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mariapia47

Help with architectural plans layout for remodel

mariapia47
last month

Looking into adding on to my 1950s home. The plans are the footprint we do not want to go bigger into the yard.

Would a designer be the best to help with a functional layout?

We don’t want empty spaces without purpose

Love to entertain. The front room with bath by the entrance those walls cannot move.

The rest we can change

Any advice is appreciated and accepted.

I love this group, I am not a professional

Thank you in advance

Comments (12)

  • millworkman
    last month

    " Looking into adding on to my 1950s home. The plans are the footprint we do not want to go bigger into the yard. "


    So, these are the current drawings, you want to add an addition but you cannot encroach further onto the yard? Am I reading this correctly?

  • PRO
    JAN MOYER
    last month

    Very confusing post. Which part is the addition and where does it begin?

    Show an EXISTING condition, and the proposed, separately. Use a jpeg format that can be blown up on a click, and do not screenshot.

  • PRO
    Patricia Colwell Consulting
    last month
    last modified: last month

    I agree with Jan about posting injpeg You need to know both from a structral and code .. Then you need an architect. We can give you some advice about layout but that us as far as we can help.Yes we need to see the original

  • anj_p
    last month

    I think I understand what you are saying - you are not exceeding the existing footprint of the house with your renovation, and what you are showing is the renovation plan.


    First, please explain who is living here and what the purpose of the JR ADU is.


    General observations: on the main level you've given too much room to your kitchen and not enough to your dining room/living room. The living room is CRAMPED. I would adjust the office - which is huge - and bathroom to use that space a bit better and give more space to the living room. Take some space from the office for the bathroom and make the living room bigger. The bar in the corner is pushing everything into the middle of the house which seems awkward and forced. A 12' sectional seems huge, with not enough comfortable places to sit. Consider multiple pieces of furniture and you will get more seating. Dining room also seems like an afterthought.


    Pantry is too far from the kitchen to be useful. Consider cabinet or pullout pantries. Aisle between island and backwall of kitchen looks WAY too narrow. I can't tell what the appliances are in the island, but microwave should be near the fridge. Cleanup sink should be near the dining room, not tucked back into the kitchen. A 14' (?) island is massive. It just looks too big for the space. I would rearrange the kitchen entirely.


    Beverage fridge close to the dining room. If you like ice in your drinks, get a countertop or built-in ice maker. Move the fridge to where the sink/DW are. Move the sink/DW to the other end of the cabinet run (DW closest to the dining room). Then put a prep sink in the island. Ideally you would shrink your island a bit, make the aisle to go upstairs at least 4' wide, and possibly add pantry cabinets to the stair wall. Get rid of the pantry closet and get a decent dining room table. Your main level is not so huge that you need a powder room AND a full bath, so consider ditching the PR.




    Upstairs, reconfigure the laundry room & walk in closet so you have a REACH IN closet and a bigger laundry room. Change the J&J bathroom to a regular hall bath (notice that the bedroom door in that 2nd bedroom will have to be closed for someone to even access the bathroom). You're losing a lot of bathroom space just to make that a J&J.


    In your master bath, use a single sink only so you can each have a drawer stack for storage. The WIC in the master has no windows - might look odd on the front elevation.


    The doors to the balcony look like they take up the entire balcony - can you access all of it when those are open? Do you want a window into your bathroom from the balcony?


    Just a few thoughts.

  • 3onthetree
    last month

    You didn't decide to convert your Living Room to a Garage just because of the neighbor encroaching into your driveway did you? Have you had any ballpark cost estimates of moving your driveway (with curb cut), removing the fireplace, and changing your (probable) crawl space to a garage? For that matter, topping off the house and building a 2nd floor?

    It appears you have had some professional help to produce these drawings?

    Is the addition extending into where the original garage was in the backyard, or is it still there and can it become the "JR ADU?" What are the extents of the pool area not to encroach wider on the addition? If I look just at shaded walls = new, the footprint doesn't match the writeup which is confusing.

  • mariapia47
    Original Author
    last month

    Thank you as soon as I get a JPEG I will post 🙌🏽 great advice so far 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

  • PRO
    RappArchitecture
    last month

    Normally for renovation plans "white" walls are existing and dark walls are new. I assume that's the case here, and that all of the second floor is an addition. Is that correct? Regardless, for a renovation/addition of this magnitude an architect is pretty much mandatory. You should find a local, licensed architect to help you explore different layouts and ideas, then create drawings sufficient for obtaining bids from qualified builders.

  • 3onthetree
    last month

    You can see some of the existing house to be removed by the dashed ("hidden") lines. The original house appears to be a fairly square shape, the addition the 'L' leg on back, but also appears to bump out to the left side too. Neither the dashed lines (extending to the left bumpout) nor the shaded walls (only half the addition of the 'L') make sense to me so far.

  • PRO
    RappArchitecture
    last month

    I think the dashed lines represent the overhang above, not structure to be removed.

  • lharpie
    last month

    I agree with most of anjp’s points. kitchen appears oversized yet still not well planned. island likely bigger than slab size and who wants to sit 6 in a row? i’d make smaller and put someone on the end. dw far from dr. large sink and stove but crammed together so hardly any prep space between them. a prep sink would help if you want to prep primarily on island. DR seems comparitively small and feels like it is part of kitchen with continued cabinetry. i would want to make this look different - maybe theres a plan though.

    ADU - how are you going to lay out furniture here? I wonder if furniture would fit better if kitchen was along far wall. not sure what plan is there though.

    LR - so narrow and again all the seating is in a line, no way to sit across from one another and converse. bar there seems odd.

  • PRO
    RappArchitecture
    last month

    I agree that the narrow living room is the most obvious flaw, but the OP has said that the office and bath walls cannot move. Not sure why, but that's a problem. As for the kitchen, the island is oversized, yet the fridge, stove and sink are all lined up on one wall with minimal counter space between. Keeping the sink under the window is probably desirable, so I would move the cooktop to the island and create a viable work triangle. A 12-ft island would be more than enough.

  • 3onthetree
    last month

    I just did a quick markup of existing based on the dashed lines (interior was a bit muddled so stopped). The TAN color is the existing squarish house with fireplace and hip roof. The RED line is the proposed 2nd story added on top. From the picture, it appears the existing garage in the backyard is demo'd and the house is being bumped out to the left (errant dashed lines marked by two arrows that confused me, as well as a lack of black shading for new).

    A very ambitious project to say the least.