Architects' proposals on rural lake house
cramereast
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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cramereast
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoSBDRH
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Summerfield, bevangel and other GW drafters;) Lake house help!
Comments (32)Glad you like so much of it! How funny that I called that wide basement hallway an "art gallery" when your daughter is going to be an art major in college. The wide hallway just "happened" when I put the two bedrooms and bathroom in along the right side of the basement. The leftover space wasn't quite wide enough to be the bar/kitchen area (and besides I wanted that by the windows at the back) and I couldn't see any other use for it. But just calling that wide space a hallway seemed so mundane when it was wide enough that it seemed like it OUGHT to be useful for something. Then I thought, well they could put bookcases along walls or hang artwork so voila it became the "art gallery". Serendipity! LOL! Thanks for posting the exact measurements of the foundation. I was off enough that there will HAVE to be some changes to the design...especially to the main floor bedroom/bath area. But you wanted changes there anyway so that's okay. I don't think the new dimensions will force any dramatic changes to the walkout basement. By wanting the dining area "closer to the lake", I'm assuming you mean that you'd like a view of the lake from the dining room. I don't see any possible way to actually put the dining room along the back of the house without either a) moving the master bedroom to the front of the house somewhere or b) turning the great room by 90 degrees. Option "a" won't work with your foundation unless you're willing to have a really skinny, winding hallway going from the front door, around past the office and master bedroom and bath to reach the public areas at the back of the house. Since you've already mentioned a desire to have a view of the lake from the front door, I'm guessing that's out. Option "b" would turn the "vaulted" ceiling of the great room so that it faced towards the side of the lot instead of towards the lake. Pretty sure that is out as well! So, no way to actually put the dining room at the back of the house. BUT, I could basically swap the kitchen and dining room areas so that you would be able to see the lake thru the great room windows when seated at the dining table. However you wouldn't have as good a view of the lake from the kitchen if I do that. So, which one do you prefer? I can easily open up the view from the front door by getting rid of the office closet and the entry way closet. You don't HAVE to have either closet. I might be able to fit in an entry way closet if I change the staircase from a tight U to a loose U. (i.e., have two landings instead of one big one with some steps between the two landings.) Actually, since that space I'm putting the staircase in is almost two feet narrower than I thought, there isn't going to be room enough beside the stair for a chair so a loose U that spans the whole 10'-6" ft wide (interior measure) space would probably look better anyway. I'll play around with it and see what I can come up with. I THINK it might be possible to move the laundry room to where I currently have "her closet" and then put the two bedroom closets between the bedroom and bath. The laundry room would probably have to be a bit smaller but you would still be able to have a window in it. But, before I do too much rearranging, could you verify a couple of other foundation measurements? (the ones shown in red below) These will affect exactly how much room is available for the master bath/mudroom area and with plumbing, sometimes inches can be critical. So I want make sure I have the available dimensions right. As for getting cross breezes through the house, for really good breezes you need windows directly across from each other that are oriented in the direction of the prevailing winds. Obviously this works best in skinny houses that are only 1 room deep and your foundation isn't right for that. But you can get reasonably good breezes by having windows on two walls in most rooms. Even if the walls are perpendicular to each other and neither faces the direction from which the wind blows, you'll still get some breeze. And, you can improve the flow of air thru a house by installing operable interior transom windows above doorways so that even when interior doors are closed breezes can flow thru the house. Or you can use ceiling fans to stir up a breeze artificially....See MoreInitial Home/Garage Lot layout - lake home advice please
Comments (16)I read your kitchen should be on the east for morning light and bedroom on west for evening Usually, especially if on enough mornings you like to sleep in... It's what I am doing. If you are usually early birds, the sun helps get you up, and the kitchen/dining on the west can make sense... and depending on the lay of the land, and lake, you may get to share good sunsets with guests. But there are other factors, too. Views to east and west, And since you are lake front, I think what you want to do is something to accentuate the views of lake, whatever that takes. You are the ones who know if you like to wake up and see the lake first thing, and how you want to "share" the lake to visitors - presumably, you do! With this lot, I do think your architect's thoughts will be paramount, and if he thinks you'd do best without an angled garage, listen. You have a house to the north of you blocking view from the road, so I think the "rules" about front facing garages fall to the side. Ahem as it were....See MoreArchitect recommendation in NC? Remote architects?
Comments (42)I don't have the courage to be responsible for a house that was too far away to visit during construction. I've simply found too many construction errors in buildings, even when I knew and trusted the builders. I just reviewed a window order and found the supplier had omitted 9 of the 29 windows although he had an error free window schedule that gave him all he needed to know including the window count. I have never found a building inspector to be of much assistance although some try harder than others but they're understandably concerned with code issues and that represents less than half of the potential problems I am concerned about. I am in Boston and designed a large condominium building in Minneapolis. I flew to the site every 2 weeks during design and construction. The owner was sued by a neighbor for not providing adequate foundation drainage and flooding his property. When his lawyer asked me if I had proof that the foundation drainage system was installed as designed, I said "just the photos"....See MoreRanch Addition - Proposed Layout
Comments (91)A few things: the fireplace where it is now is obviously not ideally located - so if you want to keep it and want a gas burning one, then I'd move it into the living room and integrate it into some built-ins along the outside wall. (no TV over it though - makes the TV too high. TV if needed there, can be off to one side). It doesn't, as mnmamax3 notes, need to be connected to the existing chimney - just needs a vent to the outside with adequate clearance. There are some quite lovely gas fireplaces these days, and they certainly do avoid the mess of a wood burning one (though I LOVE our airtight wood burning fireplace). The other thing - I actually preferred the layout of the master bedroom that you had before. The walk-in closet takes up a lot of space and while you do get another "free" wall in the bedroom, it doesn't actually give you more or more efficient storage and makes your bedroom a lot smaller. And - I'd add more windows - definitely one in the second bathroom, and possibly another set of windows in each of the bedrooms. One other question: access to the back yard. I'm assuming that you don't barbeque and also don't anticipate or want an easy transition to your private outdoor space in the back yard? Which is fine, if this is your lifestyle and you plan on staying in this house for a very long time and aren't thinking about resale, but I do know that many people have knocked out walls and gone to great lengths to renovate houses built in the 40s and 50s that didn't provide the now expected easy access/transition to outdoor living spaces. I recognize that this would require a major rethink of the kitchen/access to basement, but I think it needs consideration if it hasn't already been thought about. I can pretty much guarantee that the transition you have currently to the outdoors won't be viewed as easy or convenient once food/drink is involved - carrying stuff around the corner and down steps and out a door may seem trivial on paper, but in reality...it's a big disincentive to go outside to eat! I say that having owned a variety of houses with varying ease of access. If this was my house, I'd probably blow out the back wall of the kitchen for sliders to a deck, and reconfigure the space. I also still think the huge amount of main floor storage is a really bad use of "prime" real estate. Should be living space... rockybird was onto something with the reconfiguration he/she showed (moving hall over, LR gets bigger)....See Morecramereast
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