New here. Please critique my house plan sketch, thanks
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
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Please Critique My House Plans... Help Needed...
Comments (12)The secondary bedrooms seem really cramped, size-wise, but I appreciate the need to control square footage. I wouldn't want guests to have access to my study via that powder bathroom, so I would definitely want a lock on that door between powder and study. Even though I'm not a fan of having my office in my bedroom, I would be tempted to do so vs. leaving passwords, bank info etc. in a room just off the room than any passing person would have access to if they borrowed my powder room. It would be annoying to feel like I had to keep that info continually locked up. The living room....I'm not feeling a good furniture arrangement based on the location of door openings. Maybe four awesome club chairs around a round coffee table? Or am I imagining that those windows to the porch are sliding glass doors? I don't mind the size of the master bathroom at all, and don't see any need to make the master bedroom bigger. Bigger is not always more beautiful. Sometimes it is just awkward, full of space that must be filled. I love closets accessed through the bathroom - all my clothing and laundry mess is confined to the area where I dress, undress, bathe, etc. I do not have any clothing storage in my bedroom at all, and I like it that way. I have shelves with baskets for pre-sorting our laundry right as it comes off of us. Great time-saver. Consider flipping the master bathroom closet area and shower/bath area - and add clerestory windows with opaque glass to get some natural light into the bathroom that way, including another source of air to keep the shower dried out. If you also flip the stairs, you can have a door to dump dirty laundry right into the laundry room from the master bath, a huge work-saver. Especially if you can find a way to also send clean baskets of laundry back through an opening. Sweet. Whether you move the stairs or not, a door to access the under-stair area from the garage would be an extremely practical idea if you don't need climate controlled storage. If you flip your master closet, you can simply open up that whole under-stair area directly to the master closet for additional and more secure semi-hidden storage, possibly put a safe in that area, etc. I don't see hanging space for clothing in the laundry area. I can't do without that, as hanging to dry saves electricity and wear-and-tear on clothing. Create a way to put family member's clean clothing as well as backpacks, etc. in the "locker" area. might even be able to use the space for "hang drying." My mom used plastic dishpans set on shelves to sort our clothing so we could put it away ourselves. Add a closet to the study NOW and you can use it (and resell) the house as a 4 bedroom. And hide ugly file cabinets and office supply storage at the same time. We live in a digital age, and we often do not need as much space as we think for our office needs. Steal a little more space and add a shower to that powder bath, given the number of people you have living at home. And/or fix the J&J bathroom to allow access from the hall. Doing this also keeps guests from having to go through other people's bedrooms when the powder room is busy. I'm living with that challenge right now. People living in the bedrooms do NOT appreciate the through-traffic. There are two other potties in the house should an emergency arise during someone's shower. Also, I despise seeing a sink from the inside of a bedroom with these J&J set ups. So unsightly. Love that you only have one dining area. If it isn't big enough in real life, consider making the LR into a glorious DR-cum-fireplace, and making the area off the kitchen into a cozy lounge somehow. People can visit with you without helping you in the kitchen, and then everyone can retreat to a gloriously big dining area without any dirty dishes in view. Just a thought. Instead of two kitchen islands, how about one rectangular one that invites flow through the kitchen? The end can have space to sit and put your knees under for those who want to eat in the kitchen. Then you can extend the counter or pantry space all the way to the end of the wall where you currently have an empty spot. Expensive mistake: Front entry looks unpleasantly narrow. This is a big "first impressions" error that could cost you tons of potential buyers in the future. An extra foot or two will make a huge difference here. Seriously. So would a niche with an electrical outlet for a little chest, lamp etc. to create a welcoming feel to the space without impinging on a 4-5 foot wide walk space. Use the bump out creatively in the bedroom behind it by tucking in shelves, a little work-station and/or or a shallow closet in the resulting extra niche in that room. Neither the back nor front porches seem big enough to me. Remember, you can multiply your usable space by extending your outdoor surfaces. It is worth it to invest up front in the hard scape that carries you and all wheelbarrows and wheelchairs and whatnot gracefully and easily around all outdoor spaces and entries and exits. Your house seems to be one of those in which the garage is the main entry, because the front door is so darn far away from the driveway. It is important to make that front door entrance wide, generous, inviting. This costs quite a bit, and I'd hate to see that skimped and then ignored for a decade until you could afford to fix it up right. I really like the extra depth you have along-side the car parking area. Bravo. Read Myron Ferguson's Build It Right if you want great tips on avoiding all sorts of user-hostile home building mistakes. I also highly recommend anything by Sarah Susanka. I may not be spelling that right, but she wrote all the "Not so big house" books. Hope this helps!...See MorePlease Critique My House Plan!
Comments (9)As others have said the garage is nice and big which is fine but does overshadow the rest of the house somewhat. If it can be sideloaded it might help. The windows appear to be casement ..which is fine but you have somewhat narrow windows. I would suggest considering double hung windows. You can usually get them a bit wider and also operable but they are usually cheaper than casements. Im just not a fan of too many narrow windows that you see more frames/sash than you do glass and view. The wrapping porch is almsot worthless. I would consider just taking the house straight across and changing shape and orientation of the closet. The stairs does apprear to be very tight and may not work well. Im not sure of ceiling heights. They should be 42" wide MINIMUM in a scissors stair configuration and the landing should be that deep as well. You have to consider getting furniture up and down. Then you have to consider when its on an outside wall the foundation sticks at least 4 inches further into the landing and if you want to furr it out and finish it you lose another 4 inches. So possibly you may want to add a bit of space there as well. The family room is a bit narrow/shallow at 13'-6" or so. lay out some furniture and you will find it fairly tight Im guessing. The other area that is tight is the laundry. You will be walking through it quite often and clothes and shoes laying around will make it quite tough to keep organized. Its always tough to judge because we arent aware of your restrictions and budget but if possible consider making a seperate laundry room. Good luck...See MoreCritique my house plan (thank you in advance)
Comments (15)Hi David, Thank You for the additional feedback. You have given us many additional items to consider. I wasn't too concerned about not having a coat closet as it rare here in San Diego to be wearing a coat. It would be nice to have. The pantry system that we really liked was similar to a traditional taller pantry but with a combination of slide out drawers inside of a taller cabinet and with additional racks on the doors. The slide drawers seemed to allow easier access to the rear of each shelf. Does this make sense? We would like to have mainly have shelving in place of upper cabinets to make the room open and lighter. We would like to have one upper cabinet to the right of the sink that will hold glassware. We also are considering pushing out the kitchen a small bit to allow deeper drawers near the L. A kitchen designer we spoke with suggested that deeper drawers up to 30" deep cabinet will provide for a lot of good accessible storage otherwise not available. In an average-size kitchen, this is equivalent to three additional base cabinets. The designer also told us that the deeper cabinets will allow appliance storage on the counter-top for frequently used items and still leave useful working counter-top depth. We liked the idea of having a detached barn style garage and we may also not build this immediately. It will likely be built to a lower standard. If we can avoid HVAC inside of it that would be great as it will add additional costs. We have also looked into a mini-split system for the garage. These units are not very popular here, but seem to work well... No Teens yet, we are young couple, but limiting escape routes may be a good idea to consider in the future. Hopefully they don't want to escape! Unfortunately, we will likely have high energy costs during the summer and fall. We would like to reduce the energy usage by building with efficient walls and ceilings (R-40+) and deep overhangs on the more exposed sides of the house. The house will be positioned so that the entrance faces west. Here are aerial images of the lot. We will plan and wire for solar so that the house is "solar ready" but likely not be able to afford to install it. We had not really worried about privacy in the master as we will have significantly more room than where we live now....But privacy is something to consider. We wanted to have a Fireplace both inside and outside, and were wondering if it would make sense to have it located where it could serve the great room and from other side the outdoor living space. I am not certain if it makes sense. Thanks Again for your feedback. Aerials showing orientation posted below ....See Moreneed 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 MoreRelated Professionals
Bull Run Architects & Building Designers · Daly City Architects & Building Designers · Palos Verdes Estates Architects & Building Designers · Spring Valley Architects & Building Designers · Evans Home Builders · Frisco Home Builders · Holiday Home Builders · Manassas Home Builders · Tampa Home Builders · The Crossings General Contractors · Brighton General Contractors · Chatsworth General Contractors · Cumberland General Contractors · Hartford General Contractors · Livermore General Contractors- 9 years ago
- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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