We've owned our 1931 Tudor for just under 8 years now. It's about 975sf on the main floor, with 2br/1ba, living, dining, and small L-shaped kitchen. The basement is mostly unfinished, with the exception of one cool bedroom built in the ~1940's. It also contains a 10x16' garage in one corner (complete with original coal chute and door).
The home has some really nice original details (leaded glass windows with stained glass inserts; mahogany trim; top-nailed oak floors; rough coat plaster; original handmade tiles in the bathroom; cove ceilings) that haven't been destroyed through 80+ years of 'updates'.
Front of house...just because
While the house is mostly okay for two humans, it presents a number of limitations:
-No outdoor living space (patio or deck). This stinks given our beautiful summers.
-No main floor guest bedroom. This is becoming a bigger issue with aging parents/relatives who cannot negotiate our terrible staircase. Plus, our one guest bedroom only has a single bed (by design).
-Only a single bathroom. Fine for two people that don't get up at the same time; terrible if you ever have a guest.
-No home office: My spouse works from home quite a bit, and the dining room table just isn't awesome for that.
-Limited storage space in the kitchen: It was partially redesigned by the prior owner who clearly biased form over function.
Initially, we looked at selling and moving--but quickly realized how financially challenging that would be. So, with the help of a good friend and extremely talented architect, we are doing the following:
-Finishing out the basement into a master bedroom, 2nd bathroom, walk-in closet, laundry room, and repurposing the existing garage into a media room
-Building a new garage onto the rear of the home, with a deck on top
-Redesigning the existing staircase, flipping its orientation (stealing the closet of the 2nd bedroom, which is built over the lowest point of the existing stairwell) and giving us a much better, safer set of stairs
-Closing off the existing stairwell door in the kitchen, allowing us to build a new set of floor to ceiling cabinets that also relocate the fridge and oven, making the kitchen work better
-Breaking out and replacing the basement slab, giving us a bit more ceiling height + a true thermal break
-New HVAC, electrical, plumbing, reline the sewer, new insulation in the attic...I know I'm forgetting stuff.
Project kicks off 4/2. I'll update when I can if people are interested. There will be a lot of interesting challenges--one of them being our home is only set back 6' from each of our neighbors' homes, making certain tasks challenging.
The home has some really nice original details (leaded glass windows with stained glass inserts; mahogany trim; top-nailed oak floors; rough coat plaster; original handmade tiles in the bathroom; cove ceilings) that haven't been destroyed through 80+ years of 'updates'.
Front of house...just because

While the house is mostly okay for two humans, it presents a number of limitations:
-No outdoor living space (patio or deck). This stinks given our beautiful summers.
-No main floor guest bedroom. This is becoming a bigger issue with aging parents/relatives who cannot negotiate our terrible staircase. Plus, our one guest bedroom only has a single bed (by design).
-Only a single bathroom. Fine for two people that don't get up at the same time; terrible if you ever have a guest.
-No home office: My spouse works from home quite a bit, and the dining room table just isn't awesome for that.
-Limited storage space in the kitchen: It was partially redesigned by the prior owner who clearly biased form over function.
Initially, we looked at selling and moving--but quickly realized how financially challenging that would be. So, with the help of a good friend and extremely talented architect, we are doing the following:
-Finishing out the basement into a master bedroom, 2nd bathroom, walk-in closet, laundry room, and repurposing the existing garage into a media room
-Building a new garage onto the rear of the home, with a deck on top
-Redesigning the existing staircase, flipping its orientation (stealing the closet of the 2nd bedroom, which is built over the lowest point of the existing stairwell) and giving us a much better, safer set of stairs
-Closing off the existing stairwell door in the kitchen, allowing us to build a new set of floor to ceiling cabinets that also relocate the fridge and oven, making the kitchen work better
-Breaking out and replacing the basement slab, giving us a bit more ceiling height + a true thermal break
-New HVAC, electrical, plumbing, reline the sewer, new insulation in the attic...I know I'm forgetting stuff.
Project kicks off 4/2. I'll update when I can if people are interested. There will be a lot of interesting challenges--one of them being our home is only set back 6' from each of our neighbors' homes, making certain tasks challenging.