So I’ve been having fun the past few days messing around with the floorplan. Here’s the update:
Original first floor:
Here’s the update. The changes: blowing out the back wall, bumping out the study, and switching the sink/dishwasher with the oven in the kitchen. You may wonder why I did that, but it all makes sense when you see the second floor.
Okay, and here’s the original second floor:
And here’s my update.
You’ll see a LOT of changes on this floor. Just about every room changed except the bedroom in the lower left corner. Per Denis’ request, the master bedroom suite is now HUGE because of the sitting area that has access to the front porch. Also, the closet and bathroom were flipped on their side. Now the bathroom is a totally private space that is only accessible through the closet. You may think that’s weird, but a lot of houses being built nowadays have that specifically so that if a couple has competing schedules, theoretically one can get ready for work without disturbing the other at ALL simply by closing that closet door. Since the master took over that fourth bedroom, I closed off the 2-story great room to add a hall bath and the fourth bedroom. The guest bedroom in the lower left now has a private bathroom and access to the upper balcony porch. I’ll let this one sit for a while and see if I want to change anything, but right now I’m liking this. I like the shelves in the master bedroom (I also love the idea of having the shelves go around the two bedroom windows on that right wall).
My Opinion:
Why get rid of the Fire Place downstairs? Also, I think having your fridge on the other side of the kitchen is goign to be annoying. Having a full wall of Closets in the second and third bedrooms are just plane crazy. We have that now and its so annoying to me because you loose so much wall space. Other than that (oh wait) is that two showers in your master? If so, why? LOL Everything else looks fantastic
Yes, that’s two showers – that’s a “must” for Denis. *lol* We don’t use the huge tub we have now, so there’s no point. However, two showers would be nice if we’re running late and have to get ready at the same time. The fridge is near the island and near the oven – that’s typically where we put stuff we get from the fridge now. And we don’t NEED a fireplace – we’re in the south. It’s purely ornamental and not necessary. We’re building this house for US – not for anyone else. I’d rather have a freestanding cornstove than a fireplace. We have 1/2 wall closets in the kids rooms’ now and they are already small. I’ve been in apartments with wall closets and they are AWESOME. Besides, there are three other walls they can use.
I think that’s weird having to walk through a big closet to get to the bathroom, but if I see it in person on a few houses, maybe I’ll go with that.
Just to clarify my request again. I wanted direct access to the second floor balcony from our bedroom. I never wanted a huge bedroom like this. More than a third of the upper floor is devoted to our suite. Crazy.
With all of these changes from the original design, I wonder how much of an increase in price we are looking at.
Do you know how many sq/ft we are looking at now? I guess I could do the math myself.
I haven’t give any thought to a layout for the kitchen. I haven’t looked at that at all. And since I want to have full control over how a kitchen is designed, I’ll worry about that later.
FYI, you can keep playing with it all you want, but I will be designing the kitchen layout when the time comes.
The only things I wanted in a house was a wrap-around porch. Check. A basement. I tihnk that’s a check. And a big kitchen open to an entertaining space. That looks like a check.
Having a balcony on the second floor is a big plus to me. Not necessary, but I like it a lot.
The original floorplan was 2,909 sq ft. We added a 4′ bumpout on both floors in the back of the house. On the right side it adds 168 sq ft, and on the left side it only adds about 232 (this includes the side bumpout), for a total of 3,309 which is at the top of the size house we wanted to build.
And we could always move the laundry room upstairs somewhere so that we can turn the 1st floor laundry into a mud room type space.
I think the master closet/bathroom is weird. I’d flip them back to the original orientation and just move the closet door from the bathroom to the bedroom. I don’t think you would actually like having to go through the closet to get to the bathroom. And I don’t think that would help resale later either.
My 2 cents.
Jen – be clear, this house is NOT being built for resale. We bought that land and will be building this house for US. We’re building the house that will be livable for us for DECADES.
Also, I’ve already decided to move the laundry room to the second floor which will result in a new configuration on the whole right side of the second floor. So that will all change.
Maybe put the master bedroom closet door parallel with the closet-to-bathroom door? That way you have a mini-hallway that goes through the closet. Also, why not build a double shower instead of two separate showers? We have that and it works out fine for 1 or both of us in there. Square footage wise the increase is probably higher than you think, since you didn’t just bump out the downstairs, but you also closed in a large portion of the previously open (and admittedly wasteful) foyer space.
Jen, I happen to agree with you about the resale issue. Jane doesn’t know where we will be living in five years, let alone in 25 years. All homes should be built with resale in mind.
As far as the WIC goes, I’m open to suggestions as long as I don’t have to walk through it to get to my bathoom.
Also, a don’t like a laundry room on the second floor due to possible flooding issues. If you want to have some kind of dumb waiter to send laundry up and down between floors, I have no problem with that but I’m sure that will cost money.
Maybe you can take a corner out of our bedroom and put in the shoot to the laundry room. Just have a sliding door on the wall of the WIC or the corner of our bedroom.
My faithful reader Cristan has emailed me a mockup of her floorplan which has some GREAT ideas – rest assured, the second floor is getting changed (as is part of the downstairs). Basically I’m doing it all over again! But that’s okay, because it’s fun to do.
Beth – I believe a couple years ago I told Denis I wanted a doubel shower and he nixed the idea. I’m sure he’ll deny it here, but that’s why I keep putting two showers in the bathroom – because he doesnt’ want a double shower (which I think would be AMAZING if it’s done right).
By double shower, are you talking about two people showering in the same space at the same time? I’m sure even YOU would nix that one.
BTW, yes, I did nix it.
I’d certainly nix it if it was the same size as the one we have now. But I have a cool idea for a double shower.
Okay, tiime for Marmie to put her two cents in ~ you really do want to reconsider the bathroom- through-the-closet idea. When you get older (and I’m not talking elderly) you’ll want to have the easiest path to navigate between your bed and the Loo as possible! Trust me. You don’t even have the doors at the same end of the closet!
Okay, so here’s the update.
We’ve decided that we like the original plan just fine. We’re going to bump out the first floor study and bathroom so that we can have a wraparound porch that comes to and end at that bump out. We’re NOT going to bump that room BACK. We ARE going to bump back the kitchen area so that we can have a super-fabulous gourmet top-of-the-line kitchen of Denis’ dreams.
The upstairs will basically keep the exact same footprint, except the master closet will become bigger and the bathroom reconfigured for two showers. The master bedroom and Bed #4 will be combined into one large master suite.
We’ll see if we can have a partially finished walk-out basement with another bathroom and a large game room area.
End result: House that has just about everything Denis wants (porch for master bedroom, gourmet kitchen) and what I want (library and large square great room) we could possibly want. The only other change is that I still don’t want a two-story great room, so we’ll just close that off on the second floor and have it be a bonus room until we figure out what to do with it.