Upper level layout

As I sit baking in the solar heat on a cool spring morning, I console myself: we’ll soon jettison Captain Stupid’s 20 skylights as part of transforming this leaky lake house into a modern dream home. In fact, since moving in on June 30, 2000, we’ve been undoing a lot of what the previous owner, a do-it-yourself-wronger, wrought upon this poor domicile.

Now that we have approved the floor plans (click on image to enlarge), there should be less glare in our future. Here’s a quick tour:

1. The front door is moved to the right so instead of a view down the stairs, you get a sweep of the great room and out to the lake.

2. As part of our “don’t fix what isn’t broken” philosophy, we plan to leave the kitchen largely “as is.”

3. Bathroom gets a window and an appropriately-sized soaking tub.

4. Guest bedroom remains unchanged.

5. I get a bigger walk-in closet. (I may even share it with my husband.)

6. Master bedroom becomes a tad larger as we bump the house out towards the lake.

7. We’re adding a door to the deck from the bedroom.

8. Main section of the deck sits upon the lower level, rather than on rotting posts.

9. Two steps up into the four-season porch.

10. Great room should now have plenty of room for dinner guests and an L-shaped couch.

Even though we had to scale back our plans in order to afford the project, we believe this new design will meet our needs. What do you think?