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claire_keogh

Design/layout/styling help!

29 days ago

Help! This wasn’t meant to be our forever home but…here we are. Our house is just shy of 2k sq ft and this was my best attempt at a first floor floor plan. We have two kids and way too much stuff and we aren’t making efficient use of our space. Here are some initial thoughts but open to any ideas! Can provide photos to help get a sense of the space if that would be helpful! 1. Our kitchen needs updating (it’s dark and feels very closed in/cramped with the counter island closing it in. 2. We don’t have a normal kitchen table and our kids are too little/too many of us to sit at counter together(plus that’d be wierd to sit in a row). To all all sit we need to use the dining room table which is just not super convenient with the spacing. Also feels wierd to have such a big space only used for some of the time. We added a bistro table and chairs next to our couch to have something in that space, but it’s awkward and also not appropriate for us to sit as a family. With the pillars (structural) and half walls where they are , we can’t easily open it up make it one large space. We’ve considered a kitchen Reno to include ripping out that counter/island and creating a true narrow island (space on all sides)to expand that space into that no man’s area in front of the sliding door. With seating on two sides of the island we could sit there as a family easier? We could also move the sliding door over a bit to make it less awkward? 3. Remove dining table and somehow make that our living room (though it’d be much smaller and a bit more awkward to fit couches/tv. 4. Sell our sectional and get two couches so we can re-orient the living room space and potentially move the tv to the wall next to the fireplace instead of having it over the fireplace. Help please! 🤪





Comments (16)

  • 28 days ago

    Your description is quite clear about what is working and not working for your family. Try swapping the living and dining areas. Remove the bistro table temporarily.


    If you want advice on simplifying and reducing to fit the space you have, just ask.

  • 28 days ago

    It will cost you nothing to switch your living room and dining room. Also those pillars and half walls can always be made into full walls. Try this first to see how the space function then move onto bigger renovations.

  • PRO
    28 days ago

    My first question is do you NEED the office space ? You are in desperate need o storgae and IMO first a huge purge of stuff you trully do not need. I do not see switching LR for DR abetter plan for sure that LR is nice size for your family . I do think switching the DR for the office if it has to stay would be much better . Remove the pantry so you have a doorway into the new DR. Those stairs go up I presume . Do you have basement ? Do you have agarage ? How old are the kids . The bar cabinet is not a must IMO The bistro table is useless if the kids can't sit at the counter on a stool how can they sit there . The kitchen is pretty normal as far as the size and even the layout but that raided bar is useless .

    MY advice start by purging I tell that to all my clients before we start any kind of big $$$$ reno. I know kids need to have aplay space when they are little but honestly do not need to have every toy they own in the main living space . If you have garage that is the perfect spot to get some boxes for the big purge . Be honest with what you trully need . KIds bedrooms often have 1/2 a closet that is empty and can be a great spot for some extra storage in a cabinet that can be locked . I have lived in small spaces with 3 kids and the big thing is nothing that does not have a home somewhere . Little cabinets for decor are just not needed .

  • 28 days ago

    the room switch will be a nice opportunity to do a purge of what you don’t need - sparser interiors live so much bigger than crowded ones


    , lamps in the living room area make it cozier at night

  • PRO
    28 days ago
    last modified: 28 days ago

    Get ready, thicken your skin, because I am going to yell.

    Then? Everyone here, is going to yell at me. Care not! So don't bother: ) ? Brutal truths.

    First!! Clean up the mess/clutter. All of it, everywhere. Get contractor bags. Toss every darn thing you do not absolutely need, donate toy junk.. You are currently OUTLIVING what a rather awkward home will reasonably contain.

    ^^......switch room uses!? Somewhat Impractical, with young children in this house. Not to mention there are 21.5 feet from breakfast bar to a tv wall! Too much dining room! Way too much!: (



    You are not wrong to want a very near to kitchen breakfast area, in combination with children nearby, not be yelling to a more distant tv/living room to break up the fights. Not "wrong" to want a view of tv from kitchen....

    Can you do it today? No you can't have it all today. But you are a looong way from blowing up a kitchen, tearing off a peninsula and that would mean a harder measure for all provided above.

    You clearly need storage........! Buy three low cabinets, straight sides, 36" wide. low, and move tv off the fire.

    Don't buy any sectional. They limit any future rearrange, paint you into a corner. LITERALLY.

    Get rid of the bistro tale, the bar cabinet. Get a 36" x 66" table. Butt it up to the couch, You are four people needing to sit, eat., clear dishes. Is there homework yet? G

    Good spot for that , too. Butt together two upholstered top lift top storage ottomans, 18" x 48". Stash the couch blankets, the toy clutter in them. Put your feet up. Seems a 9 x 12 rug,...look at washable "Ruggables"

    Will it work? Up to you. For time to plan, save money,assess if you want to stay? Or move?



    ^^ Would you be able to have TWO couches. Let's just say no on that. You and two kids on the couch, and give hubby a comfy chair. Don't stuff the space, and you need room to enter!!

    What's the bedroom floor? Could a laundry go upstairs? Who uses the office? Who works from home? What does the mud entry look like? As bad a condition as your kitchen?: )

    Get busy, PRUNE and clear out. First.

    Take a couple days, do that, come back with pictures from everywhere in day light. Put dimensions to every single solid wall, window , passage, and opening on your drawing...

    That said.......as to above..call it the interim to a long term plan. which would for me, eliminate the corner fireplace. Alas... Never , ever, a good idea. Storage......

    Kitchen...dining......low, not invasive!





    Whatever.......go shopping and IF the kids are old enough to bench sit? Two chairs and a bench can work too.

    The point to all is first do what must be done so you can have an attractive home, then do what can be done.....very near future to make it live as you live.....until a long term plan developed.





  • 28 days ago

    Can you take a few more pics with the lights on too? I don’t really see why there isn’t room for a small kitchen table. But as others have said the biggest issue is clutter and lack of storage. I have three kids and get it. The chaos is everywhere. And in the day when playing great but it all needs a spot to go once done with it so you can have peace and calm in your home. We used our office for a ton of toy storage when mine were little. It helped a lot. We also had bins and hidden storage everywhere.

  • PRO
    28 days ago
    last modified: 28 days ago

    There Is "room"!!..........But you have to be able to exit patio doors!

    Trust me..I tried it Every way to Sunday

    No guessing:



    There are some less than desirable limitations, but they certainly CAN all dine together in the space, at table height. When no reason to exit patio? Can squeeze in two more! and pull it away from couch - you have nine feet of width. The Bistro table as she owns? Sayonara.

  • PRO
    28 days ago

    I think the Family Room could be arranged in a better fashion. Take that TV off the fireplace and place it on the wall or in an entertainment unit that can handle toy storage.





  • 28 days ago

    What is the space from the sectional the the counter? Is there an armoire or something in the kitchen too occupying a lot of space? Can you take a picture facing the slider?

  • PRO
    28 days ago
    last modified: 28 days ago

    Just my opinion here. Please buy some flexibility? Opinions will differ, even among pros, but the very last thing I would buy is a sectional and way worse than an ordinary sectional? One with a chaise!: ( :(

    Buy a 90" couch with at least a two cushion seat. A chair and ottoman gives you yet another seat in a pinch! via the ottoman. I understand the appeal......cuddle etc, but you pay a hefty price and kids will curl up a,n,y,w,h.e.r.e: )

  • PRO
    28 days ago

    No sectional and for sure no chaise . I like Jans idea for seating and making the LR less of a mixed upbunch of stuff . Is that an actual fire in the FP or what ? I hate corner FPs so just asking. The TV has got go off the FP and thta wall of tiny frme can hold the TV and a ton of storage all along the wall for so much stuff the TV at proper viewing height lots of drawwrs for toys etc .

  • 27 days ago

    I like some of the suggestions given already. Personally I would swap the dining/living rooms. I love a kitchen table, especially with kids. The table is the hub of the home and not only for eating - puzzles, games, extra counter space when baking, crafts etc. I would go with a sofa, ottomans and swivel chairs. Could the built in storage in the dining room be adapted to hold the tv?

  • PRO
    27 days ago
    last modified: 27 days ago

    W.C asked............"can you take a pic facing slider"

    She has POSTED a pic, fire is lower left CORNER. There is no armoire.



    She included the floor plan......with relevant dimensions (I rotated it to match picture) above.



    ,

    From counter edge, to wall that doesn't have fire? She has 21' , and 14' 4" from edge of slider to that same non fireplace wall.

    Hence...............

    Because you have to be able to seat the family of four at a near to kitchen table and not jam the peninsula, and not crowd slider exit. Give up stools? Will look stupid, and the overhang will still be present, so why?

    She also needs a lot of s.t.o.r.a.g.e, we'd assume wants a visible tv from the kitchen and nearby kids.

    Knock yourselves out: ) The "family" is two adults, two ( little ) kids.



    I would add....COUCHES are not the only comfortable seating on earth. In the case of a home needing a bigger kitchen and more extensive remodel? There is no way I run out and buy two couches, or a sectional.

    The house needs a massive prune of possessions, more storage.......along with a longer term remodel plan for living well within it.

  • 27 days ago

    It is actually labeled as bar cabinet, not armoire in her plan and no the oic does not show the slider it shows the sectional with a touch of slider.

  • PRO
    27 days ago

    That's a "touch of slider?" : ) it's 67 % - 70% of what I would call and is in fact......your most 5 or 6' slider. Okie dokey!


  • 27 days ago

    Jan, it’s hardly a big request to see an additional picture of the space where a table might go. My god you constantly demand things from posters on the daily. How would more pics be a negative?