I need to see the exterior of the house and a floor plan of the lower level and you will for sure need to add bathrooms if adding more bedrooms so that can become a big issue when adding on. To be honest I do not find views from bedrooms very important and especailly kids rooms.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting attached are photos of the front and the photo on the bottom is of the north side where I would be expanding upon.

Also attached are the first floor plans. I don't mind turning the laundry room into a third bathroom, or completely adding an additional bathroom somewhere else. Just not sure where and how to layout second floor with existing bathrooms and placement of stairs.

Just playing around with the second floor floor plan .. am finding it hard to find apace for a fourth bedroom if adding an additional bathroom.

Maybe just three oversized bedrooms makes sense.

Please let me know what everybody thinks. Thank you!

Seems like you definitely have the square footage for it if you can actually expand over all of the "roof below" (not all 1st floors can support a 2nd floor above them without significant reframing if they weren't designed that way). I really think you should just work with an architect. I think it's fine for the 4 kids to share the little bathroom for awhile, you probably bathe the little ones in the master anyway.

The drawing where you erased the existing bedrooms and captured the full area over the main floor is not exactly the realistic available space.

You have an exterior wall, where at minimum the wall of the Master Bedroom window is supporting the roof, so a nice big beam would dictate a space layout. Also, you do not want to move the Master Bedroom away from the ensuite, nor make the room disproportionately large, while still keeping the view as that bedroom is the main benefactor of views.

You also have the front elevation to contend with proportionally, which is set up with 2 windows and dormer of a 4-square style proportion.

So really anything you lay out now is really just time wasted, it would be best to go ahead and hire that architect if you are serious about adding SF.

Especially while the kids are little, you might do better to have them share rooms. Who know what will happen between now and their teenage years? You might move and then you'll have spent a whole lot of cash on something pretty unnecessary.

The water view is actually side where it says roof below …

Issue right now with kids sharing rooms the rooms are TINY, with lots of windows to maximize views. Both kid bedrooms are 9’ 8” x 12’. With large windows. Can’t even put bunk bed. Maybe single with trundles.

I don’t mind two girls taking up the existing master bedroom space with the existing master bath, and building a new master suite for us.

Then taking the existing bedrooms and combining them. Having the boys use the existing “hallway bath” but the stairs.

I do have a steel beam downstairs that crosses by the fireplace, so not too worried about load. Although an architect will tell me if OK.

It’s really more about layout at this point then structural. Trying to figure out if I can make a layout that works and will figure structure next.

I am fully aware of which wall is which. What you may not be aware of is the existing conditions that might restrict your project, rather than just playing around with unrealistic layouts.

First, an evaluation needs to occur on the financials of going through the cost and trouble of an addition making a 3bedroom a new 3bedroom.

With the front elevation, the "4-square" I refer to is the proportion that exists (RED & PINK), and attaching an addition (GREEN) without adhering to the composition of the front elevation. So maybe the addition needs set back as a possible solution.

With the "view" wall, there is the roof of the existing Master which makes an addition a challenging prospect of tying in a new roof (GREEN & ORANGE).

With the plan and structure, your initial sketch does keep the existing BLUE wall intact, which your "erased" drawing didn't. Stepping back the wall above, to retain composition of the front elevation, would require a beam in PURPLE. The plumbing for a Master (in RED) as shown in your initial sketch would need to consider the ceiling below in the Dining Room, as would any structure needed to transfer an unknown roof layout down through the 1st floor.

These are things with a multitude of variables and solutions to those variables, things that it appears you don't know what you don't know. It is not a bad thing, just that it would be prudent to involve an architect instead of doing layouts that will give you unrealistic expectations of what you can do. Good luck in your journey.

YOu honestly will not get really useful help here you need an architect and you also will need to be realistic as to what can be done in your budget .I think little ones can share but older kids not so much and girls and boys shaing one bathroom will be a nightmare down the road . With anew baby renovation is not IMO a good plan unless you have aplace to mov to for probably a year for this type of change . What you want and what you can have are never the same thing .

What a beautiful home and on the Sound too! Am I jealous? Yup. Am I honored to play around with your second level floor plan? Yup.

You have space to enlarge the Primary Suite while keeping the existing plan and bathrooms intact.

Consider relocating the laundry room to eliminate key light and views. Add a skylight in the hall over the laundry. Consider expanding over the front left to create another bedroom and converting the existing laundry room to a small bedroom/sitting room.

Voila! A 6 bedroom home!

Make the existing laundry room an additional bathroom so you will have 3 full bathrooms on the second level.

Also Bedroom 4 can have a direct access to the new bathroom by eliminating the closet in the new bathroom (formally the laundry room).

What is going on in your attic? Could that space be converted into bedrooms/bath? It could be a nice space for your older kiddos and wouldn't be as intrusive during construction.