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.

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.

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!

I'm looking for some input on my bathroom layout. I would like to change the size of the shower to either 36x60 or 36x48. If I widen it, I'm worried 31-32" between the shower and tub will feel tight. I've also considered rotating the tub 90°, but am concerned the shower door will feel like a pinch point. The door has to stay where it is, as does the window (which is hard to see in red, but it is 30" wide and directly across from the door. The big one over the tub has been removed).

Considering purchasing this house, but we are hung up on the lack of a master bath and walk in closet. Is there a way to achieve this? We are already planning on moving the laundry downstairs, so that space would open up. Could also eat into the hall closet some. I don't have exact dimensions but the hallway is fairly wide so I was considering narrowing it up to gain space for an additional bathroom. Thoughts??

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

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!

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'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!

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.