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Guest bedroom / mud room layout advice

13 years ago

Our house design has been approved by the city and we don't want to make any major changes. We prefer not to put water heater in the attic since we dont like tankless and worry about the water heater leak can damage the house.

We would really appreciate your feedback on if design B would work or you think we should stick with the original design and go with tankless in the attic.

(A) ORIGINAL DESIGN - shown with the whole house' floor plan. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19306391/Floorplan.jpg

Lots of storage in the mud room (between garage and kitchen)
bath room has a window

- location of bathroom break up the room and harder to finish.

? should bath door face the bedroom door or garage wall?

(B) MODIFIED GUEST ROOM DESIGN - allocate space for water heater and furnace duct. Normal shape bedroom. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19306391/GUEST%20RM.jpg

- Minimum storage in the mud room (The lost storage is partially compensated with 1' counter high storage in front of the guest bedroom - at least we can put cell phone chargers, keys, mail on that counter)

normal shaped bedroom and bathroom and easier to furnish the room
room for water heater (in option A, we will have to put water heater in the attic since our garage is too small)

? should bathroom door at top of middle or bottom of the bathroom wall? (shower, sink, toilet all can be repositioned to allow different door position)

Questions:

1. Do you like option A or B better

2. Where is the best location for bathroom door in your preferred option?

3. For the mud room. Is it better to have the storage close to the garage or kitchen? I put it away from the door because I worry that people would stop right in front of the door and block the next person.

THANK YOU!

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Comments (3)

km34567
13 years ago
Okay so I would say design the space that YOU will use the most and not infrequent guests (unless you plan on having that guest room used >50% of the time). I mean the mudroom is something that you will use everyday so make it larger and more functional to you (especially if you have kids and lots of junk). I personally would not care about the size of guest bedroom closet since it will most likely just be extra storage for you anyway, vs actual guest space usage. But i do think avoiding attic heaters is wise from a leak scenario. So i would actually do a hybrid where I prefer choice b, but would take off a foot from the bedroom and make mudroom bigger. BUT this all depends on your usage.
amybo
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow - great idea!!!

Here is the new layout - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19306391/GR%2002%2028.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19306391/GR%20layout%2002%2028.jpg

Would you be concerned about the size of the guest room becomes 10'3" wide instead of over 11'? Our parents are getting older and there is some chance that they may come stay with us at some point.

We do have 2 middle school age kids and they do have lots of junks since they both play sports. The mud room hallway is 4'6" - is it enough room for a shoe bench? If the mud room can be narrower, then I can give a little back to the guest room (I don't think the guest bath can be any smaller).

THANKS AGAIN for the great suggestion!
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km34567
13 years ago
You're welcome. I've learned so much from Garden webbers that I'm happy to have helped someone else.

I do like your new hybrid layout. As for sizes, take a tape measure and recreate the size your are considering. For example conside the 10'3'' bedroom to an actual bedroom you have now and see how it feels. It also depends on the size bed you will place in there. 10' is a bit tight but again if not used often then maybe it can do. Will your parents visit or move in? As for mudroom bench, we are having benches built into the top of the cubbies so it accomplishes 2 things in one. See pic one of the link attached.

Also a list my husband complied for mudroom things to consider. (He complied a list based on research of what other people said, not necessarily need to accomodate everything).

lower hook for kids
40 sq feet minimum
waterproof paint
thick hooks for winter coats
thin hooks for smaller stuff
window if possible
bench
drop station
open shelves forshoes
space for guest shoes
water resistent flooring
mirror?
waste can
rough in texture tiles to prevent slipping
closet/storage?? when coats not in use

Hope it helps and Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: mudroom cubby ideas

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