Building our first new home in our 60s.....
karen sue
6 years ago
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6 years agohemina
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Pictures of our FIRST kitchen remodel -in our old house
Comments (4)we had a kitchen aide double fridge, and a ss fridaire dishwasher that broke after only one year. we also replaced the old tile with travatine, which was a royal pita to clean. i was constantly mopping the floor, it was a light beige color with a lot of "pits" that required a lot of upkeep. so glad we went with hardwood floor again! LOVED our old tumbled stone backsplash. It wasn't that hard to keep clean at all. It had "flecks" of gold in it, and we had a few random gold accent pieces that looked so nice with our amber lights and light wood cabinets....See MoreBuilding our First Home!!
Comments (12)Is that a guest suite by the front door? What size bed do you plan to use? At just over 10x10, your realistic choices are 1) go with a double bed, or 2) push the bed against the wall. I think this bathroom is plenty for family downstairs use /guest use. I would not add a powder room to the first floor. I don't think you have enough master closet space, and I don't care for the closet being a walkway to the bathroom. However, you have more sink space than you need ... I'd bring the toilet out of the closet /place it between the sink and the shower ... and that would allow you to keep the reach-in closet on the left and expand the reach-in closet on the right to a small walk-in. I agree with the above poster about pocket doors being a poor choice for doors that're opened on a regular basis (though they're perfect for spaces that stay open most of the time). Is the flex space a pocket office? It's small but should be functional. Once you allow for walkways on two sides, the great room is fairly modest. I'm assuming you'll spend most of your family time downstairs in the large family room? Your only backyard access is through a door that'll be blocked by the dining room table. I agree with the above posters that the pantry would be better placed right next to the mudroom /kitchen door ... but I would not move the refrigerator. You want your food storage to be as near the entry door as possible. You're going to want glassware to be stored near the refrigerator, and you're going to want glassware storage to be near the dishwasher for quick unloads. Thus, I'd flip the sink and the dishwasher. This would mean you'd be storing food near the entrance and prepping /cooking towards the dining room. Generations of people have lived with straight stairs, and yours aren't going to kill anyone. I'd go with one sink in the kids' bathroom. Kids never go in the bathroom at the same time anyway. How are you planning to use the space in the oddly-shaped family room? It looks like it'll be divided into multiple activity areas. That's a large mechanical room and a large storage room. These are expensive to build, and they look like they contain wasted space. What's the thought process here?...See MoreDo we love our new build homes because we need to?
Comments (34)We "built" the house we live in now, tract home in new neighborhood, with some customization. House conversations with friends and neighbors always have regrets in there. Bump-outs, boneheaded designs we should have caught, upgrades that should have been made, upgrades that aren't worth it... the list goes on. Based on our experiences here, I already know there will be design / decor issues that will have D'oh! moments. It's impossible to think about EVERYthing. I think we've hit all the major points, and have enough flexibility to change in the future. Our lives changed quite a bit in the 6 years since building (the once large pantry is now crammed because I now do the majority of grocery shopping at Costco and that not change for at least 15 years for example). I can't see into the future, but we learned from this build, and kept the evolution of our family in mind with our design. 1) The architect/draftsman is only as good as the information provided. They don't know us, or live our lives, ( I wonder if there'd be a benefit to having separate design consultations with the clients, much like relationship counseling, to get a really clear picture, lol), which is why we rely on their education and expertise. 2) The reason copy editors exist: to catch the technical mistakes writers make, and can no longer "see" due to closeness to the project. Same reason med errors occur. I think when we originally like a design, then look at it, dream about it, obsess over it, we can't "see" the flaws or potential problems that others might. Hence all the floor plan critique posts here. I think too, that online and builder plans lull us into a false sense of security- "they design and build houses all the time, they're experts, hundreds of people have bought the design, what could go wrong?!" We found that customizing our builders plan threw them for a loop, and didn't realize it would do so, until after the house was built, and weird things weren't right; towel bar location, depth o linen closet, outlets, etc. 3) We are often playing on tilt. We're all living SOMEwhere, right now, and designing a new place to live, with many features that we love (or would love to have) or without the ones we loathe, those HTOD, that we obsess over in our current or past homes. Finally, the same way any artist of any medium does, we aren't always satisfied with the end result of a project. Sometimes you just have to be DONE, even if to your artists eye, you could have kept going. Having said all that, I know there's going to be some regrets, but hopefully -I believe- the joy will outweigh them!...See MoreFirst time home build - would appreciate review of our floor plan
Comments (22)Does anything stand out as unusual or impractical? It's almost double the size of an average American house. Your main floor has a large family space plus an away space ... why the whole basement as well? It'll be at least a decade -- and probably another house -- 'til the kids want to be separated from you. One thing we're wrestling with with is our kitchen island size I think you're falling victim to "this is what nice houses have" syndrome. Why do you need a breakfast table (not a nook -- nooks are tucked away spaces) PLUS a large island with seating ... located literally within arm's reach of one another? And I'd venture to guess another outdoor table only steps away. How many eating spaces do you actually need? I'd say choose one or the other ... if you go with the island, enlarge it a bit /make it really nice, not stools lined up so no one can talk comfortably ... if you go with the table, shorten the island to allow for circulation (and don't neglect the space you'll need when chairs are pulled out ... this table is in the center of your floorplan, making it a major thoroughfare. Our breakfast table is 3 1/2' round -- definitely go with a round table in this area -- and it's ideal for 4-5 people. We never put food on the table; rather, we serve plates from the stovetop for casual weekday meals. Don't forget that you want to be able to reach the back door. Currently it sits 6' from the stove so we can move it over at least a foot to 5' away 6' between the stove and island seems to be too much. 4' would be better. Another question is whether the master shower at 5' x 6' is just strangely large. Yes. In my opinion (and I spent several years measuring friends' showers and hotel showers to develop this opinion), showers shouldn't be more than 3 1/2' - 4' wide. Why? Because once you pass that width, you're kind of out in the middle of a too-big space, which feels uncomfortably exposed. If you one day need grab bars, the walls'll be too far apart for them to be reachable. However, this is an easy fix. Just reduce the size of the shower and center the tub on the open wall. Overall, I think a lot of your things are over-optimized. This may not be just as bad as under-sized, but it's a problem. You don't want over-sized ... you want right-sized. Have you measured friends' houses, etc. to see what sizes you actually prefer? The laundry room is on the second floor adjacent to the master bedroom. I'd bump the machines to the left /make it easier to vent the dryer. I personally would leave the laundry room door open most of the time, so I think this is a good spot for a pocket door. I'd also double the window in the laundry room so it would allow more light into the hallway. If you're going with modern front-loader machines, which are pretty deep, this laundry room isn't any too wide. Someone commented on the double doors to the mbr, are there issues with double doors? They seem to be common on mid to higher end houses around here. Again "this is what nice houses have" syndrome. Things that are common aren't necessarily desirable. Double doors require two hands to open ... and the light switches must be placed either behind the door or too far from the door for comfort. And what's the gain? Nothing. Well, if you're working with a small space, you might want your doors to "park" in a smaller area, but that doesn't seem to be a problem ere. In fact, I'd consider a 17' long master. What are you going to do with the space at the foot of the bed? Nothing. It's just empty space. Imagine you put a TV on the wall ... it's 17' away ... too far for easy vision, and you have to turn up the volume. Do pocket doors wear over time? We would prefer to keep them closed so the mud room to kitchen area would be closed most of the time. Yes, they do wear out, and they're harder for little fingers to open. I personally would go with a pocket door here anyway ... because I'd keep the door open most of the time. An alternative: A swinging door. Other thoughts: - I understand that you like to cook (and you will again once the kids are a bit older), but a larger kitchen is in no way a better kitchen. This much cabinetry is going to cost a fortune, and much of it is likely to end up as clutter-space. - Is that a pantry in the middle of the house? Again, this would be a good place for a pocket door. Note that your standard hinged door covers up a big portion of your shelves, meaning you'd have to go into the pantry /close the door to access these items. OR, this might be a place for double doors on swing hinges (swing hinged doors don't require hands to open). - The dining room isn't exactly close to the kitchen -- it's not absolutely ridiculously far, but neither is is conveniently placed. Consider the steps that'll be necessary to transport food, plates, drinks to the dining room. The butler's pantry half-way between is a good place for a buffet set-up ... be sure to include a few outlets there so you can run a crock pot in this area. - Is that empty room across from the stairs a half-bath? If not, it should be! You absolutely need a bathroom on your main living level. - Upstairs you're over-bathed (plus another full bath in the basement and what I think is a half bath on the main floor). You'll run yourself ragged keeping these bathrooms clean /keeping toiletries and toilet paper in them each. And only one of the upstairs baths (the one that shares a wall with the laundry room) looks to be adequately sized /comfortable. The others have minimal sink space, meaning no storage for the kids as they grow older. I'd go with ONE nice-sized bathroom open to the hallway. So much less money, so much less work....See MoreFlo Mangan
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