If you saw our before-and-after post about the beach duplex demo, you know we’ve got big plans for the duplex’s floor plan. We want to make the most of the existing footprint — and add a little extra — so each side can sleep more guests, offer more bathrooms, and generally feel more open and comfortable. Each side used to have only one full bath, so there’s plenty of room for improvement. Today we’re sharing floor plans to show what we intend to do. The nerd inside me is very excited.
If you’re new here or want the full background, you can catch up on the duplex’s story elsewhere. The short version: it’s a rundown duplex we bought last fall to renovate and convert into a weekly vacation rental. It sits one house away from our pink beach house in Cape Charles, VA, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. At the moment it’s gutted, and once the weather cooperates we’ll start exterior work like a new roof and replacement siding.
The Before
The two halves of the duplex are nearly identical, mirrored along the central dividing wall. They have separate addresses and we plan to keep them as separate units so each can be rented on its own — although a larger group could rent both and effectively have the whole house for a week. All changes will be mirrored, so we’ll describe the LEFT side as you face the house. Sherry thinks it’ll be fun to decorate each side slightly differently — like cousins, not identical twins.
A common question we get is whether we’ll add an interior door between the halves. That’s not possible due to code, but the front doors are practically next to each other under a shared covered porch, so renters of both units can move between them very easily.
Each side is just under 1,300 square feet. When we bought the property each unit had two bedrooms and one full bathroom upstairs. The layout had been chopped and changed over the years, so our aim is to make the house feel more original, intentional, and efficient. The duplex configuration is historic — there are two lots and two house numbers going back as far as we can trace. You can see before photos and a walkthrough to get a sense of the original odd layout.
Note: The pencil sketches we drew with our contractor were hard to read in photos, so we recreated them using free software and added labels. They’re mostly to scale, though some details are approximate.
The After (The Plan)
Here’s the high-level plan. When we’re finished, each side will go from one bathroom to three (two full bathrooms and one powder room) and from two bedrooms to three. The thought of tiling six bathrooms and installing two full kitchens makes us break out in a sweat, but the end result will be much more functional for short-term rentals.
Downstairs Living Areas
Below are side-by-side before-and-after plans for the front half of the downstairs (before on the left, after on the right). Key changes:
Summary of major changes:
- We’ll open the wall that encloses the stairs so the entry vestibule gets more light and feels less claustrophobic.
- The living area is large, so we’ll use the back portion as a casual dining area adjacent to the kitchen.
- We’ll widen the doorway between the dining area and the kitchen to improve flow and sight lines.
- Since there’s no downstairs bathroom now, we’ll turn the large closet under the stairs into a powder room. We don’t expect odors to be an issue — guests tend to use upstairs bathrooms for more private needs — and similar layouts have worked well in other beach rentals.
Here’s what the space looks like now.
We plan to open up the side of the stairs that was previously enclosed down to the first step.
Downstairs Kitchen Areas
The back half of the downstairs will take on more functions: a larger kitchen, laundry, and a mudroom zone near the back door. There will also be an outdoor shower by the back door so guests can rinse sand off before entering. The mudroom will include laundry and storage so sandy towels and gear don’t get tracked through the house.
Key points in the back half:
- The kitchen will move into the larger former dining area, allowing much more storage, counter space, and room for a dishwasher. We may add a small island or movable cart.
- The former kitchen area will become a laundry/pantry with cabinetry that visually extends the kitchen. We’ll add pocket doors so it can be closed off to reduce noise. Pocket doors feel original and suit these older homes.
- We’ll create a small mudroom just beyond the outdoor shower for sandy gear and towels.
- A utility closet will hide HVAC components and a tankless water heater.
Below is the old kitchen area that used to be a side porch; the future mudroom and utility closet will sit just beyond where those cabinets were.
We’ve chosen mint as an accent color for this project, and we’re considering mint-painted pocket doors between the kitchen and laundry/pantry to give the space a cheerful, vintage feel.
Upstairs: Front Bedroom & Hall Bath
Upstairs, starting at the front of the house, the layout has been inefficient and chopped up over time. To maximize sleeping capacity and bathroom access for a vacation rental, here’s the plan:
- We’ll open the top-of-stairs landing to make it feel more spacious while keeping the linen closet.
- The overly large hall bathroom will be split to create a modest but functional bath with a tub/shower combo while freeing up space for a new bedroom.
- By reclaiming some bathroom space and reshaping the rooms, we’ll create a third sleeping area, similar in concept to our beach house bunk room but likely a bit larger.
- The front bedroom will be slightly reduced in size and its closet reoriented to uncover a pretty window that had been boarded over. We’ll use a pocket door so light can more easily reach the closet area.
This is the current view from the front bedroom, which shows how the bathroom will be divided.
Upstairs: Back Bedroom & Attached Bath
At the back of the house we’re adding square footage: a second-floor bump-out that creates an ensuite bathroom for the back bedroom.
Highlights of the back addition:
- The downstairs already has a matching bump-out for the mudroom and utility closet, so the town approved continuing that footprint upstairs. Building on an existing foundation makes the addition more cost-effective. The new ensuite will likely have a walk-in shower rather than a tub.
- Because the existing back window will become the new bathroom door, we received approval to add another bedroom window to maintain natural light.
- To make the long bedroom feel more proportionate, we’ll add two built-in closets flanking a side window. One of those closets may be a locked owner’s closet for supplies between rentals.
- We’ll shift the bedroom door slightly into the hallway to create a small vestibule so the door doesn’t swing directly into the bed or nightstand.
Here’s the back bedroom as it looked originally — the window on the right will become the bathroom door — and we’re excited to make this room feel more welcoming and functional.
One last look at the proposed full “after” floor plan:
These plans may evolve as construction unfolds. For example, accommodating the upstairs HVAC in the attic is not guaranteed and could require changes. We’ll keep refining the design and will share updates as the project progresses.