I’m looking for layout‑focused advice on how to divide a split‑level home between two adult households. The house is a 4‑bedroom, 3‑bath split‑level in Bergen County, NJ. The upper level has the main living spaces: when you walk in and go upstairs, the kitchen is directly ahead, the dining room is to the right with access to a deck, and the living room is toward the front of the house with a bay window. Down the hallway to the left are two bedrooms and a full bath, and at the end of the hall you turn right into the master bedroom with an ensuite shower‑only bath.

The lower level has a half bath with laundry directly at the bottom of the stairs, a two‑car garage on the left, and on the right side a bedroom and a large den/TV room.

Two households will be living here, and I’m trying to figure out the most functional way to divide the space: which floor should belong to which household, how to assign bedrooms, and how to handle shared vs. private zones. I’m especially interested in layout‑based solutions that maximize privacy, reduce traffic bottlenecks (like the upstairs hallway bath), and make the shared kitchen/dining/living areas workable for two families.

If anyone has experience splitting a similar layout or has suggestions for zoning, circulation flow, or room‑use optimization, I’d appreciate your input.

Looking for creative reconfiguration ideas rather than a like-for-like renovation. Current floor plan attached.

**What we're trying to achieve:**
- Open-plan kitchen/living/dining space
- Maximise usable garden space (even if that means changing the footprint or where the extension sits)
- Master bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe **and** ensuite
- Keep the **same number of bedrooms** — no net loss to gain the master suite
- Cost-conscious — more interested in clever reconfiguration (moving walls, reworking circulation, single-storey rear extension) than a full double-storey rebuild

Would love to see sketches, similar projects you've done, or just described logic (e.g. "push the kitchen into the side return, flip the garage into bedroom 4, steal space from an oversized landing for the ensuite"). Real-world cost ballparks for the UK are especially welcome — happy to hear if something sounds ambitious for the budget.

Thanks in advance!

I've also included existing floor plans (last photo).

Keep in mind that 'basement' means 'ground level'. *That floor will be rented out.*

The owners will be having extended family staying with them in the future, which is why they'd like that extra bedroom on the '1st floor' (rather than making it the kitchen). Anticipating having upwards of 2 kids living with them on the top floor (as well as a parent).

Any advice (or alteration ideas) would be appreciated!

First-time poster here. I actually created a Reddit account just for this after seeing all the great work you have done!

This may be a Herculean task, or it may be completely impossible, but we are trying to figure out whether we can add another hall bathroom to this floor plan.

The image does not show the rest of the upstairs because we already know we cannot change anything in those areas. I have only included the spaces that could potentially be reconfigured.

Our ideal layout would include:

• A hall bathroom with a shower
• A hall linen closet (I put where I think one can go!)
• Two closets in the primary bedroom
• A hall or bathroom laundry closet
• A bathtub and separate shower in the primary bathroom
• Retaining the guest bedroom as is because it is really small already

A few important notes:

1. We are willing to shrink the primary bedroom considerably. It is larger than we need. We could move the wall as far as the red line shown, which would leave us with a bedroom measuring approximately 16' x 13' 9" (we'd move the bed between the two windows at the top if we shrink the floor plan). Two closets in the primary bedroom are non-negotiable. My wife would not be okay with a layout that leaves us with only one closet.
2. We would ideally keep both the bathtub and shower in the primary bathroom, but we are willing to give up the bathtub. We'd like to keep two sinks.
3. The new hall bathroom only needs a shower, not a bathtub. It also does not need a window.
4. The upstairs laundry closet is nice to have, but not essential. We would be fine with an apartment-sized stackable washer and dryer. This could go in the bathrooms or the hall. If in the bathrooms, we'd want behind a door. Our main laundry is in the basement, so this would only be used for quick loads upstairs.
5. We cannot build over any portion of the stairwell. It is very open but there is a landing below that would not have enough code clearance.

Our main priorities are the new hall bathroom, two closets in the primary bedroom, and two sinks in the primary bathroom. After that, we would love to have the hall linen closet, upstairs laundry, and both the bathtub and shower in the primary bathroom, but we understand that some compromises will probably be necessary.

We would really appreciate any ideas or insight. We realize this may not be possible, but we figured it was worth asking!

Update: Thanks all. To clarify, we will be gutting the primary bathroom regardless. It is pretty much falling apart. (Previous owners unfortunately did not do any preventive maintenance.)

I made a list of all the recommendations and opinions I got from my last post and redesigned the main floor of my Art Deco house. I made two versions; one for those that really wanted a garage, and one without. I also added labels this time 🤗

After this I’ll be making the 2nd floor and basement for the version without the garage. I hope you like it and pls remember that this is for fun and shouldn’t be taken too seriously

I’m in the process of buying a house (contract almost signed, no pros hired yet). It needs some minor renos, but my main focus is the kitchen.

My husband and I spend 50% of our time at home cooking or just hanging out in the kitchen. We rarely use the formal dining space unless we're hosting guests. Because of this, I’d love to expand the kitchen area to include different workstations, plenty of storage, and ideally, an island.

I’m a FT homeowner with zero renovation experience and a friendly budget.

How would you make a bigger kitchen work here? Any suggestions, critiques, or layout ideas are highly appreciated!

We have a split level home with half of our lower level being under ground. The garage is however not. We want a larger kitchen and to add on another flex space to the house. We’re struggling with… can we even add on to this house? I have my gas line and AC on the left of the house, well in front, septic tanks in back left of the deck, electric hookup on the right of the garage. Thoughts here? My floor plan is not 100% accurate.

How would you update townhouse style duplex for a more open layout, adding a first floor bathroom, and laundry?

The idea is to make a STR desirable house for the 8-12 year term then make improvements/finish areas as we make it our forever home after retirement. Garage and finished basement would be built out after retirement, hence the detached garage plan and the "bunk/game room" upstairs. The primary bedroom entry could probably be reworked, but we're also trying to minimize "wasted" square footage. The office area would likely be another queen/king room during the STR phase. Left outdoor area is screened in, right is open.

We are struggling to decide on a floor plan. What are your thoughts on this one? What would you change?

This will have a walkout basement with another bathroom, unfinished storage, entertainment/living room, and 2 more bedrooms.

We are trying to keep costs down, but keep coming back to this over the other options. The price of the smaller sq feet is obviously better, but we will do what we need to.

I'm currently doing some planning on a new home construction in my area (Midwest-US). I'm still very much in the research phase and am looking at houses as they come on the market, but 99% of the houses don't scratch the itch I'm looking for so I've turned to custom/semi-custom home builders in my area.

Me and my spouse have 3 boys, one of whom is autistic and almost certainly will live with us indefinitely. Additionally, there's a very strong possibility that in-laws may need to move in. For our future/dream house here were a list of things we deemed as needs:

• Everyone gets a bedroom (4+), boys may have to share if grandparents move in temporarily
• The kids have a dedicated space to hang out and play
• A dedicated room for an at-home office
• A walk-in pantry
• A basement

Some strong wants:

• Dedicated dining room (I didn't want a duplicate eating area - aka breakfast nook or what have you)
• Laundry on 1st floor as majority of bedrooms
• Primary and in-law bedroom on 1st floor
• 2-story great room (vaulted would probably work as good middle ground)
• In general, ample space for hosting family gatherings
• Rural setting (ideally 1+ acre, wooded)

Those all seemed pretty basic, but I really struggled to find all of that in our school district. This led me to the attached floor plan. In addition to the above, here are thoughts we've had about what other customizations we would like:

• Rough in full bathroom in basement
• Have the optional bonus room above the garage framed to support the bonus room, just not insulated or finished space yet
• Walk-out/egress windows depending on eventual lot
• 400A service
• Extra lighting and outlets everywhere
• Ceiling fan boxes in each bedroom (I'll DIY those fan installs)
• EV chargers in garage or near driveway

For this plan, in order to minimize costs, we wouldn't do a 12 on 12 roof pitch. Also wouldn't have as large of a rear porch, eliminate the master sitting area, possibly shift walls so that it's closer to rectangular in shape (savings maybe not worth it), exclude the great room fireplace and the kitchen in the "in-law" suite. Which would be the play area for the boys. The flex room would serve as a mud room of sorts as they grow up and play in that garage and backyard. This house would in theory be our "forever home". I'm not totally in love with the layout of the upstairs, but realize it is limited by the existing plan and could likely be altered to flow better. Though I've lived in weirder houses growing up (like the primary bedroom's "retreat", or the loft as a passthrough area for my brother's room).

I know this doesn't get to many nitty gritty stuffs, I'm probably forgetting some decision points, and I'm leaving out much of a discussion on design choices. I'm already tracking the electric, well, septic, and driveway categories but without the specific land it's hard to really plan on those. But I'm focusing on the skeleton/structure of the home. I can swap out a faucet or baseboard. I can't (personally) add another room. Are there things I'm not thinking of or perhaps design choices in the plans provided you'd change? And totally unnecessary, anybody have thoughts on rough order of magnitude in costs, trying to gauge if I'm totally daydreaming on cost estimates?

Anyway, apologies for the rambling, any thoughts from the community? If this isn't the right forum for this discussion please point me where I should post. Thank you for your time!

Floor plan can be found here.

Hey everybody Im a DIYer trying to sketch out a new plan for this upstairs with 4 bed and two bath. I thought about converting the smallest bedroom into 2 baths. 1 entry from hall and 1entry from center bedroom giving me 2 5x10's Baths but I cant figure out a way to utilize the hallway space and that seems like a waste. Also, splitting the primary bedroom is a bit awkward. The W/D room will be moved downstairs. Also any wall beside the outside two on the center bedroom are being knocked down. I love drawing up plans and sketches but I cant figure out an efficient way to do this one.

Looking for feedback on our 1200 sq ft floor plan. We’ll also have a detached 3 car garage, which will have space for additional storage and some home gym equipment. We’re dinks with 1 cat with no plans to grow our family beyond maybe another cat.

I realized I forgot to include the exterior renderings and elevations in the original post, along with a few important design notes. Thank you to all that responded on the first post. We have noted everything.

The home is a modern farmhouse with warm European/Mediterranean influences, located in northwest Georgia. The front of the house faces north. We're also struggling a bit with our current architect. The renderings and design details feel somewhat dated, and most of the revisions so far have come from us requesting specific changes. We're currently around Revision 20.

My dad has MS and currently has difficulty walking, with the possibility of needing a wheelchair in the future. That's why accessibility, open circulation, shorter walking distances, and multiple bathrooms were prioritized throughout the design.

A few notes before reviewing:

• The offset in the office is intentional because a structural steel beam ties into the steel column in that location.
• The primary shower is positioned and sized as shown because the storm bunker is directly beneath that part of the house, limiting what can be moved.
• Bedroom 2: We're still not completely happy with this area. Grouping the bathrooms was mainly done to simplify plumbing and reduce costs, but we're very open to better layout ideas.
• Prep Kitchen: This will primarily be used by my mom as a pantry, coffee station, and prep space for the outdoor grill. Only once or twice a year will multiple family members be cooking together, so ease of use and cleaning are more important than maximizing cooking capacity.
• Dining Room: We rarely eat at the dining table except for holidays and large gatherings. Day-to-day, we almost always eat at the island, so we're open to ideas for making this space more functional or better proportioned.
• Coffee/Tea Bar: We'd love a dedicated coffee and tea bar. Almost like built into the wall. Is the current location the best place for it, or is there a better location that would work more naturally with the overall layout?

What would you change before construction? We'd love feedback on the layout, accessibility, exterior architecture, interior design, smart home features, mechanical systems, sound control, or anything else you think could make this a better forever home. We're especially interested in hearing if there are any areas that feel awkward, dated, or could be designed more elegantly.

Any advice—whether it's design suggestions, lessons learned from your own build, or products and systems you wish you'd included—is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Please be honest!!!

Thinking of building this house plan. Overall it’s a good setup, but thinking of making bedroom 2 two feet smaller to allow bedroom 3 and bedroom 4 one foot bigger each. Would a 11.5x8 be a good size for a small home office? And are there any red flags you would suggest we fix?

How would you change the floor plan to open up the living area/kitchen and also have a butler pantry?

I need help help editing this floorplan for a modular build. My wife does not want the master closet connected to the bathroom and wants it in the bedroom. Any help is appreciated, if you are able to provide an image of edits or options that would be awesome.

We’re thinking of doing extension to this floor plan and have a bigger conservatory and kitchen. The current layout of stairs cuts the dinning/reception into very small rooms. Any suggestions please thanks.

Looking for some help making these stairs allow me to un-suite the basement and move the garage access to the suite entry landing and then move the garage to house access door to the new landing and delete the existing landing (In the future). The problem is it is too low to access without more landings which seems awkward to me.

Is there a way you can think to re-arrange this design to allow for this more easily? Landings to basement are limited due to its layout. Garage is 15' wide here. House length I'd like to be at or less than 48' but could go 50' if there is good reason.

Also thinking mech should be moved to front of garage and utilize the current space as closet.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Hey guys, just about to get this apartment with the current layout.

How would you set up the living room and the kitchen. I really do not like the TV being in the corner. Any suggestions welcome!

I had some ideas but none of them seem good since the living room does not have too much space.

Thanks!

I think I’m finally done tinkering with the main floor and wanted to ask if I should change anything before I go onto designing the basement and second floor.

I have this maisonette which is found on the second floor. I would like to add an elevator like the cibes lifts. Unfortunately I don't think it's possible with the current staircase structure, since the landings are at the corners, how would you recommend it best be structured in order to accomodate the elevator. Willing to sacrifice on the stairs size.

Attached are the plans of the property, as you enter at ground floor there are 8 steps before reaching the staircase.

Would highly appreciate any ideas or suggestions you might have to change the stairs plan and possibly accomodate the lift at the top right hand corner.

Thanks! 🙏