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Please help improve rough draft plan

14 years ago

Here is a rough draft of a plan I'm working on. I would appreciate any thoughts on how to make it better. Some non-negiotiables are that my wife wants at least 3 bedrooms downstairs, the garage must be on the right, and I want to capture as best as possible a view of a woodland park on the left.

Thanks ahead of time for any advice.

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Comments (8)

lorriew
14 years ago
I think the plan looks great so far, my only thought is that I hope that your lot is flat because it looks to be a very deep house.
marthaelena
14 years ago
How big is this house? Is it facing south? What state are you at?
I'd...
get rid of the dining room doors,
try to find room for a coat or linen closet,
make the study and dining openings symmetrycal,
flip the master bathroom so the window is on the left where you have a great view,
adjust the screen porch
rework the shared baththroom, bedrooms and mudroom, specially the mudroom,
align a few walls,
the back hallway looks wider than the bathroom,
Could you manage to place a window in the laundry?
looks like you are not showing enough stair risers (first floor),
regarding the kitchen: is that the refrigerator next to the stove?
get rid of some lost space between family/kitchen/breakfast.

I like the kitchen size, the b. pantry between dining and kitchen, and the nice pantry size.

... DH is calling me, sorry not time for spell check
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Comments (11)
Rhome410: Good points all. The resource room is sort of an informal study/office. We both acknowledged the need for such an area, but didn't want to waste the sq footage on a full size study. Similarly, we didn't want to waste the space on a formal dining room, and opted for 1 larger than average dining area. The single car garage could easily be renamed shop area. That's my hobby, woodworking. The DW is into cropping, and will have an area for that in the bonus room upstairs. Yes there are cabinets next to the RF. This is not the dream house, but we do plan on being in it for the next 5 years or so. Chapnc: Thanks for your comments! The island setup is really the point of struggle for us. We see lots of ideas we like, but the dims are not exactly the same, and as you know that makes all the difference. The "L" is one idea we are kicking around. I totally agree on the powder bath, that's a change we're making. The "X" in the master bath is in fact a knee space for a chair. Eventhecatisaboy: Backdoor entry to garage is a great idea. I'd thought about it before, but somehow it had slipped my mind. Thanks for bringing that up. Actually, your input brought about a discussion about the laundry room, and we are now going to make that about 2' wider, and incorporate a wall of cubbies/sitting space, making it more of a mudroom. And possibly put a door there as well. We've kicked around the entry into the master, but the DW doesn't want everyone walking in the front door to be able to see into the room right off the bat. I think it would work either way. Chisue, the front powder came about as a compromise. There was no way to make it fit without losing the cubbies, and the DW really wanted the cubbies. we're still kicking that front powder room around, and it may migrate back to the back hall area. The resource room is a poor man's study. :) Due to the way we live, and work, the closet/bath set up works for us best. You nailed the winding corridor, another design compromise. In the original drafts, we didn't have it. It just got added in this draft. We felt that not having a hallway there *forced* all the traffic to go through the kitchen 100% of the time. The hallway is supposed to provide an option, as unlikely as it is it will get used... :) Thanks everyone, please keep the ideas coming!!
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I agree...and maybe add a prep sink :) Have you considered a fireplace with shelves on one side, in the family room and the TV on the other wall? Something like this... From Kitchen plans And this is one of my favorite kitchens... From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens This post was edited by lavender_lass on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 14:09
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Overall, I like the flow of the rooms, and it seems like with some tweeks this could be a nice plan. However, some of the proportions seem really odd. For example, your foyer closet is 4X5. That is too small for a walk-in, too big for a reach-in. That is 10 square feet that is just wasted. And the laundry room - is it really 8X16? Unless there is something going on in there besides laundry (sewing? crafts?) that room is twice the size it needs to be. Maybe give some space to the pantry, and some space to cubbies and a drop zone for the garage entry? I like big kitchens, but only when they are functional. There is what looks like a 10X11 area just open in the middle of the kitchen. That is a lot of walking back and forth space. Lots of counter space can be nice, but lots of floor space doesn't really help you cook. I would reexamine the whole kitchen layout. Maybe post it on the kitchen forum? Do you really need three eating areas? I agree with previous posters that you could loose either the breakfast table or the bar. I would vote for the table, since there is another table in the dining room just a few more steps away, and then make the counter seating nicer when reconfiguring the kitchen. Maybe a wider counter, or an island with seating on two sides? Then give some of that breakfast space back to the living room, which as lavender lass pointed out, seems too small. I think you have a good start on a nice plan. It just needs some fine tuning. As i've been working on my own house plan, I've started measuring everything around me. Sometimes I'm surprised by the dimensions of rooms I am in. Try measuring some of the rooms where you are living now, and see how they compare to this plan. i think it could give you some ideas about where things are out of proportion with function or comfort.
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jimandanne_mi
14 years ago
Why is the garage only 16'3" deep??? 20' would be an absolute minimum, and 21-22' would be better, IMO.

Anne
Kathy Beebe
Original Author
14 years ago
"How big is this house? Is it facing south? What state are you at?"
The home is approx 3400HSF. It is actually facing north-northwest with the windows for the family room/breakfast facing south-southeast. It is in Louisiana.
"I'd...
get rid of the dining room doors,
try to find room for a coat or linen closet,
make the study and dining openings symmetrycal,
flip the master bathroom so the window is on the left where you have a great view,
adjust the screen porch
rework the shared baththroom, bedrooms and mudroom, specially the mudroom,
align a few walls,
the back hallway looks wider than the bathroom,
Could you manage to place a window in the laundry?"
Thanks for those pointers.
"looks like you are not showing enough stair risers (first floor),
regarding the kitchen: is that the refrigerator next to the stove?
get rid of some lost space between family/kitchen/breakfast."
I didn't mean for the refrigerator to be beside the stove. I haven't decided the best way to layout the "kitchen triangle" in this arrangement yet.
Thanks marthelena for the help.
Kathy Beebe
Original Author
14 years ago
"Why is the garage only 16'3" deep??? 20' would be an absolute minimum, and 21-22' would be better, IMO.
Anne"

Thanks Anne. That part will be 16'3" because I plan on having a small approx 6' jut out ,if you will, which will look like a porch from the side and will make the garage more proportional with the front elevation. My goal is to make the garage appear like an adjacent living area rather than a garage. I don't know if it can be done but I will try. I'll make a point to communicate that in the plan.
Kathy Beebe
Original Author
14 years ago
"I think the plan looks great so far, my only thought is that I hope that your lot is flat because it looks to be a very deep house."

It's about 105' deep. My problem is with width. I've already had to scratch a rough draft after talking with a builder because it was too wide for my lot but it turned out to be for the best.
marthaelena
14 years ago
I thought this was another project of yours! Too bad the other one did not work. You will get there.
Kathy Beebe
Original Author
14 years ago
"I thought this was another project of yours! Too bad the other one did not work. You will get there."

It was unfortunate but I think it's going to work out for the best. I had to make too many changes to the other plan to make it work for the lot. It ended up being something I didn't want and I decided to cut my losses and start over. I would much rather feel bad about losing a few hundred dollars than to feel like I was building something I didn't really like that much for several hundred thousand.

I'm so glad I started the planning stage 2 years in advance because my wife and I thought we knew what we wanted until we started putting things to paper and reading book after book on house design.

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