Feedback on adding stairs and loft area
Josh m
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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Comments (8)
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years agoJosh m
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Followup to overwhelmed post & feedback needed on 1st floor plan
Comments (5)Oh Robin, I just read your original post and your recent post. First I am sending a hug. You might need to send one right back to me as we just bought a fixer-upper ourselves out in Scotts Valley. As I read your original post I kept thinking, yep, that's us. Yep, that too. (Except your listing photos are gorgeous and ours, well, they are not.) I do think you make a great point that people need to think about how they will use a house. We will likely lose one bedroom with moving some walls around (not load bearing, thank goodness) and I have people telling me how horrible that is for resale but this is our forever home and we need to do what is right for us. I don't have much to offer in the way of ideas but will send a barrel of emotional support up the peninsula to you. Good luck!...See MoreSeeking floorplan feedback (Nick/ARG plan)
Comments (24)@bpath Love the mental imagery. I think I also prefer the door to the side as I imagine guests peering in the picture window at the fireplace as they wait for us to answer the door. I realize now that I've been picturing the front door as Craftsman style wood-look with just the top windows but never passed that on to Nick/ARG. @cpartist Great notes! Agree on the island seating. At one point we had the dining further away with plans to eat at the island most days. However, now we will likely continue eating at the dining table and will have just a couple seats at the island to allow for more island storage. I also agree on the guest room window, but it is low priority for us as it is unlikely to be used (more for an emergency guest situation and a place to put an old bedroom furniture set). I have the same concern for the living room windows and am honestly not sure how we will shade them or how big of a problem it will be. The back of the lot is wooded and ends in a creek then a high wooded knob about 600ft back. Elevation of house site is around 800, top of knob is 790. I find it really hard to figure out for sure but I think the low afternoon sun may be blocked by the knob and trees. I tried to use SolarDat for a light study but can't really get my head around it. Maybe this Google Earth screenshot will explain the lot better (this is looking North, house would be near the top on the right similar to the neighbor's house that can be seen). I'm not sure if we can know this before move in, or at least until the build site is cleared. Otherwise I suppose we'll be stuck with shades. I'm concerned about what the added cost would be, but I do like this gable and shed dormer look to get more light upstairs. Thoughts anyone?...See MoreAdding stairs in 1900 built house
Comments (46)We have stairs! Lots of finishing left to make them pretty, but now we have decent access to finish the attic space. And...I need your help on the downstairs reconfiguration. Space is a bit tighter than anticipated. We punched a hole in the kitchen wall, and it turns out that was original, as the flooring is continuous to the hall. Straight ahead is the bathroom door, to the right needs to be the new bedroom door opening. This bedroom wall is only 30" from inside corner to outside corner. We'll extend the wall across the stairwell (~37"), but that makes it a tough putt for fully opening the door. And here's the former bedroom door, destined to become a closet door. We have room for a 24" wide bedroom door. Obviously NOT ideal, but I measured some of our furniture and depth of the casework is all 18-21" so presumably stuff would still fit through the door. The original closet door is 24" wide, so if we shift it towards the corner we will miss all but a couple inches of stringer in the upper corner. Then there's the whole interfering swing deal with the bedroom and closet doors. Would it be too weird to in-swing the bedroom door to the left? Recommendations to solve this conundrum? Or improve on our 24" clashing door scenario?...See MoreNeed feedback on kitchen island and plan in general
Comments (41)These are all great suggestions. Some more things we needed to consider are that we didn’t want to change the original house too much so are focusing attention on incorporating the additions into the current design. The renovation is costly and we’re not cutting corners, but we are trying to minimize removal of walls whenever possible. The living room has a barrel type ceiling that requires a beam transition to the lower/straight dining room ceiling (which is original and works well) to look right. This gives the dining room a very specific size and feel. DR was originally much smaller and the side was expanded out (in the 1950s by a previous owner) to extend as far to the side as the living room. The living room and dining room spaces are fairly compact. We really need them to remain as open a possible. Also, the existing layout is very common in our area and messing with it too much risks making the space seem out of place. I know design trends are different in different regions, and we’ve consulted with local designers to make sure none of this ends up causing design issues for us. The kitchen design is one of last items to finalize, and I had some reservations about the island placement. Based on suggestions here, I’m going back to our design contacts with some suggestions that I feel we can incorporate....See Moreemilyam819
2 years agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
2 years agoJosh m
2 years ago3onthetree
2 years ago
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