Plans.

Above is the pre-reconstruction layout of the first floor. The front door opened into a living room. The light switch was inconveniently located behind the door. Below is how the first floor used to look (from the far wall of the old living room) when we bought the place.

Also located behind the front door was the door to the only room in the house officially recognized as a bedroom. It was narrow as hell, was formerly used as an “office,” and had two closets.

The closets were used to house the electrical panel and the gas meter. The electrical panel being in a closet was a code violation, and the gas meter being where it was had to have constituted one violation or another. Silly!

Also on the first floor was a bathroom with a washer/dryer making space a little tight, to say the least.

Next to the bathroom was the mechanical room (not pictured); then a stairwell; then another fairly useless closet/crawlspace. There’s also a backdoor that leads right to the stone wall overlooking the graveyard. Notice any room missing here typically found on a first floor? Where is food cooked and eaten in this place?

When you arrived upstairs, you were allegedly in a “dining room.”

When you take a couple steps up, you’re in a really narrow kitchen. It was absolute hell getting the old stove outta there and more so getting the new stove up there.

In any case, beyond the kitchen was our “bedroom” to which there was no door, and then an en suite bathroom that did have a door. There was also a closet in the bedroom.

All in all, tons of wasted space in the place. Hence the need for some significant alterations.

I don’t know what the above image depicts. Joists? Jamie’s explained joists to me before, but I have trouble understanding pieces of wood as anything more specific than wood. I guess these lines represent pieces of wood which run (“as needed”) between the first and second floors.

The new plans (below) will have the front door open into a kitchen. There’ll be a dining room table which I don’t really think we need because we never eat at a table. The kitchen’s in an L shape, and there’ll be new punched openings in the front of the house (see below). Then along the back wall: full bathroom (which will remain unfinished until we can afford to finish it); new staircase upstairs; and then mechanical in the back corner. Living room is remaining where it was.

Upstairs will go into a hallway that leads to bedroom, guest room, and/or full bathroom. We’ll probably Airbnb the guest room which overlooks the graveyard. Given Salem’s reputation, especially around Halloween, some folks might see the space as a desirable destination.

This is how the new windows will appear, more or less, punching openings in these existing fake doors on the front facade.

UPDATE: Given what we’ve heard from the building inspector re: egress in the upstairs bedroom, the half-moon window has got to go. Will be replacing with an operable arch-top window similar to what existed before the half-moon.

New punched openings from within the house.

More detailed stuff pertaining to lights, heating, etc. Everything is labeled; no need to type it all out again.

Old render versus new render of first floor layout.