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nicholasx52

Critique/Advice on Floorplan

11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago

Hello, I've been a long time lurker on these forums and have found the advice advice given incredibly valuable as we plan to begin building our home. Here are our plans for the 1st and 2nd floors:


Currently, I'm a little concerned with the second floor master. The bump out seems to make it difficult to find a location to but a bed and night stands (we're planning on a king size bed).

It also seems like the side garage door will be a problem since it swings out right into a car bay.

Any advice or critiques would be appreciated. Thanks!

Comments (12)

  • 11 years ago

    How exciting to be in this phase of building! This is a great time to think how you want to move in the space, and how the floorplan will work for the way you live.

    The master bedroom: are the windows floor to ceiling, I believe that's where they thought the bed would go, right in between. But it could work well if you could rearrange the closet doors and put the bed there instead. Perhaps work to put the closet doors from the bathroom. To me it's easier to step out of the shower and go right in the closet without parading in the bedroom... A pocket door could work there.

    What are you going to use the bonus room for? And right off the master bedroom? So if it is a "public" area, people will be walking through your bedroom to get to the bonus? How about reconfiguring the laundry and opening up a hallway, and separating the two spaces? It would open another possibility for another bed placement option.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Very nicely laid out house. I have very few things to say:

    - The complicated floor plan will add to the cost of building.

    - I see steps leading towards the side-entrance into the study ... but I don't see steps leading to the front door?

    - With all straight-line cabinet runs, your kitchen will be economical to build.

    - I'd go with a pocket door on the pantry. A hinge door will require you to enter the pantry, close the door and turn around to reach the food on the shelves behind the door. Anyway, this door'll remain open most of the time.

    - I like that the play room could become a formal dining room, if you ever decide you want one.

    - Who will use the downstairs bedroom? Is it okay that this bedroom has limited access to laundry? This bedroom's closet door and bedroom door will bang against one another. I don't see an easy fix, but it's a recipe for a ruined door.

    - Upstairs, I'd flip the whole jack-and-jill bath and closet ... this would allow you to have a window into a part of the bathroom. I'd also lose one sink in that bathroom so that you can have a couple drawers. Otherwise, this bathroom has NO storage space at all.

    - Ditto for the other kids' bathroom -- it has no storage.

    - I think you're right to be concerned about placement of your bed in the master. Could you put the bed in the bonus room and use the other space for -- what are you doing with that space? Could you bring the bathroom into the middle space? That would place it adjacent to the laundry (an economical choice), and it would separate your bed from the bonus room. Yeah, the master is the biggest problem in this house plan.

    - I'd add another window in the master bath over by the toilet. Light from two sides makes any room nicer.

    - I'd consider a second door in the laundry room -- an other end of the room door that'd allow you to go straight from the master suite into the laundry room without going out into the hall.

  • 11 years ago

    looks nice...the first thing that pops out to me is the powder room entrance - flip the bathroom so the entrance is on other side of pantry - you could use pocket doors for powder room and pantry.

  • 11 years ago

    Thanks everyone for the comments so far (did not think about
    a pocket door on pantry or first floor bedroom closet door issue etc.). The windows in the master will not reach all
    the way to the floor based on the elevations we’ve received. However, I’m a bit worried if we place the
    bed up against that side of the room access to the master bath will be impacted
    with the bed and nightstands.

    I agree re: the closet doors in the master, I’m going to ask
    for them to be relocated to the bathroom.
    It doesn’t seem to make sense to have double doors leading to the closet
    along the wall where they are currently placed at.

    The bonus room was initially added because we were worried
    that the master might be too small and liked the idea of a master sitting area. It was a relatively easy addition since it’s
    built upon the 1st floor bedroom.
    It will not be a public area but I feel that the wall where it lays is
    actually the best placement option for the bed in the master.

    The stairs to the front door are built on the angle of the
    front porch. We thought that might be an interesting way to do things since
    people will most likely be approaching the house from the driveway at that
    angle.

    The downstairs bedroom is for my older parents when they visit.

    We discussed moving the master to the bonus today. Although
    we think it might help if some more windows were placed on the other two walls. However, if we do place the bed in there it
    leaves a rather large space in the rest of the master that I’m not sure what we’d
    do with.

    I think that addresses everything and thanks again for the
    comments so far.


  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    How nice to have a master sitting room! You could do this: where you show the opening into the sitting room, put a wall. The bed goes there. At the lower end, put a French door, match the window on the upper end of the wall. Above the bed, have a long window to share light. Looks like it would stop about where the wall starts to slope.

    This way, it's nice as a sitting room for both of you, but also a quiet place for the sleepless one to read or listen to music or work a crossword.

  • 11 years ago

    The guest bathroom is larger than the kids' bathrooms upstairs. That doesn't make sense. The kids' bathrooms need more storage space. Agree to give the JnJ one sink.

  • 11 years ago

    The mudroom is useful only when you come in and out of the garage...not too muddy :) And the only doors outside are the front door and to the deck. Would you consider a door or two (front and/or back) in the mudroom? Ours has one to the front (a "service door") and into the garage, and it's very versatile. I wish it also opened to the back yard! (I also wish it had one one those big, old, double concrete sinks!) If you ever have a dog, the extra door will be handy.

  • 11 years ago

    Nice plan! As far as the side garage door that swings into the garage bay, could you just make it swing the other way? It would swing outside to the back yard instead of in to the garage.

  • 11 years ago

    The master bedroom door seems a mite close to the other bedroom door, and the upstairs hall narrows out a lot because of it. Could you move the door back so it's on the same plane as the laundry room door? You have plenty of room in the master to accommodate the bump in. It gives some visual privacy to the bathroom entrance.

    You could also turn the door, then, so when you walk in the door the side window is directly ahead of you. And I suspect that most of the time, when you walk in, you will be heading to the bathroom or closet, so it's a straight shot. And, if you did THAT, would the bed fit on the laundry room wall? Then you could have the full opening into the sitting room.

    Someone mentioned another door to the laundry room, but I can't imagine how much that helps, since the doors are already so close, and just adds expense and more opportunity for dryer noise to enter the master (if you run the dryer at night, which I do).

  • 11 years ago

    The master bathroom is really big. Do you need 15x13'? It's a lot of floor to wash, and a long walk to the linen closet for a fresh tube of toothpaste. If you can make it smaller, say, 12 or 10 x13, you don't really lose anything in usable space, and the taxes go down a bit, and the mass is reduced a bit in the back. You could even have a little balcony there, which would be cute though not very useful.

  • 11 years ago

    Normally I'd say that 15 x 13 is minimum for a master bedroom but because you have the sitting area, I agree with bpathome.

  • 11 years ago

    It's the bathroom that's so big. The bedroom is spacious, but once you get the bed in it will seem fine. But there is so much empty floor (that someone has to clean lol) in the bathroom, and nothing to go there.