Mark.... I’d make the great room bigger. Although it’s 20x20 (which seems large enough), because the fireplace is on an inside wall, it actually takes up several feet in the room out of that 20’ (the 20 foot measurement is wall to wall on the blueprints, and NOT your actual floor space). This is really important to remember...fireplaces and builtins hack into your room and cut down on your real usable space. Also, because we chose to have no formal living room, we could have used a much larger living space. In addition, because of two full walls of windows, the furniture needs to be floated (we don’t want them up against the windows). To float furniture in a room that’s, in actuality, 17x20 (that’s my estimated floor space...but it could be less...I haven’t actually measured it) leaves hardly any space behind the furniture to move around. Had I realized all of this, I would have made the room at least 25x25 (that’s actual floor space).
I would have made the breakfast room larger. We also chose against having a formal dining room, so a larger breakfast room could double as a large dining room.
I would have made my stove wall longer (maybe by 2 feet) for more counter space on the right side of the range. There is a prep sink there that cuts into the space.
I would have made a barrel vault or tray ceiling between the kitchen and greatroom to help delineate the spaces more. I like it completely open there, but don’t like the way the ceiling looks....so would do something to break it up.
I would make the downstairs hallways wider from 4’ to 5’.
I would have made sure my cabinet guys understood to make my microwave drawer inset (to match all my cabinets).
I would have made the secondary bathrooms slightly larger.
I would have centered certain things that are very hard to explain here, but suffice it to say that it’s difficult to get the feel for everything until you’re actually standing in the space.
I would have made the ceiling height on the first floor 11’ rather than 10’ which would have given me more height for ceiling beams. I would not have had the kitchen cabinets go up to the ceiling but left space for the beams instead.
I would have made the second floor ceilings 10’ rather than 9’.
I would have paid a LOT more attention to where all my light switches were located (especially the 3-ways). It was FREEZING cold when I finalized that with my electrician and I couldn’t wait to get into my nice warm car...so I rushed through. BIG mistake. I’m usually very thorough with those kinds of things, but messed up there. I’m extremely happy with the amount and placement of all my cans and other lighting fixtures (but the switches are another thing entirely). Most people don’t have nearly enough lighting in their homes.
So, that’s a start. There’s a ton more.
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bath with windows
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