Please take a look at this retirement house
We're considering building this house on a narrow lot. It'll be our retirement home. Us two and one adult child who may stay with us the while, the upstairs apartment wouldbe for her.
We want to add a bathtub to the master bathroom, which I think will require more square footage.
We're thinking that the 4-seasons room would hold a custom-made sectional and a large TV on the wall, and it'd be closed off with pocket doors. This would leave the living room for a conversation area.
The wall of windows would face southeast. We're in a warm climate.
Your thoughts would be appreciated!
Comments (16)
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Floor plan enthusiasts please take a look, feedback appreciated!
Comments (17)Instead of having a small separate dining area in its own nook, have it continuous with the living area - no pinch points. That way if you have guests you can turn the table or extend the table into the living area - flexible space. In some of your plans you'll never sit more than six comfortably. Our dining room is 10'x11' and it seats eight with the table turned on the diagonal. We have to squeeze in eleven or twelve for Thanksgiving dinner. There's a nice big breakfast area in the kitchen, but there's a pinch point -can't join the spaces at all. And the LR is in an L-shape to the DR - but the LR is up three steps - arrgh! No flexibility! Which is what you NEED in a small space. You don't want this order of connection DR-K-LR but K-DR-LR. You could save a lot of space by having a much smaller, more efficient U-shaped kitchen. Save a lot on cabinetry and counters too. How many people will work in it at once? I'm the primary cook in my house; 8x11 workspace is plenty big enough for me. Your kitchen corridor eats a lot of space and those islands are really bulky - how about just having people sit at the table to socialize? I'd put the kitchen in one of those dining nooks in the plans and give myself a view while I worked. Your wanting a one-level house, and maybe having your parents live with you, maybe adopting or fostering children, makes me think you ought to consider an accessible bathroom. All your bathrooms look big enough if the layout is right. Look at roll-in showers. At least put in the blocking in the walls for handrails before the drywall/tile goes up. You and I have a lot in common with what we want in a house. Same size, passive solar, low energy use, healthy living conditions - I even want to move back to Western NC which is where my family is from. I just started sketching my plans - a two story, 40'x22' rectangular layout - the minimum number of expensive corners. I'm thinking of it in modular terms - on the west side, a 14x22 great room with dining area. In the 12x22 center module, foyer, stairs, and kitchen. On the east side, 14x14 study or ground floor bedroom, with an 8x14 area behind for accessible bath and laundry. Double pocket doors between great room and foyer and foyer and study - more flex space. Maybe have panels to close off the kitchen for more formal dining. Maybe a masonry heater in the GR? I know the interior walls will shorten the spaces - and maybe I can shave a couple feet off the edges. I've read though that you should build in 2' increments - eliminate some waste. Upstairs, master bedroom and bath over the study. Two more bedrooms over the great room. Window seat, gallery, bath in center module. Walls line up; the plumbing lines up. Strong enough joists and steep enough roof that I can finish a couple rooms in the attic if need or desire arises. So a really boring rectangular layout. Small by today's standards. I figure beauty will have to come from harmony of proportion, materials, colors. No mean, stingy narrow trim, doors or hallways. Actually there isn't much at all in the way of hallways. The foyer is a SPACE, not a passageway, same for upstairs landing....See MoreNeed kitchen design help - please take a look!
Comments (6)I would rather see the stove stay where it is, and the fridge go on the short wall with a panel built on the outside end to hide it. The panel could have a bulletin board and message center with a small shelf below, or even hooks for hanging things, or a collage of family photos, so that it would be interesting when viewed from the entry. I would rather see that than see the fridge head on where the stove is, and then you also have the issues of everything else being blocked when you open the doors. If it is on the end, you can re-hang the doors to open the other way so that they are never in the way of others in the kitchen area. I could see a pantry down near the windows, and a great island in the middle with an overhang on the living room side so that people could sit there and enjoy the view out of the large window. Laughing at the current cabinets - those are what I have in my kitchen!...See MoreOpinions Plz: How often do you take a hard look at your home?
Comments (71)Interesting thread. How often do I take a hard look at my home? Frequently, however that doesn't mean I do much, or anything, about it. I can relate to what stephf said and often play the game of "what would I change if I lived here" in other people's houses but also play âÂÂwhat could I change to improve my worldâ in my own. Most of the time I only change out accessories without buying anything new as have enough to rotate items. I satisfy my need for change by decorating seasonally. I'm not using as many accessories as I used to and my seasonal decor is much more subtle but there are changes to more seasonal colors. Now that it's fall I'm using accessories with fall colors, more natural and wooden items, and a few faux pumpkins/Jack-O-Lanterns. A few years ago we repainted and bought new upholstery with neutral colors so this works well. After many years of trial and error and sometimes not liking my house much I am finally happy with most of my choices and there's not much I want to change right now. When I move (likely in the next couple of years) I will be ready to buy all new upholstered items and will then change my color scheme and perhaps style. I'm a senior but will likely never stop changing things around in my house. I have never changed out everything all at once in 47 years. Have added and eliminated but never decorated from a clean slate. The only time I decorated 'from scratch' was when we moved to Europe for 3 years and bought almost everything new and a few things 2nd hand. Sold everything before we returned home as I had no attachment to any of it. I much prefer to collect over time and let my decor evolve as it will. Some of my old pieces have good memories such as pieces that belonged to DH's and my Grandmothers. I buy several new accessories every year, mostly handmade art pieces now. I have downsized and re-homed many items in recent years and continue to do this. I sell the better things thru a consignment shop and donate the rest to thrift stores. We had this house built 17 years ago and it now looks completely different from the way it did when we moved in. Different color walls, different flooring, different furniture. While I like to think I don't change things often my decor has definitely evolved over time. It has happened so gradually I have never realized until now how different it looks. I still have the same DR furniture, a chair that was DH's Grandmother's, and a small antique sideboard but everything else in the public areas has been acquired since we built. Only the upholstered furniture was purchased new, everything else is antique, vintage, or repurposed. I still have many of the same accessories but also many different ones, purchased new as well as from 2nd hand venues. Realistically I expect my house will continue to evolve subtly and will look quite different 10 years from now....See MoreLooking for feedback on this vacation/retirement home floor plan
Comments (2)OK how many people will be living in the home. What are the ages? How often do you plan to have guests? How often do you entertain? Seems like it will be a lot of work to try and furnish it with all those round curves. I looked online at the floor plan and the photos and honestly, it reminds me of 90% of all the mid-large homes in FL....See More
Lavender Lass
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoI like the idea of the four seasons porch as TV room. Sarah Susanka did something very similar, when she carved off a part of a family room and made it a TV area. So nice to have TV separate from conversation.
Just a few ideas for bathroom/laundry areas. If you don't need a shower in the downstairs guest bath...this might work. Have fun with the planning : )
Jessica Peterson thanked Lavender Lass
Jessica Peterson
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
cpartist
7 years agoJessica Peterson
7 years agoThe wall of windows faces SouthEast, and we're in the South with hot summers and mild winters.
The lot is 75 x 190.
We like the side courtyard because it allows the main rooms to have window acess from the south and it takes advantage of the long, narrow lot. We are planning to make the courtyard wider than it appears in the image.
The exterior's just simple and basic.
Why would a bedroom over the garage be problematic? Please explain about the suppopt walls that'd be expensive. I like the layout and think it'd be nice for our adult daughter.
Do you think the kitchen'll be dark with a wall of windows in the dining room right next to it?
Here are a couple pictures from the website. I don't like the color scheme of this first one.
I like this one with the red walls best. I like the courtyard's presence in the house.
Here's a possible furniture layout. To make it larger, I blew it up into two separate pictrues. The table is been using all of my married life (that's 27 years), so I know I'm hpapy with the size. That's a hutch next to it.
The living room furniture is sized like my current living room furniture. We'll get a new set, but it may not be imediately.
I'm thinking of havin ga custom sectional made for the 4 seasons room, and I'd want it to be long enough to fill the whole back wall. The brown item is a set of shelves to hold the TV, electronics and books. I think the 4 seasons room for the TV room is kind of what makes this house.
cpartist
7 years agoThe wall of windows faces SouthEast, and we're in the South with hot summers and mild winters.
Which explains why you want the view out that side. :) I'm with you on that! Can you note where due north is? I'm wondering if you can't make better use of the lot?
The lot is 75 x 190.
That does make it somewhat more difficult to design for although honestly, I think you can do even better. I don't think with such a long lot you need to put the garage front and center. Have you considered putting it towards the back with a breezeway or even the laundry/mudroom connecting it? Then putting the guest/daughter suite above?
Here I did a very rough sketch on paper to show you what I mean. Of course after I did it, I realized I forgot the guest bathroom but that's easy enough to add in even next to the guest bedroom between the master bedroom and guest bedroom to act as a buffer even.
Excuse my doing it on paper. As an artist, I just find it much faster to hand draw it out than move boxes on a computer and I wasn't doing it to scale but was just trying to show you how the garage doesn't have to be taking up the front of the property.
We like the side courtyard because it allows the main rooms to have window acess from the south and it takes advantage of the long, narrow lot. We are planning to make the courtyard wider than it appears in the image.
I absolutely agree with you 100% and was hoping that was your reasoning. However again, having the garage in front I think is limiting you. If you moved the garage towards the back like they did in old houses from the 20's on narrow lots, where the driveway up the side of the house is one car but opens to a two car towards the back, I think you'd have a better use of space inside the house.
The exterior's just simple and basic.
If you want to see my plan (just let me know), you'll see that my exterior is simple and basic too. I prefer simple!
cpartist
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoUser
7 years ago
PROVirgil Carter Fine Art
7 years agoSt561 W
7 years agocpartist
7 years ago- PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago Jessica Peterson
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoI can't say I never have overnight guests. Just that they're rare enough that I'm not concerned about the two main floor bedrooms sharing a wall. I'd be okay with the hall bath being a toilet and sink connected to the masteer, a jack and jill.
The bathroom is really the thing where I'd most like ideas.
Virgil I see you're very concerned about windows. I said above that I'd like to add a window to the laundry and the master bathroom. I don'ot see any point in windows in the garage, so we're really only talking about the kitchen.
I like the idea of the windows overlooking the courtyard. I'm plannnig on making the courtyard wider, and it'll have a water feature and a hot tub under the covered porch. I love gardening, and I like the idea of making this look like a Charleston courtyard, but this is a retirement house and I don't think I can keep maintaining a large yard like we have now.
cpartist, I appreciate you drawing this sketch. I can see moving the garage to the back, though it would mess up the nice little upstairs suite. It would allow windows in the kitchen. I don't care for the reworked living room and 4 seasons room. The relationship between these two rooms is one of the main things I like about this plan, and moving it across the entryway changes it.
The upstairs room has two windows now. I can see adding another one behind the area where I'm imagining the sofa, and another could be placed to the left of the staircase.
The exterior picture is the same house, but it's flip flopped.
Fire safety is a concern.
I do agree that this plan has a townhouse feel. I'm surprised I didn't see that earlier.
Lavender Lass
7 years agoAnnKH
7 years ago
cpartist