Your experience/practical advice is requested concerning mudrooms
covenantbuilders
14 years ago
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Kathleen McGuire
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
My wife is requesting your advice on her future kitchen.
Comments (6)Garage will be detached and to the left of the house, the primary entrance is in the mud room. Our best views are from the back and the right side of the house. The left side where the pantry is located is facing a neighbors property which isn't unsightly now but I can't guarantee what the future holds. We put the pantry there to keep path for groceries and traffic to a minimum when coming into house. The left side of house will be simplified by the time we build, we kept load bearing walls to a minimum so we have flexibility to change as we want. I originally didn't post entire house so we could focus on kitchen but I saw your point and went ahead and added pic. I also chose to keep the left side of the house the service area of the house, I wanted to do my best containing dirt,noise,normal clutter to one area, with 3 kids and a Bernese puppy (100lbs) we have a lot of traffic. Going back and forth to schools, practices, taking dog out,kids running upstairs and downstairs, trips up and down for laundry etc. it all adds up. We knew hallways are considered wasted space to some but to us the hallways are important for their function. Hall to left of stairs and hallway from mudroom will be the most traveled area in our home, the main corridor from our front porch to back door, the laundry path from the upstairs, and our path to our bedroom. Which is why I made them extra wide, it's not for everybody but to me a giant foyer and huge master bath is my idea of wasted space. The kitchen will serve as a link between our hectic side and living room/dining room area which is to be our sanctuary. Not to noisy or busy when guests are over you can chat and visit without interruption (hard to do with family) and with the dining room in between it seemed as a good conduit to separate the noise from the kitchen not only dishwasher, banging cabinets etc.. but If you prefer to listen to music as you cook it's not drowning out a movie in the living room. I think my wife likes to have the kitchen to herself sometimes so not having directly next to living room but still in line of sight is perfect. We have huge extended family so holidays will mean 30-35 people and so the expanded space will allow the crowd. I did forget to mention that the media/fireplace wall is just a concept at this point something will need to be there but I don't want it to block LR out, possibly a knee wall The back wall and right side of house face the east and with 14-3' x5' windows along the mudroom, kitchen and dining room I cant see light being an issue, I know the pantry window is a small nuisanance but its in line with the island, plus I can see out mudroom windows and I can also see the other 3 sides of the house from standing at the island (try finding a stock plan that does that). I'm trying to understand which wall you think I should bump out, I'm assuming you mean the jog at the rear of the pantry? The kitchen itself is already bumped out the entire back of the house. Are you suggesting further out or removing the jog behind the pantry. The red walls indicate the load bearing walls, not walls that I plan on removing.I think the biggest issue at the moment is trying to determine what the best placement would be IF we had no option to change, then if the best options seemed insufficient then we would have to consider further changes. It's hard for me think that a 17' by 12' kitchen would be so challenging, I guess the lack of wall space is the sticking point. Let me know if you have any further suggestions. Thanks again for taking time to look at....See MoreHow to SAFELY remove loropetalums. Advice requested.
Comments (10)Eleven days later, my loropetalums are gone. I kept exposing and cutting roots and neighbor pulled up both stumps yesterday. One hole is about 5'x3', the one near sewer line much smaller. Dave in NVA, I'm working hard now trying to get a large % of the roots removed. They are intertwined with many smaller roots and a web of surface roots. One I got last night was over 10' long. Using a huge pry bar to lift then sever with various loppers or a hand saw. Will be back soon with measurements of the entire area seeking your advice of planting options. It can be a really attractive front area, maybe with a couple of trees planted 12' or so from the foundation. Appreciate everyone's help. Rosie...See MoreKitchen Layout Help
Comments (26)Also are you ok with having to walk through your bathroom to get to your clothes? Personally and yes, it's a personal decision, I'd rather walk through a hallway with closets on both sides and then enter my bathroom. This way if someone is in the bathroom, I don't have to disturb him if I need an article of clothing. Originally this was reversed, and worked out better since the front window didn't waste any space except to act as a buffer between two vanities. I don't really mind whichever way it lays out, but my better half does. Personally, my sentiments have already been echoed by palimpsest... It's around a bed, not outside to an outhouse. I know that's snarky but really, have we gotten that lazy? Wear Depends to bed then and don't get up :) Someone in the middle of the night will have to constantly walk around the whole bed to get to the bathroom. That would be me. "I am not too keen on the options where the DW opens into the living room." I toyed with putting the DW on the other side of the sink, but then the open DW door will be in the middle of one of the busiest aisles in the home. At least when it's on the Living Room side there's no aisle limit. The DW is on the correct side, or at least it would feel more awkward to the left than right. Attached is probably the best arrangement we've come up with for the laundry/pantry/mudroom area. I'm a little worried that the entry from the mudroom to the kitchen isn't centered on an aisle. At the very least, it frames the window in the background. The pantry took up too much space behind the proposed cleanup area and moving it to the exterior wall gives the garage entry door something to land into. I wasn't able to grab as much real estate as Buehl was proposing, so hopefully the prep area works as shown. Also, we had to loose the bay window off the back of the house, so that eats up a bit of space for the dining room. One more really rough layout that's possible is:...See MoreReporting a concerning experience with a stone fabricator!
Comments (27)There are several ways that a business can effectively and legally ensure prompt payment. Paying upfront in full is, of course, one of them. However, there are problems with that, as people are often reluctant when forced to pay upfront. A better way is to offer a discount for early payment. A person who is reluctant to pay money upfront by demand may have no problem paying that same amount upfront when it is optional and it results in a perceived savings (even if that savings ends near fair market value). Another alternative is to add a fee when payment isn't tendered at the time of installation. When you tell someone that a few hours will cost them an additional $500, it tends to motivate people to pay on time. --- Strong-arm tactics are common in businesses that do questionable work. This guy may have just been burned, but he is choosing the same tactic used by businesses that burn people. Let's be real, if there is a legitimate quality concern, then collecting payment is that much more important. I would also argue the contractor's response to the review is not going to matter. We all use reviews from our perspective and for most customers there is no excusing this....See Morejudydel
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