Initial Home/Garage Lot layout - lake home advice please
So, we have bought a lot on a lake with almost 100 ft of lakeshore. We are really excited about it but due to the size of the lot we are running into some issues. The max build is 80 feet across. My husband has always wanted an 45 degree (?not sure if that is the correct number) angeled garage but we are finding that difficult to do. Our architect is proposing an L shaped home. We aren't opposed but are having it that way , but if we do we are having problems deciding which way to lay it. My number 1 request is LIGHT. Lots of light. It is South facing and we are doing a 2 story great room with full window with dealing a main floor master (still up for debate)
Right L Garage:
1. the master is on the east, kitchen on west
2. garage works well as you see the elevation and front of house as you approach and have open view to left
3. would have to spend some money on filling a culvert and adding driveway because as you can see below there is already a drive way in drainage culvert in place.
4. good line of sight as too who is coming up drive way
Left L. Garage.
1. kitchen/screen porch on the East and master on West,
2. you see the back of the house when you pull up and can't see who pulls up to the house immediately.
3. can use existing driveway
4. sight line is more that you see the back of the garage as you pull in and look at the front of a house in our front yard.
OTHER GARAGE: We are still working on maybe trying to figure out how to get an angled garage to open up the front - but regardless, I still need advice as to where the rooms should be positioned - I am at odds with my architect and would love your advice - or possibly a front facing. Any input or advice? Below is the lot info (we don't have a plan we have agreed on yet so I have just used an existing outline)
Comments (16)
worthy
7 years agoCheap as I am, saving the driveway at the cost of a welcoming and practical facade wouldn't be my choice.
Angling the garage will only emphasize it more than it is already. Again, not usually preferred. (But not everyone's priorities are the same.)
Garage with Attached House of wrestler Bill Goldberg.
mnphotog thanked worthymnphotog
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Advice on Kitchen Layout/Ideas (First Kitchen/First Home)
Comments (6)Luckily, I still had Firefox open so I didn't lose the hours of work I put into it...so here's my reply...again! Ideally, kitchen work flows from Refrigerator/Pantry --> Sink --> Range. However, some common sense does have to be present in that you don't want the refrigerator too far away from the range if you can help it. For example, if you have a refrigerator + 36" counter + 36" sink + 24" DW + 12" cabinet + range...that's probably over 9'...but you can usually do better than that. You also want to be careful where things like the DW are placed...you don't want it in the Prep Zone or in the direct path b/w the range & sink or refrigerator & sink. So, with these comments in mind... First a question...do you need the eating area in the kitchen? You mention a DR...would you be willing to give up seating in the kitchen for a spacious work area? If so, a couple of the plans below will give you that. If not, well I did some w/seating as well. I know you put appliances in specific locations, but if you're open to other ideas, how about something like the first two? They both maximize counterspace where you really need it...between the range & sink for prepping. While they both move the sink out from directly under the window, the still leave the sink very near the window. Since most people spend 70% of their time prepping and only 20% cleaning up, a prep space in front of the window seems like a nice setup. In one case, I added a corner pantry with 12" deep shelves & 15" deep shelves. Most people find that 12" to 15" deep shelves are deep enough and that 18" or deeper are too deep...things get lost. Myself, I have a corner step-in pantry similar to what I put in for you in Layout #1. All my small appliances except my toaster oven fit on the 12" shelves. The 15" shelves provide deeper storage "just in case"...it turned out my potato bins are 15" deep...so it was perfect! [Drywalled pantries are usually less expensive, btw, than pantry cabinets.] In the second layout, I added 5 feet of 18" deep pantry cabinets instead. With an 18" deep pantry cabinet, you have approx 16" to 17" deep shelves inside (account for front & back wall depths). In the third layout, there's a 33" pantry cabinet. (More on the third layout later.) This gives you 3 options for a pantry. Here are the first two layouts that are different than what you specified...note how open the kitchen is with these layouts and how much counter & cabinet storage you have. Layout #1 Layout #2 Layout #1A (Layout #1 w/an eating area) This next one has a small eating area...basically, room for two. It allows you to have a little more room for counters/cabinets than the full-size eating area. (It also shows you more options for seating in the kitchen.) Layout #1B (Layout #1 with small eating area) Layout #3 tries to give you the appliance arrangement you specified while also giving you some decent work space. However, notice how the refrigerator/pantry wall, especially, is "heavy". You come very close to creating a "black hole" corner b/c of the bulk of the refrigerator so close to the window wall. The other issue is that the DW is in the path b/w the sink & range...which is also the space that's most logical for prepping. This first one has the small eating area. It allows you to have a little more room for counters/cabinets than a full-size eating area. Layout #3 Layout #3A Full eating area (like in Layout #1A) ... Which is my favorite? Layout #1. I think it has the best of everything...lots of pantry storage + lots of cabinet & counter space and better balanced with respect to counter space than the others. If some seating is a must, then Layout #1B....See MoreOld house, funky kitchen, grateful for your layout advice!
Comments (39)Interesting and, again, helpful. Thanks to you both! Brilliant to incorporate the Pet Center into the kitchen. As it is, I've got at least half of one big drawer devoted to those things, and I don't much like mixing some of that stuff with food-related items (leaky Frontline packages, I'm looking at you!) They belong in a separate drawer as you have them, or in a mud room near the dog wash, which of course can double as a utility sink. It's not too hard to rig up a proper dog wash, inside or out--depending on the size of the dog and level of recalcitrance when it comes to baths ;) The more I think about it, the more a mud room makes sense for a small house. The only real addition that has been made post-1920s is a large-ish bathroom, with heated floors, a big closet, and a walk-in shower (separate from tub,) that has a nice high window. You can see the high window on the right in my other photos. Anyway, I do think that adding a good-size bathroom onto a tiny house is a huge improvement, especially when you think about sharing the space. A well-designed mud-room/ laundry will have a similar effect, unburdening the kitchen and other spaces from storage of linens, light bulbs, gift wrap, you name it! It's possible I can achieve what I want without adding extra "living" space (a bedroom or studio,) but I wonder if that becomes risky. It'd still be a 2 BR 1Ba house, albeit with ample storage and a comfortable connection to utility space outside. I think I'd like to proceed by designing the mud room and kitchen as if there would be a two story space where the garage is. I'd always imagined that space being linked to the old space through the kitchen, and that "mud" would be housed in the lower portion of the addition (where the garage is presently.) It's so helpful to have feedback like this to keep me from doing something impulsive that might make things better only in the short run. What a great resource you all are! Thanks again....See MoreInitial Draft Plans for an Urban House - Sugggestions?
Comments (29)I agree with your architect. The difference between 1-2 feet is minimal in the cost for what it is. Better to have that extra little bit. After consultation with the users of the two bedrooms (hubby as an informal office for him), they decided to stay with the jack and jill bathroom. Of course we have to keep all happy so understand your plight. Can you make the entry area into bedroom 1 into a window seat nook so it at least has a purpose? One other thought. Who will be using bedroom 1? I ask because if you keep the idea I had, you could add a door to the bathroom from bedroom 1 so one door would be from the hallway and one from the bedroom which would afford the privacy the person needs. I like your design better, except that might have been an issue with one of the windows. No issue with the windows because it could be designed so the window is between the two vanities. I was originally thinking of doing something like that in my bathroom, but didn't want the extra windows because the view was facing west....See MorePlease comment on our house plans for a mountain lot
Comments (54)Leaving the garage where it is and putting the doors on the side facing the street would be the worst possible orientation for getting sun on the drive; however, the garage doors where they are will require an expensive and potentially dangerous retaining wall. Flipping the home so that the garage is on the southwest would improve the driveway situation, but I don't know your indoor/outdoor relationships well enough to determine how it effects the rest of the house. The site should drive the design, especially with a lot like this. Your landscape architect sounds like she knows what she's doing. I suggest you give her a little more leeway to sketch what she thinks would be the ideal configuration for your lot rather than trying to fit your design to the lot....See Moremnphotog
7 years agomnphotog
7 years ago
PROMark Bischak, Architect
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
keywest230
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoPersonally, I like morning sun coming into the master. I'm building my house that way.
And I would place your garage on the right, so that it doesn't block the driveway and front of house from that same morning light.
Will the kitchen be dark in the morning? In my opinion, your #1 design criterion is maximizing that water view! A kitchen open to a great room, 10' (or higher) ceilings, and lots of windows on both sides of the house will keep everything light and airy.
Designing on a somewhat tight lot like this will require some design compromises. And perhaps some more once a builder gives you an estimate!
Everything in life is a trade-off.
cpartist
7 years agomnphotog
7 years ago
Virgil Carter Fine Art