Suggestions for improvement on my First Plan!

mwtuck

11 years ago

This is a self drawn house plan that I have been working on for a while, and would like comments from others!

It has 2 bedrooms upstairs, with the master having a walk in closet with the washer/dryer in that area.

Let me know with any questions or comments!

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Comments (7)

zone4newby
11 years ago
I like all the windows!
Who will live here? What is the climate?

My first impressions:

What do you plan to do with the stretch of wall next to the stairs? It seems like it would be hard to use, but it's a lot of space to go unused.

I would not care to have to walk through my master bedroom closet to get to the laundry. If the two rooms must be linked, I would much rather walk through the laundry to get to the closet, but I don't think either is ideal.
kelhuck
11 years ago
I like the plan, as well.

Like zone4newby, I don't like the laundry where it is. I think it'd be a better layout to enter the closet and step to the right to get to the W/D and step left to get to the clothes.

I also don't like all the wasted space in the foyer.

The appliances as drawn appear to be inefficient. The kitchen forums could help you with that.

Not a bad plan, imo!
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I enjoyed looking at your plan and seeing the concrete results of your family's needs worked in so well. Now, I'll segue into my wood-stove fire-safety spiel: No matter how "high-tech" or "easily regulated" a woodstove is, it still will have some surfaces that are fiercely, even dangerously hot. You didn't describe the wood stove as a masonry heater, so I'll assume that it is some variety of cast iron/sheet metal even if it has some soapstone facing. What I write below applies to all of the above, except a true masonry heater. We heat our upstate NY farmhouse entirely with wood so I have more than 40 years experience with them. I also have dozens of small burn scars on my hands and wrists from accidental contact with the stove while loading it. Woodstoves when properly running are so hot almost any contact will instantly burn some skin right off. You mentioned that some members of your household are challeneged. Are you absolutely sure they will be able to appreciate the potential danger and protect themselves? I have had members of my household where that was not true, though I had thought so initially. In addition to potential human contact, I have a cat at present that will jump up on to a burning woodstove (650F)- resulting in terrible burns on her pads. I have had dozens of cats living here (I do rescue fostering) and this is the only one who has done it (and more than once). Now we have to have the stoves "walled" off with exercise pen caging to keep her safe. Finally, all woodstoves have minumum safe clearance distances to combustible materials (walls, wooden furniture, soft upholstery and books and papers) these must be observed or you risk starting a house fire. The manufacturer of your stove will have this info in the specs. While it is fine to draw up a chair closer to the stove while you are sitting there, and awake, you need to build in safe guards so that when the stove is burning any combustible material cannot be inadvertently left closer than the specs allow. It is easy to forget the requirements when busy with your day. Woodstoves do NOT turn on and off quickly, they often require hours to wind back down so whatever is used near them has to default to safe distances without needing too much second thought. If you are thinking of having a hearth, but perhaps want to avoid some of the extreme temperature risks of a wood-burning appliance, then you might consider a stove or insert that burns wood pellets. The surface temps are generally much lower (all our cats fight to sleep on top of the pellet stove while it is burning) so it safer to be around. The wood pellets are easy and clean to move around (come in 40 lb bags), which is an improvement on the messiness of wood fuel. The chimney cleaning issues with pellet burners are less intense, etc. The only downside is that I believe all pellet burners require electrical power to run their fuel feed and combustion blowers, so they don't work in power outages. Many have very nice fire-viewing glass fronts. Another option (though a good bit more expensive) is a masonry heater. These rely on massive amounts of stone warmed by short hot fires, perhaps only two per day. As a rule masonry heaters are completely safe to touch, sit on, etc. I'll add this as a teaser for your DH: some masonry heaters also come with wood-fired ovens for pizza, bread- making, etc. They do not require power to run, so during power outages can be counted on to function as your oven as well as heating the room. For some reason, wood-fire ovens are perennial man-pleasers; there's some atavistic draw to them, I think. HTH, L
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palimpsest
11 years ago
What is the reasoning behind the double recess at the entry?

The area between the steps and the living room is not well defined, and the living room itself is not well defined in it's boundaries, either: the refrigerator jutting into the space is rather unpleasant. There is also no coat closet anywhere near the front door. I am not a fan of the angled double door solution for the den. I see it on a lot of plans but I don't understand the rationale behind it.

I agree about the laundry room. It may be nice to have a stack washer dryer there for convenience but I would not want the primary laundry in the master bedroom. The little jut out in the master bath adds complexity to the roof, as does the angled portion to the upper left of the kitchen.

The living room is large but it looks like a difficult place for furniture layout. The stub of wall in the lower left hand corner doesn't align with anything in particular...what is its purpose?

If you are having a set of stairs Down from the garage, why not a second set Up to the second floor?

Also your plumbing is all spread out, which adds to expense. With some juggling you could get the master bath and hall bath adjacent.
mwtuck
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you for the comments, suggestions!

We are a family of 4, two young kids right now, maybe more in the future! We are in Iowa, so the weather is up and down.

As for the space in the foyer, I agree that there seems to be some wasted space, but not sure what to do with it. We have a piano and a couple other decorative items that we will probably try to fill the area out with.

As far as the bath, I appreciate your comments. We have visited a couple homes where the laundry is near the back bedrooms instead of in the mudroom and it really makes sense to me, to have it located close to where the clothes are. We are also going to have a laundry in the basement. I do the like idea of possibly moving the laundry to the other end of the closet, I will take a look at that.

As for the recess at the entry, I am considering changing that to just a straight wall, it would be less costly and I think it may look better. I would then add a coat closet as well.

I agree about the refrigerator sticking out into the foyer space, but I am not sure what to do about that...

Im not following you about the stairs. This is just a ranch home with a full basement, so there are two sets of stairs to the basement, one in the garage, and one in the house.
kirkhall
11 years ago
I think pal read it as I did: "2 bedrooms upstairs" to mean that there were 2 additional bedrooms upstairs. But, apparently, you meant, 2 bedrooms on the main level and a basement with _______...

I don't think you need 2 sets of stairs to the basement. What if you put a garage entry door into the foyer as well (for access to a single set of stairs to the basement?

I'd also not like having to go through the master and the master closet to get to the laundry. Once your kids are a little older, you'll encourage them to do their own laundry and having access to the laundry from the hall would be excellent... flipping the closet and laundry would do wonders for that situation.

I also don't think your study needs to be diagonally door'd. Is there a reason you did it? It isn't needed for space. Maybe you like the idea of a diagonal location for study doors?
User
11 years ago
I would try to avoid opening a front door directly into a main living space.

Making a feature of a stair going down creates a large volume of space and tall walls that disappear into a hole.

The kitchen work space is large and awkward. Perhaps an island would make it more efficient and avoid the "dogleg" counter bends.

With such a deep front door setback you could easily create an entry vestibule.
User
11 years ago
I would try to avoid opening a front door directly into a main living space.

Making a feature of a stair going down creates a large volume of space and tall walls that disappear into a hole.

The kitchen work space is large and awkward. Perhaps an island would make it more efficient and avoid the "dogleg" counter bends.

With such a deep front door setback you could easily create an entry vestibule.

Suggestions for improvement on my First Plan!

Comments (7)

zone4newby

kelhuck

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palimpsest

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Suggestions for improvement on my First Plan!

Comments (7)

zone4newby

kelhuck

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palimpsest

mwtuckOriginal Author

kirkhall

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mwtuck
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