Need opinions/advice on (very) early stages of floor plan
doliver
5 years ago
I haven't been able to find the perfect floor plan so I have been playing around for a long time to try to create my own. I have been trying to figure things out early before hiring a professional, so these are very rudimentary drawings and have little detail. I would like some people's input on the general layout and what I could make better. Thanks in advance!
I have attached my drawings which have some dimension information as well as labels for the purpose of the room.
Main Floor:
2nd Floor:
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Comments (9)
farmer
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
PROMeyer Design
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Need opinions of floor plan
Comments (14)DON'T lose your pantry and I agree about the bathroom. I really don't get this idea now that guests can't use an otherwise used bathroom. But, threedoghouse has a good point about jogs and angles...They do add cost that could translate more usefully into square footage. I haven't studied your plan enough to know if you've already considered this, but it's also most efficient, material cost and use wise, to plan your exterior measurements in 4 or 8 ft increments. Some even get down to window placement, but I didn't take it that far. We did try to keep the house as square as possible, and made many of our interior walls run in straight lines for simpler framing. You can create window seats and other more interesting shapes in the house with walls and cabinetry. Where we plan a window seat, the wall is straight, but there'll be taller cabinets at each end to cozy it in. Looking at your plan, I would definitely close off the end of the laundry, not just leave it open to through-traffic coming from the garage. The laundry is something it's nice to close a door on...because of noise and its less-than-gorgeous view. Our last house had a kitchen oriented similarly to the front door, and viewable from the living room. I have to honestly say, I hated it. People would drop by unexpectedly while the kids' mac n' cheese bowls were still on the bfast bar and while a baking project was underway in the kitchen. Not a very gracious impression. Also, we definitely had the problems of food and dishes too easily traveling to the living room, and TV too easily a part of meals and slowing down the dish-doing process. While I'm eating, I don't like to look at kitchen mess, and want to be able to linger as long as I like with family or friends without having the cleanup job staring us in the face. But I know that's the big issue of open kitchen vs closed. I could handle a kitchen open to a more private family space, but would never choose it for the guest area. Just my opinion, though....See MoreNew here, very early stage. Need floorplan advice
Comments (24)One more comment, and a question: Note that your plumbing is strung from one end of the house to the other. Downstairs you have the kitchen on one end and the bathroom on the other end. Upstairs you have the master bath on the far left and the other bathrooms and the laundry on the far right. You will save significant money on plumbing if you scoot these rooms closer together. For example, upstairs you have two "back to back" secondary bathrooms. This is economical because the plumber will run water through that center wall, and it'll serve both bathrooms. The laundry room is close to these bathrooms, so a pipe'll have to run across the hall, but that's still cheaper than running the pipes across the whole house. You'll save on installation, and you'll save on materials. Consolidation of plumbing also saves in two other ways: A wall that contains water must be 6" thick, whereas other interior walls may be only 4" thick. Thus, a non-water wall is cheaper to build and allows you a few more inches of interior space. Any pipe is subject to leaking sometime down the road -- perhaps because you accidentally cut into it or drove a nail into it, or perhaps because it grew old and rusty. If your pipes are shorter and more consolidated, you have less plumbing to potentially go bad. This lessens the potential problems you might have to pay to fix, and it lessens the number of walls that might one day have to be opened up to look at the plumbing. And the question: Since windows matter so much, and since a pool is involved, where's north on your plan?...See MorePlanning stages - best advice, lessons learned....
Comments (12)Timing is everything - be sure to fully consider your lighting and HVAC requirements before the walls and ceilings are closed up. We have almost every light on a dimmer, and our HVAC is completely zoned on sophisticated controllers so that we only heat or cool the rooms that are in use. Our single best decision was to build in a central vacuum with Hide A Hose. It makes my life so much easier and our home dust free. If your renovation would allow for the inclusion of a CV with HAH I would urge you to seize the opportunity! Finishes, fixtures, furnishing and decorating are the most exciting, but it is the floor plan, and not so sexy things like structure, insulation, HVAC, quality of windows and doors etc. that make your home comfortable, safe and a joy to live in for years to come! I carefully planned my kitchen for my own cooking and entertaining style and I re-designed the lighting plan for the whole house to suit our needs. It was certainly time well spent! IMO you are doing the very best thing which is to educate yourself as much as possible, using information from as many sources as possible. Remain engaged in the whole process. It may not make your architect's and builder's lives easier but at the end of the day it is YOUR home and it should be the way YOU want it to be!...See MoreEarly Stage Kitchen Plan--Please Help.
Comments (2)Sink...Is the sink required to be under the window b/c there is only one sink in the kitchen and, therefore, all prepping is done at that sink? If you had a prep sink elsewhere, e.g., in the island, could the cleanup sink be moved away from the window? Since the majority of people spend 70% - 75% of their time prepping and only 20% of their time cleaning up (less if you use the DW for everything), it makes sense to have the Prep Zone in the most desirable location. It also makes the most sense to protect the Prep Zone (and Cooking Zone) from traffic...plus they are where you use the most "dangerous" equipment - range/cooktop, knives, scalding water/food, etc. If you like two ovens, which would you prefer? (1) Double ovens in an oven stack and an MW elsewhere (under the counter (e.g., a MW Drawer) or on the counter or hanging from an upper cabinet) (2) Range and single oven + MW in an oven stack...See Moredoliver
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agodoliver
5 years agoPensacola PI
5 years agoOaktown
5 years ago
PROVirgil Carter Fine Art
5 years ago
PROMark Bischak, Architect
5 years ago
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