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richfield95

Can't figure out how to fix our floorplan

richfield95
8 years ago

We are looking at reconfiguring the living spaces in our
home, have gone through many ideas but don’t feel any of them really solve
every problem.

The issues we have with our current layout:

When you walk into the house, you are in the middle of the
dining room with a view straight through the kitchen.

The living room is narrow, only 11’, and shortened because
of the kitchen layout.

The kitchen layout is awkward, the refrigerator is too close
to the stove, there is no stove exhaust, only a fraction of the total
counterspace is usable.

The side door leads to the garage is very difficult to use
because it is at the top of the basement stairs and you have to walk through
the office to get there. There is no
closet.

What we like:

Hard woods throughout

A view straight through to the backyard when you walk in

Cherry built-ins and gas fireplace in living room

Living room open to kitchen

Separate office (my husband works from home)

Cathedral ceilings in living room

Design constraints:

The wall between the dining room and kitchen and the wall
between the living room and basement stairs are load bearing. We’re ok with removing one of these.

The living room has cathedral ceilings but there is no
practical way to extend these to other areas of the house.

The office floor is 3” lower than the rest of the
house. It is a converted garage and the
floor is 5” above a concrete slab.

The chimney in the office if for the furnace and can not be
moved.

We like the fireplace (pellet stove) in the office but are
willing to remove it.

The basement stairs can move; however the new location is
limited because living room and office additions are crawl spaces not over the
basement.

We want to reuse the kitchen cabinets. They are hand made by Mennonites and solid
wood

The sliding door in the kitchen/living room leads to a sun
porch.

The entire house has hard wood floors. The floors in the dining room are perpendicular
to those in the kitchen. We want to keep
as much as possible but are open to tile in the kitchen and at the doors.

We have hydronic heat.

Goals:

Wider living room that is open to the kitchen without
looking into the kitchen.

Kitchen relocated so it’s not the first thing you see when
you walk in the door

Dining area off the kitchen, not in the kitchen (I make a
mess when I cook and I don’t want to look at it when I eat)

Separate office that could have a door and could be
repurposed

A useable side entrance with a closet.

Still be able to see through to the back yard when enter the
house.

A front entry; separating it with columns and a partial wall
would be good enough

Here's what we have now:


Our one idea:


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

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