Floor plan advice

10 years ago

We are planning a remodel of our small 1950s ranch. We have a two car garage we're turning into a master bed and bath plus a laundry room. We are knocking out the smallest current bedroom in order to expand the living room and move the front door. I'm posting pics of our current design as well as one remodel idea. Our challenge is whether there is enough closet space in the master and where to put a small desk and computer. We were thinking of putting a tiny office area in the laundry room, but I'm not sure it's large enough for that. What ideas or comments for improvement do you see? Thanks in advance for your help!

Featured Answer

atmoscat

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

I think it's a really good plan. For this size house, it seems like a generous amount of closet space in the Master, and you've also enlarged the closet in one of the other bedrooms and added a good sized one near the entry. One comment on that entry closet - it might be hard to access that front corner. You could think about adding a third door. Even if it's blocked by the entry door when open it would give you better access when the entry door is closed.

ETA one other thought: on the building a home forum they always recommend putting the closets on the wall that adjoins the living area to give more of a buffer between the living areas and the master. You could do that here (leave the small linen closet on the outside wall but move the two clothes closets to the LR wall) and would have the added benefit of being able to add windows to the outside wall of the master if you want to.

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Comments (8)

cpartist
10 years ago
Are you adding a separate garage?

We can't answer your questions without dimensions.
A SAB
Original Author
10 years ago
We're not adding a new garage. We're turning the existing garage into living space. Sorry, I didn't realize the photos would be too small to read dimensions on the plans. For the closets in the master there are two that are two reach in closets at 6'8" x 2'3" each. Is that tiny for a master bedroom closet space? The laundry room is 6'6" x 7'5". Is that too small to consider putting a little desk in as well? Thanks for any feedback!
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rockybird
10 years ago
That is a pretty small room. You could do a stackable w/d to gain more space and maybe change the door to a pocket door so the swing doesn't eat up space. I'm not sure if that would still be big enough for a desk. The disadvantage of a pocket door is that they don't seal as well as a regular door so they let more noise out. I am putting a pocket door on my laundry room as it will give me more room.
weedyacres
10 years ago
Consider moving the washer and dryer to the left wall and putting a 6'-6" laminate countertop along the entire top wall of the laundry room. The blind corner could be where you stash laundry baskets or a hamper. The counter could double as a folding space and a desk. Use a backless barstool that tucks all the way under the counter when doing laundry.

You could hang wall cabinets over washer and dryer as well as counter, and have decent storage for both functions.
James C
10 years ago
Great idea @atmostcat re: moving the closets to the living room wall. This will certainly reduce noise transfer from living room to master and the added potential for windows along the current closet wall would be a major bonus. Also, between the living room and front right bedroom, why not leave the closets as is? Are they too small? By doing the oversized closet at entry and in that bedroom you give up a few feet of living room space and have to reconfigure the walls in this area. Much cheaper and simpler to leave it alone and get a larger living room unless you really need the added storage? Overall looks great but if you're planning on having it all permitted make sure you aren't required to keep 2 covered parking spaces in your area or you may run into trouble with the city and may have to build a carport. Good luck!
A SAB
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the feedback and ideas! We thought maybe in the master bedroom we could not have the small closet and have just two larger closets with the doors separated with a larger gap in the middle. We could put a single chest of drawers or bookcase there and have wall space for a TV.

In the front right existing bedroom we thought of adding to the closet with what was already in the room we're taking away. We added the long closet near the front door because we are losing some storage space from the garage. But we could consider doing away with that long closet altogether. All the existing closets are odd because they are narrow and deep. They aren't very efficient at all.

I don't think we have codes that require covered parking, but we will check. Few people seem to have garages where we live, and two car garages are rare.

For the laundry, I thought we had to keep the machines on an outside wall for venting, but I like the idea of having a counter on the other walls and also a pocket door.

Thanks for all the great feedback!
PRO
Anglophilia
10 years ago
Just be sure you don't overbuild your house or your neighborhood.