Need help with designing rooms!w
Maro Jan
4 years ago
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CDR Design, LLC
4 years agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help w/ Front design
Comments (3)I'm assuming, given your location, that the elevated front door is part of flood damage avoidance...? I'm curious about what kind of wall is behind the ground floor siding. (I don't have anything really to say about your front garden design; given some familiarity I have with flooding in a differnt context, I'm curious to see how approaches differ in different conditions.... I spent a summer in my university days boarding at a farm that was located on a flood plain. Every spring their farm, and neighbouring farms, were completely flooded when the river overflowed its banks during the thawing of the winter snow pack. Their house was surrounded on three sides by a wide, one-story deep earth bank/berm. On the fourth side it was open to ground level and the basement (which was really at ground level) wall had a huge set of double doors. The cattle barn was also built into an earth bank with a ramped area leading to the second floor hayloft and secondary stable. As the river started to rise in the spring, they stocked up on food and water, tied a boat and a canoe up to the back door, moved the cattle up a level into the hayloft area, and opened the double doors into the basement. When the river rose, they let the basement flood and used the canoe to get to the barn to tend to the cattle and the boat to get to dry ground if they needed to go to town. Letting the water in equalized water pressure so there was less chance of the water collapsing the walls (that's why I wonder what kind of wall is behind the siding - reinforced concrete...?). When the river subsided, there was a big clean-up required of course but the ground level areas were kept pretty bare so it was fairly easy to clear the silt out. Since this was a northern area, ice was an issue too as the flood waters generally froze over; when the water drained out underneath, the remaining ice was heavy enough to drive fence posts totally into the ground! So every fall all the fence posts were removed and every spring they were replaced! The flood water brought rich silt/soil with it so the land was very productive - once it dried out and the mess was cleared up! So that was why they continued to live there even though they knew they were going to have to cope with the work created by the floods every year.) You must have goine through some interesting decision making in deciding to rebuild and in deciding what and how to rebuild. It might not be garden related, but it would be design related, so I, for one, would be very interested in hearing about the design decisions you've made to get to this point.......See Morehelp w/ my design . . needing ideas!!!! (pictures attached)
Comments (4)JD, your back yard is a dream to landscape because it is small, already fenced, and you have a few ideas of what you want. If you get some graph paper that's ¼" = 1' you can easily draw a plan of your yard and make decisions. I'm sure there are programs on the net you could use but I still like pencil and paper for planning. As a dog lover and dog owner for decades I strongly recommend an area which your dog uses as his. Gravel or mulch will work. Check out the types of gravel available in your area. You don't want sharp edges and I've found pea gravel tracks too easily. IMO it makes a much nicer yard for living if there is a clean area for people and a dog area where the dog does his business. Dogs will learn where to go and can still be with you in the 'people' area at other times. You could use hedging around this area altho we've usually fenced it. In such a small space in your climate I'd do mostly perennial beds and mulched paths. Of course you could have a small area for veggies but could also put them in the perennial beds. In your zone I'd plant a tree ASAP for future shade. How you design this area depends on how you want to use the space. With full sun in a hot climate I'd put up a sun-shade sail but if you want plants in full sun that might not work. And your HOA might not allow. Lots of choices for you to make - have fun! :-)...See MoreNeed help w/ Laundry/Mudroom Design . Thanks in Advance.
Comments (2)I think those are great ideas as that's what I was also thinking with what I'd change and do with the plans if we were building that plan. I'm not a fan of the only powder room entrance being in the mudroom, l prefer a more formal power room with the access to it in the common areas. So I like your idea of placing it in the butler's pantry area. Now if a plan is large enough to have two powder rooms such a private one also off the mudroom area I like that too. So the family can come in, wash up..... as they come in the door. Love the locker idea and am adding them in our new build as well. I really like what you have come up with. Good luck :)...See MoreNeed Help w/ Kitchen Design
Comments (10)DNA, regarding making your laundry larger, a question that occurs to me is what would that allow you to do there that would be worth the cost to you? Where would you be folding your clothes as it is now? Where if it were 2' longer? I don't see you ironing in there in either case, or would you if it were larger? Regarding a screened porch, that's a very site- and lifestyle-specific question. Also climate. Not off the north side of the house in almost any climate because it'd be too cold and gloomy much of the year. Important to remember, by the way, that the north exterior of a building in almost all climates is not inviting and people tend to avoid it. Since most people in this country don't use front yards for enjoyment, and people are drawn to comfortably sunny areas, having the back yard to the south and front to the north works well. However, how much do you hope to use that front porch? In any case, sunshine will be blocked on the front of the house by the porch, no matter how oriented, making sunshine into the rooms at the back especially precious, and whereever you put a screened porch on the back would make the adjacent room a shadowy interior space. Inviting much of the time anyway, but where's your bright sunny spot to relax in? Screened porches are wonderful, though, and if it were my home, and ignoring critical but unspecified site and neighborhood factors, the two places I'd like it would be off the master bedroom wall in back, with doors somehow from the living room and from the bedroom (how about sleeping out there in summer or just sitting and listening to the crickets before bed?) OR at the end of the front porch with inside access created from the entry (do you really need that big closet? :). I can see spending long hours there enjoying the views out across our graciously sized front garden and neighborhood. Maybe not so much if our neighbors' boat and trailer are parked 10 feet away, though. A third possibility depending on site, views, space, and whether my cars could be kept from view might be off the kitchen side. A very attractive corridor inviting people out from from the center of the house and the kitchen could be created there with some thought. On the right site, that could be ideal, taking advantage of whatever views/assets there were, or could be created, on that neglected side and making the house feel very large. The patio's easy. I'd have it right where I could stroll out the kitchen in the morning with a cup of coffee. If that were the north side, I'd put some attractive plantings by the house to admire and shape the view from inside (with birdbath?) and set the actual sitting area in the sunshine a bit farther out. Hope my fancies spark some of your own....See MoreCDR Design, LLC
4 years agodecoenthusiaste
4 years agolshack17
4 years agoBrown Dog
4 years agoBeverlyFLADeziner
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoMaro Jan
4 years agoMaro Jan
4 years agoMaro Jan
4 years agoCDR Design, LLC
4 years agoBeverlyFLADeziner
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoMaro Jan
4 years agoBeverlyFLADeziner
4 years agokatinparadise
4 years agoMaryAnne Smith
4 years agoBarbara Brickell Designs
4 years ago
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