Thoughts on our floor plan and elevation?
gfkkm
6 years ago
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cpartist
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRelated Discussions
Thoughts on our plan C?
Comments (13)No, swapping the bathrooms with the dining room won't work - at least not without redesigning your front elevation. You can't have a wall attached to the middle of a window plus, you probably don't want a window over your vanities. (Where would a mirror go?) Even if you were willing to redesign the front elevation extensively, I don't think the front of your house would look very appealing with only a small high bathroom window or two facing the front porch! Besides which, flipping the bathrooms and dining room puts your kitchen pantry clear across the dining room from the kitchen which also pretty inconvenient. If you would like suggestions, it would help if we knew what your current floor plan is and had some dimensions to work with. (I never imagined for example that that room on the lower right was a garage because it looked far too narrow to fit a car into! I mean, the kitchen island is nearly as wide as the garage!) On a copy of the house plan, mark where the walls of the current house are located and indicate which walls you plan to keep unchanged. Maybe use pale pink or pale green to mark where current walls are located that you plan to remove and a darker shade to indicate current walls which must remain. It would also help to know where the kitchen and bath are currently located because, the less you have to move water and sewer lines, the cheaper your renovation will be. It would also help to have a front elevation drawing or a photo of the front of your home because already existing windows and doors that you don't plan to move WILL affect where walls can be placed. And of course we need to know how much room for expansion you have on the sides and at the back before you start bumping up against setback lines or other obstacles. Finally where will the best views from the remodeled house be located (back? front? sides?) and do you have strong feelings about the master bedroom, kitchen, and family room being at the back of the house or could one or more of those be moved to another location if doing so would result in a better flow to the floorplan? Oh, and when you post a floorplan, it is helpful if you first CROP off as much of the the extra white space around the plan as you can. That way, when the image posts, the plan will be larger and easier to work with....See MoreFloor Plan & Elevation Feedback Request
Comments (11)Thanks for the replies and thoughts! zone4newby: The island is a work in progress. What is on the plan now is not what we like. We started out with seating for four, then asked for seating for 6 based on a recommendation from friends that just completed construction. They have one less island seat than family members, and said they wish they could all fit there for informal meals. I was fine with having only enough seating for the kids, but my dear wife would like us to have the option of sitting together at the island for meals. My only additional thought was kid seating when we have guests for dinner. All of our friends have kids and we thought the "kid table" could be the island. We are going to address the open hallway above the foyer. The architect thought it would be nice to have a "connection" between levels of the house, but we think we will close it off. We want the extra height to let light in from the windows above the entry. palimpsest: Wonderful feedback on the "extra" gables. I think we can easily eliminate the one at the back of the house. I agree, I much prefer the back elevation to the front. I will address possible changes to the front with the architect. pps7: The front bump out will be a work/study/computer area for the children. If they need peace and quiet, we can watch TV in the room off the kitchen and not be disruptive. I would love for you to elaborate on your thoughts regarding the utility of the mudroom. We plan on having cubbies for each of us as well as a closet and extra shoe storage. We can throw a couple of doors on to cover the washer/dryer and sink area. We like the idea of having laundry facilities in the mudroom - for Mom and Dad's clothes as well as dirty/wet/sports stuff. I agree with you that the house would probably look best with all shingles. kirkhall: The fridge is next to the bathroom "below" the counter with the range. We will also have a beverage fridge on the other side of the entry to the room off the kitchen. We are building in Portland (at about 1000 ft elevation), so not too much worry about ice dams. Baby will be at least 2 1/2 by the time this project is finished. If we feel he's not ready to be that far from us, we can either temporarily use the room above the garage or have him in the room off of the kitchen. Thanks again for all your feedback! I appreciate you all taking the time to share your ideas....See MoreFinal Floor Plan and Elevation Thoughts
Comments (27)It's a big house but with a very small living area. When furniture is floated and traffic must go through a room, there is very little space left for furniture. Think about this. I like to sleep in, too. Since your house faces East, you won't get morning sun in the bedroom and can still have more windows/light. My own very large bedroom faces west and has two windows on that wall and one on the north wall. I also live in KY and morning light comes late here unless you're in the Central time zone part of KY. Even then, it's not broad daylight at 5 AM in the summer the way it is on the East Coast! The way the plan is now, you're ruining what could be a lovely master suite. With two teenage grandsons and having had two children of my own, the last thing on earth I would want is the garage entrance right next to their bedrooms! Even the nicest, best child WILL sneak out at some time and you're inviting it and also inviting "guest" you might not want in your house at an inappropriate time of day. You have acreage - for heavens sake get rid of that garage where it is now! That plan is for small subdivision lots! I can see the reason for the two baths if this is truly your "forever" home - when children are married and come home with their families, an extra bedroom will be very welcome. In a big house with the bedrooms on separate sides, I'd want my main laundry to be near the children's bedrooms as that is where the majority of laundry will be. I'd also want a stacking w/d in the area of the MBR so you don't have to haul your own sheets/towels/clothes all the way across the house. Do you really want your master bath right on the front of the house? With the tub at the front window? I'd want it on the back where I could bathe with no window covering and look out at my property, not the driveway and a guest who might arrive early! There is a reason that houses had halls for many decades - even centuries! It means one does not have to walk through rooms to get to another. It means there are walls on which to place furniture. It also separates space. I know - "open concept! open concept"! Sometimes separation of space is a very good thing! If you're having adult entertaining, do you really want children walking through the living room/great room? Your dining room is VERY small! My own DR is 13x13 and I'd kill for an additional 2 ft in length and width! It's very tight when people are at the table - I can't even walk all the way around the table to serve. And I hate passing plates across someone. If my lot were not so narrow, that's one wall I WOULD knock out and expand that room, but alas, not to be. You have a huge lot - make that a room that you can seat your entire family at someday when your children are grown. As others have said, the drawings are faint and my old eyes have had trouble reading the plans. I agree with all about that gigantic roof. You'll thank us someday when you have to re-roof that thing and it costs a year's college tuition to do so! And it won't be In-State in KY! Okay - wife wants a vaulted ceiling. Your living room will be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Your heating/ac bills will be enormous. It will be noisy. You live in KY - it does get cold in the winter and Lord knows it gets VERY hot and humid in the summer! If I were going to spend this much money to built a large house, I would hire an architect and I would listen to his advice - especially your wife needs to listen. My own house is only about 2800 sq feet but I have more true living space than you do - bigger rooms. You can do better than this....See MoreDesigning $1M+ Home in Austin TX- Floor Plan, Elevations and Site Plan
Comments (372)My thoughts are all about the master suite: - Do you think you'll want a TV in the bedroom? If so, note that you won't be able to place it at the foot of the bed, which would be the natural spot. - I'd move the bedroom door down the hallway. This allows you to eliminate the door from the bedroom itself ... and it allows you to move the bathroom door into that entrance hallway (illustration below). This keeps bathroom light from spilling out onto a sleeper, and it would allow you a shallow linen closet across from the sink. More storage is always welcome. - Note that by using double sinks, you've crammed one person up against the wall. I'd much rather have one nice sink with a good drawer stack for each person. - I'd flip-flop the shower door's direction; it'd be more natural to enter the shower without having the walk around the door. - I hate that you have no natural light in this bathroom. The same is true of the mudroom and the master bedroom entrance hallway. Dark hallways are not pleasant. - For a house this size, the closet isn't particularly spacious. Consider, too, that this layout requires you to walk the whole length of the bathroom to reach the closet. I'm not against bathrooms-in-closets, but they're often poorly arranged -- and this is an example. If you were to flip-flop the bathroom and the closet (make the closet a walk-through), the closet would become more convenient, and the bathroom could have natural light. - On the other hand, the bedroom seems oversized to me -- it's a lot of empty square footage for a room where you'll be asleep -- but I'm in the camp of "bedrooms aren't a space to splurge on space". - Where is the laundry room? Most people want it to be convenient to the master bedroom and/or the kitchen. - Are you going to be happy with a master suite off the mudroom? It may hurt resale. And the garage entrance: - Instead of making people walk catty-cornered across the mudroom, I'd place the door across from the kitchen entrance, which allows you a straight-line into the house. You don't lose any mudroom storage; it's just divided into two runs, which could work out well....See MoreUser
6 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoJanecharlton
6 years agoVirgil Carter Fine Art
6 years agoAnnKH
6 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agogfkkm
6 years agoSuru
6 years agolafdr
6 years agocpartist
5 years ago
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