I would reconsider having the washer and dryer in a hallway closet.

Thanks for responding, dekeoboe.

Why wouldn't you have the washer and dryer in the hall? I got the idea from one of Susanka's books (the woman who wrote "The Not-So-Big House"). The hallway is wide (4') and on one side is the washer and dryer (which can be hidden behind bifold doors) and on the other side is countertop which can be used for storage underneath and folding on top when doing laundry but otherwise would be nice and open. I thought it was a nice way to make dual-use of the hallway space and to keep the laundry close to the laundry source (the bedrooms). What do you see as the disadvantages? The noise?

Hey Micahjo, I have a friend who has her w/d in a hall closet w/ bifold doors. She LOVES it! She has a frontload washer and dryer so she put a counter over the top of them. Thats where she folds. She also has very nice shelves up a little higher for the laundry dtg...etc. One of the shelves has a hanging bar for things she doesn't put in the dryer. She definitely made the most out of the space and doesn't regret it one bit.

I have a stacked frontload washer/dryer in a hall closet with a door with louvers. It's also between a bathroom and a bedroom similar to your layout.

I like it there. It's convenient and the dryer heats up the area nicely in the winter.

The only problem I've had is that code required a smoke detector be installed in the ceiling in that hall. I've set off the alarm several times when I opened the dryer before the load was dry, and a gust of hot, damp air burst out.

Claire

I'm not a huge fan of the Not-So-Big House, so my comments are going to be reflect that.

The kitchen: a kitchen needs at least 5' of uninterrupted counter space--yours barely cuts it, but 2' of that is over the dishwasher, which is a hard place to work and generally isn't counted. Try to imagine baking a batch of cookies with a couple of small helpers. I think that space is going to be very cramped.

Having the microwave so out of the way is likely to be inconvenient--and just further drives home that there isn't enough counter space.

Why a double oven? This kitchen isn't designed for heavy-duty cooking, so why would two ovens be needed?

Are you sure the pantry is large enugh to be a walk-in?

How are you going to fit your family into the breakfast nook? With a 5' table, there isn't going to easy access to the seating arrangements. Look at the chairs that are drawn there now--how are there are going to be chairs around the back of the table? If there chairs were smaller, how would people get in and out?

It's a long walk from the garage entry to the kitchen--especially when there are a lot of groceries to be carried.

I like the mudroom :-)

With the powder room off of the mud room, your guests would have to walk through the mudroom area to get to there--are you comfortable with that?

I'd suggest putting furniture in the family room to be sure that it arranges well--I'm not sure the best way to use that space since it is large and spread out.

I like the changes to the master bedroom. It is large and spacious. The master closet won't have room for shelves (or at least not ones more than a few inches deep) if it is 4'5-2". Clothes are 2' deep--that doesn't leave much room to turn around and squeeze past shelves.

The other bedrooms are still too small. They are improved, but I don't understand why they need to be so small.

We have a 10'1" x 10'2" bedroom in our house--with a closet that is about 4'6" wide. It is the smallest of the 4 bedrooms--and is extremely cramped. There's hardly room to turn around after putting in a full-sized bed, dressers and a TV. Sure, you could skip the TV--but it still wouldn't leave room to play legos on the floor.

I'd rethink this whole concept, still.

Best of luck in figuring something that will work out well for your family,

--Beth

I have a lifelong love affair with the sort of detail and design going into your house and think your place is going to be way cool :-)

I'm still thinking that you are planning bedrooms for toddlers and young children that might not work very well when the kids get older...If nothing else, the closets are very small. It would seem funny to me (I realize this is just a personal opinion, and don't mean it to be a judgment) to have a bathroom for myself bigger than someone else's bedroom...But I'm not a luxury bath person. It's the first thing I'll give up to have space for my family elsewhere.

I will have a hallway laundry setup, but only on the main floor, for tablecloths, kitchen towels, etc. The laundry upstairs will have a room with hampers, a laundry sink, and, hopefully, an ironing board. Do you plan to collect dirty laundry and sort it somewhere else? If you have everyone keep it in their rooms, you will have to go from room to room to collect a red load, for example. It's easier for me to have it all in one spot.

The main floor has some really cool features...the mud room, the built-in bfast table, and especially the hearth area...But the kitchen is a LONG way from the dining room. Will you really haul food across the family room, around all the people and furniture?

Some people don't sort dirty laundry, and I am one of them. Modern dyes don't run, and I don't like to use bleach, partly because I hate the smell and partly because it scares me. If I want to brighten sheets or white shirts, I hang them on a line in the sun. Perhaps the OP shares my laundry habits.

I also dislike large closets as they encourage what I call clothes hoarding. That is, a large closet allows you to keep clothes and shoes you have outgrown or outworn indefinitely, while a small closet forces you to throw them out or give them away. I realize most Americans love large closets, but perhaps the OP does not. She has made it clear that she is not worried about resale and is building just for her family.

As long as the bedrooms are big enough for visits when the children are grown and married, they should work well for this family.

Thanks so much for all the responses! (both positive and negative)

I appreciative the positive feedback on the w/d setup. And free at last, your comment just warms my heart. :-)

Beth, thanks for the comments especially on the kitchen since I really do want it to work well. Let me answer a few of your questions.

Why double ovens? Even though I'm not a gourmet cook, we do plan to entertain a lot and be "the" house for all the major family gatherings (and I've got a large extended family in the area). So I thought the warming drawer and the double ovens would be necessary (or nice) for those occasions when we've got lots of people who need lots of different foods served at the right temperature at the same time.

Re: counterspace. Do you think I should eliminate one or both of the French doors to get more counterspace on the south wall? I kind of hate to do that because I want the southern light and the easy deck/kitchen access for eating outside and parties, but it is a possibility.

The breakfast nook will have built-in benches all the way around (3' high with windows w/ wide sills above that). I don't intend on having chairs there at all except when we may have company. The designer just put those in the design for perspective I guess. I would think the benches should comfortably seat 2 adults and 3 kids without any chairs. I should find a corner booth in a restaurant and measure it to be sure though . . . .

Good point on the groceries. I hadn't thought of that. My husband (who comes up with most of our crazy ideas, like the slide) now thinks we should put a window on that west wall where we could back up the car under the carriage driveway then carry the groceries to the window and push them through onto the counter near the breakfast nook. Anyone ever heard of anything like that? Any thoughts on if it would work well?

On the powder room, I'm okay with folks going through the mudroom as there shouldn't be much clutter because the locker and storage will all have doors. Plus, I personally hate when powder rooms are directly off a living room or kitchen. I much prefer them to be a little more out of the way so folks have a little privacy.

The master closet is 5'2" wide (not 4'5-2"). We currently have a closet that's 5'2" wide with 12" shelves on one side. It's not spacious, but there is almost 2.5' to turn around in between the hanging clothes and the shelves. Plus, we plan on using the closet more for out-of-season or less used items and putting a stand-alone IKEA wardrobe system on the north wall in the bedroom area for the things we wear every day.

On furniture placement, we only plan on putting two sofas and maybe a coffee table or so in the living room. My husband loves open spaces and very little clutter, so most of it will stay open. That's all we will use most of the time. And the inglenook (fireplace area) and window seat will provide additional seating possibilities when we have parties. And of course, lots of open space is best for parties anyway.

On the bedrooms, I'm just not sure how to eak out any more space out the floorplan . . .

Thanks so much for all the responses! (both positive and negative)

I appreciative the positive feedback on the w/d setup. And free at last, your comment just warms my heart. :-)

Beth, thanks for the comments especially on the kitchen since I really do want it to work well. Let me answer a few of your questions.

Why double ovens? Even though I'm not a gourmet cook, we do plan to entertain a lot and be "the" house for all the major family gatherings (and I've got a large extended family in the area). So I thought the warming drawer and the double ovens would be necessary (or nice) for those occasions when we've got lots of people who need lots of different foods served at the right temperature at the same time.

Re: counterspace. Do you think I should eliminate one or both of the French doors to get more counterspace on the south wall? I kind of hate to do that because I want the southern light and the easy deck/kitchen access for eating outside and parties, but it is a possibility.

The breakfast nook will have built-in benches all the way around (3' high with windows w/ wide sills above that). I don't intend on having chairs there at all except when we may have company. The designer just put those in the design for perspective I guess. I would think the benches should comfortably seat 2 adults and 3 kids without any chairs. I should find a corner booth in a restaurant and measure it to be sure though . . . .

Good point on the groceries. I hadn't thought of that. My husband (who comes up with most of our crazy ideas, like the slide) now thinks we should put a window on that west wall where we could back up the car under the carriage driveway then carry the groceries to the window and push them through onto the counter near the breakfast nook. Anyone ever heard of anything like that? Any thoughts on if it would work well?

On the powder room, I'm okay with folks going through the mudroom as there shouldn't be much clutter because the locker and storage will all have doors. Plus, I personally hate when powder rooms are directly off a living room or kitchen. I much prefer them to be a little more out of the way so folks have a little privacy.

The master closet is 5'2" wide (not 4'5-2"). We currently have a closet that's 5'2" wide with 12" shelves on one side. It's not spacious, but there is almost 2.5' to turn around in between the hanging clothes and the shelves. Plus, we plan on using the closet more for out-of-season or less used items and putting a stand-alone IKEA wardrobe system on the north wall in the bedroom area for the things we wear every day.

On furniture placement, we only plan on putting two sofas and maybe a coffee table or so in the living room. My husband loves open spaces and very little clutter, so most of it will stay open. That's all we will use most of the time. And the inglenook (fireplace area) and window seat will provide additional seating possibilities when we have parties. And of course, lots of open space is best for parties anyway.

On the bedrooms, I'm just not sure how to eak out any more space out the floorplan . . .

Is there a reason you have to have the breezeway between the house and garage? It makes a long walk to unload the car (or requires parking, unloading, parking again in the garage and then trotting into the house). If it were attached, it might also allow you to steal some space from the enormous office and guest suite for the teeny tiny bedrooms. Seems like an awful lot of space wasted on a rarely used area, while the kids will be crammed in tiny rooms. I guarantee you would end up with a few teenagers clamoring to take over the guest palace in a few years. I would also rethink the bench thing. We were going to do them in our kitchen, but my decorator had me go and sit on one for 15 minutes in the furniture store. They look good, but unless you get benches with backs, they are just plain uncomfortable. If you are like me and have small kids, it is also a pain for the other adult on the bench every time one of you has to get up and down for more milk, piles of napkins, etc. I just have the feeling that the desire for "quirks" in the plan is overtaking the need for functional, livable space.

Oops, sorry for the double post, and I hadn't seen the most recent posts.

No, rhome410, I don't really plan on hauling food all the way across the living room more than a couple of times a year for special occasions. That room is really more of a display/storage area for our 8' round heirloom dining room table and the hand-painted china that goes with it that we are being entrusted with as soon as the room is completed (I mentioned in the previous thread that it's a long story but it's a irreplaceable table with both sentimental and historical value to my husband's family - a gift from the Philippine government to his grandfather, made of one piece of wood, only 4 like it in the world, treaties signed there, Presidents and dignitaries eaten there, his grandparents wedding dinner served there, etc.) The bottom line is that we won't be using it to serve food very often and its being out of the traffic flow is actually beneficial to preserving it.

Regarding the laundry, I'm with kaleberg. I just tend to throw everything together (separated by person more than anything else). So it works well just to keep a hamper in each closet. My husband does his own. I do the baby's. And when the kids are older, I plan to have them do their own laundry (that's how it was growing up in my family). I've never lived in a house where multiple people put their dirty laundry in one location . . . everyone was responsible for their own.

I actually agree with you about the size of the master bathroom. It's just that the location of the turret and the stairs determine the size of the master suite more than anything else. I don't see how square footage saved in the master bath could help enlarge the other bedrooms. Taking another foot out of the master bedroom would be problematic as that's where the turret bump out begins.

Also I am counting on the kids being able to move further away (like down to the basement or over the garage) when they are older (and also counting on being able to finish those spaces between now and when the kids are teenagers). And as kaleberg alluded to, closet sizes aren't as crucial when folks or kids are just coming to visit.

Thanks again for all the feedback. It really helps in thinking all this through. We want to get it right!

Epjenk, I'm a little confused about your comments on the breakfast nook. What I have in mind is the equivalent of a corner booth in a restaurant (padded seats and definitely padded backs - just nicer fabric). And I figure that I would sit on the end (to get up and down easily during the meal), and the kids would crawl around to the middle. Am I missing something?

Regarding the breezeway, I think this is a case of building to suit the way you live. My husband has no intention of ever parking the cars in the garage. We have a two-car garage now, and we've never had space for a car in it. I would like to have a place where I can load the kids, unload the groceries, etc. protected from the rain (and the weather to some degree). So that's the reason for the breezeway/carriage driveway. Plus we really like the look of it (makes the house look less massive, adds a little character). I'll probably park there all the time (unless we're having guests over). And we're planning on being able to use the guest suite as a bedroom for the kids when they're old enough (with the caveat that they give up their room when folks are visiting).

It's kind of a two-tiered plan: build the house now with the money we have that will suit the family we have and leave room (unfinished space above the garage and in the basement) to expand with the money we hope to have for the family we hope to have.

And not to open another whole can of worms, but we have discussed putting off building the garage altogether (but keeping the breezeway) just to make sure we have enough to finish the house first (we're building with cash but aren't sure of our income level in the future). Any ideas on the wisdom of that? Maybe that calls for a whole other post . . . . I don't mean to get off topic.

We are building in 'phases,' so I don't find a problem with your putting off building the garage. We are building the main portion of our home, so we can move in and work on the rest as time and money permit...Without being limited by the bank's timeline and their finish requirements. Our 'phase 2' was supposed to be a mud room and garage, but we've decided to swap it with 'phase 3,' our family room. We have a carport that will serve the purpose til we do a garage, and a covered back porch that will kind of be like your breezeway.

I have to comment on the 'throwing things all in together' thing (laundry). Not that it will or is meant to change how you do things, but we certainly come across things that supposedly have 'modern dyes' that release their colors onto other things. Plus it is more energy efficient to dry heavy things and lighter things separately. I found that if we let everyone wash their own things, there are conflicts with using the equipment, and small loads were being washed when combining for a bigger one would have been more energy and time efficient.

I wasn't suggesting to take room out of the master bath for the other bedrooms, but that maybe rooms could be rearranged to get the space in the places you need it. In our last home and in the one we're building, we had/ will have a smaller room while kids who share a room, and obviously, have to fit more beds in their room, have the larger spaces.

re: closet size...I think a person can have more than enough clothes to fit in a 3 1/2 -4 ft closet and be far from 'clothes hoarding'...There may also be things like sports uniforms, and other types of clothes that need to figure in. Also, closets can be useful for efficiently and neatly storing things other than clothes... They can be very valuable in helping keep smaller living spaces neat.

Best wishes on your unique home! We all make our own decisions, and can put up with some compromises to have what we love. I really do admire the attempt to go for your dream and take the risks.

Hi,
I like the inglenook. Glad to see them making a comeback.
If I were building this, I'd do the octagonal spaces with curved walls instead. Even curved windows. It would be more $, but in the end real curves are more dramatic than simulating them with flats. Why the dropped floor in dr? Will the ceiling be domed? The dr actually wouldn't need windows, unless you have a dramatic view on site. It could be lit w/indirect lighting shining up on a dome ceiling.
Is the slide room able to be re-purposed in the future after the kids are grown?
It escapes my old brain what the floor pits are for.
This house could really be magazine worthy. You just have to really go for it with some incredible materials, and craftsmanship.
Casey

Thanks, Casey. Yes, the decision not to do curved walls was an economic one. After we get the budget more finalized maybe we could rethink that.

The dropped floor in the dining room was to serve three purposes: (1) to help distinguish the room from the living room / discourage foot traffic (that was actually before we put in the glass hutches to frame the entrance so that's less necessary now), (2) to maximize the view out the windows over the table - yes, the view is one of the major reasons we bought the property and it's best seen from that turret, and (3) to maximize the view of the inlay on the top of the table.

No, we weren't planning on having a domed ceiling, possibly some beams though or tongue-n-groove paneling . . . the style is craftsman.

We weren't planning on repurposing the slide in the future (it's only 3 ft tall in the kitchen area). . . I think my husband will use it as much as anyone. As you can can see, it does take up significant space, has caused a lot of hassle (and will undoubtedly cause more), and will cost a fair amount, but he's been adamantly from the beginning that he wants it (and is always telling his friends about it).

We will probably repurpose the 6' playroom / secret room above the slide and below the 2nd floor (accessed on the stair side) though once the kids are older. Not sure with what, but we'll think of something.

The smaller pits in the kitchen floor are like trap doors for storage of little used items (got that idea from some Japanese architecture I'd been looking at) and will be covered with throw rugs.

The larger pit in the living room will be lined with removable padding and be for the kids to play in when they are toddlers (it's our experience that kids love to climb in and out of things) and more importantly (and when they are older as well) to stash all their toys at the end of the day so that we don't keep schlepping them back and forth upstairs to the bedrooms and they aren't underfoot or visible in the living room all the time. Just put the lid on at the end of the day . . . . (we won't try to hide the lid under a rug, but rather make it more of a design element maybe with the floor board running a different direction or in a pattern).

Thanks again for the feedback and kind words.

When you mentioned the benches, I was picturing backless benches, more like the pottery barn style wood ones. I don't think you'll have the comfort issue with padded ones, but you will have the climbing over one another issue and upholstered surfaces where kids are eating. With my three boys that would be a cleaning nightmare.

Are you thinking that the kids will eventually move over the garage? You would have them in an essentially separate building? It doesn't look on the plan like the breezeway connects the rooms over the garage to the main house. I can't imagine letting teenagers live in a completely separate building.

Breakfast nook: since it will be your primary eating area, are you *sure* that you want to get up every time that one of the kids needs something to drink? Are you prepared to do that for the next 15-20 years?

Are you prepared to crawl back there to clean up after toddlers?

Are you prepared for the fights of who has to sit on the end and who has to crawl towards the back? (Both of them are horrible seating options--one is 'trapped' and the other is the one who has to always get up to get when someone wants out)

I'd suggest spending several meals with multiple people at a restaurant booth like that--and figure out if you want want one for every meal for the rest of your life.

For the kitchen, I can't imagine preparing large meals needing a double oven with so little space. My recommendation would be to post on the Kitchen Forum or talk to a Kitchen Designer. Given that you'd only use the double oven about 4 times per year, I'd vote for daily usage counter space over an oven.

I wouldn't intentionally build a single wall with an island kitchen, though, so it's hard for me to say how to change it. Since there won't be much furniture in the family area then I'd steal some significant part of it to make a substantial kitchen--with an L and an island rather than a single wall and an island

Upstairs, are bare minimum, I'd slide the secret opening wall closer down to the decrease the disparity in the sizes of the bedrooms.

Better yet would be to re-organize the master closet and bath to make *them* smaller and then put the washer and driver in some of that space. That would allow those bedrooms to be wider. I'd consider putting the closets back to back and having the 'secret opening' go through the closets.

If you have to stay with the footprint you've got, I'd suggest doing an attached garage instead of a breezeway. Add a shed/unfinished area where the garage currently is. Build house over the garage. That may not be optimal (to have living space over the garage) but will increase the living space in the house substantially.

--Beth

I have only looked at the 1st floor so far, and I think it's very nice. Some things I would think about:

The pantry does take a lot of room out of the kitchen. Consider what you really need to store in the kitchen. Are there other places where bulk items can be stored? If you went with a smaller pantry (like a pair of pull-out cabinet pantries, 30" total width (2 ikea 15" pull out cabinets), you could also locate your fridge on that wall, and have all your food storage on one wall.

Get rid of one french door. There is no reason to have a pair of operating french doors in the kitchen. Save that for a very large, open room if you really want them. Also, consider a outswing door, so you can use that space where the inswing door would block.

Since you counter space is very limited, consider under counter ovens instead (and kill the warming drawer) If you move the fridge to the pantry area, that will help with the counter space issue, but also going to a single oven, or even a large range (48") with two ovens (one small, one large) seems much more efficient space-wise for your kitchen. This will give you plenty of space to move the micro back in the kitchen where it belongs.

I really like the breakfast area, reminds me of a diner.

This is going to be a terrific house, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the exterior!

Just a thought, it would be lovely if you continued the octagonal breakfast nook shape to the second floor, sort of another turret. It would make that bedroom spectacular. Of course it might break the budget and cause unbearable sibling strife (I want that bedroom, no, it's mine).

Claire

Looking at the upstairs...

For Bedrooms #2 and 3, have you considered having the "secret opening" between the closets instead of just between the walls? That's what my sister and I had growing up, and it was great! Not only does it make the passageway even more hidden, but in your case, I think it would improve the shape/size/usabiity of the rooms to move the location of your closets. It seems awfully akward to have a room that's 8x16.

I'm also curious why you need the powder room in bedroom #4? I would think about eliminating that and reconfigurung the upstairs bathroom to be more usable for multiple persons (i.e. have the toilet & shower/tub in their own space behind a door so that the vanities are still usable while someone is toileting or showering).

Another suggestion -- if you wouldn't be opposed to shrinking the master closet a bit and accessing it via the master bath (I'm thinking via a doorway where it currently shows a small linen closet), you could move the laundry into part of the master closet area. This would require you to move the main doorway to the master bedroom a few feet to the North. By doing that, the kids bedrooms would gain more space and you also wouldn't have to worry as much about laundry noise. Maybe you could even sneak in a pocket door so you'd also be able to access the laundry from the master closet in addition to the hallway.

Lots of good suggestions! Thanks!

I'm going to talk to the designer about reconfiguring the master bath and closet a little and moving the washer and dryer over into the master closet area and accessing that closet from the bathroom instead.

That should help a little with the size of the kids' rooms.

I think I'll also eliminate at least one of the French doors in the kitchen (and maybe both) for more counter space.

I'll also try to frequent a few more diners with corner booths (and take a measuring tape).

And Claire, I might even ask the framer about how much more it would be to extend the breakfast bump out to the room upstairs - you're right, that would make a great room!

I don't know about moving the kids closets or putting the secret opening inside there instead of the wardrobes. I do think L-shaped rooms are much more interesting than square ones and the wardrobe openings more fun (and easier to lock). But at the least, I think with the washer and dryer gone, we will move the openings into one of the corners instead of the middle of the wall freeing up some more space for versatility.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and feedback! I really appreciate them all!

I may not have understood, but are you proposing lockable wardrobes? This could represent a terrible danger to small children.

I think she meant locking the secret passageway.

Oh, as long as no child could get locked inside the passageway, that would be fine.

I looked at your plans last night, I am not sure if your plans are finalized yet. But if you are not, have you considered making the two small rooms into one larger room. When your kids are young I am sure they could share a room (have bunk beds). Right now, I just think those rooms are too small to be useful. They look like closets to me. Either way, I hope you enjoy your new home.

I only have some commentary about the laundry room. I know it is the trend to have it near the bedrooms, but you need to consider if that is the most convenient place to actually DO the laundry. Tend it. Switch it from wash to dryer. Hang up clothes that wrinkle as soon as you hear the dryer turn off. So that whoever is doing their laundry will stay in the bedrooms nearby until it is finished??? I would be running up and down the stairs for every load.

Also, if you plan for the kids to do their own laundry yet you plan to move them to the garage or basement later, have you provided the plumbing rough-in, gas line and electrical connections in those areas now to add the appliances later? Because it gets really expensive to add that part later.

Given your plans, you could also have a main floor laundry.

I'm familiar with Susanka's laundry in a hallway; it looks clever BUT: doing laundry creates lots of humidity. How will you remove that from that area?

Personally, I loathe my W/D in a closet. It's impossible to clean behind the appliances. And your dryer venting will not be as direct as would be desirable. Sometimes dryers don't dry well when they vent vertically--condensation occurs in the venting. Hard pipe vent (metal) is usually specified by dryer manufacturers; mine voids my warranty if i don't use it. If your installation requires flexible vent pipe be aware of that; flexible is often a fire hazard, more so the longer the vent pipe. Where will the dryer lint collect or will it blow out and cling to your roof? Lots of little details that I've seen prominent architects miss.

Do you want the noise of the W/D next to the laundry area?

Laundry is a major concern with me. Having lived my whole life with laundry-in-a-closets, I am designing my final home with a laundry room and there's just the two of us.

I do want to also make one comment about the secondary bedrooms. Have you done furniture placement for each one with scaled furniture on the layout? And you're sure you have space for the furnishings you want?

I think those bedrooms are too small and too cut up to allow good/flexible furniture arrangements. (Is resale ever a possibility? I'd consider that too) If you are "counting on" moving the kids elsewhere later on, could any of them share a room for now? If you could cut back by one bedroom you could have nice bedrooms rather than the awkward ones you have now. Closets jutting out into bedrooms always limits your usable space.

I understand what you're trying to go for and admire your and your husband's creativity. But I'd work on the bedrooms some more so you end up with maximum function while you integrate your ideas--not something that's quirky.

Good luck. I designed our house, with a lot of tailor-made ideas and it takes SO much more work to make all the adjustments. But it's fun, too.

This was originally posted on valentines day. I would like to think that micahjo is enjoying their finished home by now!

I can't believe I just noticed that. DUH. It would be interesting to have micahjo check back in with a final floorplan.

atlasvi: this is all your fault! LOL

No sarcasim intented, just hopeful thinking for the poster.

sierraeast,

I haven't seen an update saying she has or has not started building yet. I have been in the design phase of my own house long before Feb of this year. If she is like me, she may still be in the design phase. In addition, even if she has started building, she can still take down that wall to make the two rooms into one. I am just presenting an option she may have not considered.

atlasvi and sierraeast: Yeah. We've been designing for 11 months, with the dubious help of an architect since March 12 and we're just getting ready to review the first (final) drawing prior to construction drawings.

I think the OP needs to check back in before it's too late!

Didn't think you were being sarcastic, sierra. I was attempting some humor.

Smart and critical to take some extra time on the design phase of your homes. It always seems like it's hard to get started with that phase being one of the the first steps.

I appreciate your humor pinktoes. It keeps this forum going!

Best of luck to all that are planning and getting ready to break ground!

Pinktoes,

You are farther ahead than me. I am still in the floor plan stage. Did you put your floor plan for critque in this forum?

Oh, where to begin.....

Looking at the 1st floor family room, where do you put the furniture? Most of the perimeter of the room is entries/doorways/stairs and so you can't put anything against a wall, and you have to leave about a 4 foot "hallway" all around the room for access. So you end up with about 5 ft in the center of the room for furniture. If you put the couch facing the TV, you have no view. And the furniture that you do put in will always be in the way as you are trying to get from one doorway to another, and it will be like Grand Central Station with folks always passing through.

The breakfast nook is cute, but you will have to scootch your way around the circle, and then lean against a window- I'm betting everyone eats standing up in the kitchen.

The Inglenook is cute too, but if your family doesn't sit quietly by the fire reading and doing needlepoint now, don't count on it happening anytime soon - it will probably become a toy storage area.

Other folks have touched on the kitchen and bedroom problems, so I won't repeat them here, except to say that the 6" step to the kitchen will seem like 10 feet after you've tripped on it for the 100th time.

The basic problem is that by designing in all these neat "features", you've sacrificed the basic functionality of the house. Large open spaces can be divided up with furniture, shelving, etc. later, and reorganized as your family changes, but once you've chopped up the house into little spaces, each with specific functions and specific quirks, the game's over.

At least do yourself a favor and make paper cutouts of the furniture and try to place it in the family space and the bedrooms, and mentally walk through a day of "average" living to see if the space works for you.

Susanska is way overrated....

sierraeast: you are one of my few fans. But humor saves my own sanity at least.

atlasvi: I did not put my plan up for review. Partly because once I got here I didn't have time to figure out how to post a picture (still don't know, but I did print the instructions to use later). But more because our needs are unusual and it would be so hard to convey them in this medium. I think I'd have spent a lot of frustrating time trying to communicate. If I'd had a more straightforward situation I'd have probably posted here because there are some good spatially oriented people here.

What a pleasant surprise to see this thread revived!

Yes, in fact, we are still in the design phase (we had to go back to the drawing board a bit after the bids came back too high and decided to hold off on construction for financial reasons).

But now we're back going at it at full speed (just decided on a contractor yesterday). And we're working on final changes to the plans (so now's a great time to get this feedback).

We had to get rid of the walk-out basement (and the slide and trap-door pits) and the office space and guest space over the garage. To make up for those losses, we have added a multipurpose room on the first floor (can be used as a master suite when my husband can't climb stairs in the future and can be used as a media room/ library/ guest suite/ additional bedroom or nanny suite now. We also expanded the mudroom/powder room (added a shower) and changed the three-car garage to a barn to reflect more accurately how we will use it (as a play area/workshop area rather than for our cars).

I'll post the new plans on a new post rather than keeping this old one going . . . .

But just to answer the concerns on this one, we did increase the size of the children's bedrooms a little by moving the laundry into the previous master bath/closet area. We do already intend for our two boys (yes, we've had another baby boy since this post - part of the reason for the delay) to share the larger room.

And as far as furniture placement, we did change the location of the TV, get rid of the pit, and move the west wall of the living room back (since the slide is no longer there). I plan on putting two sofas facing one another and perpendicular to the TV in the middle of the room and maybe a chair or two on the side.

I'd welcome your thoughts on the new plan. We really have made quite a few changes (and after this is finalized it will be much harder to make more).

Thanks! -- Micah