House plan review please?
spammie
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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House plan review!! Comments Please!
Comments (18)Thank you all for your comments and thoughts. I am finding having someone else’s viewpoints very helpful, and can take the criticism well. Keep it coming! I am not sure how well the details of plan come up on these forums, if there is a way for me to post a larger, cleared picture I will be glad to try. A few things about our family that may help make some sense of our decisions: We currently have a 2 and 4 yr old, a stay at home mom, and a working dad. We are planning on having #3 soon, and likely #4 shortly after. This house is designed around raising a young, growing family. We are considering this our house that we will raise our children in a neighborhood environment before moving on to a new house on some acreage in the future. The KIDS LOUNGE will most likely resemble a kindergarten classroom more than a hangout for teenagers. We thought long and hard about the addition/subtraction of door in this area. It opens up to side where our family is our next-door neighbors. They have similarly aged children and play together a lot. We feel that the ability to play on their own separate “kids porch” will outweigh the liability of a door in this spot. It also lets us keep back porch less cluttered with kid’s items. The area listed as LIBRARY off master will be an area where we will place a treadmill, sitting area and a small office space for mom. It made sense for us to place this off the master because we wanted to incorporate some sort of sitting space in or near master, and still be able to use treadmill at odd hours without worrying about waking children. The area listed as GUEST/STUDY is set up to be guest bedroom until baby #4 comes along. FORMAL DINING area will actually be an OFFICE/MUSIC ROOM. Dad needs a place to be able to play/record music and also run a couple of small businesses out of the home. The area opening up do mudroom will be a pocket door, that will be a pocket door. ONE CAR GARAGE will be more of a workshop area than garage. The double doors out to the back is to allow enough space to drive lawn mower/ fourwheeler /etc in for service or storage if needed. The SECOND STORY will be mostly storage for the foreseeable future. We also want to have the options to add in another space for Guest room if all the other rooms get filled up. We have family that lives 3+ hours away that we need to have a space for when they visit. I want to include the option to grow into this space if needed. MASTER CLOSET is a little larger than we initially wanted. Our next draft of plan should have library expanded one foot down into pantry and one foot right into master closet. I will look into giving some of this space to LAUNDRY room as well. We are working out the layout of this room currently. Thank you for the thought about pantry door. I have considered pocket door here as well, as I think it could be open most of the time, but like the idea of single door swinging out as well. We are also going to address the size of CHILDRENS BEDROOMS. Our original thoughts were that the majority of kids toys will be in kids lounge, and one dresser in closet. This should limit the need for excessive space in kids rooms. We also included some space for additional furniture in cutouts into closet. I am waiting on architect comment about options for gaining space in this area. What is the consensus on size of children’s rooms? I agree about the possibility of garage sticking out being awkward and large roof design. We are working on elevations and rooflines as well, and hope to be able to address these spots. The house will sit at the end of a cul-de-sac and is pushed very far back, so hopefully this will help mask some of this possible awkwardness. Thanks again for all of your thoughts. Keep them coming!!!...See MoreRound house floor plan review please
Comments (12)We picked the company first, then one by one we reviewed their traditional plans against our wants/needs for a floor plan and round was the winner. It was all about the quality of the shell and energy efficiency. The post by TJ, "Should I Be Worried", is exactly what we were seeing by custom home builders in our area for 500K+ homes. Even worse was the energy efficient/green home builders that really just seemed like fronts for solar leasing companies who are partnering with home builders. So , after months of research, site visits, modular factory tours, model home tours, etc, there was no question we wanted to go with this company... Notice how nice those corners are and how perfect this window fits, no shims and I think it was machine cad cut. The catalog with all prices listed for all options is also nice. So we are building round because we selected the company before the style.....See MoreHouse Plan Review Please - Nelson Design Group 1379
Comments (32)DH had already said he won't close in the storage area in the garage. His work bench and tools from his current garage will go there. In that case, I'd widen it so that it's useful. I described my uncle's similar long, narrow, have to squeeze-into-it storage ... this is the same thing, and it would not at all be suitable for a work bench and tools. Measure it out: Less than 5' wide ... you use 18"-24" for the bench and tool storage ... you have only about 3' of walking space. He'd knock his elbows against the back wall constantly. Opening it makes sense because then he can store tools against the wall and -- when necessary -- pull a car out, and he has all the working space in the world. If he won't open it, expanding it is essential. As it's drawn now, it's good only for storage ... and it's not really good for that. The breakfast nook will become a coffee/beverage bar area. I like that idea. Regarding the shower in the laundry room... that's the only thing DH has really asked for! It's not muddy feet that we deal with... he and DS get absolutely filthy from head to toe. I get that they're dirty all over ... but only their feet are touching the inside of your house before they reach their own bathroom /bedroom. They're not rubbing up against the walls as they walk, are they? The porch (hypothetically) will be a significant cost in the big picture. We tend to think about "the main house" and discount the costs of garages and porches ... but, yeah, they are expensive. Not as expensive as interior rooms, of course, but they aren't an insignificant cost. Regardless of cost, they are integral to "the look" of a house like the one we're describing. If you are unable to find a good architect, maybe have a look at the Moser Design Group website? I think their farmhouse plans tend to be simpler and less McMansion-like.That's a cute farmhouse (whereas the OP's original design isn't a farmhouse). I like the layout of the kitchen/dining and the living room's windows are great! I don't care for the bedrooms at all, though that back bedroom might be good for the office. North Carolina and the College of Architecture at NC State is full of experienced and talented architects. NC State is not known for architecture; their claim to fame is engineering (in all its many forms) and vet science ... and bricks. Seriously, that's all they have: bricks. It's UNC-Charlotte that's the NC powerhouse for that subject. However, I think the architects must move out of state because we are certainly not rife with them. I personally only know one person who works as an architect; well, I knew two, but one died....See MorePlease review our preliminary plan for one level home
Comments (12)Thanks to all who weighed in!! Lots to think about. We did speak to 2 local architects. Sadly, both were way out of our price range for a similar house & their lead time was quite lengthy. We’d love it to be our forever home, but it might not be and adding in their costs (both similar) we’d be hard pressed to recover our initial investment. Snaggy – we’ll have a small closet in the foyer and one in the back coming in from the garage, if I can figure out where to put it. tatts – there will be no bath in the center of the house, unless you mean the guest bath on the hall. Also, the kitchen windows – probably 6-8’ wide - face south. Summit studio – I agree the long, shallow porches on the plan are artificial looking, we plan to shorten the front one & center on the entrance, making it deep enough to sit comfortably. We sit on our current porch a lot. We have mountain views to the south and often have coffee and lunch there. The rear will be more of a gathering space, I hope. We'll cover only a part of it and have a patio for grilling, etc. We get our strongest winds from the W and hope the garage will shield us a little. The rear looks out to the meadow beyond and will have my gardens just off of it....See Morespammie
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