Your son's bedroom is not too small. it's small, but not too small. But he has no closet?

I am concerned about the master bath however. It doesn't appear to be fully accessible. Does it have a curbless shower?

Do you use a wheelchair? If so, does the garage need to accommodate a van with ramp?

I assume that you are working with a builder who has experience with accessible housing https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/accessibility/homes/ and have availed yourself of your veteran benefits. https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/adaptedhousing.asp.

Thank you for your service and I wish you and your family a happy holiday season.

Lisa, in the 2nd drawing the red box says "Full BA 3 and BR 3 WIC." I'd like to see a drawing with the fixtures, but it sounds like the plan is to get a walk-in closet out of that space.

I agree that 9x13 isn't overly small. A bit narrow, maybe, but workable.

I think your changes are fine. The biggest problem I have with the design is carried over from the original, and that's the corner sink in the kitchen. The angles make the dishwasher open awkwardly into the area where one stands at the sink. The kitchen does not look disabled-friendly (specifically wheelchair-friendly) with narrow entrances at either end an the sink angle making it hard to sidle up to a lot of the counter. But if you need live-in help, maybe kitchen access isn't in the cards for you, even with the right design. I don't want to be nosy about the nature of your disability, but it would help us to the accessibility of the design if we had a better idea of your needs.

Thank you for your sacrifices! I’m not a pro, but noticed a few things.
Window in MBR: think about how you’d like to layout furniture in the room. Also, what direction does the window face? If you just want light, a higher clerestory window may do the trick and still allow for furniture on that wall.
Son’s bedroom: is small, but not too small. If you could get by with a one car garage, you maybe able to borrow space for a closet and bathroom.
The narrow hallway to the guest room, as well as near your bedroom door does concern me. It seems a little tight and awkward.
Kitchen also concerns me. I’d shorten the island on both ends, although without clearances, it’s hard to see how much space you do have. It may be fine.
Hopefully one of the architects will chime in on this.

Lisa – The red square shown within my son’s room (BR 3) outlines the space for a 3.5 BA & a WIC closet. But to answer your question, you are correct. My plan example isn’t currently handicap accessible, but it will be. My mobility is both restricted & unreliable. I have a spinal cord injury, neuropathy & PTSD. I fall A LOT (like all the time) but I am not wheel chair bound. I have a wheelchair that I use ONLY when I must. That said the plan is to widen all the doorways & hallways. Increase the vanity height to 34 inches & install toilets that are 17 to 19 inches high. Currently I'm trying to make this plan flow better then it currently does.

Susie & cawaps – You both bring up interesting issues with the kitchen that I’ve never considered. Below are images of this kitchen design in a model home. There is far more space then what is shown on my plan example, but the cornered sink & the position of the dishwasher may still be a valid issue. I do not have a solution yet, but I’ll keep working on it.

Would raising the island counter help the corner sink look better?

Please check out my most recent changes. Thanks.

Thank you for your service. I like the laundry where you had it before. That skinny long room won’t work. And the hallways worry me a bit. Could we give you a larger shower by swapping the linen closet with it in the MBA? I’ll keep noodling on it!

My thought for the kitchen would be to eliminate the corner where the sink is entirely and just make that side of the kitchen a straight run paralleling the range wall. It would eliminate all the weird corners and ensure wide and easy entry to the kitchen. The downside is that it would limit the amount of counter seating, which currently wraps around the outside of that corner. That might or might not matter to you; I personally think that counter seating is overrated.

I agree with scottie mom about the laundry room. It makes it more difficult when you get laundry baskets in there. It might work with sliding doors off the hall but would still be noisier than the previous location. Also, where is the dryer venting? The front porch could be brought out even with the sitting room to allow an outside area big enough to have a place to sit comfortably. I believe the drawing of the closet door in bedroom 4 is incorrect because there is no access to most of it.

For what appears to be a smaller more modest house, it now has been made into a 4 bathroom home. That appears contradictory to me. How often will the guest room be used? Can your son and the guest bath not share a bathroom? Your son would have a private room except when you have company. The plan to me just looks very choppy with a lot of halls and awkward rooms.

I do think the design of the caregivers suite is very nice. So they will enter your house through the front door?

Avoid the angled sink & dishwasher combo. It's more difficult to load dishes in an angle.

Square off the island. Have dishwasher & sink next to each other.

Switch out pantry closet for pantry cabinets. I was in a wheelchair with a broken leg years ago & getting things out of closets was difficult.

Drawers are nice to access.

If you get base cabinets, pullouts are very helpful to get to.

If planning on sitting on back side, pick the most comfortable height, especially if having a wheelchair or other assistance equipment.

Also make sure there's enough walkway around, so accessibility is available for everyone.

Hope that helps.

Are there two threads of this posting?

scottie mom – Yes, I agree. On another post A Fox recently suggested that I flip the guest bath and the laundry area. I am working on that now. I am also planning to change master to a 12 x 16 so that I can widen that hallway. I will submit my most recent changes soon, but overall things are looking great thanks to everyone’s suggestions.

D M – Make sense. I will work on these things & rework the closet for BR 4 as well. Thanks –

RNmomof2 zone 5 – Relatives & friends are over often. So often that a 5 BR home would probably be ideal or a 4 BR w/ bonus room but that would require adding stairs (which is a no go for me). This home really fulfills my needs. The only want was for my son to have his own private BA & adding that BA is only an additional $3,500 so it seems like a steal. On another post Virgil Carter recently suggested that I add an adjoining interior door. I now plan to add that interior join access in case of an emergency but for general use I expect everyone to enter & leave via the front door.

artistsharonva - Thanks! I will see how much it would cost to square off the island & change to pull out drawers/cabinets. If it’s in my budget I will definitely upgrade to the pull-out drawers & cabinets.

Virgil Carter – You are correct there are two identical posts. That is my mistake. The 1st post didn’t appear to go thru (or at least that is what I thought) so I created a 2nd post. Now I’m obtaining great information from both posts, so I am hesitant to delete either at this point. I apologize about this & I will try not to make the same mistake in the future.

Please check out my most recent changes. Thanks.

The best advice you have here is from The Cook's Kitchen--so comprehensive and specific. You'd do well in following her lead.

CAPS= Certified Aging in Place Specialist. The Cook's Kitchenresponse is one of the best I've read in quite a while. I hope it points out to you that your home should be custom designed by someone with deep knowledge on accessibility. Your case is especially challenging since your mobility seems to vary. This is could be an excellent opportunity for your builder to deepen their knowledge and enter a new market by working with you to find CAPS professional in your area. There may very well be veterans benefits that can help pay for the design you need.

Good luck on your project!

I will gladly lend any knowledge I can. I am a home designer, that suffered a back injury in 2016, and now depend on a wheel chair to get around 90% percent of the time.

I’d flip the garage and care giver apt. This will expand the family room. It will give the caregiver access to the house. It will take the apt. off a potentially loud shared family room wall. And you could flip it side ways so the garage doors arent visible from the street.

From what i have read on this forum, bump outs are expensive, so I’d flush out the upper corner and make that the master bedroom and suite.

I’d also look into hiring a professional for the design to help make the plan work for you.

I don't understand why you are spending money on a 2-story house that could better be spent on a larger 1-story house that doesn't have the space compromises that you are facing. You have no real use for a second floor, especially after your son grows up.

Or, why not give that second-floor space to your son?

I have a VA loan & I while I’m per-approved for more I’d like to be all in at $400k max. Also, I do not own any land so that’s $400k all in including the lot. The lots in the school zone I wish to be in is costing 70K. I am told that my VA loan will not allow me to do a construction to perm (the home needs to be built). So, the builder would have to finance the lot & the build himself, then the VA will pay the builder in full at closing). With the help of my realtor, out of the 22 local builders we reached out to, only 1 of those builders are willing to take the risk to build my home (but he is not a custom builder, so I must make the best out of this floor plan).

I feel I have a really good builder, but I do not believe that his draftsman is a CAP designer. If you want a bathroom place in the corner, his draftsman can put the bathroom in the corner but there are no pros or cons given & there is no functional design strategy considered. He considers only the beams & the overall foundation/structure of the home. So, me & my realtor have been doing our best to suggest changes that suit my needs while also concerning the positioning & functionality of the design. Then we had planned to allow the draftsman to draw it up. That said I now feel that a Certified Aging in Place Specialist is what I need & that’s what I’ve been missing. I will ask if my builder has a in home CAP designer. If not, I will see how much it would cost for me to hire a CAP to assist.

While one hand I think I like the recent changes I have made, although there are still a few important changes that I am still working. And on the other hand, with all this new information I’ve received I am starting to feel unsure about if I actually like this plan or if I’m simply setting because its my only option since the other builders feel like my project is a risk that they are not willing to take. I’m not sure but it’s clear that I have some homework to do so I’ll start with that.

How did this ever turn out? I frequently wish posters would come back and update some of these old threads :)