for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

Do you or will you "customize" your house to your CF life? I have these visions of what I could do with space in my house but it wouldn't work as well for a family with more then 1 kid. So I think about resale value, of course, and wonder how much "customizing" we should consider or if we could convince ppl when we do decide to sell that it could easily be restored for a larger family.

To give you an example: we have a 4 bedrrom cape. I have no dining room, just an EIK but we use a "bedroom" on the first floor as a den and the living room as the living room. Currently to get to the den, you have to go through the LR, into the kitch then down the hall. I would like to open up the wall from where you come in the front door to go right into the den (to be used as the LR) and convert the current LR into a dining room.

I have a whole other plan for upstaris, LOL.

Pls share your thoughts!

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

Message edited 9/17/2011 2:09:52 AM.

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

Do you have 3 bedroms upstairs & 1 down? I would change the downstairs one then, unless you are selling soon. It may not seem liek it, but walls can be put back.

Even people with kids could use that layout, and would probably only use the upstairs bedrooms as bedrooms, unless they had a lot of kids.

My parents have 4 upstiars & what was orignally 2 down, mad eoen a DR & oena den and that was when the 2 kids still lived there.

Sometimes I think of taking down a wall in my kitchen, to make my 2nd bedroom a EIK, but as it is we will have trouble selling, so I don't want to risk it. Also, I have a lot of crap in there, now.

But going from a 2 bedroom to a 1 is different than a 4 to a 3.

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

That's exactly it, I'm afraid of the re-sale value. I mean I'm not looking to move in the near future but still, even if it's 10 years I don't want to be penalized for modifications. As for the layout, technically there are 2 bedrooms downstairs but I always thought the one was way too small to a BR. It is our office/laundry room. The "den" and BR's upstairs are very generous in size.

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

We're thinking the same way. We plan on trading up to a bigger & better house and know that a 2 bedroom 2 bath is not going to appeal to many people. Probably newly married couples or retirees who are downsizing.

So we're talking about adding another bedroom, either out the front or as a 2nd story. That all depends on cost and if it's feasible to make that money back on a resale. I know kitchens and bathrooms are the way to go, but I think the biggest thing hurting this house is the lack of a 3rd good sized bedroom.

Anyway, I know just what you mean, and it's a smart thing to think about now.

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

Well I am in a 2bdrm coop so we don't have this option but I have looked at houses where they made 3 bdrms to 2 and they always seem less desirable to me...but if you plan on staying somewhere for years, it may be worth it..If you think you will move in a cple yrs maybe not...

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

we are doing exactly what you want to do. we have a '4' bedroom cape with no formal dinning room. we are changing the living room to a formal dinning room and opening the wall when you walk in to the right...this way you can go directly into the living room. i can only think about my life now. we will hopefully start with one child and take it from there. things can always be converted back.

you need to do what's best for you!!

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

We have a 4d bed house. When we first moved in, DH and his monstrous TV (it was an old widescreen but a projection) it didn't fit in our living room, but the 4th bedroom was behind our lr, so we knocked down the wall - its not expensive to have it put back up if you need to sell so I say do it if you aren't selling in the near future.

We actually (3 years later) got a new tv and put the wall back up so we could have the 4th br an office - all the other bedrooms are upstairs and I dont plan on having more than 2 kids so we are ok!

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

We have a 4BR expanded cape, 2 BR up, 2 down. DH has talked about knocking down one wall to make the smallest bedroom into a DR, but I don't think we should do it for just the reason you stated. This is not our forever home so we won't do it...if you plan to stay longer and would still have 3 BR, you'll probably be ok as larger families likely wouldn't want most capes anyway since there isn't as much living sapce. The family that lived here before us had 2 kids and used the 4th BR as a playroom. We did put a TV in that room and it's an office/den. The smallest BR (was their baby's room) is tiny and just has our foosball table in it at the moment!

Re: for the CF homeowners--pls don't move to the Home board!!

We have a ranch w/the master bedroom on 1 side and 2 bedrooms way on the other. MIL said if we had a child we wouldn't want him/her on the other side of the house. Oh well . I can see how that might turn off some families w/smaller kids. This isn't our forever home but if we have kids then that is the way it will be!