Only you know how a space functions for you. How long have you lived in the home ? I have found over the time we have renovated many homes that houses have a way of telling you how they like to function and when you go against that it often always feels wrong. That is why we usually say live in the home for at least 6 months before doing any major changes Where will your guests enter the house ? If you are the type that does not matter to have guests see the kitchen then go for it but think about that for sure . 90% of my guests always head to my kitchen but even then they take off their coats and then come in . I see issue swith other things too but like I said only you know how you live and entertain. It would be good to see the house from the outside to see where that front door is on the lot .I do not see an actual DR so maybe you do not entertain like I do.

Guests will use family room entrance as well. Would love any other observation s you have

Please don"t use a screen shot! Use a jpeg. A click will not blow up a screen shot to even be able to discern dimensions.

Also...... separate and detail this, boldly on an extra jpeg

It is difficult to evaluate not knowing what is existing and what is added.

It is a double corner lot close walking distance to the town and Lake Michigan there is a sidewalk and large front yards by the front door but no driveway there or parking. We are adding the family room and attaching the house to an existing detached garage I'll try to get more detailed information attached

Is Lake Michigan to the west or east?

IMO if the front door is not used daily then the closet is kinfdof useless for coats but I have no idea where a coat closet will go in the FR entry without a much better detailed plan showing all the entry space . You have a couryard does that face the street ? Meausrements are a must I never will sit and count squares .You say you added the FR so how was the floor plan before ????

Please add a plan "as it is now" with measurements in big lettering.

If you have exterior photos, they would be useful in seeing how the house sits on its lot, what the roof situation is, how the front door works, and where the driveway/family entrance is.

Here is a site plan we are working on. Attached a design I got from a designer however we need the family room to have an entrance as the parking is over there ...so we got a plan we are working on w our architect however both plans have areas where the measurements are not exactly correct. I prefer the designers kitchen and bedrooms plus we don't want to have a 9 ft wide garage so I'm keeping it 12 wide by 30 deep. The roof lines have not been figured out quite yet I have 2 not so great exterior photos. It needs a facelift and a half! Honestly prob should have been a tear down but here we are so we want to move forward to make it a decent 3 bedroom home for our family.i will attach some as built for you but everything inside is completely demolished down to the studs. Thank you all for your input.

H

Patricia the entry vestibule in the family room is planned to be 8.6 wide by 5'6 deep with a 36 inch door . architect has it as 7 '6 " wide but i intend to increase the length by 1 ft thinking it will be easier to fit a bench in there for coats and whatnot. I don't think that will throw off the plan to add 6 inches on each side to that vestibule and decrease the size of those windows he has drawn on each side of the vestibule 🤷‍♀️

Are there two existing buildings that you want to connect with a new family room? Is one building the current garage?

For me that looks more like a backdoor than an entry so into the kitchen not bad.Waht was the existing on the left ? A Garage ???

Yes it is currently a detached garage with a salon, bathroom and garage porch? area we are essentially turning that extra garage area into the master bedroom/bath and attaching the family room addition 😆 it's kind of a bummer to reduce that area of the "courtyard" and get rid of the salon situation in the garage but I'm not a hair dresser🤣 and we need bedrooms for our 2 daughters . we don't want to build a second story so this seems to be the way to go. I don't know how the previous owner had 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms plus a living room and kitchen/laundry in the existing house but it was not a livable floor plan situation. The kitchen was like 6 by 12 and one of the bedrooms was 8 by 12 plus it needed to be gutted for cleanliness ect

Mark the Lake isn't that close but it is about 2 miles out beyond Michigan St which is labeled on the site plan Michigan Street

It is northwest, but more north

Yes Patricia it does feel and function more like a back door ! I will use it often to get out and sit right there to enjoy plants and coffee. the only reason it is a front door is the house numbers, sidewalk and mailbox. Dumb double corner lot! Not sure what I saw in this house when we agreed to buy it other than it looked like a great big yard(even tho no privacy with the layout )walking distance to our town and school for the kids. I'm certain I will feel more fond of it again once we start putting our own finishes and of course I'm excited to plan the kitchen

Funny you mention just about every concern & suggestion the architect did... plus I do believe my husband said he is considering mini splits 😆 thank you! Time to ponder a bit more before we turn anything in for permitting

Our architect mentioned everything you said aside from a shifted living vestibule and l shaped garage I will have to explore that a little further thanks again

3onthetree brings up some important points about the garage conversion.

1- Have you considered completely filling in the area between garage and house with a master bedroom (including bath) and new living room? It would eliminate trying to convert the garage to habitable space. What kind of foundation or basement would be needed for the new space in your area?

2- You could probably get copies of the permits for alterations on the house from city hall. It is very useful to see what was planned and permitted and what was simply done without permits.

I take the architect's drawing as concept - it makes sense in plan but is not fully detailed as to how these roofs are going to mate. So once you look at existing in 3D, I don't see it translating easily.

A couple things I would be starting from or not even doing the project: have a full Dining area size, and keep the Living addition floor level with the house. I still don't know why keeping the single stall garage is paramount - and if you expand from the architect's 9' wide to 12' your Master Suite is getting small. If you must use the garage, capture the entire garage without expanding it, move the Utility spaces (laundry etc) over to there, and plan to build a large 2+ car on the lot (which would also clear the telephone pole).

It seems you've done the process right, having an architect, but maybe you are doing construction DIY so are unaware that the initial 2D concepts on paper might not turn out like envisioned.

If that door is technically the “front door” but you won’t use it daily, then it’s worth thinking about whether that entry should function like a formal arrival space or more like a secondary/utility entry. A closet right there can feel odd if the door rarely gets used for coats, but it can still be valuable as a “kitchen-adjacent drop zone”, think pantry overflow, broom/utility storage, or even a concealed cabinet wall that looks built-in rather than a traditional coat closet.

The real question is how you want guests to arrive: if guests will mostly enter through the family-room/garage side, then this door can be designed to be simple and efficient rather than “grand.” That said, one of the best pieces of advice in remodel planning is: live in the house long enough to learn how it wants to work, because layouts that ignore your actual entry habits often feel wrong even if they look good on paper. If guests come through the kitchen-side entry, you may still want a small spot for coats or bags, but it doesn’t have to be a deep closet, a shallow built-in with hooks/bench, or cabinetry that matches the kitchen can solve it more elegantly.

Thank you Tejjy yours was the kind of feedback I was looking for, but now am pondering our overall plan here. It is a tough one because we have been working with the city and got approved to vacate the city easement between the house and garage, combined our two lots into one so we can finally move forward. As we were moving through that process it was our intention to just give up on this project, give the home a nice facelift, new siding all new systems ect as a small two bedroom with the detached garage and sell it. Then at the last minute we thought well what if we are able to add on and have 3 bedrooms perhaps we can live here for some time before we try to sell. That way we can stop paying rent.we sold our home nearly 5 years ago, built a new house on a property we didn't love sold it and now bought this property. The issues mentioned above have been nagging me. Our architect thought we should have just captured the entire garage if we are going to do it but we hesitate because I don't see a new additional garage in the budget and we really don't want to disappear it 😜🤔 I really want a good dining space and that one doesn't fit the bill, but I do love that little kitchen with the laundry I have drawn up for you fine folks 😆I'm really afraid the roof lines of the addition will look like crap and I don't like the idea of getting rid of that little courtyard area between the house and garage. When we bought the house I imagined some landscaping to gain a little privacy there and have a good outdoor spot to meander between the house and garage. Even if we put it back together as a two bedroom, then we don't have enough space for a great living space or enough bedrooms. I doubt we'll get our money back out of it but maybe best to cut our loss and move on to another house that will work better. Oh and not to mention I paid a lot of money for the design plan and I don't want to give up on it for that reason as well ... I guess I need to figure this out quickly.

going back to our original plan to add an upstairs, which isn't ideal for this house either but at least we wouldn't be getting rid of so much of the courtyard and garage area ... and then still not getting the floor plan we wanted after all that ! We didn't quite ever finish the plan that was supposed to include the upstairs so back to the drawing board. Still upset I wasted so much money on a design plan that will never be used !

MY old house was a corner house 2 entries and no one ever used the front door always into the kitchen . Houses have a way of just telling you how they function regardless of what you think. Now we will see a niew plan so I will wait to see what comes.

Thanks Patricia ! I hope to share a new plan soon 😏

"Still upset I wasted so much money on a design plan that will never be used!" I understand your frustration... but the good news is that it's SO much less expensive to make changes in planning mode than to fix issues during or after the build!

Have you considered swapping the kitchen with the master bedroom. I would put the kitchen where the master bedroom is now, and dining room were the master bath is now. You could leave the laundry and power room on the side it is now since all the bedrooms would then be on that side.

I had not ever considered that and I like it ! It is very interesting to ponder ! I have a meeting set up with the interior architect designer on Wednesday to explore a second story instead of adding out. Right now that mb area is a porch and salon, garage and bathroom

She started another thread.........adding second floor, had primary bath question. I "fixed"................

see the new upper floor below my improved shorter bath.........

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6551921/calling-all-space-planners#n=1

This is a great way to get yourself confused, lose the folks who previously offered up suggestions, and given it happens all the time, makes it supremely clear that a ton of work is needed on this section of this Houzz site as to HOW to use it your best advantage. It drives me absolutely crazy- especially since there is no better FREE site for great design advice anywhere on the internet. It just makes me insane.....

Is everyone now totally lost?! lol..........probably. As will be the op. ? Double oy.