Hi Gang,
Long time forum lurker / magazine subscriber and it has fially come time to design a home for ourselves.
Because of our request to have a “wow” central hall, we are left with some odd space upstairs to design the Mbath + WIC..
The red line shows the expanded footprint of the house we are going to work on to fix some issues with the kitchen + family room (4 FT) so thats extra space to play with if you have any reccomendations.
Thanks!
Replies
Tight to other houses on E and W? I notice no windows. . .
If it stays in the current orientation, I might play around with integrating the Mbath and Closet in other ways. Perhaps walk through the Mbath to get to the closet?
If you are flixible on the orientation, maybe swap the bed to the North side. That funky nook would make a nice sitting area. That would give it more of a "Suite" feel and easier space for the WIC and Mbath on the South end of the room.
Hi There,
You are exactly right, this is an infill, hence no windows on those sides..
Thats actually a great idea, and we would be away from the washer/dryer incase it was running at night.
We want to have a jack & Jill between the other two bedrroms.
Anyother things you notice with your great attention to detials? should i post the bottom floor also?
Thanks for the compliment. I can second-guess with the best of 'em. Here are other suggestions.
Upper floor -
I'd shrink or re-orient the South bath since it will probably only be used by a guest in that smaller North BR. Not the best set up, but I see what you are going for.
I'd fiddle with the J&J bath to give it 2 sinks and a 5' tub/shower module. Maybe widen it by taking space from that larger SW BR. Also, if you have that other upper bath, lose the 3rd door from the hall into the J&J. (the other bath could live with a shower module only, IMO)
If you move the Master around like I first mentioned, you might want to put a door from the sitting area into the small, middle-North upstairs BR. It would be perfect for a nursery or study. If you have no plans for that or don't like that idea, you might have the crew frame the door opening, throw in a center jack-stud, and just DW over it and note on the plans for future owners.
Here's another cool idea, back the linen closet up to the upstairs laundry and put doors on both sides. Then you can fold and fill from the laundry room - sort of like a pass through dealy. You could still use regular bi-fold doors on both sides.
Lower Floor -
make some cutouts of your dining furniture and make sure it will work in your dining room (with enough space to walk around the table with people in the chairs). Don't forget cutouts of a sideboard if you have one of those, too.
Put a little sculpture niche in the curved wall to the right of the entry vestibule closet. Also see if you can get one in the inner curved wall of the staircase - more drama for your WOW entry.
Change the door from the mudroom (that's what we Midwesterners call the room you are calling "storage" btw the garage and family room) to a pocket door. It will probably never be closed unless you are entertaining and it will just be in the way. Shift the door from the garage slightly right, spin that sink to the North wall, then put a sitting bench with hooks above on the East wall.
Now that the kitchen is larger, try and get your pantry as part of your cabinet package. The current pantry does not work well, IMO. I assume that you have your dishwaser to the right of your sink, if not, with that layout it should be. Actually, I'd defer to a kitchen pro or two for some other kitchen layout ideas. They can be pretty creative.
That's all that immediately comes to mind.
Hey There,
Thanks for the great points. i have mentioned most of them to the archy.
We tried to rework the guest bath / guest room locations, but given the footprint restrictions etc there was not much we can do.. we realy never have guests so i think its more for future owners.
I really like the 2 sinks in the J&J.. we wanted to keep the tub in a bath off the hallway, so if you need to go in to wash something,, or to bathe a baby (first hand knowledge :) you dont need to go through one of the bedrooms.
will defintly add a niche in the hall where you suggested, not sure about on the stairs :)
great idea with the pocket door.. know exactly what you mean. PS.. we Canucks call it a mudroom also.. not sure what the archy was thinking :)
I might add a few more windows.
Perhaps a walkout off the master bedroom to a hot tub might be nice.
Direct passage from NW and SW bedrooms to ajoining bathroom.
Otherwise, I like it.
Dave
Thanks Dave!
The J&J is what the plan was, not sure why he didnt draw it that way, but thats been fixed.
The master bedrrom is on the second floor, so a walkout might be tough :)
Hey - where'dja go?
I'm fishin for more flattery.
Adventures in Home Building
An online journal covering the preparation and construction of our new home.
Am I seeing this correctly, you're going to add about 4 ft of width to the house? That doesn'r seem like much gain for a l;ot of money and trouble.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Hey there,
We are adding 4 feet to the depth of the house only on the plans.. we havent built this yet.. the plans drawn are based on allowed setbacks etc.. so by adding 4 feet, we will be askign for a minor variance.
Bring the M Bath all the way into the bottom left corner there, and split the mater closet on either side of that to "use up" the spaces created that way.
Or, "scrunch" the MBed width left-right a bit, and bring the sapces over to the left a tad. Change the door MBed door opening to radial to that new orientation, and you also gain not having the door open right on the bed. That could let you set up a bit more of a sitting area or parent's "away" area in the space, too. Or not.
Then the bedroom there at bottom center could grow/slide to the left a bit, which lets you add some space for the bottom right corner bedroom to adjust into.
Oh, and take that wall by the M Bed entry next to the laundry and extend it in about 18" and schedule either full-height 12" deep bookcases, or 15" bases with 12" bookcase uppers against that laundry room wall. You'll gain usefull storage and a tiny bit more peace & quiet.
On the first floor, the pantry bothers me a tad. I'd be inclined to bump the Storage space out at least as much as pantry does now, as it will (my opinion) work a bit better. I'd use double-side casework, rather than a door, which would go "through" the wall into the storage. You could do things like stash the trashcan in there, with the ability to take the bag out straight to the garage if wanted. You could also "stock the bantry cabinet from the storage area, helping keep a last-in, last-out pattern going.
I always opt to put the fireplace in the Living room, so it can be an Away room better, and select for an entertainment senter for the family room. But, that's me. I don't like the "conflict" of fireplace v. entertainment center--it's always a compromise and neigther is bettered for compromising.
nice plan...
one thing.. i'd lose the tree at the entry NOW instead of later
nice FEATURE.. but a large liability and will play heck with the roof..
will also involve a lot of TLC and moeny trying to save itMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
This is somethign we have been struggigling with.. its a great old huge tree.. but it will probalbly be in the way.. it seems tooclose to the foundation to begin with.. but the archy seems to think that it will be ok.. but i'm not convinced.. :)
I hate to be a pain, but do you think you can markup the plans a little with the bathroom idea? Im having trouble visualizing what you mean.
What do you guys think of a two way fireplace between the living & dining room? or should we just stick to a tradktinoal fireplace as a focal point in the living room?
Personally, forget the two sided fireplace in your application for a couple of reasons.
With a table just feet away, no one can really see the fireplace (not worth the added expense). SEcondly, the person sitting on that side of the fireplace roasts and sweats like a pig. When in the livingroom the view of the dinningroom distracts from the fire.
Done, will get the 2 sided fp out of mind..
thanks for the other post.. i think the bathrooms lack sq footage, but we will make up for it with nice fixtures / tile and cozy decor..
i've always thougth that big soaker tubs with jets never get used, do you think people still like to see that kind of thing in the master bath?
I think the plans (especially the second floor) look very good. It's somewhat surprising how well-integrated all the rooms are around the central staircase.
The only major problem is the bathroom between the two bedrooms, and you're already aware of that.
The other two bathrooms look good. I think they're sized just right: they're not cramped, but they're not extravagant. I'm with you in thinking that you don't need to waste excessive space on the bathrooms.
You mentioned the possible noise of the laundry affecting the master bedroom. Heavily insulating the wall between the laundry and the master bedroom would probably help there. Also, I don't see any reason why you couldn't just swap the laundry and bathroom locations. The corner bedroom has a closet located such that it would block the noise of the laundry.
Someone else mentioned that the circular staircase may not achieve the grandness that you envision due to the fact that it is walled off on about 260 degrees of its perimeter. Do you have plans to put any skylights over the stairwell? That might help.
Soaker tubs? I agree. Who uses them? When I build in the coming years I will put in a large tub as the wife demands, but it will not be jetted. I don't want to continually clean out all those jet holes (lime, etc.), and I don't care if the next buyer would have paid five grand more for the house if it had a jetted tub. However, it does seem like people always oooh and ahhhh when them see them. Do they help sell the house? One would think so judging by the oohs and ahhs, but then I am not so sure. I do beleive people like more than bare minimum space in their bathrooms and you can't do without tile.
today's prosperity is amazing. Where does all this money come from? I recently read an article about what people will want in a home in 2015. In it is said, 2500 sq ft will be average (not very different than today, but compared to the 990 sq.ft. I grow up in . . .) and that people what the glits. They want the kitchens and bathrooms.
I recently read an article about what people will want in a home in 2015. In it is said, 2500 sq ft will be average
I came across an article about the average Saudi house a few years back. They make our McMansions look like shacks. ;)
Basically, it seems the only limiting factor on home size is the wallet. I think the trend will just be for things to keep getting bigger and bigger until at some point it becomes economically unsustainable.
Part of the hype around oversized houses and jetted soaker tubs seems to be a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy. That is, if all the builders think that's what everyone wants, that's what all the builders will do. And once the "standard" gets established, builders are very reluctant to deviate from "what people want".
Edited 8/23/2007 1:59 pm ET by Ragnar17
lol, i think i spoke to soon.. went to a plumbing supply place to pick up a shower base for another project, and the DW fell for a soaker tub with air jets.. apparantly they dont get as gukky as the ones with the water jets? ..
I don't know about the cleaning issue, but I have never heard of anyone using those big jetted tubs more than once or twice. People who have never had one ooh and ahh, but everyone else would prefer not to have one. It takes too long to fill, cools off too soon, uses too much hot water, etc. A nice two person shower, on the other hand, gets used a lot.
It looks like you are shooting for a pretty large, nice, house. However, your bathroom designs don't fit that bill at all. All of them are about as plain, utilititarian, and cramed into the design as humanly possible, even your master bath. Don't get me wrong, I think people go way overboard on bathrooms. However, from a resale perspective the design does not look good to me. So I would try to use the estra (redline space to open the bathrooms up. The problem is that your extra space is all to the outside of the design and unless you cut a room out to expand the remaining rooms in width, the extra space will only make your rooms more like bowling alleys.
One more thought:
The central stairwell area is going to be dark and you will lose any dramatic affect you were attempting to build into the design. Perhaps you could make one of the "guest" bedrooms a loft room, open to the foyer, with an huge bank of windows.
Now I will take another look at the design and total space and see if I can offer any specific design changes.
ravz
take your time.. Best advice I can give you as a do-it-myself designer. I'd draw complete blanks or design stuff with built in problems. the more I thought about it the better my alternatives were.
Do this little mind game to help you break out of the box.. imagine you using the space every day.. think things thru, where's the outlets, etc.? What about wild ideas. Ones that should be rejected but you keep rethinking them. What if you had a firemans pole someplace where would that go?
Start over with a clean sheet of paper and just sketch layouts, then resketch them using a differant entrance. Pretend you don't need a bedroom what would you do, I know it sounds crazy but keep trying to break your fixation with how things are now..
Your subconscience will grab onto one of those ideas and then you can refine it and youll wonder why you didn't think of it in the first place.