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new floor plan critique please!

12 years ago

I have been learning a tremendous amount reviewing all the great plans and feedback on this site and would appreciate any feedback on our plan.

We are a family of 3+ dog and doing a full tear down and rebuild on a narrow lot (50' with 4' setbacks on each side).

We have received the first draft back from the architect and will be making some changes already, but would like to have open feedback from anyone willing to help!

Thanks.

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Comments (4)

PRO
Epiarch Designs
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I really have 2 comments. First off, can you push your garage out another 2'? I highly recommend 12' min. side to side for single car garages. The space you have now is currently barely enough for opening car doors and leaves no room for wall storage such as gardening items, mower, etc. Length wise, 22-24' feet would be more ideal as well. my other question is with the upper bedroom over the foyer. Are you doing a story and a half? Why not align the exterior walls and stack over the first floor? This would give much needed space and width to the awkward bedroom. I also assume 2 kids share a room? Do you have a basement or possible bedrooms/rooms down there?
bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Narrow lots can be difficult.

I strongly agree that the garage needs to be wider and bit longer. But I suspect this plan already is as wide as your lot will allow. So, if you make the garage wider, you'll have to make either the family room or the den narrower - and both are already about as narrow as they can conceivably be made. So, the only other option seems to be to rearrange the rooms - and maybe get rid of some of the excess amounts of hallway.

If you can live without those front facing windows in your family room, How about moving the den to the front left corner of the house so that it has the bay windows. Make it maybe 9'deep (10.5 counting the bay) by 13 wide. Push the stairs to the left couple of feet so that they line up with the edge of the current den. This will allow you to widen the garage by a couple of feet as well. Now, put the family room in the middle of the house between the den and the dining room AND incorporate the hallway that is to the left of the staircase INTO the family room. If I'm reading your dimensions correctly, you could have a family room that is about 17' wide x 15' ft deep which would, in my opinion, be a lot more conducive for arranging furniture in than a family room that is so long and narrow. Also, in the leftover space where the den used to be (now about 7'wide x 11' deep), you could easily fit a full-sized bathroom and a nice sized closet. Then, if you ever needed a bedroom downstairs - say your 180 pound teenager broke his leg playing football - the den could be used at least temporarily for a bedroom even tho it's closet and bath would be located across the foyer.

Upstairs I think your plan again devotes way too much space to hallway. The plan requires a lot of hallway in order to provide a way to reach both secondary bedrooms. But, what if (after moving the stairway over to the left (so that you can increase the size of the garage) you moved the masterbedroom and master bath to the FRONT of the house and split the 20 ft wide space at the back that is currently devoted to the master bedroom and bath into two 10' wide bedrooms? With two nice rectangular shaped secondary bedrooms side by side at the back of the house, you would only need a single section of hallway to serve them both. So you could entirely get rid of the section of hallway that runs between the laundry and the awkwardly shaped bedroom. Instead, with the staircase moved to the left, incorporate the extra couple of feet that was hallway into the laundry making it larger.

With the garage 2 feet wider, a master bedroom positioned over the garage could be 12'4" wide - wider than the one you currently have. And that awkwardly shaped space that is currently a bedroom would not be nearly so awkward if turned into a masterbath space. Plus, with it back to back with the laundry, you could put install a "hamper opening" so that dirty clothing from the masterbath landed right in the laundry.

Just some suggestions. Obviously more than just a few "tweaks" but I think you can do better than this plan.
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starting over (ugh) please critique new plan
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Comments (32)
(I think that some may not realize your exterior is mirrored to your floorplan, at least I think so--it isn't a direct match either way though, as I look at it more closely). LL's interior changes are better. So are yours--with the change of stair. I'm just not sure if that stair actually will work in the space (someone like Renovator will need to count them and tell you). But, you still have 3 ways to get from back hall to other places in the house: back hall, pantry, kitchen, out back hall, past fridge, past island stools, past dining chairs and out back hall, closet, utility, foyer, out. It is very circuitous. And, the most cramped option is probably the intended option (past fridge, past stools, past dining table). Just my observation.
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Comments (12)
lauren, I spent what seemed like forever (it was actually over 6 years!) drawing up the plans for our house. My earliest plans were, in retrospect, awful (I didn't know what I didn't know!), so try not to be too disheartened by the comments people make about your plans; they are trying to help you. I looked back at your previous "final" plan from your post on Feb 10 at 9:39, printed off that one and this, and am looking at them side-by-side. I'm not clear on several things. If you're building on 10 acres of flat pasture land in Illinois, why is the orientation of the most important rooms to the southwest? Seems like that would put a lot of unnecessary heat into them in the summer, and that they'd get hit by some strong winds in the spring and winter. All of this will increase your heating & cooling needs/bill. And the most desirable elevation, the southeast, is entirely taken up with the bedroom suite. Can the orientation of the house be changed? Could the master BR suite and study be switched and the MBR then moved back to the right of the screened porch behind the present study, and the garage be moved so that its SW wall is where the present study/deck wall is? The laundry, bath, and office can be reworked if these other moves could be made. I'm also trying to understand why guests pulling up in the driveway would have to go all the way around the garage to get to the front door. Can you post or draw a sketch of the lot, road, and possible driveway access choices, and possible building locations on the lot for the house? To get rid of so many corners to save on costs, try drawing a rectangle with a wing bumping out on the right side to the SW & NE. Place the 5 main rooms. Then, instead of bumping out a room to get more space, try moving the whole side or back wall of the house a few feet or inches as you play around with the minor rooms. Once you get the rooms more or less settled in place, you will find that moving pieces of short & long room walls by inches (many times, as I'm sure you already know!), you can fit everything in to a much less expensive footprint. Also, even though most houses have the fireplace on an outside wall, it's much better to have it on an interior wall from an energy efficiency point-of-view. Also, I know there is a different feel to a screened porch, but realistically, wouldn't you get more use out of a 4 season room? You have to build a foundation and roof for a screened porch, so that's already a major expense. Adding an insulated wall and lots of windows would cost more up front, but get you much better living space, IMO. Anne
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New House Plans... Please help and critique...
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Comments (10)
I don't think it's a bad plan, but it needs some tweaking: - I agree that the post in the foyer has to go. The space just doens't allow for it. - Do you intend to use the office as an office? It appears to be set up for a possible bedroom. Since it looks like money is an issue, I'd consider eliminating the 3rd bathroom. This space in this bathroom and the adjacent closet would make this area into a good-sized family room /office, and it would give you a place where someone could watch TV without disturbing the rest of the family in this otherwise very-open floorplan. - If you can go to 2000 square feet, I'd add a little extra width in the great room -- once you have furniture placed to the middle of this room (to allow walkways), you're looking at a rather tight room. - The dining room is too small for the table you've drawn. Also, squaring off that odd corner in the dining room will allow for better circulation around the table AND will cost less to build. I'd go with a sliding glass door in the dining room; that takes care of the "swing problem" and doesn't cut into your floor space. - As for the kitchen, I'd make it into a galley kitchen -- more usable space, and it could be a little more narrow (probably 9 foot wide, as opposed to your current almost 12), giving you a little more space in the great room -- space that could become a real eating bar. I'd adjust the pantry /laundry rooom ... oh, I'm just going to draw a sketch. - I'd try to give a little more sinks space to the hall bath. - I'd move the back-bedroom closet to the other side of the rooom. It'd provide a buffer between the bathroom /living room (noise), and it'd allow for nicer windows towards the back yard. - Is that a window in the front closet bedroom? I'd look at moving this closet somehow.
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Please critique new plan with narrow aisles
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Comments (8)
thank you ladies for responding. Rhome- realistically probably only one stool will fit here at the end of the island. two kids in a pinch. I was trying to think of some peninsula bridging the kitchen and eating area that could sit 2 or 3 people but everything I drew looked strange. If anyone has any great ideas here I'd like to hear them! - yes it's a long way from the stove to the eating area but the fridge is used much more often than the stove. - good idea about swapping the cooking area with the 15" cabinet on the right, will have to check clearances if I get a range for this area.Thanks! -the dining room is used as a main project and crafts area when it is not holiday or guest time. - that "open to family room" area is a main thoroughfare since it is the way to the garage.It is also the large open area in our house where the boys like to roughhouse. I have ideas for turning it into more of a mudroom function but that is for later. bmorepanic- I thought with this configuration the traffic aisle near the three doors would keep people out of the prep/cook zone. The coffee center and fridge are near the cleanup sink so that snackers and drinkers would never have to enter the prep/cooking area. You have a good point about the dishwasher. I could decrease the depth of the overhang on the island a bit. I tried the configuration of swapping the hood with the fridge and forgoing the uppers on the sides of the hood, but that loss of two upper cabinets hurts. Also, then the fridge would be inconvenient to the eating area (where we will eat all our meals). I can ask the contractor about replacing the large window over the cleanup sink with a smaller one, butI was really trying to minimize the construction costs with this new plan. Exchanging the new eating area with the kitchen is not an option because of the construction costs. I will ponder on your suggestion of moving alll the task areas. The triple doors cannot be reconfigured. Off to work, I'll get responses in emails but can't access gardenweb at work so won't be able to respond until late tonight at earliest. thank you!! Nancy
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krycek1984
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I would do anything possible to change the shape of the family room. 13x24 is a very akward size and will seem like a bowling alley.

I think that this space could be used more wisely. I've seen plenty of narrow lots with better usage of space. I live in an urban neighborhood and our lot is only 32x94, and many houses here are on even narrower lots. A 50' wide lot is only narrow by modern standards.
dekeoboe
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Are you planning on doing a 5 ft oval drop in tub in the master bathroom? I have been doing a lot of research on tubs lately, and I think it might be tight to have the tub and toilet in the space shown on your plan.

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