Introduction

Isn’t it frustrating how that bedroom door opens directly into the only practical spot for a dresser? Or how you have to walk around several walls to get from the kitchen to the dining room, even though they’re right beside each other? No matter what you move or where you move it to, the same inconveniences remain.

Residential remodeling is one solution that doesn’t require moving to a new home or adding more square footage. Once you figure out what's causing the trouble and what it would take to fix it, you and your remodeler can work toward a permanent solution that makes everyday life easier without sacrificing the parts of your home you already love.

Fundamentally, a floor plan becomes awkward when it doesn’t align with how you use the space. Awkwardness can range from a slight annoyance to significant limitations that interfere with everyday activities, restrict movement, or prevent certain rooms from serving their intended purpose.

Here are a few specific examples:

• Poor room placement: Rooms that are frequently used together, such as the kitchen and dining room, are unnecessarily far apart or difficult to access.
• Excessive hallways: Long or winding corridors occupy valuable square footage and create indirect routes between rooms.
• Inconvenient doorways: Doors are positioned where they obstruct walkways, limit furniture placement, or interfere with other doors.
• Impractical room dimensions: Rooms are too narrow, unusually shaped, or poorly proportioned to accommodate their intended use.

There’s no amount of rearranging furniture or adding new décor that can fix a floor plan that fundamentally doesn’t work for your needs. Home remodelers have many ways of addressing problem areas, but since the solutions that work must be tailored to the space and any limitations, you’ll need to start with an assessment. Many changes involve more extensive construction than you'd first expect.

Below are just a few of the solutions that may be worth considering for your home.

Removing Interior Walls To Create More Open Space

Removing an interior wall isn't always possible, but suppose you have a kitchen separated from the dining room by a wall that forces you to take a longer route between them. Removing that wall could give you direct access to the dining area and make both rooms feel less confined. That's already a fair reason to consider opening up your floor plan.

The deciding factor is whether the wall is load-bearing, meaning it supports part of the structure above. A professional can determine this by examining how the home's framing transfers weight. Non-load- bearing walls are generally easier to remove, while load-bearing walls require an engineered support system to replace their structural function. Beyond the kitchen and dining room, it’s often possible to remove a wall separating a living room and hallway or two small bedrooms, for instance.

Relocating Doorways To Improve Traffic Flow

A doorway doesn't have to stay where it was originally built. During a home remodel, you may be able to close off an existing opening and create a new one elsewhere along the wall. This involves reframing the wall to accommodate the new opening, then repairing the surrounding drywall. Most homeowners just assume that the opening could never have been placed somewhere else, so this possibility is one that may take more time to consider than others.

Here are a few examples of how relocating a doorway could improve your layout:

• Moving a bedroom doorway to free up furniture space
• Shifting a bathroom entrance away from the toilet or vanity
• Relocating a kitchen doorway to allow more cabinetry
• Moving a hallway doorway for more direct room access
• Repositioning a closet doorway for easier access

Using Custom Carpentry To Maximize Awkward Spaces

Custom carpentry is woodwork made specifically for your home, with dimensions that account for the exact space available. It can include anything from built-in shelving to custom cabinetry. It’s a big advantage to work with a remodeler with this kind of background.

There are plenty of ways to utilize tailored carpentry for an awkward space. Say your living room has a recessed area that's too shallow for a bookcase but too large to ignore. A skilled carpenter could build shelving directly into the recess, giving you storage without taking up any additional floor space. This wouldn’t be possible with most store-bought furniture, which comes in fixed dimensions and may leave much of that space unused. You’ve probably seen firsthand all the ways in which it fails.

Adding Built-In Storage To Free Up Floor Space

Disappearing designs are rising in popularity. Homeowners want spaces that can serve multiple purposes without looking cluttered or feeling cramped. Built-in storage, for that reason, is one member of this design family that’s particularly good at creating extra space and limiting inefficiency.

Floor space is valuable, if for no other reason than to provide more room for movement. Having to turn sideways when you pass someone or an appliance might be fine if you also didn’t have to squeeze past furniture every time you crossed the room. You can’t underestimate how far a few feet, or even a few inches, in a kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom can go.

An excellent option in the kitchen, for example, might be to replace a freestanding pantry cabinet with recessed shelving built into an available wall cavity. This keeps your food storage in one place without having a bulky cabinet protrude into the walkway. In the bathroom, you might replace a freestanding linen cabinet with recessed storage between wall studs, provided there's enough depth.

You may have multiple rooms in which the floor plan hinders or complicates everyday activities, but the changes needed to improve each space can be quite different. A cramped bathroom presents different challenges than a poorly arranged kitchen, and an unfinished basement offers possibilities that aren't available elsewhere in the home.

Here's how remodeling can address layout problems in each of these spaces:

Basement Remodeling: Creating Functional Living Areas

Basements often have unusual floor plans because they weren't originally designed as living spaces. It’s common for support posts to interrupt open areas, or for utility closets to occupy valuable corners, for instance. You may even have a staircase that leads directly into the middle of the room. As a result, finished basements can end up with oddly shaped rooms or areas without much purpose.

When remodeling a basement, it helps to work around the features that are difficult or expensive to relocate. One potential option is to have a support post become part of a dividing wall between a family room and a home office. Don’t force conventional room shapes into the available space. Instead, the layout can follow the basement’s existing structure to give each area a practical use.

Kitchen Remodeling: Improving Workflow and Accessibility

A kitchen can have plenty of counter space and still be frustrating to use. Maybe the refrigerator door blocks the entrance when it's open, or the dishwasher sits directly across from the stove, leaving little room for two people to work. Older kitchens can be especially restrictive, with narrow entrances and cabinets arranged around a layout that no longer makes much sense for modern users.

Remodeling gives you a chance to change these arrangements. Many remodelers recommend moving the refrigerator to the end of a cabinet run so its door doesn't block the walkway, or removing a peninsula that's making the kitchen feel boxed in. Sometimes the biggest improvement comes from changing where you enter the room. Plumbing and electrical connections can influence how much you're able to rearrange, but they don't necessarily have to stay in their original locations.

Bathroom Remodeling: Making Better Use of Limited Space

A poor bathroom layout is hard to work around, so a door that swings into the vanity or a toilet positioned too close to the shower can make an already small room feel even tighter.

Every fixture needs enough clearance to be used comfortably. You also need room to open drawers, step out of the shower, and stand at the sink without bumping into anything. A simple solution might be to replace an oversized vanity with a narrower model or install a corner shower to make better use of an awkward room shape, for example. Before moving fixtures, though, it's worth checking how much improvement can be gained just from changing their sizes and styles.

Transform Your Living Space With Expert Home Renovations

Endevont Inc creates environments to live, work, educate, and play. If your floor plan makes everyday life harder than it should be, there's no reason to assume you're stuck with it. Our home renovations can change how your rooms connect and make better use of the space you own.

Call (613) 791-5509 and tell us what frustrates you most about your home's layout. We'll help turn those problem areas into places you enjoy using.