RenovationsThe Buffalo Bungalow Before April 17, 2015Thanks so much for all of your encouragement about our new house! We are so excited about The Buffalo Bungalow! And I am so excited to share the before’s with you today! We have BIG, BIG plans for our little bungalow, but before any of that will make sense, you’ve got to see where we’re starting. First of all, here are the bungalow’s specs: 2 bed 1 bath 740 square feet .28 acres Yes, you read that correctly. The bungalow is currently 740 square feet! That is half the size of our current house. But, the lot is bigger than our current lot, allowing plenty of room for an addition. The lot is super deep and is surrounded by trees. Here are some more exterior before photos. Even though we’ll have to add on, we love the charm and character of what’s here. I’ve always wanted a front porch and it’s so nice that this structure is here. The back of the house isn’t quite as lovely as the front. Our street is a slight hill sloping down towards the park, so you can see that here in the back. Before we get to the inside before photos, here is the current floor plan for reference. Let’s jump right in. You come into the current living room from the front door and porch and this is your view. I love that there is a fireplace, but I hate it’s bricked up. Lots of lovely natural light in here, though. There’s a cased opening to the right inside the front door that leads into the dining and kitchen room (all-in-one). These two “rooms” are tiny, tiny. It is 740 square feet, after all. That door to the left leads to a tiny mudroom and side exterior door. If you go back into the living room, you’ll notice an opening to the right of the fireplace. As you can see from the floor plan, that leads to a little hall that connects the two beds and bath. Bedroom 1 is immediately on your left when you go through this opening. It has another fireplace that’s directly behind the one in the current living room. And two nice big windows. Back in the hallway, you first come to the bath on your left. It’s a decent size bath currently. It has a decent white shower insert and tub. The last room on the tour is Bedroom 2. It’s been so much fun, but a little difficult figuring out the new layout. I would love your suggestions as we’re firming up our plans. You guys may think of amazing ideas we haven’t! How would you add on and layout the current space? Here’s the current floor plan once more for reference. Send your suggestions my way, y’all! FYI, there’s room on both sides and the back for adding on. I’ll be sharing our plans on Monday! Ofcourse I’ll share each step here, but you can also follow our journey on Instagram here: *** And today is the last day of BSHT!! Make sure you check out all of this week’s tours! They’re amazing! You can start the tour here and see a complete list of participants!
Haley says April 17, 2015 at 12:04 pm So much great potential! I can’t wait to see what you do with it. Can you do an addition on the hill side and make it two stories? I’m thinking a master or something the same level and then a walk-in basement. Reply
Kristina says April 17, 2015 at 12:23 pm It’s so cute and has so much potential! Seems like adding on through the mudroom area could be nice, so it could have a bit of privacy. But I love Haley’s idea too. Reply
Brittany says April 17, 2015 at 2:03 pm It seems like it would make sense to eliminate the mudroom and patch the door so that you could put more cabinetry against that wall. That would also let you absorb the mudroom space into bedroom 2 and possibly gain another window (or, if it made sense, a small patio off the master?) It might also be neat to combine the living room and bedroom 1 and have a kind of great room? There seem to be a lot of possibilities! I’m clueless about the addition, though–my mind balks at abstract geometry. 🙂 Love the charming floors, trim, fireplaceSSS!! It’s a lovely house already; I’m sure with your work it will be amazing! Reply
Lindsey says April 17, 2015 at 2:04 pm So cute and I can’t wait to see how you transform it! When I saw the exterior I immediately thought of extending the right side (street view) to create a larger kitchen/eating area. Also I would move the front entrance door out of the living room and enter through the kitchen/dining instead. I would create a longer porch all the way across the front and make the existing porch part of the living room. I found this architectural rending that sort of shows what I mean (link below). I think extending the kitchen side out even more than the rendering would be nice if you have room. The rending shows two front facing windows within the porch area and I would do at least four. LOTS of natural light! Love the side entrance in the rendering too. Maybe that would walk into a small mudroom. I would paint the brick foundation a light color and do a warm, but light grey/yellow siding with a contrasting dark shutter. Hope this gives you some new ideas. http://www.familyhomeplans.com/plan_details.cfm?PlanNumber=30502&src=search Reply
Lisa says April 17, 2015 at 2:55 pm I would add on to the left side of the house (on the hill) as you are facing it. Make the existing Living Room the new Dining Room (fun to have a fireplace in the dining room). The existing kitchen/dining room can become one large kitchen with a BIG island complete with seating. The addition on the left (which you could make 17′ long to center the porch if there is room) would be the new Living Room. Behind the living room could be a new Master complete with its own bathroom. And since you would be adding on the hill side you might be able to have a “basement” gameroom/man cave, etc! Reply
Courtney Madden says April 17, 2015 at 5:49 pm I’m so excited to see what you do with this tiny home! We’re considering something similar right now – a tiny 750 sq foot house with a huge lot in our dream neighborhood. My hubby doesn’t think we can do it (we currently have a 2,350 sq ft house!) but I think we could definitely afford to downsize and we could add on since the yard in huge and flat. Looking forward to your inspiration! p.s. I would add a master bath + laundry room behind the bedroom with the fireplace, then consider a second story later on! Reply
Kim says April 17, 2015 at 5:51 pm As I love following your blog, what’s even crazier is we are practically neighbors (I live in downtown G’ville)! Congrats on your new home and I look forward to watching your creativity flow with your vision. Reply
Sharon says April 17, 2015 at 6:15 pm I love your new house and I look forward to seeing how you transform it to fit your needs. I love your blog and follow it just to get ideas for my own home. Good Luck to you guys! Sharon Wetherington Reply
The Vintique Object says April 17, 2015 at 8:30 pm So exciting, this new adventure. I’m thinking on ideas, but wanted to say that there is something so lovely and cozy about living in a small house. I see the need to increase square footage, but also love the idea of keeping the footprint on the small side. Sinking money into functional built-ins and smart storage rather than adding a ton of square feet is how we plan to make our 1000 sq. ft. House grow with us as our children grow too. 🙂 Reply
Colleen says April 17, 2015 at 9:31 pm Cute project , what are your goals? A master suite? Which would mean to add another bathroom, where is the laundry room? Are you planning on adding another bedroom? The closets seem small to me and I would also add a pantry ? Maybe in the current mud room . I would add French doors somewhere .I like the idea of a porch across the front but that is where the only kitchen window could make it pretty dark. Cannt wait to see your plan Reply
Brenda says April 17, 2015 at 10:08 pm Don’t know if any of my musings would be super expensive (ie:load bearing walls, etc), but here are some thoughts. (1) I’d be tempted to move the front door to the existing dining room windows, putting it in the center of that front space and extending the roof-line that goes over the existing porch. This also gives you more usable front porch, not broken up by traffic pattern to front door and better furniture placement options in the living room. (2) I’d close up the door to the hall that’s in the existing living room and put one opposite the new front door. Adding built-ins on both sides of the fireplace would be doable with that door moved. (3) Remove cased opening to existing dining/kitchen area and walls between those rooms and bedroom #2/mudroom/closet, using the whole front of the house for the living/dining area and moving the kitchen into the bedroom/mudroom space. I’d also eliminate the door from existing kitchen to hall. (5) Use existing side entrance as doorway to an addition on that side of the house for more bedrooms/baths (6) Expand bedroom #1 to both the left and the rear of the house, including better storage and a bath, to create a master suite. (7) I might steal that room’s existing closet and the tub nook from the bath, turning that space into a powder room. (8) Add a great deck on the back with access from the master suite and the kitchen. Wow…that’s probably way more ‘suggestions’ than you had in mind, but I just couldn’t stop! I’m certain it’ll be fabulous, no matter what you decide to do. Reply
Charlotte @ ciburbanity says April 18, 2015 at 7:40 am Congrats!!! Yay for new projects!! We’re moving into a fixer upper next week and I’m excited for the finished results but, man…. Back to the starting block too! Exhausting. ???? Reply
Meghan says April 18, 2015 at 8:28 am Maybe bump out the kitchen/mudroom to the driveway and include a master bath. I would also demo the bath and hall, make bedroom 1’s closet bigger (longer) and open a wider hall (BUILT INS!) to include a shared hall bath and 3rd bedroom behind the 1st and a deck behind the master opening from the hall. I’ll draw a pic and send it to you. 🙂 I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reply
Kathie from CA says April 18, 2015 at 3:12 pm I am really excited to see what you do and have enjoyed reading all the great suggestions your friends have given you. You are young and brave and I know you will have a beautiful home filled with meaningful things and verses that will bring glory to God. Reply
Ashley C says April 19, 2015 at 9:19 am hm, I’d probably add on to both sides! make rid of the corner bedroom and add a large master plus bath in suite and extend the main bath, then extend the kitchen and add another bedroom to the other side! what a quaint little home! Reply
Sarah says April 20, 2015 at 11:56 am This is so exciting! My husband and I are planning on buying land and building a smaller home within the next two years. I love that it has a smaller floor plan as I think most homes today have so much unused space! As you make you plans, the only advice I have is to make sure it will fit your needs and that every space has a purpose (if not more than one!). In regards to an addition I would add on to the back. I think the from of the front, the house is adorable, cozy, and adds so much charm! I would bump out the back of bedroom #1 to make it slightly larger and then add a master bath right behind the current bathroom (it should make it easier to tie into the plumbing and who doesn’t love a master with a fireplace?!?!?). Then I would add on a third bedroom behind bedroom #2 and maybe turn the current bathroom into a jack and jill bath? Then tear down the walls separating the living room/dining room/kitchen to make one big space. Finally, I would turn the mudroom into a laundry room. Whatever you decide to do I’m sure it will look fantastic! Reply
Sarah says April 20, 2015 at 11:59 am Oh! And one more thing, if you were to turn the mudroom into a laundry room, I would take out that door and put in a pocket door. It would give you so much more visual space to make the rooms look bigger and you would get a few more feet of cabinet space. Good luck! Reply
Ellion says April 20, 2015 at 1:42 pm I recently stubbled on your blog and I’m so excited to follow you’re renovation progress! I recently started my own reno/decor blog to share my own bungalow renovations that I have been working on for the past 8 months! Althought 740 sqft is quite small I actually think it is a great layout! (Especially considering I’m familiar with reno costs that add up so quickly! The easiest fix I would do is maybe take down the wall between the living and dining… if its possible to turn the mudroom into laundry, that’d be great… the kitchen cabinets aren’t bad but I know I would really like them to go around to the front wall and a sink infront of the window and maybe stove on the back or side wall.. maybe an island type extension between the dining and kitchen to give some more cabinet space. I actually saved on my kitchen reno by only doing a small portion of cabinets and incorporated furniture and shelving so if you can think of a way to do that it helps budget wise! We have to re run all of the water pipes which was the biggest expense so keep in mind if you’re moving sinks/shower/tubs/washer its probably more expensive than you were hoping for… it really just comes down to getting some estimates and planning as you go based on your budget. If you would add on I think there a way you could make the bedroom 1 into a entry way to the back addition and still kept everything else the way it is. Anyway I can’t wait to follow your progress and maybe get some more ideas for my bungalow as well! Ellion elliondecor.wordpress.com Reply
Molly says July 2, 2015 at 1:00 pm Loft the ceilings! Check out HouseTweaking – she lofted her ceilings and they look awesome! Reply
Marilyn Allen says September 22, 2015 at 10:33 pm Exciting overview of your new “world” ….Happy for you and Chris! Reply
Lindsay says September 23, 2015 at 3:54 pm Thank you, Bobo!!!! We finally have stairs so we need to get you in here to see it! Reply