Feedback on floor plan
Diana South
7 years ago
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cpartist
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoDiana South
7 years agoRelated Discussions
feedback on floor plan
Comments (12)I'm also having trouble reading the plan correctly, so my comments may or may not be appropriate: - First, I'm with bpathhome in saying that the entryway is vastly oversized. This is essentially a hallway, but it's as large as your living room. I'd also go with a straight stair. As it's shown, the little turn looks like something over which people will trip -- or move the stairs to the corner, so that the little turn will work. - At a glance, I'd consider scooting the dining room left into the entryway. This would give you a view of the lovely stairs (which at Christmas would be a focal point with greenery and lights), and it would be a much better use of space. Then I'd bring the garage front /left into what's now the dining room -- but keep the side entrance so you don't have the garage door as a front-yard focal point. Given that you're looking at an oversized garage (why?), you could have one driveway with two cars turning left into the two-car garage and one car going straight into a single garage straight ahead of the driveway. Dividing an oversized garage cuts down on its massive appearance. - Or you could drop to a two-car garage and have nice big windows in your kitchen. As your kitchen is drawn now, it will be a bit dark. - Your plumbing is strung all over the house -- kitchen in one corner, laundry way over by itself, master bath as far from the kitchen as it can go. This is an expensive choice. If your plumbing can "back up to" other plumbing (i.e., if the kitchen and the master bath can share a wall), you'll save quite a bit. It's cheaper NOT to need to run pipes all the way across the house. Also walls that contain water must be thicker than plain walls; thus, keeping water in only a few walls saves you on space. Finally, if you have water pipes everywhere, you have more potential spots to leak. Consolidating your plumbing would be a huge improvement; and don't neglect "stacking" your upstairs baths above the kitchen or another bath. - Still kind of on the subject of plumbing, your laundry is placed in an inconvenient location. Most people like to have the laundry adjacent to the bedrooms (where the dirty clothes tend to be discarded), or close to the kitchen (where people spend the day). You're going to grow tired of carrying baskets across the house and down that little hallway. Your laundry room is fairly large, but you don't have any space for folding clothes. For so much space, you can have a more efficient room. - Is your pantry wide enough to allow storage on both sides? If not, I'd steal a bit from the dining room, which looks plenty big, to make this happen. - Why two doors out to the back? Doors are more expensive than windows, doors are less energy-efficient, and doors are easier to break into. I'd go with a bank of large windows and one single door to the back porch. - I can't read the dimensions on the master bedroom, but it looks like lots of wasted space at the foot of the bed. You can't really put furniture there. - Will the living room TV be on the wall shared between the master and the living room? If so, be sure to insulate well to avoid the TV keeping people in the master bedroom awake. - Is that the master bath, and then the master closet? I'd reconsider this. Corners are prime space -- they allow you to have nice windows on both sides. Light coming in from two sides is always nicer than just one side, and they make a room more comfortable and spacious-feeling. I'd not waste a corner on a closet. - On that same subject, I'd add windows to the back wall of the master bedroom. - I hate those double-doors. Think through this: You enter the room, push open the two doors, and reach for the light switch . . . where is it? It's behind the door. So you must enter the room, close the door and feel behind the door in the dark to locate the switch. Why? Because electrical items tend to go in before the doors are placed. As first-drafts go, it's okay, but it's time for revisions!...See MoreFirst Time Post - Feedback on Floor Plan for Timber Frame
Comments (19)Wow thanks everyone for good questions and feedback. Kirkhall: I fixed the door swings thanks for that. The split closets on the left bedroom are meant to be a storage room and then the closet for the room. In my latest draft my wife and I opened the right closet to make a nook with a window out back. Less closet space upstairs but we have a ton in the basement. As for the bedroom on the right we want to do a built-in bookcase where the gap is between closets. AlexHouse: All I can say is WOW :) The feeling we are going for is more of the rock arch over the range and then the pizza oven next to it faced in the same rock so as to extend the look. We are using thin sliced stone for the walls to save money. LauraJane02: Thank you for that idea but we still need to think about the door changes for the MBR. Still not sure what will work for us. The new layout is simpler and uses the space better but we arent sure how to shift it. Still taking ideas. AM.E: I dont have any good elevations just yet BUT here is a sample I got from one TF company we asked for a estimate from. Modified Home Plans It is close to what we want except wtill working on the front proch roof line. Overall though it is the correct feeling. We are doing SIPs except the roof in the walkway we are doing stick built. And the garage will be 100% stick. As for the open areas, thats the point of doing Timber :) at least for us. We love that open yet homey feel of the timber frame with trusses. We will build in the fall/winter this year if all comes together :) Thanks again everyone!...See MoreFirst Post - Looking for Feedback on Floor Plan Please!
Comments (13)This is why I love these boards, THANK YOU pps7, I never would have thought of switching the stairs for the office. It's really something I am going to give some thought to. Pros: - it really takes a bite out of that loooonnng upstairs hallway and it would provide 2 walls for windows in an office Cons - on resale, if it is converted back to a dining room, it makes it far from the kitchen area if it is moved to the far end of the house. And also, I like the central location of the office as I work from home and I go from the kitchen to my office, back to the kitchen, back to office, to the great room, to the bathroom, back to office, etc etc all day long. You get the idea. I will also have frosted french doors facing the south great room side of the house, so even if closed, I will get some light from 2 sides. It won't be a bright room though, as there is a covered porch in the plan in front of that north window. That makes me want to move it to the corner of the house hmmm... I will mention that to my architect. As for the full vs half bathroom, you are right also, and I know it, but I really struggled to get the room to put in a powder room there, as the plan called for just a closet. Adding an extra 30 or so inches for a bath just takes more space and $$. But, you are right, DH's cousin just had to move her elderly mother into her house and she had to gut half her garage to make a shower area on the main level for her because she only had a powder room and the lady can't climb stairs. 30" doesn't seem that bad compared to what she had to do. And my DH was in a wheelchair for a YEAR because of an extremely badly broken leg about 10 years ago, and we were young couple with a baby at the time, not elderly at all. Luckily our house was/is a bungalow, we would have really been in a pinch. Very much food for thought. As for point #3, I actually like NOT having the master bedroom in the corner. I don't want more windows in the bedroom. It's bad enough the master faces the south side of the house and calls for big windows. I own a rental cottage which has an almost identical master bedroom and bathroom and corners on the south and east side of the house with a 9 ft patio door facing south. We stay there in the summer and my face is about 3 ft from this huge patio window. Even with drapes, it is just soooo sunny and bright in my face, I keep waking up from 6 am onward grrr. I have pictured it below just for fun. Also, coincidentally, the master bath is almost identical too to this house plan. I designed this cottage master bedroom and bathroom 3 years ago as an addition, and I guess that's why I like this plan I found, reminds me of my cottage!...See MoreLooking for feedback on floor plan
Comments (11)How big is the pantry? What's in there now? How do you use it? What's in the foyer where the china cupboard is? Pictures are good, but quick sketches are also fine. I'm looking for ways to push your functional space out into the areas, by leaving the wall intact (if load bearing) but maybe creating pocket openings into which stuff can be recessed. Diagonal sinks, IMO, use up much more space than they save. A good-sized,, but not ginormous single bowl may be the best option in a small kitchen Do you need to have all the small appliances out on a daily basis? Perhaps some can live in the pantry. Have you considered making your counters and cabs deeper than normal (30" instead of 24") to get more countertop and cab space. Both options are a bit more costly but in your case, which such a small kitchen (and few cabs and modest amount of countertop surface - which is priced per square foot) it might be a very cost-effective upgrade. Search for references here and google 30" deep counters for more info. It also allows regular depth fridges to be tucked in a bit more resulting in a more counter-depth look without the extra cost, or loss of space, for a true counter-depth model. Fridges can't be installed slap against a wall as that will (if hinged on the wall side) interfere with the door opening fully and access to the hinge-side crisper drawer. Have you considered a smaller range (24 or 27")? In small kitchens every inch counts and for the same number of burners you have less space "wasted" in the middle of the cooking top itself. Ovens are smaller, though that may not be an issue. I was wondering if you had considered swapping the range and fridge locations. Put a narrow tall cab (could be the broom closet) beside the fridge against the currently proposed broom closet cupboard (which could be used for something else.) HAve a counter on the pantry entrance side of the fridge. Prevents having a cramped, slot of counter space between fridge side and chimney wall. On the exterior (sink) wall have a narrow-ish cupboard against the living room wall (to keep the range from being against a wall and give pot handles a bit of elbow space, especially if you consider a 24" range), the range, counter/cab, then the sink under the window and an 18" DW against the foyer wall. Moving the range to the exterior wall would make ventilation easier (and better and cheaper) and you could get rid of the OTR MW/fan. I am really interested in the pantry space as I think therein lies some useful solutions to your pretty tight space. Maybe the wall and doorway into the pantry can be completely eliminated and that space incorporated into the kitchen proper. A very useful tool is to sketch proposed options on graph paper, allows for easy sizing of potential items. Much easier to work with when doodling around than a computer drawing. It's the "what-ifs" stage, when all things are on the table that some of the best solutions appear. At the planning stage don't rule anything out (e.g.can't move electrical service for range, too expensive). While any one thing may be costly the expense in one are that solves another problem sometimes balances things out. Things can also be done in stages, as well, when there are budgetary restraints. And don't think that even the priciest/biggest of kitchens don't also have both space and budget issues, cause they do. Just different ones. Also are the openings you have measured for the doorways actual openings, or the dimensions including trim on either side. Those are very wide openings and you might be able to harvest a few very-needed inches from each - assuming you don't have any need for universal design, or wheel chair access at the moment. (The actual openings in the doors in my house vary between 29-31", I even have a pantry door that was only 24" wide, but we had to change it to get a freezer in that room.) Just looking at all the options you may have. HTH L....See Morecpartist
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agodoc5md
7 years agolafdr
7 years agojust_janni
7 years agoDiana South
7 years agoDiana South
7 years agocpartist
7 years agoDiana South
7 years agoDiana South
7 years agoDiana South
7 years agoDiana South
7 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
7 years ago
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