Rough Draft of Building Plans - Thoughts?
Katie M
7 years ago
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lakeerieamber
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Please help improve rough draft plan
Comments (8)"How big is this house? Is it facing south? What state are you at?" The home is approx 3400HSF. It is actually facing north-northwest with the windows for the family room/breakfast facing south-southeast. It is in Louisiana. "I'd... get rid of the dining room doors, try to find room for a coat or linen closet, make the study and dining openings symmetrycal, flip the master bathroom so the window is on the left where you have a great view, adjust the screen porch rework the shared baththroom, bedrooms and mudroom, specially the mudroom, align a few walls, the back hallway looks wider than the bathroom, Could you manage to place a window in the laundry?" Thanks for those pointers. "looks like you are not showing enough stair risers (first floor), regarding the kitchen: is that the refrigerator next to the stove? get rid of some lost space between family/kitchen/breakfast." I didn't mean for the refrigerator to be beside the stove. I haven't decided the best way to layout the "kitchen triangle" in this arrangement yet. Thanks marthelena for the help....See MoreFIRST time building! Let me know your thoughts on the plan. Thanks!
Comments (28)I disagree the master bath should be entered from the bedroom. I can't tell you how many nights I wake my DH up because our bathroom in our condo opens to the master bedroom. Or in the middle of the night DH wakes me when he goes to the bathroom. No thanks! In our new build we are doing like you have in your plan, in that one walks into the master hallway to go to the bathroom. Instead of trying to find something to fit your ideas, why not engage the services of a good architect to put something together for you? You'd get exactly what you want, and have it work the best for the site instead of trying to have to adjust something that may not even work for your lot?...See MoreThoughts on custom build floor plan
Comments (31)I've attached some pictures of the property and a screenshot of a rough grading and drainage plan showing where house would be sited. The entire back of the house is currently designed with a large covered patio, the idea was to mitigate some of the western sun with the overhang. It won't. Your patio will be useless for a good part of the year. For those mentioning the east/west exposure, I'm kind of locked in with my lot, orienting it to look N or S wouldn't make sense since there are neighbors either side. Maybe move the master bedroom to the east side and put master bath/closet towards west side. The reason for the second floor deck looking west is to catch the city lights that you can see if you are off to the north a little bit from the hill behind the property. Based on your lot, I'm guessing a person of design talent could create an L shaped house that takes advantage of the N/S orientation with a detached garage with a breezeway that helps tie it and the house together and manage to also minimize the view of the neighbors. In fact it appears from the photos, that your neighbor to your left did just that themselves. However it takes a bit of thinking outside the box and being willing to work with someone of design talent. FYI, this is an ICF house, extremely energy efficient, 12" thick concrete/foam walls. That is smart and it will help. However it won't mitigate the sun streaming into the great room or your bedroom and heating up the house in the late afternoon when the sun is lowest and the air is hottest. It also won't help when you want to utilize your patio. Lot is 1.25 acres in a county island area, there's no HOA and minimal restrictions. Again, all the advice appreciated! Find a person of design talent to work with you designing a house that mitigates the western sun....See MoreThoughts on new build floor plan? Worried its too large
Comments (195)I came to this forum from kitchens where I spent a large partt of my life for a while. My kitchen planning got stopped cold by an injury and then restarted with some different ideas. I tested them and reworked and retested until I was pretty comfortable I had the best possible for my situation and limitations. I held my breath and posted my plan. I asked for thoughts on one specific part but got a lot of challenges in general. I could get upset or defensive, but I realized I had an answer for why each of those things was in the plan as it was and I didn't want to change it. I got reassurance on my one question, and then I knew I was ready to move forward. You have to test your ideas. That is the least expensive and most important part of the process whether you are building or remodeling. Changes only get more expensive and when you cant change, regrets may be forever. Those hard feelings are likely to be much greater than any you may get over a "this is the biggest investment we will ever make and where we plan to live forever - we get once chance to make it great, so I'm sure you can appreciate that we want a double check from someone who hasn't been too close to this." Consider that the family member may feel the same away about giving you feedback, criticism or questioning the things you say you want. Guarding each other's feelings is the best recipe for unhappiness for both of you. Ask any first year law student about the number of family matters in their case books. If you can't question a family member or get a second opinion now, it will only get worse once you start. If your family member is worth their salt, they will understand and will want you to get the best possible result. Ask the second architect to do a reality check for how this will live and spot problems, not do a redesign. Just make it a team approach moving toward a common goal, not adversarial. If you can't do that now, I'd scrap the project. Seriously -- this is a huge investment of time, money and self. Can you really afford, financially, emotionally and in terms of family relationships to not be happy when it is all done? Now is the time to test nerves, bang heads and check and recheck plans -- not once the work has started....See MoreMark Bischak, Architect
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agoimstillchloecat
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agocpartist
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agoimstillchloecat
7 years agoimstillchloecat
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agocpartist
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoKatie M
7 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
7 years agoimstillchloecat
7 years agoArchitectrunnerguy
7 years agoKatie M
7 years agoNaf_Naf
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
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