New Home Floor Plan Selection
Tom Kumar
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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Tom Kumar
2 years agoTom Kumar
2 years agoRelated Discussions
New year, new house. Tree selection input requested.
Comments (56)Just sitting here nodding in agreement with a lot of posts. I think the most important thing at this point is to look at your property and decide the functions you will use it for down the road so you don't ruin the space when you get around to addressing it. Yes, leave access for getting trucks and machinery to various parts of the property, even on three acres. Especially on three acres you plan to fill generously with trees. Yes on considering some groves and avoiding onesie-twosies and when the tree bug bites you, and it will, it's very enticing to want 'one of everything' and three of nothing and the visuals on that can be busy and disjointed. You have a big house, and need to consider proportions so that the trees planted near it don't come off looking dwarfed and the house monstrous. We have an epidemic here of mini-mansions festooned with dwarf weeping cherry trees, the branches pruned abruptly like a bowl haircut. We also found it more logical to start close and move out with our plantings. Although we are not close to any other dwellings, I use plantings as visual blockades to scenes I don't care to see and for privacy, so do look out your windows in the general direction of any tree you consider planting to make sure it DOESN'T block what you want to see, and does what you don't want to see. Yes I do plant trees to block sun for the shading effect. If they are deciduous, blocking sunlight isn't an issue in winter and it has a tremendous impact in summer to keep our stucco over brick house cool. It sort of amazed me to see someone mention leasing solar panels. You lease from them for your power, or they lease from you for the exposure and buy the power you generate? In our neck of the woods, it would be a company wanting to sink an oil well, instead. LOL. I have a perfect south facing roof area, but any solar panels ever getting there would be self-financed and simply supplemental in their efficiency. I don't have central air, and having a boiler heat am not interested in retrofitting ducts to accomodate it. Trees size so much more quickly than you think. I have some aerial shots of our property taken fifteen years apart and it's astounding at the amount of canopy we have now, compared to then. Our annual rainfall is adequate for most of our plantings and we have installed some freeze proof spigots away from the house, but I got a chuckle over the remark of 100 gallon tanks for watering. Tried that one year and .........well....despite how large a tractor you have, you'd better have more than a trailer behind it to pull your water tank. The center of gravity shifts in liquid loads. It ain't purty. Yes on buying small for most trees. They establish more readily and catch up with the bigger, more expensive ones quite quickly. I've had just as good success with B and B, but really the only reason I got the ones I did was I couldn't find them container. This is going to take years and it never really gets done. That's as it should be and part of the adventure. I can honestly say I've never had to rip a tree out because of poor placement. Nobody shares the exact gardening philosophy and what's right for me might not be right for you as far as pleasing to the senses. Over the years I have found I've been much more pleased with a tree whose needs have been met than one unsuitable for the growing conditions. A healthy and robust, easy care tree is often more beautiful than one which you much struggle to keep happy. Remember it's a lot easier to attend to correcting things like improper branch angles than addressing the problems they cause down the road. Have fun with it and enjoy the journey, too....See MoreNew House - New Kitchen - Open Floor Plan
Comments (10)The island is large enough to have a good zone of safety around the cooking zone, but not large enough to serve as the prep zone. Your prep zone in this layout will be the corner between your fridge and DW. And that would be fine for many people. If you want to prep and socialize with visitors at the same time, then this isn't a layout that will work for that and you'd need to move the cooking zone off of the island and put a sink there so that you'd prep facing out into the room. Whatever you decide, I'd make the entry to the pantry in the hall adjacent so that you could extend the cabinets down all the way to that hall and move the fridge down further to make access easier from the great room. That will also give you a good place for a MW next to the fridge. I'd personally also prefer a peninsula for some separation between the kitchen and dining room while still remaining open for the connection. I'd also prefer the cooking zone to be off of the island so that it would b easier and cheaper (and more effectively) vented to the exterior straight through the wall. Flank it with some windows to make it a focal point from the great room....See MoreBuilding a new home. Not sure about floor plan
Comments (39)The fact remains that neither of those plans is good for a growing family for many reasons. So if you're planning for a family, you can do better. And neither is particularly conducive to the way I would imagine a couple with no kids will want to use their home. (admitting that I have only been part of that "couple with no kids" demographic for about 10 months lol) There is no room for entertaining friends, the first plan has good space for guest room/hobby rooms/office but the second doesn't. The second plan has a practical guest bathroom. In both plans you need to walk 30 ft before you get to a spot to hang your coat or put down the bottle of wine you brought! And good luck getting shoes on and off in that bottleneck....See MoreBuilding New Home- Floor Plan Critique
Comments (3)Hi Katie! Just a comment on the Jack and Jill layout -- I'd propose no closet and you put in open-shelving or putting in open built-in shelving to eliminate the door. Having a place for linens is very functional in the bathroom but it doesn't have to be a closet. Enjoy your new house!! -Myra...See MoreFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years agoTom Kumar
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2 years agoTom Kumar
2 years agoFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoTom Kumar
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2 years agoMalcolm
2 years agoRappArchitecture
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2 years agoTom Kumar
2 years agoFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years agoTom Kumar
2 years agoFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years agoFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agomarylut
2 years agomarylut
2 years agoTom Kumar
2 years agoTom Kumar
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2 years agoTom Kumar
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2 years agoTom Kumar
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2 years agoFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoFelix Pradas-Bergnes
2 years ago
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