Please Review my House Plans :)
midwestmama
14 years ago
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midwestmama
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agomacv
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Home Plan - Please Review - Pretty Pretty Please :)
Comments (13)You've obviously put a whole lot of thought into your floorplan and how to make it meet the needs of your family. I like it a whole lot but I do have a few questions and concerns. Not sure what you mean by "maximize light coming in from the bathroom off the mudroom." Are you wanting light from that bathroom window to spill into the mudroom and provide natural light there? If so, I don't think there is anyway to get very much light to spill over and still give the bathroom the necessary privacy, You CAN put an interior transom windows up over the bathroom door which will allow some light spillover. And, you could use a frosted glass door for the bathroom door. I'm not a fan of the latter except in masterbedrooms where there is less need for a total "sense" of privacy. You might also consider putting in a light tube to bring natural light into the mudroom. I have another concern about the bathroom by the mudroom tho. Not sure if that is a shower or a dog-shower or a utility sink in the lower right hand corner but with it there, you have no space in front of the vanity sink to stand while washing hands. What is that room between the staircase and the office? I can't read what is says and, at first, assumed it was your pantry but then I found the pantry down next to the dining room. I agree that a larger pantry would be nice. As your kids get older, you're going to have bikes and other sports equipment to store in the garage. It would be nice to have room for the second freezer inside the house so that the garage space could be dedicated to that other stuff. The hallway on the children's side may be too narrow to easily move furniture into their bedrooms. There is an indication that it is 3'4" wide (which would be plenty wide) but based on the grid background, it looks like the wall to wall width may only be about 2'8". Does the 3'4" measurement include the 4" deep walls on both sides? If the actual wall-to-wall hall width isn't at least 3'0", you might want to consider bumping the left exterior wall out another couple of inches. Given the overall size of the house, a few more inches won't make a noticeable difference in the cost to build. But a too narrow hallway will bug you forever! To maintain exterior symmetry, you would probably also want to bump out the exterior wall on the garage/masterbedroom side of the house as well. But, a few extra inches on that side could be useful as well. The only thing about the design that I really really don't like is the powderroom that opens directly into the living room. Guests will be squemish about using a PR that is so centrally located...too much concern that others will hear them as they go about their business or, even worse, if their business tends to create a bit of a stink, the smell will waft out into the living room before the bathroom vent fan can take care of it. And, do you really want to be looking at a toilet when your babies leave the bathroom door open while there are guests in the house. IMHO, that bathroom REALLY needs to be moved to a location further from the center of activity. The closet for bedroom III seems a bit small - especially for a girl who will eventually get to be a teenager! Also, be aware that your dryer needs to vent to the outside. It is easiest to vent a dryer that is on or very near an exterior wall. Given the location of your laundry room, I've linked below to some info that you should probably read regarding venting a clothes dryer. Just a thought but, have you tried putting the playroom in the middle of the left wing then having two short halls leading off of it with two bedrooms at the front, and two bedrooms and the laundry room at the back? And the guest powderroom tucked in to the left of the study so that one must go down a short hallway from the living room to reach it? this is really really rough but may give you some ideas Here is a link that might be useful: dryer vent info....See MorePlease review and critique my house plan design
Comments (1)You must be excited! Most of it works quite well. I have a few thoughts: Are you planning on your son and daughter sharing a bathroom? Is bedroom #4 a guest bedroom? If you have 3 bathroom, why not give each of your children their own? especially since they are different sexes and getting older. I would make bath #2 an en suite bath for bedroom #3. Swap the laundry room and bathroom #3. Then bedroom #2 can use bath #3. You can keep direct access to bath #3 from bedroom #4 if you'd like. The dining space in the family room looks tight. Make sure it fits your table. Make sure there's enought elbow room for the toilet in the master bath. The door from the garage should swing into the home....See MoreNew lake house plans needs review please....
Comments (24)Consider: Providing an opening between the carport and the Entry Porch and eliminate the door from the carport into the house. Rethink the kitchen layout to tighten up the work triangle, locate the double ovens just outside the work triangle, and relocating the entry into the pantry. Accessing the closet directly from the M. Bedroom without having to go through the M. Bath. Same concept with Bedrm #2/Bath. Eliminating the gas chamber in the M. Bath. Swinging the M. Bedrm's door in the opposite direction into the room. Allowing space around the (if that is a) freestanding tub for cleaning. Aligning the double doors leading to the Screened Porch with the main entry doors. Having the entry to the pantry only off the Entry. Eliminating the porch outside the kitchen windows. Allowing three feet of space for the watercloset in Bedrm #3's Bath. Making all porch roof slopes the same. . Your draftsman should be able to understand the comments....See MorePlease review my new colonial home plan
Comments (51)Overall impression: It's a decent house. Specifics I'd consider: - It doesn't seem to be a Colonial -- more like a Southern Porch house. A Colonial is more likely to have a small stoop over the front door rather than a house-wide porch. The good news is that a stoop is going to to considerably less expensive than a wide front porch, and you're unlikely to ever USE the front porch anyway. Examples of Colonials with a stoop: - Your foyer is large ... I'd lose the bump-out. You have plenty of space for people to enter /stand by the stairs as they take off their coats. - Your downstairs circulation looks good. - Your rooms are large. I live in a 1970s ranch, and my rooms are roughly the same. The positive is that they're comfortable for a growing family. The negative is that you need lots of furniture, and making a change (painting a room or changing the carpet) is expensive. I'm looking forward to downsizing, but my kids are out of the house. - You have three eating spaces here: dining room, kitchen island, breakfast room. Probably a space outside too. Is this in keeping with your lifestyle? Do you really need all these eating areas, or have you just put them in because "it's what nice houses have"? - Same question about the gathering-spaces on the first floor ... you have a large living room AND a large family room AND an office. How do you anticipate using each of these spaces? For most families, a "happy medium" is a large space where a group can gather coupled with a smaller space that can be closed off for visual /acoustical privacy. This combination allows the family to be together AND it allows for one person to separate to work, read a book, watch a ballgame alone, listen to music, etc. You seem to have two large spaces and one very small "away room". - This is a small thing, but you don't want those short wing-walls dividing the breakfast room from the family room. They'll just be in the way. You can differentiate the spaces at the ceiling. - The office/bedroom is a great size for an office ... not so great to ALSO accommodate your arthritic guest. Note, too, that your guest will have to walk out of the room /around a closet to reach the bathroom ... at the very least, move the closet towards the front of the house to position the guest closet to the bathroom. How deep is that pantry closet? It's probably 18-24", whereas a shower needs to be at least 30" deep. - What I would do with these three public gathering spaces: Make the living room into a living room /office /bedroom /divide it off with doors on both sides /use it as the "away space". Keep the family room "as is". Lose the current office /bedroom ... and, instead, use that space for a larger bathroom /mudroom /definitely keep the pantry. - Consider built-ins on each side of the fireplace ... you need storage in the family room. - No, no, no to the winder steps ... these pie shaped steps are dangerous. Instead, go with a solid, square landing. - Consider your backyard access. You have one door, which will be hard to reach because the breakfast table will sit smack-dab in front of it. - The mudroom is small but adequate ... though, being in the the middle of the house, it will be a dark /uninviting welcome home. - What size is the garage? Most people here will say that 24x24 is a good size. Straighten out the family room and the garage so the roofline and the side wall will be simple /economical. Upstairs ... - I like that you have the laundry positioned near the bedrooms. So many saved steps. - The kids' bedrooms are fairly large, but their closets are minimal. - All of the bedrooms should have windows on the sides ... natural light from two directions improves every room. - The poor kid in Bedroom 3 will hear the washer /dryer going thump-thump-thump and the shower running. Ideally you'd place closets between the kids' bedrooms as a sound barrier. Note that the kid in Bedroom 3 will knock the bedroom door against the closet door /will ruin both doors. - Divided bathrooms don't really work out so well. With two bedrooms, I'm assuming you have two kids ... two can certainly share one bathroom. I'd lose the duplicate sinks ... drawer storage near the sink is vastly superior to multiple sinks. - Why such a large master bedroom? - Double doors leading into bedrooms don't work out so well. Consider that you need two hands to open the doors ... and consider where your light switches will be (hint, behind the door)....See Moremidwestmama
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