Seeking advice on overall layout of floor plan.
kathrynparsons4
3 years ago
My husband and I are preparing to start construction on a home in the coming months and would appreciate some feedback before making any final decisions on the floor plan. We have decided on a rectangular house shape to save some money on the foundation and roof system. The drawing shows a vaulted ceiling from front to back in the middle part of the house, but we have decided to only vault the great room. The rest will have 10’ flat ceilings in the middle part of the house and then 9’ ceilings on the rest do the house. We will be building on a sloped area on our land and will have a walkout basement. This space will include additional bedrooms and a recreational room.
We are considering swapping the laundry room and pantry and would also just appreciate thoughts of the overall design.
We will be building on our wooded acreage out in the country and do not feel concerned with kid’s bedrooms being at the front of the house.
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Comments (21)
kathrynparsons4
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Seeking advice on small bath floor plan
Comments (13)You said the bath was 7' x 7' so those grey squares on your images each represents a 1' x 1' space. Right? If so, neither of the two designs you just posted is going to work. First, you aren't leaving enough room in front of the toilet or in front of the sink to actually use them. You HAVE to have room to stand in front of the sink and knee room in front of the toilet. (Men need standing room there also!) The 18' or so that you have just is NOT enough space. Building codes require a minimum of 21' of space. But, anything less than about 26' is going to feel decidedly cramped. Second, you cannot use a pocket door in the location you show it because that wall will have plumbing pipes for your vanity sink in it. A pocket door simply cannot go into a wall in the same spot where plumbing needs to be. I know you want a larger shower so I hate to say it but I really don't think a 3' wide x 5' long shower with a 4' wall around it will ever fit into the space you have available. If you went with a totally glass-walled shower and forgot about the half-height walls, the shower would take up less floor space. You might be able to manage a 30' wide shower. You might also consider a neo-angle shower that would fit into a corner of the room. Since both windows can't possibly be on the front of the house, maybe you could move or eliminate whichever one does not actually face front. Or, turn it into a glass block window and incorporate the window into your shower. A wall- mounted toilets with the tank (water cistern) built INTO the wall would also take up less floor space. If you put your toilet against an interior wall, that might be an option. And, while they don't provide under-sink storage, pedestal sinks make small bathrooms look and feel larger by freeing up floor space. Here is a link that might be useful: NKBA planning guides (clear space in bathrooms)...See MoreHelp! Seeking kitchen floor plan advice and ideas.
Comments (4)E, here's my criteria for kitchen design; I hope it's helpful in your case. --The kitchen triangle still works and makes sense, so plan you kitchen to maximize the work triangle (this means, among other things, don't stick a humongeous island the size of the USS Ronald Reagan in the middle of the triangle); --Refigerator and pantry belong together, since that's where a lot of the food prep starts; --The refigerator and pantry should be oriented close to where the food arrives from the grocery store after purchase; --Sink and dishwasher belong side by side, with the dishwasther closest to the dining area; --Cooking may vary from a single drop-in range/oven to a seperate cook top and seperate oven(s)/microwave; --Whatever the cooking arrangement is, keep the cooking units close to one another (in the triangle); --Cooktops need ventilation, and the most effective is a hood above the cooktop that is at least 6" wider than the cooktop on either side (a lot more can be said about hoods, including CFM, location of exhaust fan, duct size, etc); --Cooktops create grease, so plan the adjacent backsplash and wall finishes accordingly (that wonderful detailed tiled wall may soon have the grout lines darkened with grease, depending on what and how you frequently cook) --Provide space for the number of people expected in the kitchen at the same time, i.e., 4'-0 is the minimum space for one person to open a cabinet or refrigerator door. If you expect more than one person at a time in the kitchen, increase dimensions in that area to 5'-6' minimum --Storage: decide where the kitchen-related storage should be and where the dining-related storage should be and put each there! That's why the old "Butler's Pantry" was and is a good idea when it comes to storage. Hope this helps. Good luck on your project!...See MoreAdvice for a overall concept and plan for new construction.
Comments (4)I'm just a fellow homeowner, not an HVAC expert. Running HVAC ducting through interior conditioned spaces (instead of outside walls) is viewed as a best practice, it minimizes the loss of conditioned air temperatures and leakage to the outside. The architect needs to design in duct runs, perhaps some drop ceiling and soffits, and vertical chases for the ducting up from and back to the basement. With two story houses, the best approach is a separate system for each floor. The basement can "borrow" from the first floor. That gives the best temperature control flexibility and long term is a more reliable approach than zoning one larger system. From experience, all that "open to below/open to above" space between the first and second floors will cause temperature imbalances between the two levels that will be hard to deal with in both heating and cooling seasons. Ceiling fans in the great room will help but I think you're still going to find it problematic. Layout wise, one bathroom upstairs for three bedrooms may not be enough. Additionally, the small "open to below" space right above the front door may look awkward and will communicate all front door noise to the bedrooms above. You might want to consider closing that in and making it a small bathroom between the two bedrooms. Good luck!...See MoreFloor plan advice... Kitchen layout. Cathedral ceiling advice.
Comments (55)I think the back of the house could use a little dimension...it all seems a little flat right now and not sure how that will look from the exterior? I don’t know if there’s any specific nice view out the back that you want to preserve/enhance, but having 1-2 bump outs might be nice. They could also get you some new windows in different directions, bringing in some different light. For example, you could bump out your living room so it’s not in a flat plane with the rest of the house. If your living room currently has a western exposure (I forget what the orientation is), you could then get north and south exposure by adding windows along the sides of the bump out. You could maybe even add some doors to the outside on the side of the bump out so you don’t have to squeeze by the dining table to access the sliding door - that’s how my house is currently and it is sort of annoying sometimes. I’m not an architect, so I don’t know the term for it, but adding a little dimension along the back might be good, unless you’re going for a super formal symmetrical aesthetic, which I don’t think you are....See Morekathrynparsons4
3 years ago
Architectrunnerguy
3 years agokathrynparsons4
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bpath
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shead
3 years agokathrynparsons4
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kathrynparsons4
3 years agoer612
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoLooks good. I like your pantry and laundry in their current locations and wouldn't want to walk through the kitchen to reach the laundry. So there isn't an attached garage, correct? Just making sure I'm not missing anything. Also, it might be helpful to add furniture when planning.
kathrynparsons4
3 years agokathrynparsons4
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3 years ago
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