A few years back, we bought a little bungalow on Long Beach Island. We love it and hope to "bring it back" after having sustained damage during Hurricane Sandy last fall.

Because of the new FEMA regulations, we'll have to lift the house. With two growing kids, we'd like to use this as an opportunity to add more room. However, building horizontally isn't an option, as we live on a narrow lot and are close to the property lines all around.

One option we've considered is to lift the home much higher and add a new 1st-floor level. This would maintain the general existing floor layout, and give us much-needed bedroom space and another bathroom below. However, we're stumped as to how to do this without ending up with a "tall, skinny tower" that's totally lacking in beach charm. Contractors have advised us to "tear it down and start over", but that's not in the budget, and we'd prefer to build upon the area's rich history.

We'd appreciate any ideas from the houzz community.