Meeting designer in three weeks - feedback on our brief/plan please!

last year

last modified: last year

Located in Atlantic Canada. New construction on a lot we own outright is set to start Spring 2023. We're a childfree couple in our 30s, with two cats and hopefully a dog once we're settled in the new place!

We're meeting with an architectural designer in July to have the building plans drawn up. They've asked us to bring any plans we like as a starting point, so we compiled our desired elements into the following layout in a free software program for reference. We of course expect things to change & evolve throughout the process, but would you say this is a good foundation? Is there anything that immediately jumps out to you as needing to be completely overhauled or scrapped? Any and all input is appreciated!

Parameters:

lot is 75ft W x 250ft D; road runs east-west on the north side of the lot
6ft setbacks either side mean a max building width of 63ft; we would prefer slightly wider side yards so they don't feel cramped, but we also want to maximize the southern exposure on the back of the home
affordable, efficient, modest space (~1500sq ft)
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1.5 car garage all on one level
bright & airy feel (lots of windows, 9ft ceilings)
direct access to the back yard from the mudroom, laundry, and living room
master bedroom facing the back yard

[The grey X is a switchback staircase leading to the basement, which will be unfinished aside from a media room & workout area.]

We'll be sure to follow-up with the actual plans once we get their first draft back! This community has been so helpful already. Thanks in advance!

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PRO

Mark Bischak, Architect

last year

I direct my clients to bring a list of wants and needs in their new home, supplemented with images that help explain those wants and needs; and a site survey. The client should supply information that defines the problem, not solutions. When the client gives the architect solutions, it stifles the architect's creativity and the client gets less bang for their buck.

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Comments (25)

comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
Literally as I'm looking at this post I think we should flip it horizontally so that the master bedroom is on the SE corner of the house instead to catch the morning light. Houzz is already paying off haha.
bpath
last year
That’s a deep lot. Have you considered an L-shaped plan?
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Would you actually use two living rooms as drawn on your last revision? Most people tend to use one room, whether it is called a living room, great room, family room, or whatever. I feel that every square inch of a home should actually be used. I would make one nice living room area, with either french doors or a sliding glass door onto the porch. As far as the stair placement goes, could you have a nice open foyer where they could be placed on one wall, and then continue on it the living room area from there. It would be nice and open, while allowing for furniture placement in the living room area. The stair placement drives the loft design though, so you may not like what it does. I like kitchens that open into a living area. In your first drawing the main thing I see is that the space between the island and kitchen table is way too tight, and I would not like the door placement to the porch from the kitchen. It's "off" and doesn't flow right. The porch can be easily used from the kitchen through doors from the living room. We are designing a floor plan right now ourselves, and it is amazing what changes we have made over the past several months. It is just my husband and I now, so I can build my home without a bunch of bedrooms. We are building it the way that WE want. We are basically going to have the master and a large sewing studio. If we do get a guest they can sleep in the sewing studio. I want larger rooms, and less of them. We are also keeping the square footage down to around 1700 sq. ft. I've decided against a loft, because I have found I never really liked living with huge vaulted ceilings. Wherever the loft isn't, the ceiling is a monster. The solution is to flat ceiling most of the house with the loft above it, but I didn't want that either. I do love being up in lofts though. The other thing I have had to let go of is my desire to have a built in island. I've wanted an island as long as I can remember. I just couldn't make it work with the clearances and flow I wanted. I think I can have a nice portable one made though that can either store when not needed on a wall, and/or do double duty as a cutting table in my sewing room. I usually only want an island when doing lots of baking or cooking for company. My changes in thinking about our house are not meant to imply that you should think and do as I am. I only mentioned them because frustration sets in while designing a home, and an evolvement process happens as a result. If you are stuck on a certain aspect and can't get past it, it means that something isn't quite right...for you. Sometimes it takes a while to figure it out. What figured out the loft/no loft thing for me was taking the time to go through a few model log homes. I'll always love the sewing loft idea, but for me, and me only, the tradeoff wasn't worth it. We are middle aged now and I want to keep the home manageable for when we are old. Oh, and be sure to put plenty of dish storage near your dishwasher and to the table. The dishwasher should go next to the sink for ease of use. Good luck. I know you are doing lots of head banging right now. It's easier to erase lines on paper than move it while under construction. You'll eventually get it. Sandy
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I think the plan is really strong. The thinness of the sections gets you light from multiple sides of a room and deep into the room. You might get some of the corridors to do double duty by lining with built-ins. Are you sure you need the stair from the master? How old would the kids be when you move in? Could the youngest be right at the top of the main stair? Good call on not letting the 5-10 minutes per week of carrying in groceries drive your entire plan by parking your cars 3 feet from your fridge. The spacing of the porch columns is in some places inconsistent, and quite wide given the spanning beams aren't that deep. A prior suggestion of board and batten on the barn sounds nice, clapboard everywhere else. Some thoughts on the front elevation. You're on a big farm and if the intent is a farmhouse that has grown over time, then the main (front/head) house might be more consistent with this approach if it were conceived as three connected boxes with gable roofs. If you look at your 3d view, this is how it looks from the back. This would require losing the twin front facing gables and some jogs (which as nice as the plan is, the inset front entry doesn't look to be essential). If you did this, it could be nice if the largest part with the main entry could be all stone, as the "original" house in the narrative. The rest as clapboard additions. As it is now, the front elevation although ok on it's own doesn't have much in common with the rest of the ensemble and is clearly the newest part. Just depends on your intent. Good luck. This post was edited by dadereni on Sun, May 12, 13 at 13:14
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I like the simpler lines of the bed in Yardvaark's drawing and second the suggestion to make the bed include the crabapple. The plantings will create their own undulations - the bed edge doesn't need them unless to accommodate plants such as where it goes around the crabapple. If you don't want a staight line, one long sweeping curve looks far more graceful than many undulating curves and will also be easier to mow along. Consider the shape of the lawn you are creating, not only the shape of the garden bed. The deeper the bed, the more layers of plants you can fit in and the better the screening, and also the better the plants will look. I would consider at least a few evergreens for winter interest if nothing else. Either conifers or something like rhododendrons, many of which are hardy enough and will grow large enough. I would totally rethink several of your shrubs since what you have isn't suitable for a range of reasons. There are more shrubs than you have space for, even considering that you want them growing together as a screen. I'd replace the rose of Sharon, both because its shape and late leafing out makes it a poor screening choice, and because it only blooms for a few weeks at best, spending most of the season as a somewhat ungraceful green blob, so isn't even particularly ornamental to my eye. Two other shrubs, barberry and burning bush are both invasives. (I am frankly appalled that a nursery in this day and age would suggest either plant.) That means that birds eat the berries and then plant new ones wherever they leave droppings, most especially a problem in unmaintained areas such as woodland, fields and parks, but burning bush will give you many, many, many seedlings in your own yard as well. Barberry has thorns that make walking barefoot hazardous, and having grown up in a home with them, they catch every blown leaf and piece of trash which then need to be removed. Ugg! Here is an article that gives some alternatives, all of which I grow and like, or visit some other garden centers with your layout and see what else they have to suggest. Blueberries will also have stunning fall color along with white spring flowers and berries either for you or the birds. Far more attractive than burning bush with far less maintenance. One of my favorite long-blooming shrubs is Hydrangea paniculata which will grow fine in all day to half day sun, and blooms for something like 3-4 months here, depending on the cultivar. They range in height from something like 4' to 12', so you should be able to find one to suit. Limelight is quite popular, and my favorite, Quickfire, blooms from late June until hard freeze in October, starting white and then changing over to cherry pink. If the chain link is yours, it would be a great idea to grow some vines on it, since they would have a relatively shallow footprint, but add interest and screening ability. You could fasten trellises to the fence in places to allow them to grow taller. Or if it isn't yours, place trellises in front of the fence 6"-12". Site the trellises so that they block the views you want blocked from your most common viewing locations such as windows or seating areas since they will be there year round. A couple suggestions include a selection of the native honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' with red flowers in a mass right now, and then continuing in lesser numbers all summer. There are also selections of the same species with flowers in yellow and orange, and there's a photo of Blanche Sandman in the article linked above. There are a number of clematis that would work such as jackmanii with deep purple flowers. Look for type 3 pruning (hard prune) since those are summer blooming and easiest to grow. I think you want to look at the ultimate size of your shrubs vs. the number specified. For instance, Lynwood Gold forsythia get to be 6'-9' in height and width, and really looks best in its natural fountain form. So plant it where there's space for it to grow with its natural grace, and only plant as many as there is space for (perhaps 3 instead of 4 in the space allotted?). Don't plan on pruning it please, though I do understand the need to prune the backside some to prevent it growing into the neighbor's yard - just try to plant far enough from the fence so that won't be needed. It can grow around the base of the crab a bit. I find that the Missouri Botanical Garden's Plant Finder is a great resource for accurate plant size if you type in just the name at the top as well as using the option to search for plants that fit your needs using the menu below. Once the screen of shrubs is planted, then I'd worry about adding the perennials. They are the icing on the cake and not involved with the main function of the bed, so they can be added later.
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Sorry about the tummy bug thing. I had that myself a couple of weeks ago. Have you thought about putting the stairs on the interior of the house along with the pantry to allow your rooms to be along the exterior walls and have windows in all the rooms downstairs. There is a lot of wasted space right now downstairs in the eating area and it will be very dark in that area. Generally when you're sitting at the table it would be nice to be able to look outside which in this design you won't have at all. Plus the area is large enough to also house the great room which seems like a lot of wasted space. Although it would be nice to have a window into the stairs I'd rather have it in my dining area where I'd spend a whole lot more time than in the stairs area. Also it may make sense to straighten out some of the jogs on the exterior as it could actually mean cost savings in the build vs. having a little more square footage. I know this would mean having to re-work the upstairs too, but I think for such a cute exterior that this won't live as well as you'd really like. You'll be really pleased with the exterior, but probably less so with the interior where you'll spend most of your time during awake hours. I really like having windows in my kitchen, but if I had to make a trade off on kitchen and dining I'd rather put the kitchen on the interior than the dining as at least in the kitchen I will be standing at all times or sit high on a stool so I'm still able to look out the windows although they won't be as close and since even though I have windows in my kitchen I've always still had to use task lighting no matter the time of the day so an interior kitchen would not be as noticeable in the differences. However a dining table you sit down and can't really see well over cabinets and counters to the outside and you'll always have to have lights on in that area. So sitting and doing any crafts etc. at the table is going to need even more task lighting too beyond your normal over the table light fixture.
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chispa
last year
Why are you placing beds in front of windows?

Your Great Room isn't so great when you have large walkways to the north, west and south, and your furniture is huddling in the center!

Make sure you scale everything correctly when trying out layouts or you end up with rooms that don't fit actual furniture comfortably.

Like bpath, I would try to stretch the house out a bit.
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
"They've asked us to bring any plans we like as a starting point."
comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
@bpath We're definitely struggling with two opposing thoughts: A) take advantage of the deep lot and B) take advantage of the southern exposure. With our parameters in mind, the only rooms left to "stack" would be the living, dining, kitchen, and entry. We worried this would create a sort of dark corridor / light-at-end-of-the-tunnel effect, rather than the wide-open / outside-in feel we're aiming for. Definitely open to suggestions on creating an L-shape though!

@CHISPA Window placement on this mockup is very rough but that's a great thing to keep in mind! Thank you for the tip on scale with these layouts. I had read that having a 3ft walkway around the living space is good for flow, but I do not love that the master bedroom door is right there.
comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
@Mark Bischak, Architect When scheduling the meeting we asked what we should bring and this was their response. Should we be concerned?

"Any information you have gathered, you can bring it along (or forward via email). I believe you had mentioned previously that you had found a few online plans that you liked. If you have bits and pieces of layouts from several plans or images that works too. Once we have an idea of your preferences then we can customize a plan to suit your needs. It’s always nice to have a bit of a starting point though and work from there. Any info you can gather regarding the land will also assist with knowing what we have to work with and choosing a design that best suits the land."
comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
@Mark Bischak, Architect That's a helpful way to think about the approach! We do also have a written list of what we're looking for, so it sounds like we should lean more on that in our meeting and keep the visual aids more geared toward our Pinterest boards rather than a full-fledged layout. Cheers!
bpath
last year
last modified: last year
Very rough. no halls, doors, furniture, almost a ”bubble diagram”? And nothing to scale, not proportioned. But, nearly every room gets south or east light, maybe even a west window. (living with a north-facing garage in a northern climate, I might even have the garage be another L with side entry facing east, keeps the snow out. Then the house is more of a T. But, keeping snow out of the garage is another concept or ”problem” as Mark says, to bring to the architect to solve.) Btw, that’s a foyer separating bedroom wing from public wing. Walk in the front door to a view of the back yard.
comelyhomely thanked bpath
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
I am not familiar with architectural designers IMO you get an architect they do a site inspection and design a house that includes things you need and a home designed for the site . I agree that bringing plans of houses with no context as to the site is not a good idea ever.
res2architect
last year
last modified: last year
It all depends on the experience and skill of the "designer".

Giving the designer a complete design would be appropriate for a draftsman. I don't recommend it.

I've only had this happen a few times and it delayed the beginning of a serious design process by a few weeks. It didn't affect the final design but it was an unnecessary expense and delay for the owner.
PRO
Norwood Architects
last year
I'm afraid I agree with other posters. A house design should very much be informed by the site. A house should respond to the site and site conditions. As to the plan you have presented here the thing that strikes me the most is the small area allotted for your living space. The only furniture I see is the sectional. That should accommodate seating for a couple but it would seem if you have guests over there wouldn't be anywhere for them to sit. If you do present this to your architect hopefully he will take the best of your ideas and combine them with his own based on his experience. Good luck!
comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
Thanks all! We did do our layout with the limitations/features of the lot in mind, but agree it should be left to the professional to come up with the details. We're scrapping the idea of bringing our reference drawing to the meeting and will instead rely on our written wish/need list and conversations with the designer. Really appreciate the feedback and hope this will result in a smoother process!
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
last modified: last year
Now that I think more about it, the list of wants and needs is usually compiled during the first meeting. I ask questions and take notes. They ask questions and I respond. I share some ideas and it stimulates discussion. They show me pictures and I explain my opinion of the pictures. They get offended and take away the drink they gave me earlier in the meeting and I tell them, "Your mother is a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries"; to which they reply, "Ni !" . . .

In the end they build a real nice house I designed with them that I can not afford.
Yvonne Martin
last year
Your plan has one deficiency in my mind--no window in the kitchen. I'd include a requirement for a window in the kitchen in your list of needs.
Mrs Pete
last year
Random thoughts:

- The living spaces, where you'll spend most of your waking hours, seem small ... especially the living room.

- Where will the TV go?

- You're talking about giving the best light to the master bedroom. Personally, I'd rather see the best light go to the living spaces. With the covered porch, the living space won't have great lighting.

- I think the refrigerator would be better on the other side of the "L". This would allow you more counterspace in the main working area.

- I like the layout in the master bedroom. Good traffic flow.

- The vanity in the master bedroom cannot really support duplicate sinks; that is, you'll have literally no drawer space, and that means constant clutter on the vanity. Storage is important.

- The secondary bedrooms and bathroom look basic but workable.

- I'd like to see a pantry and a broom closet.
comelyhomely thanked Mrs Pete
cpartist
last year
Since you're going to let the architect help you figure it all out, may I suggest you also keep in mind this list below. Doesn't mean you'll get every single thing on the list but if something has to give, know why and how it will impact everything else. :) Best of luck.

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped.

The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case.

The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.)

The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls.

The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls

The best houses do not have diagonal interior walls making for odd spaces.

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate.

The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room.

The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen.

The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms.

The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls or dining areas.

The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside.

The best houses do not have roofs that are overly large, and dominate the exterior of the house.

The best houses do not have stick on exterior materials only on the front façade.

The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense. Meaning they don’t have meandering circulation paths.

And added from Architectrunnerguy:

-The best houses enrich their owners souls.

-The best houses are timeless.

-The best houses incorporate the intangibles of good design.

-The best houses have strong organizational concepts.

-The best houses have owners who understand what good design is….and isn’t.

-The best houses are shaped in response to the Sun.

-The best houses have all its parts in good proportion to each other and to the whole.

-The best houses enhance the street.

-The best houses balance function, aesthetics and construction.

-The best houses recognize there are always design tradeoffs.

-The best houses break some “rules”.

-The best houses are a joy to live in.
comelyhomely thanked cpartist
comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Appreciate the continued support, folks!

Wow, what a great list @cpartist. It's really important to us that the home be functional & practical as well as aesthetically pleasing, so we're taking these tidbits to heart.

"-The best houses have owners who understand what good design is….and isn’t."

This one is honestly a struggle haha. I've tried my best to research & learn about design principles but it gets overwhelming and I default to an "I know it when I see it" sort of mindset.
chicagoans
last year
One of the first things I noticed was the small garage. When you talk through your list of wants and needs with an architect, keep in mind the number and size of vehicles you have (or plan to have), as well as things like bikes and any yard tools you might need for your big yard. (And whether you'll want a shed for any of that stuff.)
cpartist
last year
This one is honestly a struggle haha. I've tried my best to research & learn about design principles but it gets overwhelming and I default to an "I know it when I see it" sort of mindset.

Do a search on here for books to read. One I highly recommend is Sarah Susanka's book, The Not So Big House. There is another who's name is escaping me now.

and do some research on passive solar heating/cooling.

So I took my list and anything in bold is what is an issue with the plan you drew up. This hopefully will help you to start truly visualizing plans.

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped.

The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case.

The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.)

The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls.

The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls

The best houses do not have diagonal interior walls making for odd spaces.

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate.

The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room.

The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen.

The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms.

The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls or dining areas.

The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside.

The best houses do not have roofs that are overly large, and dominate the exterior of the house.

The best houses do not have stick on exterior materials only on the front façade.

The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense. Meaning they don’t have meandering circulation paths

If you want to see some examples of well designed houses with organizing spines, I highly recommend you look up architectrunnerguy in users. :)
comelyhomely thanked cpartist
PRO
Sabrina Alfin Interiors
last year
last modified: last year
I think @Mark Bischak, Architect 's approach is the best, honestly. It's the architect's job to solve design problems; that's what you're paying him for. So present him/her with a list of what you'd like to achieve with maybe a few images of homes you like the style of, and a real budget. You don't want the architect going off to design something that will be unaffordable, so get serious about what you think you want to spend. If you really have no idea, then pay him to do feasibility studies, i.e. rough concepts with numbers attached so you can adjust from there.

Create a Houzz board, a Pinterest board with house images. Send photos of your lot and give him the plot number of your site so he can look it up the site plan on your local government web site.
Karen
last year
Have you given any thought to having a detached garage that is behind the house and possibly has a covered walkway/breezeway to it? (Or maybe the basement won’t allow that.). That may allow a totally different floor plan, one that would enable window(s) in the kitchen/family room and one that is wider. Just a thought.
Ilove MyLife
last year
comelyhomely: "the master bedroom is on the SE corner of the house instead to catch the morning light."

My main bedroom is on the north side of the house, and I would not have it any other way. I like the cozy feel of soft northern light and do not like early light that wakes up the dog. We have room-darkening drapes on the window near the bed and shears over wood blinds on the bathroom window that is seen through an open doorway.
cpartist
last year
ILoveMyLife, the OP has a new plan as she met with the designer.
comelyhomely
Original Author
last year
Yes the first draft of our new plan & discussion can be found here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6285788/first-draft-back-from-architectural-designer-what-are-your-thoughts#27899226 We're so grateful for all the feedback provided so far!

Meeting designer in three weeks - feedback on our brief/plan please!

Mark Bischak, Architect

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Meeting designer in three weeks - feedback on our brief/plan please!

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