a longtime licensed interior designer (Anglo), and a person who knows her way house plans blindfolded (cpartist), all with strong, longstanding histories in this forum, and yet you're dazzled by the irresponsible but pretty smoke blown in the right direction. It might be helpful to read through several pages of this forum and see who's posted more useful advice. And that sheer volume of advice is part of the reason that sometimes their replies are honest, brusque, and even a bit flippant, especially in a field -- house building -- where mistakes are so expensive and long-lasting.

Sure, your plan as is is "doable", but you'll spend more money for less useful, usable house. If you're remodeling a house with very specific needs and a particular budget, do you really want "doable", or do you want to the best possible house you can achieve for your family that will serve you economically and for the long haul?

And a few suggestion to add to the mix -- when you have a reasonable house plan, take your kitchen layout to the Kitchen forum. You should also start researching universal design, so that you can incorporate certain things like a raised dishwasher cabinet, which eliminates bending for loading and emptying; wider than usual aisles to accommodate a walker; and wider doorways. And if a wheelchair is a possibility in the future, look into raised toekicks and adding at least one lower (30") work station, perhaps as a hidden pull-out counter.

My mother had spinal stenosis and wasn't able to use her beautiful 2nd floor bedroom in her retirement home after the first few years, so I understand what you're dealing with. Please don't grab at shiny half-measures that will have you visiting the remodeling forum in a few years.

There is a difference and in blunt advice, and people just injecting their thoughts. I just want a layout if possible to move master on main. I have the rest handled. I'm just not a very good imagination for floor plans. Hense why I am asking for advice on lay out. Not dimensions, not structural, not electrical, not plumbing. Just a simple layout. I got this.

Hense why I am asking for advice on lay out. Not dimensions, not structural, not electrical, not plumbing. Just a simple layout. I got this.

Well once again you're showing that you don't have an understanding of what it takes to remodel a house or build new. Why do I say that? Because you can't just move rooms willy nilly without having dimensions, without knowing where structural walls are, where plumbing and electrical are currently and whether any of that can be moved for a reasonable price.

Everything you mentioned affects one another. And one of the biggest is room dimensions as I mentioned in my post above. So you drew a closet that was only 4'2" wide and you wanted to put clothing in it. The fact that it's too small affects any rooms near it because it all need to be adjusted.

I'm sorry but no, you don't have it. You need help from an architect or person of design talent but as becky implied, you're grasping at straws hoping someone will come up with something that will work.

Additionally have you already purchased this house?

It was throw together, dimensions can come after you have a layout. A layout gives you the idea and where to tweek. Don't judge on what I know and what I don't.

No I haven't purchased the house. Why I'm doing all this but Gezz this site is not helpful lol.

Richter has the best plan. If you haven’t already purchased this house, don’t. Keep looking. This is not the house for you. Sorry if that’s not what you want to hear.

I had something that I thought was nice until I realized you have the garage? to the left and I can't stand a kitchen without a window, so, maybe this can give you some food for though

If you want a larger master, place wall to the other side of fireplace

Wow that's awesome! Ty great idea. Garage can. Be modified to have laundry there. It's big enough and deep enough.

The idea was to have W/D in the kitchen, there are many ways to acomplish this and not necessarily stocked. You have room there for a laundry closet. Serch houzz: washer in kitchen, lots os ideas.

The 2 small closets for coats and pantry between kitchen and dining can be wider if rotated.

I'm concerned because you say you don't have that much money which is why you supposedly need a fixer upper. Did you know that most times if you're moving walls, etc it costs more to do a fixer upper than to build a new house?

If you have to completely remodel the downstairs, is the price of the house so low that once it's finished it will still appraise within neighborhood standards or will you be pricing the improvements out of the neighborhood?

And if the price of the house is so low, why is that? A bad layout wouldn't make a house priced so low. Sometimes it's because of location, but many times it's because all the systems in the house are falling apart.

I have the resources, the school district is near Atlanta and very very small. There are no new contructions. So it's either buy already remodeled homes that do not fit our needs. Or buy something that needs a lot of work and make it our home. 10 years of research in this area for homes I have done. Not easy to just buy a home.