Are you looking for raised bungalow house ideas? The difference between a raised bungalow and a regular bungalow is that a raised bungalow is built several feet above grade. This allows for larger windows in the basement. Often a raised bungalow will have a split entry. We love a raised bungalow because it allows for an open floor plan, and extra living space in the basement.
Our first house was a run down bungalow that we renovated ourselves over two and a half years. In August 2011 we moved from Williamsburg, ON, to Winchester to be closer to our jobs. We moved from a house that needed a lot of work done to a brand new 1650 square foot raised bungalow. At that time, we thought this house would be our forever home, but that was not the case. Find out more about us and our real estate investing journey.
Exterior of our new raised bungalow
The exterior of our raised bungalow had stone look brick and a brown shingle roof. We loved the covered porch and the attached garage. There weren’t too many renovations to do in the house, but we did a fair bit of landscaping outside. With a new houses, there was plenty to do, including seeding the lawn, and putting in some flower beds.
Split Entry
With a raised bungalow, there is often a split entry. This is a great location for a drop zone in between the garage and the rest of the house.
In our split entry, we had a bathroom and laundry room combo. In the bathroom I painted a geometric accent wall using a LOT of frog tape.
On the other side of the laundry room was the shower and the washer and dryer. Tony built the cabinets out of mdf and painted them with his paint sprayer. The countertop is a butcher block counter from Ikea that we stained a warm brown.
Open concept living area
Upstairs there was a large open concept living area. We loved the vaulted ceilings and the spacious wood kitchen. The only thing we did in this area was add a blue accent wall to the living room.
Bedrooms and bathroom
This raised bungalow had three bedrooms upstairs and a cheater bathroom beside the master bedroom. I painted some accents on the kids bedrooms using different colors of paint and a lot of frog tape.
The master bedroom had a large walk in closet and a window that looked out over the backyard.
Downstairs
We loved the large windows in the basement downstairs. Half the basement was finished and we used it as a family room. The other half of the basement was unfinished and we used that for storage.
Why did we move out of this house?
When we bought this house we had planned to live in it for the rest of our lives. We loved this house, and loved the neighbourhood. But the next summer Tony was offered a new job. It was a hard decision because it meant uprooting our family again, moving further away from my job, and making a big career change for Tony. But it also meant moving closer to family which is important to us. So in November 2013 we sold our house and moved into our third house.
LESSONS LEARNED
This was a beautiful shiny new house and we loved living here. There were not a lot of renovations to do so we had extra time to go for walks and work outside. But in hindsight, this was not our greatest investment from a financial standpoint. We did not hold onto this property long enough to increase the equity. We broke even after about two years. But we don’t regret it for one second – we welcomed our second child at this house and created so many memories.
