Front door facing kitchen? Or sideways into living?
We're rehabbing a 2500 sqft ranch built in 1960. The home currently has TWO front doors on either side of a recessed porch (the result of a lazily done addition many years ago.
We would love to wall up the sideways doors and have big double front doors like these red ones...
...but could (more cheaply) just fix up one of the sideways-facing doors to be something like this yellow one:
My dilemma relates to what each of these options does to the flow and function of the interior. Below are the two accompanying floor plans, with the front-facing doors, and the side-facing doors.
The front-facing doors are far better in my view, in terms of curb appeal, period authenticity, and creating an entryway inside the house. BUT they dump you right into the kitchen, make the dining area weirdly broken up, and makes the transition to the bonus room/bedroom squishy.
The sideways facing door opens up the interior more, lets you enter facing into living space instead of kitchen, make the dining space flow better, BUT...is more awkward from the outside and doesn't give much of an entrance area inside.
Which works better? Are there other things I could change to make this work better?
Here is the floor plan with the front-facing doors:
And here is the floor plan with the sideways door:
Any other criticism would be welcome! I'm sure I'm doing some dumb things that I just can't see anymore because I've been staring at this for so long. We aren't working with an architect yet because our budget is tight but I feel like a couple hours of someone's time might be a good use of money.
Thanks so much for any suggestions or advice or opinions!
Comments (10)
andemb3
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Floor Plan Review -- Side Facing Front Door
Comments (19)How about something like the plan below (with stairs flipped?). Two changes to the exterior - I brought out the front by the game room to create an entryway, and I pushed out the little hallway to outside by the dining room to create space to enter the master bedroom from there. The entry to MBed is no longer as private, though, I did like it better when you got to the Mbed from the front of the house. Your stairs are no longer the decorative focal point in this plan, which I am guessing your architect was trying to emphasise before. So for such a big and light filled stairwell, the plan I have here is kind of wasting that. That said a grand, two story entry with expansive stairwell isn't casual Florida beachy cottage....I'd be picturing more something like this: This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, Oct 6, 14 at 8:54...See MoreFor those of us with front facing garage doors: can we accent them?
Comments (77)Thanks. meanom I did start a new thread on adding some whites to speak to the windows. One suggestion was to paint white casing around garage (currently that is grey). Since so many helped on this thread with the difficult garage door decision, I wanted to make sure I wasn't messing with the garage door if we add some white. Here is the long shot. Feel free to comment on the other thread or here. Please tell me if you like J or this new J with white version: J with white casing: Here is the link to the repeating white on the exterior thread, for those that can stomach one more of my exterior design elements. If not, thanks for all the amazing help on my garage door decision. You guys are the best! Carol [Thread: Repeating white on the exterior to speak to windows [(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/repeating-white-on-the-exterior-to-speak-to-white-windows-dsvw-vd~3185395)...See MoreNeed exterior design help for side facing front door
Comments (9)Since the houses you've shown have little landscaping, and since that's my interest, I don't have a whole lot to offer other than to again suggest that the entire hedge needs removal across the front of your house. Note the wide walkways in both of your examples. I would do something similar from the parking pad to your porch leaving a wide entry pad in front of the porch, similar to how wide the steps are in both of your examples, such as from the wall with the door over to the center post. Consider whether continuing the walkway out the road makes sense; does anyone walk to your house or park down by the road? Add a pair of tall pots on a firm surface off the porch to frame the entry, one in front of the pillar and one in front of the wall just to the left of the door, but not where it will hide the door. Choose pots that fit your aesthetic and with colors that work with whatever you do with the house. If the brick on your house goes down to near the ground, put in a bed of evergreen groundcover from the right pot over to the end of the porch and from the left pot over to the shrub at the end of the house. Be sure the bed has a cleanly maintained edge to keep it looking tidy. If you want some shrubs, you can add them to the groundcover bed (being sure that the bed is deep enough to accommodate whatever you choose) or place shrubs or trees further out into the yard to give some feeling of shelter from the road, and consider using some of the same plants used in the garden to the left will provide continuity. If you live in an area with a lot of snow and ice, choose your plants across the front of the house to be able to tolerate snow getting dumped on them, especially if you decide to go with a metal roof. I have a similar area that has groundcovers, perennials that die back for winter, and some shrubs that if damaged by roof dumps can be cut to near the ground and will grow within a few weeks. In doing landscaping, do the home work first such as roofing, painting or repairs, then do hardscape such as walkways, and finally do bed prep and planting. Choose plants that won't overgrow the space they are planted in to reduce pruning work. If you choose to paint your brick to get the feel of your examples, be aware that you will have taken a low maintenance surface and turned it into one that will need ongoing maintenance - cleaning and painting as needed which will add time and expense. I am not wild about your current black shutters and white trim. Perhaps start by choosing colors with a less stark contrast between the brick and the trim such as a sage or the color of the siding on the ell and painting all your trim that same color. Live with that for a while to see if it works better aesthetically for you....See MoreNeed design help with front door/face of house
Comments (5)without taking into consideration the floorplan, the "best place" for the front door is replacing one of the windows on the right side.... that could give you room for a really nice porch. since the current door is going into that space sideways, there is hope.......See More
miss lindsey (She/Her)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoAll right. I know my skills are a little intimidating*, try not to faint...
:-D
I moved the wall forward, moved the double door to the right and added a window on the left, and added a coat closet to block the view through to the kitchen/slider. That's a pantry cabinet between the run of cabs and the new closet. You could do a two-sided bookcase instead of the coat closet, very mcm. I wasn't sure of the dimensions so nothing is to scale and you would have to play with dimensions to ensure there is enough room to walk through comfortably and keep an open feel. And obviously, if any walls are load bearing they are much easier to erase on my phone than in real life.
*just kidding, this is my first attempt at editing a photo!! As if you couldn't tell...
andemb3 thanked miss lindsey (She/Her)andemb3
5 years agoandemb3
5 years ago
miss lindsey (She/Her)