Plan Critique Please: SL West Bay Landing
There are aspects of this 2004 SL Florida Idea House that we really like (long, one room-deep, raised for flooding without being ugly), but there are some quirks I was hoping this group could help me iron out.
- We don't like the current kitchen configuration - specifically people having to walk through kitchen to get anywhere while someone is cooking. Would it make any sense to move the kitchen to the "family room" space & reconfigure? We don't need a dining room (will use screened porch for dining), so we could then have the current kitchen/dining become the family room? Also thinking of moving fireplace closer to house so that it could be indoor and outdoor. Perhaps where the kitchen sink wall abuts the porch as-is now.
- Any way to modify master area for w/d to be downstairs?
Open to other critiques and suggestions too.
Thanks!
Link to exterior photos: http://houseplans.southernliving.com/plans/SL076?index=2&search%5Bvendor%5D=179
Comments (15)
Architectrunnerguy
6 years ago
rrah
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Please critique my garden plan
Comments (13)Gamebird, You've had lots of helpful comments today, and I am sure more are yet to come. My answer on beds being oriented north-south or east-west is going to make me sound wishy-washy, but I think either one could work equally well. Most of my neighbors that have veggie gardens run their beds from north to south, but a fellow gardener who lives a couple of miles from me runs his east-west. I have some beds, about 65% of them, that run north-south, and the remaining 35% run east-west. Our veggie garden is on a serious slope, so the contouring of the garden beds was a very deliberate decision to slow down the runoff of water and also to minimize erosion. The classic recommendation in most parts of the country is that you should run your beds from north to south. I think the intent is that your rows get a more equal distribution of light that way. What is more important than the orientation of the beds, though, is the selection of where to plant your veggies. The general rule is to put taller crops in the northernmost rows of the garden so they won't shade your other crops. Here in Oklahoma, where the summers are very long and insanely hot, I deliberately use okra, corn, amaranth and other tall plantings (like pole beans and other trellised crops) to shade crops that benefit from a little shade, like sweet and hot peppers. I like your idea of improving the soil first, then building the beds, and lining the pathways....I was gently trying to lead you in that direction, without sounding like your bossy sister! LOL Torrential rainfall IS a huge problem here when it occurs. Just today we had 3" of rain in less than 4 hours, and you should see the erosion that has gone on today as the water rushes downhill to the creeks that will carry it to the Red River. (It is not at all one of our heaviest rainfalls....two years ago we had 9.25" in one day, and almost 8" of that fell in 4 hours.) So, check out how the water drains before you start doing too much, and the info will be very helpful in your planning. Even though you may not be putting in that water feature for a couple of years, plan it out now so you can take advantage of a naturally low-lying area or can plan to site your water feature so it helps absorb excess rainfall and runoff. We have several water features, some manmade and some natural, and they attract wildlife. Since you have a young child, though, it probably is wise to wait until she's a little older. One thing to remember as you plan your landscape is that the soil on even a small plot of land (and yours is not small by any means) can vary greatly. Even though we have mostly clay, we do have one band of very deep, sandy soil (which I love, love, love), so check your soil in various places to be sure you know what you have. When you do a soil test, the advice is the same. You dig up soil from several locations and mix it together prior to the soil test, so the results will give you an overall average for the whole area. Regarding Randy's comment about shrubs, I'll just say that his comments are right on. Most people plant shrubs too close to their homes and the shrubs eventually get too large, become a problem and have to be removed. You can avoid this through a very careful selection of dwarf shrubs AND by being sure to plant them further away from the house....say 4' to 5' at the closest, not 1' to 2' or 3'. Be sure you understand the shrub's MATURE height and plan accordingly. As Randy stated, I am a big advocate of firescaping....which is landscaping in a way that will help prevent your home from burning during a wildfire. Keeping plants that burn easily further away from the house is an important part of firescaping. We have always had wildfires in this part of the country, and we always will. Some years they are dreadfully bad, and other years they are not. It is wise to design your landscape in a way that will help preserve your home if the worst possible thing....a raging wildfire....occurs. I never worried about wildfire that much until the 2005-2006 wildfire season, which I think was the worst one in recent Oklahoma history. During that year, our very young and very small volunteer fire dept. had over 240 calls (most years prior to that we had 40 to 50 calls per year), many of which were large, raging wildfires. It changed the way I do a lot of things, and I am now very careful about planting anything close to the house if that plant could help a fire climb up onto the house. It's just one more thing to think about, but an important one. Finally, I know you are eager to do your landscaping, but go slow and make sure you understand just how hard it is for plants to get through our long, hot summers. When we say that, it is because we know from experience that summer's heat here can be VERY cruel and very hard on plants. In your part of the state, you also have to plan for the recurring sleet and ice storms that can cruelly destroy gorgeous trees in a matter of hours. (So, stay away from weeping trees, weak-wooded trees and delicate trees that can't hold a huge load of ice.) Understand, too, that Oklahoma's climate is one of wild swings and unpredictable changes. It can, literally, be 60 or 70 or 80 degrees, sunny and clear in the morning and then an Artic cold front can come out of Canada in a matter of hours, dropping the temperatures 30 degrees or more, and bringing cold rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow or a mix of them. In the summer, rain can be scarce and temperatures brutal. Plants have to be TOUGH to survive here, so decide in advance how much (or how little) pampering you're prepared to give your plants, and plan accordingly. It is so much fun reading your plans and imagining how it all will work out. I hope you'll keep us all posted on your progress. Dawn...See MoreSL Old Ivy Modifications and Critique Please
Comments (12)Thanks so much for the comments: kelhuck - I would definitely increase the garage to fit our cars and to allow for ample storage space. Depending on how we modify the downstairs, I will need to move the upstairs a bit. The laundry and loft would become a bedroom, and I was considering taking a few feet from the master and combining that with the 4 feet of added space and making a long storage area or possibly 2nd laundry. Great point about the bathroom linen closets. Downstairs we would probably remove the bathroom next to the living room completely to make a place for the basement stairs, although we've considered the possibility of having the basement entry in the living room, which I know isn't optimal but do-able. athens - although I do find the exterior beautiful and classic, I've also always been drawn to the exteriors with a gable in front and a porch off to the side, similar to these...See MoreHas anyone built/been in a plan like this? Please critique!
Comments (7)Thanks, JDez - I actually just noticed the other day that the Master bedroom window isn't centered. I'm still trying to decide if it will bother me! The good thing about it is freeing up a little more wall space for furniture. The downside is that I like symmetry, so I'm going to have to do some thinking about this. :-) Joyce - thanks for your helpful insights. Your thoughts about the guest bathroom and the long walk to the front door are spot on. Thank you. I'm going to explore changing both of those things. Live_wire_oak - your questions are good ones. The back of our home (north side) will face some woods. There's also another home back there, but it shouldn't be super visible from the back of our house. I do appreciate your thoughts about the shady exposure, though. Based on your thoughts, I'm wondering if we should put the screened-in porch or at a minimum, the patio (which isn't drawn on our plan yet) on the northwest side of the house so it gets the afternoon/evening sun. My thoughts about putting the kitchen in the front is because that's where I spend the majority of my time during the day and from there, I can see my kids at the bus stop, playing out front, riding bikes, and see the pretty views of the hills to our south. But the backyard won't have bad views, either. I just wanted to make sure a house plan tried to capture views of both vistas (the front and the back of the house). Thanks again! Your comments are incredibly helpful and you've all noticed things that I didn't think about initially, so I really do appreciate the insights you've all provided! Kelly...See MorePlease critique this open-plan kitchen (Florida)
Comments (42)I guess it depends on what you consider the better view and the prime location? I have a window with a great view above my prep area which I only look out when I need to pause for a quick break from chopping or to figure out my next step. I don't like to talk much or gaze at views much while prepping after I almost lost the tip of a finer once while doing that. My brain can't handle visiting while prepping because then I either leave out ingredients or just plain keep forgetting where I'm at. It takes 2-3 times as long for me to prep if I'm visiting or window-gazing. I'd rather focus on the prep and get it done. Family knows to limit interactions with me while prepping beyond quick statements. That's simply not a good time for me to chat. If we're entertaining, I choose menus that don't require last minute prep/cooking just to avoid having to prep and visit at the same time. And, like cpartist, I prefer to wash, slide food to prep, then slide food to cook. I don't like carrying prepped food across the floor either Someday, my clean-up sink will be on my peninsula facing my dining table. This was the best place for me to be able to keep my DW open while cooking. Since I tend to plop things in when done with it while prepping and cooking, most dirty items will already be in the DW before sitting down to a meal. After eating, I'll be able to stand at the dining table and just pick up plates, turn and place them next to the clean-up sink without walking anywhere. Quick and easy. Then dishes will immediately be scraped and put in the DW. If the DW is full, it will be a quick scrape before setting them in my 32" wide, 9" deep sink. I figure this will hide them pretty well from any visitors until the DW is free. And I can scrape and load while visiting without losing a finger or trying to remember what needs to be done next. Clean-up is pretty much an auto-pilot activity. Prep is not. At least not for me. So I totally get what cpartist is saying and tend to agree with her. I also recognize that this is an YMMV thing....See More
PROMark Bischak, Architect
6 years ago
cpartist
6 years agobuilding2017
6 years agoMrs Pete
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoI don't like this house's exterior. Too much going on for my taste.
On the first floor, you've identified the biggest issue: The kitchen work aisle is also the only circulation path through the house. In a 2051 sf house, you should have space for a hallway. Additionally, the kitchen has too little storage:
Speaking of the square footage, I just don't see where it's going. All of the rooms are adequate, but none are large.I hear you when you say you don't need a full-fledged dining room, but I don't think saying you'll eat ALL meals out on the screened porch is realistic -- at some point you're going to want to eat in a climate controlled room. Even if you don't, you say this isn't your forever house, and foregoing an indoor eating space altogether would be resale suicide. The porch, as shown in the magazine, is absolutely lovely, but it ought to be a supplement for indoor spaces, not a replacement:
The master bath is not well designed at all. The tub and the shower are both crammed in by the door, and you'd have to stand on the toilet to use the sink on the left. No wonder the magazine didn't include a picture of it.The half bath downstairs also looks disfunctional ... a staircase is probably 3 1/2' wide, meaning the half bath is also 3 1/2' wide ... so imagine turning sideways to squeeze past that sink. The sink they put into the idea house looks fun but not 'specially functional:
Yet upstairs you have two full baths (poorly designed -- your knees would touch the shower wall while you sit on the toilet) ... I'd rather see them combined into one good-sized jack-and-jill bath.I'm no clotheshorse, but those tiny closets look more appropriate for a vacation home than for full-time living. Beyond clothing, where will you store your vacuum cleaner and other cleaning supplies? And so many other things that need storing?
I like that little bumpity-bump office off the dining room, which is barely visible at the back of the picture. Looks like a lot of function for a tiny bump-out. However, you said in your other thread that this is a full-time 50-hours-a-week office ... is it enough? Do you need space for files, reference books? Do you need quiet and privacy for phone calls? I'm thinking I'd like it as a reading nook off the master bedroom.
On the plus side, the windows throughout the house will make these rooms lovely and light filled:
Ditto for the upstairs bedrooms -- love those windows:
I enjoyed the pictures. This is a house that was designed and staged before we hit our current all-white-everything phase -- lots of pretty spaces -- but I don't believe this space would actually be a comfortable place to live.building2017 thanked Mrs Petebuilding2017
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
PROVirgil Carter Fine Art
6 years agoLake/Flato and a special Texas Hill Country vernacular which they do so well...
just_janni
6 years agobuilding2017
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agocpartist
6 years agobuilding2017
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agocpartist
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agobuilding2017
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoPrefer one deep, mostly because I love light on at least two sides of every room and the lot works well for it. But one plan we have actually lived in before as a rental that was 2+ rooms deep but still very functional and light on two sides (except for upstairs) was a modification of this plan, which we have thought about too: http://www.allisonramseyarchitect.com/plan-details.cfm?planNumber=143129 (kitchen layout was different, laundry was not in kitchen, had a fireplace in great room, some of the wasted master bath space was different).
Taking a stab at the fish camp house first floor below... moving kitchen to family room so it is out of the traffic flow (though it creates longer plumbing runs). However, I'm not sure how to reconfigure the dining/oldkitchen space into a family room (perhaps including a 4-top table in a corner for dining if island isn't big enough for dining). Layout seems strange with powder room placement (fyi - 1/2 bath did seem MUCH bigger in person - 200lb male can walk straight in without turning sideways to get past sink). Wondering if because of available loft space upstairs, if the staircase/halfbath could be scooted back/rearranged into the current master bath space (which I just erased out as a blank slate). Also perhaps change/move west the oldkitchen wall that bordered the master bath to "borrow" from old kitchen square footage in order to make master bath and closet better laid out. Welcome any insights... not quite ready to scratch it.
Virgil Carter Fine Art