If you have any large bedroom pieces, I'm not sure they will be able to make the turns into the room. Same goes for anything going up the stairs located near the shower wall.

Is the opening/pathway for the MB shower too small with the toilet location if one is in a wheelchair or using a walker?

I would include the coat closet in the laundry room instead of the foyer so the room could be larger, moving the w/d to a wall so door does not open up right in front of.

Looks like a nice plan otherwise. Love the outside drawing.

I wish I could get a clearer image, but all I have is pdf's, and by the time I print them and scan them, they're not too clear.

You could post one or more of the PDFs themselves to a free file host, then post the link(s) here. Google "free file host" to learn about them. I suggest making sure the one you select does not require someone to sign up in order to download.

OK, let's see if I can link the pdf's:

Here is a link that might be useful: house plan

Hey flgargoyle,

Lovely plan overall and I love the thought of the huge back porch facing a mountain view. I'm so jealous!

Re the comments by Allison, since you have double French doors opening from porch to master bedroom, you can always bring stuff in that way so getting furniture in shouldn't be a problem. I agree though that you may not have enough space between the toilet and vanity in your master bedroom for a person in a wheelchair to reach the shower.

Have you considered swapping the guest half-bath with the shower? Here is a very rough revision of your original image that shows one possibility.

Otherwise, I don't see any issues.

OK, its a sideways PDF, and none of my PDF readers on this machine do rotate, soooooooo, I did a screen cap, then rotated the capture in a picture viewer. Whew!

No floor plan for the upper floor/bonus room?

Utility room door blocks washer.

Side wall by fridge isn't needed.

Is there to be a shower door in the master? It looks like it might collide with the toilet.

Single car garages really hurt resale, in my opinion. No garage at all is better than a single car. People think, "No garage? Maybe I can add one." But with a single car garage, they feel limited and stuck.

I don't see any linen closets.

Windows in closets fade clothes. Friends of mine that have them regret doing it.

I suggest moving the dishwasher to the left of the sink. Having it on the right means long reaches to cabinets.

You don't show any upper cabinets in the kitchen, and there are too many windows for a kitchen this small. The sink window is also pretty big for a house this size. I don't think you will have enough kitchen storage without upper cabinets.

You don't have much wall space for furniture in either the parlor or MBR.

There seems to be a lot of wasted space in the laundry room.

In general, I don't think there is enough storage on the main floor. Obviously, there is plenty in the basement.

This is a small house, to save costs, I assume. Yet there are lots of corners (18), which drive up the cost. There is also a fairly complicated roof, steep in parts, which will also add to the cost.

However, the exterior is very attractive, and it is obvious quite a bit of effort has gone into it. I just don't think you are there, yet.

Thanks for the comments. Interesting change bevangel- I'll play with that concept. There's no upstairs floor plan- it's bonus space, and won't be finished at first. Several people have commented on the utility room door location. The other side of the utility room will be a mud room area- necessary when living on a farm! We're really not thinking about resale at all- this should be our last house, and our son will get it when we pass on. I might be able to widen the garage to a smallish 2 car, but it will require re-shaping the land due to the slope. I hate attached garages in general, so I was trying to keep it small to minimize its impact on the total house. The dishwasher was on the left; then it interferes with the oven door. I'm not planning any (or very little) upper cabinets in the kitchen. We don't like them, and they make the room feel smaller. We'll have some open shelves for glasses, and we keep utensils standing upright in containers. Most of the lower cabinets will be drawers, which I believe allows for much denser and more convenient storage. There's also the pantry. Actually, without upper cabinets, this kitchen has more storage than our current home, which has upper cabinets throughout. The dining room will be more of an extension of the kitchen. We use an antique kitchen table, and there will be a Hoosier cabinet and pie safe, both of which we use for storage. There is a small linen closet in the powder room; I agree, it's not enough. I grew up in a 200 y/o colonial, and there were precious few closets, so I guess I'm used to it. I'll probably put a lot of storage features in the utility room. This house is small for a number of reasons: lower taxes, cheaper to heat/A/C, less to clean and maintain, and cheaper to build. It's a complicated shape, and would be expensive per square foot, but I plan on doing almost all of the work myself. As a compromise, I might have a shell built, then take over. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I started with a floor plan, then built the house around it to suit, which might result in a less than ideal exterior. The house won't be seen by anyone other than us and any guests, so I honestly don't care too much what the outside looks like. I added some little folk Victorian touches to add interest. As for the MBR, the bed will be on the outside wall, with a TV on the inside wall. I like having a window directly over the bed for ventilation. All of the BR windows are high enough for a dresser underneath. I don't plan to have a lot of furniture in the parlor- a couch facing the fireplace, and a few chairs scattered about. This house will be deep in the woods, so I want a lot of windows for the view and ventilation (we like windows and doors open as much as possible) privacy is not an issue, unless someone wants to hide in the woods and watch aging 'boomer's'! I'll certainly take all your suggestions under consideration; it's nice of you to take the time to review the plans and put so much thought into it. That's what this forum is all about!

I am so in agreement with you about generally not liking attached garages and hating to have the garage overwhelm the house. And your design is so cute the way it is with the carriage style doors and all, I would hate to see it mucked up by widening the garage to accommodate a second car if you don't need two garage bays.

I don't know how your land slopes around the garage - except for the general slopes shown on the plans but, if you're out in the country where you have plenty of room, maybe you could extend the garage backwards 12 feet and forwards about 6 feet to create room for two cars to park one behind the other. From the front, the garage would still look like a single car garage and if you have lots of trees, the house may not be too visible from the garage side anyway. As near as I can tell, the only windows this would block the "view" from would be the master bath and the master closet. (By the way, I agree about not putting a window in the closet. Not does light from a window fade clothing but it also cuts down on the available storage room.)

I saw a garage like this once in a house in the country. They had garage doors at both ends of the garage and could pull straight thru when only one car was in the garage. The owner, who had a speedboat, said it was really convenient for parking the boat in the garage because he would just pull thru and unhitch.

You would wind up with a little 8' X 14' area that was enclosed on three sides by house and garage - but with some patio stones, that could be turned into a lovely, well shaded outdoor room. Or, it could be used as a dog run area. I'm sure you could think of a use for a small spot that is well hidden from the world.

I'd keep the wall beside the fridge. You need it to keep people who are sitting your parlor from looking at the coils on the backside of the fridge. UGH.

On the other hand, I might lose the little wall between the parlor and the entry foyer, or at least make it only a pony wall (half-height wall). I think that would make both the foyer and the parlor seem more spacious.

I don't need the garage space, as I will be building a good sized barn on the property. My ugly old truck stays outside anyway! In the front view, the land slopes evenly from right down to left. So to widen the garage, I'd have to cut into the hillside more. We never use our garage for parking here in FL, but I thought it would be nice for my wife (or both of us, if we are dressed up) to be able to get from the car to the house in inclement weather.

I got the idea of a window in the closet from a friend of mine. There master closet is the size of a BR, and it seems nice. But my much smaller closet needs all the storage space it can get.

My friends who have windows in two closets are also in Florida. They now wish they did not have them. If the window is on the north side of the house, you may not have any issues. Any other exposure will probably be problematic.

I'd re-think the lack of upper cabinets in the kitchen. It's so much easier to see and reach items in upper cabinets or on pantry shelves. I have drawers for my pots (under the cooktop), but lord only knows what dwells in the far reaches of my lower cabinets. When a lower drawer is open, you have to walk around it. When an upper cabinet door is open...no problem. My most-used upper cabinets are on either side of the sink, convenient to the dishwasher. (You might like a double drawer DW like our Fisher Paykel; we are just two and almost never use the lower half.) We Seniors don't bend as well as we used to do.

I'd change the baths to bevangel's plan. Otherwise you have no sink and toilet handy to the family entry -- or for guest use. You could also enclose the toilet in the main bathroom for privacy if you wished. Might you run a solar tube into those interior spaces?

Our closets have 'daylight' fluorescent cloud fixtures. Better than windows!

Re - upper kitchen cabinets vs lower kitchen drawers...

I think the choice of which to use kind of depends on what YOU find easier. I too have reached the stage where I don't bend as well as I used to and use upper cabinets almost exclusively - especially since I'm tall and can reach things on the highest shelves fairly easily. On the other hand, my 91 y.o. MIL can't reach as high as she used to and no longer feels safe climbing up on even a very low step stool to reach items on upper shelves. Thus, only the lowest shelf of any of her upper kitchen shelves is really useful to her anymore. I would think that sturdy drawers that allow one to store things below waist height - and reach them from the TOP rather than having to get down on hands and knees to look in from the side - would be a real boon to her. so that I will get some use out of them.

And, of course if you ever wind up in a wheel chair, anything above counter height would pretty much out of reach so drawers would really be helpful... but only if you have plenty of room in your kitchen to pull the drawers out while a wheelchair is in the aisle.

Ultimately, I think the only perfect solution is for someone to invent a pill that keep us all from getting stiff and creaky as we age. LOL!

BTW - keep in mind that if you enclose the toilet and later become wheelchair bound, you would probably have to take the toilet enclosure down in order to allow wheel chair access.

Finally, I just realized that you don't have a bathtub anywhere in the house. Some codes require at least one bathtub. If so, even if you're not planning to finish the upstairs area completely, maybe you could put a small 5X7 bath up there. Would make the upstairs much more guest friendly and usable when you do finish it out.

Have you thought about having that wall in front of the steps like it is might cause you issues with getting furniture up the stairs?

DW is pretty short, so she can barely reach the bottom shelf of our uppers. She also tends to leave them open, so I have to watch out! We will have some upper storage. My mother has very shallow shelves in her kitchen, with glasses and coffee mugs on them. It's worked well for her for many years, even with company. We rarely have company, and it's only a few at a time, so I'd really like to cut down on our total number of dishes, glasses, etc. Couple of other things about the kitchen- I don't know why the draftsman has the range sticking out so far- it won't. And I'd like to splurge on a counter-depth refrigerator- it would really help in a small house. I wanted the french doors closer to the kitchen counter, but for some reason he didn't do that either. Is there any reason for the doors not to be close to the counter?

I'm working on bevangel's suggestion. Right now, I've extended the guest bath all the way from the front hall to the master closet, since we don't really need a master bathroom that long. What results is exactly the bathroom we have now, and there's enough room in the guest bath for a tub. I'll put up a sketch tonight. That change also eliminates the need for the bedroom hallway, so the bedroom gains quite a bit of space, although it's not very usable. We're very private people; my wife and I would never be in the bathroom at the same time. There's really no need for an enclosed toilet, or a second sink, for that matter.

The stairs aren't enclosed all the way down- there will be an open bannister. Bulky objects like a mattress could be rolled over the bannister into the stairwell. If I wanted something really massive upstairs, I'd hire a crane to put it on the second floor deck!

As I said in the OP, we might put the master suite upstairs- in fact, I'm almost sure of it, if we have the money to finish it. The room up there is 525 sq ft not including the stairwell, so there's a lot of room. I don't like the lack of windows, though. I'd have to consider some dormers if we do put the master up there. I would also put the laundry up there- I don't want to haul laundry up and down stairs. If we put the master upstairs, the one downstairs would be a den until we can no longer handle stairs.

Here's a quick sketch- thanks for the idea, bevangel! As you can see, I moved the master bath and former powder room, which is now a full bath with a tub. The master bath is actually bigger than the one we have now. I showed a doorway from the hall into the master bath, which seems strange, but it would be a handy shortcut from the utility room, instead of hauling the laundry all the way around the house. I'm not sold on that idea yet, however. It frustrates me to have the laundry so near, yet so far away. Another change is that the MBR hall is no longer needed, so we can have a bigger bedroom. It's not very usable space, but it is bigger.

Other than flipping the pocket door so that it goes the other direction, it looks to me like the master bath should work. You'll need to flip the pocket door b/c you can't put a pocket door into a wall at a spot where another wall connects or into a wall that has to have plumbing like the water pipe for toilet fittings. With the pocket door flipped, the shower fixture will need to go on the wall with the vanity but that is probably where you would have put the fixture anyway.

Do be sure to double check the pass thru space between toilet and sink in the guest bathroom. That looks a bit tight. You might need to lose the linen closet in that room. If you can't fit in a linen closet, you could get a 10 inch deep over-the-toilet cabinet that can be inset into the wall. If inset, it will only stick out about 7 inches - not any further out than the water tank on the toilet - but will still will hold plenty of towels and supplies for guests. They used to make such over-the-toilet wall cabinets but it seems like about 10 years ago, they quit being available and, last time I looked, all I could find were skinny little 6 inch deep ones.

A wall cabinet designed for the kitchen will work just fine though. Just have your framer cut the stud behind the toilet and frame up an opening like a window that is the size of the cabinet.. Then have the cabinet inset and put sheetrock on the backside as usual.

One last thing to think about: If you keep the short-cut-to-the-laundry door in your master bath, if someone accidentally leaves the extra door open, a person coming to your front door would have a straight-shot view of your master toilet. Doesn't strike me as the most "welcoming view". LOL!

When I'm playing with designs, I usually try to find a way to arrange bathrooms so that if the bathroom door door is left standing open, people in public areas of the house will get a view of the vanity instead of the toilet. But if space doesn't allow for that, maybe you can get one of those things that automatically closes doors (softly of course) and attach it to the bathroom door so that the door is never accidentally left open.

As I said, I'm not really sold on the second door. I probably won't put it in, or it would be kept locked 95% of the time. Maybe I'll just invest in a laundry cart on wheels instead!

flgargoyle,

So far as the access to the laundry room, all you need is a small opening (think laundry shoot but across not down) to slide a laundry basket back and forth, similar to an over-sized pet door. But if you did put a door in and kept it locked from the inside of the master that would work.

Since it is usually only your wife and yourself, the door and privacy issue is probably not a huge deal.

I'm liking the redo of the bathrooms and elimination of the hall, you are getting there. When are you going to start building?

Jill

I will be back with an idea.
See ya in about an hour.

(Whistles the theme from 'Jeopardy') Can't wait to see what marthaelena comes up with- you guys are great! Jill- I thought of the laundry chute idea, but you still have to walk yourself around to the other side of the wall- a constant reminder how inefficient it is! I'd probably be tempted to crawl through the laundry chute, lazy person that I am.

Any thoughts on the french doors in the dining room? I'd like to move them closer to the kitchen counter (or make the counter longer. I also wondered how you feel about a peninsula rather than the smallish island? I plan to have a few stools to sit at the island; a peninsula would have more room. If I do move the doors over, I'd add another window on that wall in the dining room.

Sorry it took me longer.

-You can place just one window in tha master bath
-The door in the stair can be placed in the other end if you prefer
-I do not like the refrigerator where you had it
-I did not go into details wso I do not show all the windows
-To mee the master bath is so important. If you do not have too much space it is better to keep it simple and comfy instead odd shaped

The drawing is to scale. if you like it of want to know additional dimensions I will post the pdf - I did not change the shape or dimensions of the house.
let me know

Are you wanting to keep the second (prep) sink that you show on the island?

I actually prefer peninsulas to islands myself but so many people want an island that I don't even suggest peninsula unless the OP says that is a possibility.

You might be able to create enough room for another window beside the French doors in the dining room if you move the DW to the peninsula and scrunch the kitchen together some. Unfortunately, I can't see how you can do this in a way that lets you keep the second sink b/c there has to be room enough to stand beside the sink and still open the dishwasher. This is about the best I could come up with...

Another possibility though might be to use a third French door ganged with the other two instead of a separate window. The third door could open separately or be fixed. You wouldn't need to leave any wall space between the three doors that way you need to leave space b/w double French doors and a window so you wouldn't have to scrunch the kitchen together.

And yet another possibility - tho I have no idea how much these things cost - is a NANA wall system where the whole dining room wall is a window wall that can be opened up to the great outdoors. Might not be your cup-o-tea at all but talk about WOW factor.

Here is a link that might be useful: NANA walls

STOP! Where's the ChiSue Mandatory half bath near the family entrance? Bevangel had one early on in this thread.

Marthaelena- Wow! I'm amazed! Your layout really solves a lot of problems. Somehow you managed to enlarge the closet, the bathroom, and add a linen closet. I don't think the stairs could go the other way- with 10' ceilings, you'd run out of steps before you got upstairs. I don't remember why we had the refrigerator there; I'll have to digest all this for a few days. The utility room is greatly improved, too. Thanks so much for your insight and hard work.

bevangel- thanks to you, too- you got the ball rolling. If we move the fridge, we can't have a peninsula (maybe that's how the fridge wound up there?) I actually have a scale model of the house built out of foamboard; it won't take much to rip out the interior walls and try out some of these ideas. You also suggested that I eliminate the wall between the foyer and parlor; I think a half wall or railing or something would be nice. I think I'll have to have a structural column at the end of that wall, because there is a massive beam above the ceiling which holds the upstairs and roof up. With a post, I only have to span a manageable 16'. I think it would be attractive with a low wall or railing, terminating in a nice column. Open to the parlor, but still a separate space.

The good news is that since I will be doing a lot of the construction myself, minor changes won't cost me too much. We could literally do a full scale mock-up of the kitchen once the shell is built, and see which way we like it before I build the cabinets. I do need to get the walls and openings in the right places, though!

flgargoyle,
If you need more steps you can continue them above the door and if is need above the pantry - and if the basement is 9' tall you will need 16 steps and the 3 additional steps can go under the joists

What I meant was that the steps can't go up towards the garage- you run out of room, because the second floor doesn't extend over the utility room.

Jill asked me when we are going to get started- good question! We are going to stay in FL until our son finishes college, 2 or 2-1/2 years. But I'm budgeting a year (full time) to build the house, and I'd like to be done once we are ready to move. We might try to sell our house in about a year, depending on the economy and real estate situation here in FL. If we do sell, my wife and son will live in an apartment, and I'll head to SC, hammer in hand. Probably the earliest we could start would be Fall of 2009. I'd rather do the heavy stuff in the winter rather than summer. Real estate sales are dismal in FL right now, and quite frankly, we can't start this build until the funds are in place, which are currently tied up in our FL home. I'm trying to be patient!

Marthaelena - I agree. Your revision is amazing! I was confused at first because I thought you had replaced the staircase to the basement with the pantry thereby losing access to the basement. Finally figured out that that door opens to the basement staircase and that the stairs to the 2nd floor go OVER the door.

Even then, I had to go back to OPs pdf plans to figure out where you had possibly found the room for your rearrangement. I usually look for ways to decrease wasted hallway space but clearly dropped the ball on this one. KUDOS!

ChiSue - since this will be the home of a retired couple (not a family with a bunch of small kids) and there appears to be a sink in the laundry room that one could wash up at if necessary, do you think it is safe for them to forego a bathroom right next to the family entrance? Especially since the half bath they have will be conveniently located for access from their big porch that will probably get a lot of use?

bevangel,
Thanks for your nice words , they mean a lot, specially comming from you.
Everybody in GW knows you work Magic on the plans and have great ideas!
Sometimes I have seen your revisions on some plans and I inmediatelly know that even if I try hard I can not do better that the way you have.
I will never forget that you helped me a lot when I was trying to put together my own plan.
Blessings!

I'm not getting the bathroom near the entrance idea. I've never lived in a house with a bathroom near the entrance, so maybe I'm missing out on something? There will be a sink in the utility room, and I'm planning an outdoor kitchen in the back, which will definitely have a sink. I live for grilling, and I don't want to come all the way in the house to wash the marinade or charcoal off my hands! There will probably eventually be a bathroom in the basement as well, which is also a walk-out to the back yard. I haven't shown doors or windows in the basement yet.

OK, I withdraw my 'mandatory' back hall sink and toilet. LOL

No kids. Basement walk-out with a biffy. I'm OK with it! (Aren't you just so relieved! Tee-hee.)

Do you have plenty of light set up for the grilling area? Smoke will blow *away* from the house? Oooh, how about a grill with a chimney?

Another vote for a grill with a chimney (otherwise, smoke gets in my eyes).

Seriously, where is the grill in relation to the kitchen? And (this may be Chisue's reasoning) if you are in the midst of grilling and all those beers hit bottom, how far will you track charcoal through the house in order to visit the loo? If the grill is at the top of the slope (?), I'm not too sure you'd want to run down to the basement. Of course, maybe you sip wine and thus there is not as much urgency.

I don't know where the grille will go just yet. If it's in the back, it will be below the house, so each trip will involve the stairs. If it's in front, it will be at or above the main floor level, but then I'd have to carry the food all the way through the house to get to the back porch where we'll probably be eating. I tend to sip wine more than guzzle beer, but there are about a zillion trees to hide behind if I have an emergency (just kidding). I'm thinking of a gazebo with a gas grille, a charcoal grille, a sink, and maybe even an under counter fridge. Unless the bugs are bad, we might just eat right there. I'd make the gazebo tall, and have a vent at the top. I use a smoker, too, but that's an all-day thing, and I'd have that further from the house so we don't all smell like smoke!

Oh-ho! Now we're talking: a full 'outdoor kitchen'. I see we've gotten your attention!

Yes, think grill with chimney, inside a screened porch, NEAR the kitchen. Golly, I'm getting hungry.