Current

What does the exterior look like? Need to see the roof line.

We need so much more information and I only am asking to prep you to meet with an architect. Have you had a survey? Do you know what the setbacks are? What is your allowed lot coverage? Are there views you want to capture? And finally- what is your budget?

I don't seem to be able to reply directly to comments. Apologies. We're not encroaching on any setbacks by building behind the house. We haven't had a survey. We're south facing so we'd have some windows to let in the natural light but my view is a typical yard. As for budget, I would love to keep it to under 150K.

But we don’t know what ‘behind’ or ‘south’ means. Also 150k does not buy what you think it buys. Maybe it adds a bedroom. Or it removes a couple walls, builds a new kitchen, and puts new floors throughout the existing space.

Is finishing the basement an option? Because that would be much lower cost than building new square footage.

I too am curious what your home would sell for and if that plus $150k could get you what you want. Is there are reason for staying in this home vs looking for another home that has what you want? You are talking about a whole lot of renovation for $150K because I presume you may want a new kitchen plus a powder room, expanded space, and laundry room. Perhaps it depends on where you live and what the cost of construction is there.

Have you thought about building up? Its less expensive than building a foundation to widen a house plan.

The other issue is opening the kitchen. The wall between your existing kitchen and living room looks like its load bearing as well as being restricted by the stairway on one side and bathroom on the other.

It’s not that these obstacles can’t be overcome. They add costs to the project. It might be more sensible to add that $150k to the sale price of your home and purchase the house of your dreams.

I think you need to first find out what can BE done for 150K. I cannot read the measurements of the spaces but it seems you have a typical small 3 BR home and without seeing the exterior there is no way to tell where an addition could be done. If the basement is unfinished that to me would be a good place to start maybe move the kids down there if egress is possible. You really need to have a good conversation with a good contractor for sure and better an architect.. 150K does not go far and I aslo cannot see how that kitchen can be opened up without a huge chunk of that budget and maybe not at all. You will of course lose sq footage on the main if you go up since stairs take up lots of space .