Is there a realtor in the house? (semantics: finished vs. unfinished space)

[laura*]

The entire house was apparently laid out by someone with half a brain (on a good day).

It was designed for different needs and customs.

Wow, I think our downstairs is maybe 900 sq. ft...geez....

Aah-yup! It was built as a two bedroom house. The attic upstairs was the storage area - probably meant to be filled with steamer trunks and such. Hence, there's no storage on the main level.

Our current dining area is basically a glorified hallway and having even our small table in there is a major PITA, since the room has 5 entrances (living room, sunroom/office, kitchen, stairs, bathroom). To get anywhere in the house one has to walk around the damned table.

The dining area would have contained a stove of some sort. It provided heat and cooking. The area now take up by your kitchen, bathroom, and sunroom/office would have been the second bedroom and a pantry. The "bathroom" was out in the back yard.

we aren't going to do ANYTHING that involves knocking out walls or building new ones.

If that's the case, then why do the bedroom shuffle? If you need to vacate rooms to renovate them, then the shuffle makes sense, but otherwise not. Right now you could claim three bedrooms - one downstairs, two upstairs, an office, and an itty bitty storage room.