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kcinkc71

floor plan, please review

12 years ago

here is our first pass at the floor plan we have drawn up by our Arch. we were looking for 2 BR on main, and 2 br's up. no 'formal' living or dining. There will be a loft upstairs, and we will have 9' ceilings in basement with daylight windows to make it feel open and bright. will have kid room, ofc and kitchenette/bar in lower lever (finished 1200 sq ft) Total sq ft above grade is just under 2800 sq ft.

Comments (6)

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Looks pretty good! I especially like that your arch. realizes corners are dead in closets (master closet).

    When you build, might I suggest that they make sure you don't end up with a bearing wall as the wall between the second bedroom (off kitchen) and the foyer, so that in the future, should a buyer want to make that into a LR or "formal dining" they could open that up to the foyer?

    It is kind of too bad you can't get natural light into your laundry, and your pantry is taking up the "window wall" of that area... But, I am not sure you'd want to reverse the location of those 2 rooms (though having the pantry available off the garage door is handy). The laundry appears to be outside of proximity to any bedrooms, so moving it to the outside wall wouldn't be ruled out in my book... Are you expecting a lot of laundry straight from mudroom/entry to laundry room, or could the 2 spaces be reversed?

    Your plan seems well thought out. I am assuming you wanted 2 bedrooms on the main floor but that were no where near each other, since that is what you have. (If I were the owner, I'd probably want them better connected, but as is, you have 2, and they function as they function.)

    I can't see kitchen details.
    And, make sure you know where you'll hang your towels in your Master Bath.

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Thanks Kirkhall. some good points. 2nd BR on main can be optioned as ofc so not load bearing. 2 kid BR upstairs w a laundry shoot into ldry room. thought about swutching powder and laundry, but decided against it. yes, we wanted separation on the guest BR/ofc. from the master. tried to capture as much nat. light as we could with the lot we have to work with. I will post upstairs. Basement plan isn't finalized yet. Thanks again.

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Overall it's nice!

    In my opinion, the tandem garage should be replaced with a 3-wide if you have the room. Adding windows for natural light in the laundry and mudroom.

    (side note: yay! my first post!!!)

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Thanks. 3 car front load garages are not allowed in the neighborhood. Lot is 100' wide. had we had 10 more feet, we would have done one front/2 side entry. I can live with the tandem, still get my workshop.

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    I'd put a garage door on the back of the garage for the one-car spot. You say you're going to use it as a workshop, but someone else in the future may want to use it as an actual garage, and it would be useful for that person to be able to enter from the back /drive through. Also, if you ever fence the back yard, it'll be super-easy for yard people, repair people or you yourself to drive through and access the back yard without going through a piddly little garage gate. Additionally, it'd be nice for you to be able to open a whole wall of your workshop and get some nice breeze going through the space.

    I like the relationship of the kitchen /dining room /living room . . . but it'd be nice if you could move some things around and get a real window into the kitchen. Could some of these things be sandwiched between the garage and the kitchen?

    I would consider opening the pantry /laundry up into one larger, more versitile room, with the only doorway being the one just as you come in from the garage. I'd also add a pass-through (perhaps accessed through a small sliding door?) from the pantry to the kitchen counter so you could go into the pantry and set your things on the counter rather than needing to make multiple trips back to the kitchen.

    I'd think twice about that little dip that allows your refrigerator to be counter-depth. First, that little dip will cost more than you might imagine, but even if you're willing to pay it, having your refrigerator flush with the countertops means that the doors will not open "all the way", and you'll have trouble getting big things in/out and you'll have trouble removing the shelves to clean them -- I live with this problem right now, and although it's an aggravation rather than a full-blown crisis, it's something I'm planning to avoid in our next house.

    Since your master bedroom shares a wall with the living room (and probably the wall that'll hold the TV), be sure to plan for some good sound insulation.

    I do not care for the master bath. It's rather "choppy" with lots of little things here and there, and (unless I'm reading the tiny words wrong) you have a nice window in your closet but no natural light in the bathroom? I would be concerned about the lack of a tub in a house of this size; although everyone doesn't use a tub, many future buyers would expect one. Yes, I see you have a tub in the other downstairs bedroom, but that doesn't "make up for" the lack of a tub in the master.

    I'd re-think an upstairs loft. You're looking at a very open floorplan already, and a loft provides only a little visual privacy and no acoustical privacy. Don't get me wrong: I like the look of a loft, but once we rented a house at the lake that included a loft . . . and I knew I'd never want one. With such an open floor plan, I 'd think you'd want a spot where a person could find a little quiet space away from the rest of the family.

    Finally, I'm sure you know that this is going to be a very expensive-to-build house. A number of things are driving up the price without any real function: For example, consider all the "jogs" around the perimeter. The one in the garage stands out: If you make the single-car garage just a touch wider, you'll have more space in your workshop AND you'll eliminate that expensive corner. The slight indentation at the front door is another example; given that it's under a portico, the indentation will essentially be lost. You can bump your entry way out a touch -- just enough to make the front wall flat and flush. These are two places where you can literally spend less money and get more square footage. This house will also require a very complicated roofline, which adds big bucks. Smoothing out the edges would save you there as well.

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    How will you use the 2nd main floor bedroom? Unless you plan to have live-in household help, I don't care for the placement. Whoever sleeps there is likely to be awoken by any activity in the kitchen, and the entrance to the room is on the main corridor the family will take entering and leaving the house. Also, because of the placement, guests may look in that room when they are trying to find a bathroom or the stairs to the basement.

    If you do plan to have household help in that room, I'd put a keyed lock on the door so they can feel confident guests won't go in their room during parties or whatever, since it's so much in the middle of things.