A growing family in Clearwater needed another bedroom and did not want to add on to the house. The room they needed was already there; it just was not a bedroom yet.
The Client Problem:
The den sat at the front of the house, open to the main living area, with no door and no closet. It was too exposed to use as a quiet room and too cut off to work as part of the living space, so it went mostly unused. As the family’s son got older, he needed a bedroom of his own, and that left the usual two options: move to a bigger house, or build an addition. Both are expensive and disruptive. The den already had the square footage. What it did not have was a single thing that makes a room count as a bedroom.
The Scope of Work:
Permitted through Pinellas County. We started with a full demo of the space, including removal of the existing wood-burning fireplace and its tile surround. From there, we framed the room, using a pocket door so the space gained privacy without losing floor area to a door swing. New insulation and electrical went in, then drywall was hung and finished with texture matched to the rest of the house. We installed new flooring throughout, added baseboards, and framed a custom closet sized to the storage system the client had already bought. Paint was matched to the home’s existing trim and wall colors so nothing about the room reads as newer than what surrounds it.
Results:
A 120-square-foot bedroom that looks original to the house. Not an addition, and not a conversion anyone can spot.
A Note On Permit:
This was permitted work. Plenty of contractors skip permits on interior conversions like this one, and the homeowner is the one it comes back on, either at resale or with their insurance. We pulled the permit because that is the only version of this job worth doing.
The other thing worth saying is that this family did not need an addition. They needed the room they already had to work properly. Right-sizing the job to the actual problem is how the cost stayed where it did.
You might already own the room you need. Let us take a look at it. Schedule your free estimate.
