Building my 1st home - Family with 2 kids (and a dog)

13 years ago

I am building my 1st home here in a couple of weeks. I was just wondering what things I am not thinking of in terms of what we would need in terms of a growing family.

I have the plans done for my 5 bedrooms 3 bath home. but since we do this once with framing - What should I put in the walls at least stubbed out for a family (me and my wife and 2 kids)? a music system, etc?

Anything people thought they should have done but didnt here on this forum? Ideas, suggestions?

I have a 3 1/2 yr old and a 4 months old - 2 daughters.

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Comments (4)

nini804
13 years ago
If you are planning to be in the home forever...you need to think about your children as they get older. My daughter is 8 and her bath is part of a Jack and Jill set up with the guest room. We ended up doing a vanity area as part of her sink counter, and actually combined that whole area with her walk in closet as a dressing area. We had my son's bath connect to the playroom which we thought would be convenient for sleepovers, etc. We have a homework station with room for two seats where they can have laptops and will have bookcases above for reference books and drawers below for school supplies and files. If your master will be down, you might want to think about an intercom...makes for less yelling up and down the stairs. Right now, your children are small and with you where you are all the time, but when they get older they will be in the playroom and in their rooms and you will need to get their attention w/out yelling! :) Our house is also going to have built in speakers for music in our family room and covered terrace.
chicagoans
13 years ago
We did a built in sound system when we did an extensive reno / addition, and we love it. (It has 5 zones and several sources for sound (iPod docks, CD, TV, etc.) Much easier to do this before the walls go up! It's great for parties.

I don't know what stage you're at in your design, but assuming you have some flexibility... Definitely consider a large mudroom. It's one of the most used spaces in our house (2 middle school kids and one fairly large dog.) You'll want room for jackets, shoes, back packs, sports gear, supplies for possible future pets...

I like having a sink in the mudroom (handy for coming in from working in the yard, emptying/refilling dog's water dish, etc.) I also really like having a powder room right near the back door. When you have a zillion kids running around in the back yard, it's nice if they can come in and use the bathroom without tromping through the house.

Think about your outside access into the house (back door, front door, entry from garage), where kids and guests will enter, and your path from car to kitchen with bags of groceries. Consider the main paths and what kind of flooring will stand up to heavy traffic or kids who don't wipe their feet. (e.g., does the back door open right into the family room? You probably don't want carpet there.)
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Didn't we see a previous version of this drawing some weeks ago? If I'm remembering correctly, this is a big improvement over that first attempt. I have no problem with the master bedroom opening off the front entryway. It's a relatively common thing here. If you don't want guests to see into your bedroom, you close the door, and you have just a plain old entry hall. I'd leave this "as is". I would open up a door between the study and the kitchen. This would allow any future owners to use it as a dining room, if they choose. Also, if you're coming home from work with materials or a project of some sort, it'd allow you to walk straight into the study rather than walking around the staircase. I would, however, include a door -- even if it's just a pocket door. You probably want acoustical separation from the open-floor plan part of the house. I think the powder room location is bad. And the mudroom /laundry are inconvenient. You're going to have to tote laundry baskets through the entry hall, through the great room, through the kitchen, through the mudroom . . . sure, you can do it, but when you have complete control of the design, why should you? Exterior doors are expensive (and every door is a potential security problem). Do you really need one in BOTH the great room AND the dining room? They're only steps apart from one another. Personally, I'd go with windows in the great room (makes furniture placement easier) and keep the door in the dining room.
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chicagoans
13 years ago
Sorry, I see in your subject line that you already have a dog and I referenced 'possible future pets'. Didn't mean to dis the dog!

We got our dog after our reno, and I am so grateful that we did a sturdy tile floor in the mudroom -- not just during the housebreaking stage but also as a spot for him to hang out after a bath until he dries (he gets a little nutty when he's wet and I don't want him on my carpet!)
chicagoans
13 years ago
sorry one more message:

Think about your lighting needs both interior and exterior. Way easier to add the wiring for things like ceiling lights, landscape lighting and exterior outlets now.

We ran piping under our driveway so that we could have switches inside the house for the lights on our detached garage. We also ran piping under the driveway and walkways for future landscape lighting and sprinkler system, and for the invisible fence for the dog that we installed after the driveway was poured.

Building my 1st home - Family with 2 kids (and a dog)

Comments (4)

nini804

chicagoans

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