Floor Plan - Feedback Please!
jonathanmaurer
2 years ago
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Mark Bischak, Architect
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agojonathanmaurer thanked Mark Bischak, ArchitectRelated Discussions
Floor plan feedback please. (crowd-sourcing my house design ftw)
Comments (12)kirkhall the north side/wall is at the top of the drawing, the south at the bottom. (the north arrow is shown to the right of the first floor). The wall facing south is the one with the front door, so its where the sun comes from most of the day. just fyi, there is about 7.5 ft ceiling height 5 ft from the south wall in the master bathroom, and there is a dormer in the center, which adds extra ceiling height (although not where the toilet is shown) (Also the dormers are not very clearly drawn...sorry about that....these are my drawings, so you know...drafting standards are lax, or rather non existent....) having the master suite upstairs in these cape style houses is tricky, in my opinion. the layouts in these houses are really constrained with the reduced ceiling height at those walls. however, the overall style has a lot of appeal for many reasons for us (appearance, energy efficiency, cost to build, etc.) the ridge runs east to west, and there is a lot of height there (entrance to master bedroom, loft overlooking below, and guest bath) I was originally advocating for the master suite on the first floor, for one floor living if necessary. DH has successfully argued for keeping all of the "public" areas downstairs, and "private areas" upstairs. Upstairs will have a cozy feel. He says we can always put an elevator in where the closet by the stairs is (1st floor) if we have too (I bet that's not cheap!). I'm with you on walking into the master bedroom facing the closet. it doesn't seem ideal for sure. I'm open to ideas. just keep in mind, that big window in the dormer on the north wall in the master bedroom looks out over the property and has views of the mountains. I don't want to block it with a closet. kelhuck re point 1) - i didn't even think about that. We toured a house with the stairs arranged just like it, and thought it was great. That's a good point though. I've thought about the stairs quite a bit, but never from that angle (odd in retrospect). They also had a little more space between the stairs and front door than I'm showing. 2)laundry - yeah, this is a big one for me. I go round and round on this:) The trade-off is to just have a laundry closet, but have the laundry upstairs, or put it in the mud-room, have more space, but have to haul laundry up and down stairs all the time. right now, i'm leaning towards not caring if the laundry clutters up the loft a bit, but there is not much room there at all, its only barely works. currently, my washer and dryer are in our garage, which is not conditioned. I bring baskets of laundry back into our bedroom, and process everything there. S, its not far fetched to have a small closet, but the appeal of a little room I can close off is strong. I swear I want a new house just for a space conditioned laundry room:) 3) pretty much, yes. the appeal of timber homes is showing off the structure, those gorgeous timbers. all timber homes I've seen have a least some two story view inside. however, there is strong sentiment on this board against it, that its loud. since I've never lived in a house like this, I'm inclined to listen. its a valid point, especially when its more than just the two of us (guests and/or kids). even just making the open to below over the foyer instead of the tv/family/living room may solve that. I dunno yet. I'll have a chat w/ dh about it later. 4) dont' worry about insulation, the entire house is going to be wrapped in SIPS. initial calcs for the efficiency we are looking for are calling for 10" SIPS, whereas almost everyone uses 6". No worries, this house will be tight (and require mechanical ventilation). we are focusing heavily on the envelope, so our budget is focused on SIPS and windows. I may even hae to sacrifice my nice kitchen initially (blasphemy!) in order to pay for it up front, but we'll see. liriodendron - that's awesome that you are using PV. the price is coming down, so its actually starting to make sense to pay for it, instead of just being for people like dh and me, who just have non-mainstream tastes and interest (energy nuts, sort of:) the property was logged 5 years before we bought it, so it doesn't have many trees (no trees anywhere near the home site) (and its an ugly mess, we've just now started re-planting). the south facing garage roof will have full sun all day. if it weren't for that, we would angle the house more, so the back faces the mountains a bit better, but we didn't want to sacrifice the front/south wall of the house with respect to facing the sun too much. we like PV just cause we think its neat, and we're trying hard to justify it, but it may be a few years down the road before we consider actually paying for it....See Morekitchen floor plan feedback please (2nd revision)!
Comments (5)I like it a lot! The island is much better with the seating on both sides. Not sure why you need to shorten up the length though ... I would lengthen it out a bit, closer to the length of your first plan but keeping the depth and double sided seating. Then you can add a small prep sink there if you wish; not mandatory but it would add a degree of convenience so I would strongly think about doing it. Great plan overall....See MoreFloor Plan Feedback Please
Comments (9)First let me say, I really like your new kitchen and how it works so well now with the downstairs. Bravo. I remember all the versions you had. Just two things about the kitchen. Make sure the dw is not in the corner so you have enough room for opening the door and having a bit of breathing room. I personally would prefer it the sink being off center if it would provide more room on the left of the DW. And make sure you have enough room between the sink and the cooktop so if one is at the sink, another person can be at the cooktop. What's nice is you can have 2 or even three people in the kitchen working at once. That dining room with the bay window is going to be awesome and having a nice large living space will be too. Now for the house: The downstairs bedroom is small and with the closet you wouldn't be able to get more than a twin or maybe a double bed in. So I moved the closet to the hallway, and made that alcove part of the bedroom "suite" by enclosing the bathroom for just that bedroom. You already have a powder room on the first floor so this allows your guest (I believe you said it was a sister mostly) to have more privacy when using the guest room. Now the additional positive is you have a larger closet so part of it can be for clothes and a small section can become a linen closet. On the second floor, I'm not in love with the bathrooms, especially your kids bath. The kid who uses the second sink will wind between the toilet and the sink. Ewww. I'd eliminate the sink completely in favor of more storage. Also I played a bit with your master. I understand the desire to have the tub under the window, but that creates two very squished together sinks....See MoreHelp with floor plan feedback, please.
Comments (8)Thanks all for your input. The "additional storage space" is an add on space for garage things. I am finding out how much it will cost to make this a two story addition, and putting the kitchen there. I am enclosing photos so you can better understand our home. Thank you so much. I do appreciate the feedback. This home is overdue for a renovation, and I am looking for to it!!!...See Morejonathanmaurer
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoLenox Smith
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2 years agojust_janni
2 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
2 years agojonathanmaurer
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2 years agoLindsey_CA
2 years agojonathanmaurer
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2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoLH CO/FL
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2 years agoMrs Pete
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