no, that is the main entrance on bottom level for guests who park in driveway which is in ally behind house. Front door is on side on main living space at street level.

Hello bkay, your plan appears to be very well laid out with what I assume are views and patio on the living/dining room side. My only comment would be to ask if you really want the living room sectioned off from the stairwell-desk area. If you delete the wall between the desk & living room and delete the sliding door you would have a more open larger feel to your overall space. Possibly open railing as well. Also, maybe change the sliding door in the master to a swing door, this would give you more wall space to work with. You could also move the bed to the other long wall and arrange the windows to suit. Again, fabulous plan. Jerome DeMarco ART.chitecture

I really appreciat your comments. I agree the wall where desk is would be better removed, however I need a small office space for my wife as she maintains a home office. Smaller bedroom could double as office if kids are not around, as by the time this house is built we are mostly empty nesters(when are they ever really gone). So we are utilizing bigger downstairs bedroom for vacation rental. As we are giving it a separate entrance and lock off from rest of house. So that only leaves small downstairs bedroom to double as office. Also door in master will be swing out , just have not updated

Can you keep the desk along the wall and just remove the peninsula? That would give you the ability to have a larger opening that would feel more spacious when not closed off, even if you keep the sliding door so it can be closed if needed.

I would want to find a way to incorporate a washer and dryer on the main floor, if the lower level is a vacation rental.

Thats a great suggestion on getting rid of peninsula on desk and give it wider opening. The large downstairs bedroom will be the only rental component. Unfortunately no space upstairs for laundry that we can figure out. We are planning laundry shoot from master closet to laundry room as it sits right above it.

What about a stacked w/d on the back wall of the master closet?

That was our original plan, however we felt like it would utilize too much of our closet space. As you can see not much closet space upstairs, so we felt that the master bedroom closet is going to have to hold some traditional storage chest items.

Could you incorporate some built-in storage into the master? While there are a lot of windows, there is *some* wall space on which it would fit, and you could also look at doing drawers below window(s) potentially with a window seat on top? For me, that would be a worth-it trade-off to get a w/d upstairs.

Not a strong sense of entry, would you say?

You will want to shorten up the length of the kitchen to about 17' in order to make the walking the dining area feel large enough. right now it is encroaching on the space.

You should probably change up the powder room so that it can be accessed from the main entertaining space and not the hallway behind the office. Instead of a barn door I would opt toward using two pocket doors, one for powder entrance and one for desk area. They can still look like barn doors, but function better.

I would remove the return on the desk and slide the powder bath down toward the office just enough for the closet to be a flush wall in order to maximize storage in that room.

I would install a neo angle shower instead of perfectly square in order to increase width of entry.

Virgil, I agree with your comment about entry. My issue is that the front area will be fenced off for privacy as that is my only outdoor space and I need door on side and i am limited on where it goes.

Sativa, that is for your input. I agree with the kitchen being short as it is right near table. Entry to powder room could be changed easily, however do you think people would rather walk out of it out of view? Totally agree on pocket doors, my wife seems to have hot button for barn doors, so thanks for helping on that!!

Do you have a plot plan to better understand the orientation?

How does the plan sit on the site?

I personally dislike walking into a house and right into the living room.

I don't like that you will lose about 5'-6' at the bottom of your living room for pathways. Note how the couch is not creating a straight path from the hallway.

I don't like that the wall the tv is on is also where people will be walking past to go to the powder room.

I don't like that you walk in, and when you look straight ahead, the first thing you see is the kitchen.

I don't like that getting furniture into the master will be difficult with the narrow turn into the bedroom.

I don't like that the master closet looks a bit too small to be comfortable.

I don't like that there are separate doors to the bathroom and closet.

I don't like that there is not a single window in the kitchen.

I don't like that the laundry room is in an interior room downstairs so you'll be shlepping your clothes and baskets up and down stairs as you age.

I don't like that the laundry room is on an interior room so will be difficult to vent.

I don't like that bedroom 2's bathroom is right against the headboard of bedroom 1.

Lori, here is survey. Lot is 40’x 100’. Cozy

cpartist,

Thank you for your input. Any suggestions on some of the things you don’t like?( ie front door placement, tv wall or laundry placement?) also kitchen will have windows, it was just not on drawing, but a great point.Thanks

I would probably wall off the current front entry door and just incorporate it into the folding door system. Have one 3' swing or rotating door separate from the rest of the folding panels. This also would look nicer coming up because you will have a front porch and entryway.

Off the top of my head, givin such a tight lot, it seems a lot of space is given over to nothing here (on both floors)..

Probably want some sort of "facade articulation" as we architects call it ("wall offset" for everyone else) but it seems excessive. 2 feet would be fine. After all it IS an alley AND, like I noted, a tight lot.

Not sure I understand,”a lot of apace has been given over to nothing”? The way the plans are now I am maxed out for square footage per city regulations

Ok. As usual with these "any input" posts not enough upfront information. Good luck.

Thanks for the comment. I am happy to give more input, just not sure of all the variables I would need to include as there are many.

Ok, no problem. I know it's tough to give us complete information as a lot of what's in your head is assumed knowledge from your working on it but we have zero context. For example, when I first looked at it I wasn't seven ure where the front door was. And ironically the door I asked about was the tenant door which actually has a better entry feel than the house front door.

With such a narrow lot, why do you want the entry off on the side so if one is coming to the house, they would have to search for it?

Have you considered working with an architect such as architectrunnerguy to create a plan that would work well on your narrow lot? I think there are probably better ways to create a wonderful beach house than what you have shown. For example, do you really want your master bedroom facing the front of the house?

I'd move the two bedroom toilets onto a non public wall...ie I wouldnt want my bed sharing the same wall as the toilet. I'd flip the one to the exterior wall and the other to the garage wall. I'd also move the master toilet off the public kitchen wall.

Could you move the front door in the living room to where the window is on the other side of the fireplace? That way you will have a straight path to the kitchen and the office area.

I realize the front door is not in an ideal location. Moving to front of house disrupts the front outdoor space as I want to keep as private. Moving to other side of fireplace does not work as the walkway on that side of house ends due to elevation change to lower level. The point made regarding downstairs bathroom is valid and will probably flip the toilet and sink to non public wall. Not sure I understand the problem with master bedroom facing towards front of house.

Here are some updates with some of the above suggestions

Where will you stand while trying to close the master toilet room door?

I'm sorry but I'm not seeing any changes.

I like where your powder room entry is. Sense of privacy.

the changes were the desk return was placed on other side and door and opening were widened and added pocket door. Downstairs bedroom flipped toilet/ sink away from common wall. Also the kitchen was shortened to 17’ to create more space for dining table.

thinkdesignlive ,

thank you for the input on tub. I agree with your assessment on cleaning, however my wife is set on freestanding. When I get to outside layout I will post for comments. Thanks again

What will happen if you need to do laundry when the lower level is rented out? Will you feel comfortable intruding upon them? Will they enjoy their stay? I would never rent a place where the space we were paying for wasn't entirely ours, with the likely intrusion of the owners. (Of course, I'm very private and could never stay at a B&B.) To make this a desirable rental, I would move the washer and dryer upstairs (perhaps a closet in the bedroom?) and look into a small kitchenette for the lower level.

If you bumped out the walls on the bottom right-hand corner, as ArchitectRunnerGuy suggested, you could give the upstairs office more room and put a stacking washer/dryer at beneath the upper flight of stairs, keeping it out of the rental space, or put them by the entry to the master bedroom.

Bluesanne ,

thanks for leaving the suggestion s. The rental portion will only be the large downstairs bedroom. It will lock off from rest of house. They will have separate entrance through door on side. So we will still have use of rest of downstairs. I am maxed out on square footage so to bump wall out I will need to get that by reducing somewhere else, that’s the conflict. But I like the idea and going to give it some thought.

I would not put a window behind the bed in the MBR - it's wasted and would save money to eliminate (window, curtains/blinds). There also doesn't appear to be a good wall for a dresser/chest (wall outside bedroom is large enough, but then dresser would interfere with doorway).

I would make the slider/opening in Bedroom #2 a double - not a beach view, would cut down on light/provide more wall space.

Be careful making a toilet room door swing in - years ago, a GW/Houzz member posted about her DH who had passed out inside a toilet room. No one could get to him because he was on the floor, blocking the door. He lived, but what an ordeal!

Ditto on the bathroom door issue, happened to us as well. sounds unlikely until it’s not.

Do you plan to park 2 cars in the garage? Our garage is 22' x 22', and it is a pretty tight squeeze for our minivan and a Jeep.

If you are planning on one car plus storage, perhaps you could shrink the garage a bit and incorporate some of that space in the the home (somehow).

I like the desk with the return.

People who actually work at a desk need space for the computer monitor, and also a place to write at the same time, and for other things too.

Question, is that a whole window over the desk?

maybe your wife would prefer some storage and shelving over the desk if she will be regularly working at that desk.

About the master bathroom-

Is that a freestanding tub?

They only look good in pictures but in reality are not practical. There is no place to put all the things we (women) need for our baths.

I strongly suggest you re-think that.

The other thing- do you really need a door for the toilet?

Have you considered that after using the toilet you will be handling the doorknob the door and touching who knows what with your hands covered with the most disgusting germs because you won't have yet washed your hands? How about just a half wall for privacy?

What you do need for privacy is a proper door between the bedroom and the master bath.

A sliding door or barn door is noisy, does not keep out noise or odors as well as a regular door, the hardware fails more, and the barn door thing is a fad which will end.

AnnKH

i agree with your assessment on garage size, unfortunately I can not add any square footage as I am maxed out per city codes.

loobab,

thatnks for all the great input. The desk will have smaller window to allow for shelving to your point. My wife is pretty set on free standing tub. I am going to ponder the bathroom door idea as it does make sense

Well, if you are going to have a free standing tub, are you going to have some niches built in to hold the toiletries? Or will there be space for a rolling cart to hold them?

I didn't know if the garage was included in your max square footage or not. Too bad.

But the upside is that yo can park one car in the garage, and have plenty of storage!

The first 400sq ft do not count against total square footage. But it’s a bummer I can not make bigger as the total square footage is already maxed out at 2398 sq ft. The one thing I find Interesting is the house seems small for all the sq footage

So you cant go any bigger by city code? I was going to ask if you could move the stairs over to create more space, but doesnt sound like you can.

unfortunately 2400 sq ft is max, It comes out at 2398 sq ft as of now. I like your idea though