What's off to the right on the first floor? Add an image showing that for the best suggestions.

It is a 40 year old addition to the original house which is about 70 year old. We intend to use it as living and family room once we get to the open concept. We are using the current living room as home office for two.

I would prefer leaving the living room where it is and use it for that, and put your offices tucked into part of the family room.

That wall will need steel, plus to tie into the cross beams, new foundation piers, etc. So add about 30-40K for the engineering and building “open concept”. Plus all new floors, the electrical plumbing, etc.

You should have bought an 00’s McMansion if you wanted an 00’s McMansion.

You will have to move the door to the laundry/half bathroom. Which of course, entails reconfiguring the entire space.

@Mxk3 Z5b_MI: Yes, that was my very first thought too! But it was quickly shot down because the family room is an extension to the original house and the foundation is about 7 inches lower the original one which what gives us that big step to climb from family to dining/kitchen. I’ll have to revisit that with another architect. Thanks!

@zumi Wouldn’t that be awesome if all of us could buy a house we all wanted, ESPECIALLY in this market where you have to shell out $200-300k above asking price, waive inspection, waive finance contingency and yet get outbid by a mile? Not all of us also live in areas with a ton of new housing stock.
Back to discussing the question I asked aka how to MAKE this house the way I like.

"Back to discussing the question I asked aka how to MAKE this house the way I like."

But what is extremely important to keep in mind is that you may end up sinking so much money into a remodel that it just doesn't make financial sense. If it costs you $200-300K (or more) to get it where you want it, it might be better to just find something else that meets your wants/need right out of the gate -- the end result may be the same or lesser hit on your wallet. You also have to keep in mind that you're not going to recoup the remodeling costs. Sometimes it really is better to move on and out.

Back to the original question: Why would the step if you switch the two rooms - you'd have to step up/down regardless of what's where.

That is a large family room with a fireplace that needs placement attention.

Consider leveling the room and getting rid of this second fireplace. This will give better options for your kitchen and powder room. Maybe the powder room can then be moved closer to the mudroom and the kitchen can extend into the powder room space.

Have you considered something like this? I can see problems with these changes so they are mostly to show ideas and not what might really work.

@PPF Thank you. Yes, kitchen in the front isn’t my favorite option. Trying to mitigate the bathroom and the master above main door. Adding the kitchen in the mix will only make the flow that much worse for my liking.

You will spend more to try to MAKE that house be a fraction of what you want than to just buy the 300K more house to begin with. Plus you will not have the miserable stress of living through 9-12 months of construction. Or, need to move out into a rental for a year.