New Build, house plan - needs review - urgent.
clevelandnewbuild
9 years ago
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need help with new build house plan... please critique!
Comments (9)The best houses are 1-1.5 rooms deep, absolutely no more than 2 ("rooms" include garages and covered porches). Light and breezes have a harder time reaching interior spaces when the house is fatter than 2 rooms. Because of this, the best course of action, I think, is to toss this plan altogether, sorry. :-( The Philippines is a beautiful, friendly country, with a rich culture... Would you consider hiring a Filipino architect to design you a great place that works with the spirit of the locale? You could really get something awesomely special! Side notes: -- Bedrooms on corners are awesome, but take care to place windows where you have enough space for drapes... extending the curtain rod 8"-12" on either side of the window is best, to make a window look larger, and to allow the fabric to be pulled completely away from the glass. -- Most Americans will think it's strange to have an outdoor laundry area, but if this is normal/expected in the Philippines (it was where I spent most of my childhood, outside the US), then having a powder room instead is a good idea, I think. :-)...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 Morehouse building plan review
Comments (10)Why would you put the bathroom and closet on outside walls in the bedroom instead of the bedroom on the outside walls? A 5' square closet is not a walk in closet. It's too small to be a walk in closet and will only allow for hanging on one wall. Better to have reach closets as you'll have more hanging space. Double vanity is too small for two sinks. 11' deep is rather narrow for a master bedroom depending on the size of your bed and if you intend to put in a chest of drawers. Is anyone actually sleeping in the bedroom between bathroom and garage because if they are, and someone in the other bedroom uses the bathroom in the middle of the night, they will hear all the noises. Don't like that you have to walk through kitchen to get to dining area because then your kitchen becomes a walkthrough. Garage is only large enough for one car. Where will you sort clothes? Hang them up? Will you have piles of clothes in the middle of the hallway? What does the exterior of the house look like? Which direction is north?...See MoreCustom build after being in same home since ‘92. Plan review request.
Comments (8)Thanks for the comments, we made some revisions based on the feedback. Bootybums: driveway comment: we like the courtyard entry style of homes and are working with a landscape architect. The lot is long and much of the drive will be artfully and strategically designed. Dormers: this is also something we like, seems that fake dormers are a love them or hate them feature Master bedroom: we reworked the entire mudroom, laundry and entry to master. You can now get to the master thru mudroom but also via kitchen hallway Cpartist: Have seen you post this exact post on other home design requests. On one a commenter added the “why’s” to your suggestions. That was very helpful. With the redesign we have the spine you referenced. Mark: yes, you are correct and the architect has also added true interior dimensions. Chips a: I should have clarified that the elevation renderings do not reflect our selections. We will not have that many siding materials. You are correct it would appear we couldn’t make up our mind. :) We are now on a pause due to the price of the package bid, hoping a year or two looks much better... Moving onto some refresh projects at home.......See Moreclevelandnewbuild
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