Finding the Flow

Now that you have successfully purchased a property to you need to decide what renovations need to be done. Wayne has the ability to walk into a distressed house and see its potential; he instantly knows what needs to be done to make the house the best that it can be. Most people, myself included, have a harder time seeing the potential in a property. The good news is that can train yourself to see the hidden potential in a house. The more you do it the better you will become.

The first thing you should do is walk through the property and decide what the best flow of the house is. Finding the flow of the house means thinking of the house as if you were planning the layout from scratch. Where would you put the bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. to get the most out of the space that you have. This may mean that walls should be added or removed, bathrooms should be reformatted, the kitchen redesigned so that the house works together…so that it flows. If you find you are lost as to what needs to be done or what items are more important than others, a skilled Realtor will be able to help you.

The initial walk through of Zuni shows that there are a few poor flowing areas. The kitchen and back stairs to the basement and the enclosed patio are the worst flowing areas. They do not seam to work together and there is unusable space where the back staircase is.

Above is the layout of the main floor at Zuni. One of the first things we noticed is the excessive number of doors. An easy way to fix this is to remove the door along with the framing and leave it as an open doorway. We removed the door to the front staircase and the door from the family room into the hall way.

Next, we removed the top half of the built-in to open the family room into the kitchen. This will help when re-selling the house because an open floor plan is very desirable in today’s market. We also added an opening in the kitchen to the new eating area where the stair case used to be. This will help bring more light into the kitchen and incorporate the new eating area with a bar that will extend from the kitchen.

The master bedroom was enlarged by removing the wall to the covered patio. This will help with selling the house because now the master bedroom has almost doubled in size. The rear stair case has been removed and leveled to create an eating area off of the kitchen. The doorway connecting these two rooms was closed off eliminating another needless door.

The door to the backyard has been replaced with a glass door that will add more light and the door was moved to ensure the best flow in this space.

If this is your first renovation it is a good idea to consult a professional before you start any demolition to make sure that no walls are load bearing and there are no other issues. Also, a Realtor with renovation experience will be able to guide you as to what renovations will help with selling the house and what the neighborhood can sustain. For example, a Realtor can tell you if you should enlarge rooms, add closets or take away walls etc.

My next post will have more information about the demolition and finding the flow of the basement. Until next time, happy renovating!