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Floorplan Advice (update pg. 2)

Posted on 8/25/20 at 9:27 am
Posted by atom1505
Member since Aug 2016
284 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 9:27 am
Hey all. The image below is a screenshot of the first rendering of a floor plan I hope to build. I'm working with a local designer. I've been asked to make some comments and would like some advice as I've never gone through the back and forth with floor plan iterations before. This is just the first floor.



My preliminary thoughts:

1. I think the dining room is too big. I'd like a study/home office in the house, so I wonder if the pantry/butler pantry/dining room area could be rearranged to possible incorporate a small breakfast area in the kitchen, and a study instead of a dining room.

2. I'm a little concerned about lack of a side entry through the laundry room/mudroom. Thoughts?

3. I think the closets in the master are a bit big. We don't really use that much closet space. I'd like to make that smaller to incorporate a bigger walk-in shower.

4. We are going to make the rear porch bigger because I want it to be able to accommodate an outdoor kitchen. Any advice about that would be great.

Those are just my first look thoughts. I'd like to get some ideas from more experienced eyes. Let me know what y'all think.
This post was edited on 10/5/21 at 10:07 am
Posted by Aristo
Colorado
Member since Jan 2007
13292 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 9:49 am to
I would have the mudroom/laundry near the garage/parking.

The dining area seems closed off and might as well be your study.

You can never have enough closet/storage.

Posted by LSUtigerME
Walker, LA
Member since Oct 2012
3789 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 10:01 am to
I’ll respond to your thoughts then post my own.

quote:

1. I think the dining room is too big. I'd like a study/home office in the house, so I wonder if the pantry/butler pantry/dining room area could be rearranged to possible incorporate a small breakfast area in the kitchen, and a study instead of a dining room.



It could likely be rearranged, but if you close it off, your front entry will be into a long, narrow hallway.

You could rearrange it by having a breakfast area on the back side of kitchen (stopping cabinets from going all the way to that wall). You can eliminate the wall from the backside of the stair case (using open railing) and move the wall in the kitchen to align with other wall of stairs. This will gain 3-4’ in the kitchen and reduce the length of that hallway.

A friend used a large barn door instead of the cased opening to what is your dining room now. This allowed it to be more of a study/office area.

quote:

2. I'm a little concerned about lack of a side entry through the laundry room/mudroom. Thoughts?

You have no garage or parking? How is the house situation on the lot? Right now the only entry is the front door and back door. We use our side entry 100% of the time. However, without a clear visual of your normal parking arrangement I’m not sure how that will work.

quote:

3. I think the closets in the master are a bit big. We don't really use that much closet space. I'd like to make that smaller to incorporate a bigger walk-in shower.


Big closets are usually a selling point. People always need space to store stuff. The arrangement creates a bit of a tunnel to your bathroom. Your shower is just kinda stuck in the corner and you have a lot of open space in your bathroom.

quote:

4. We are going to make the rear porch bigger because I want it to be able to accommodate an outdoor kitchen. Any advice about that would be great.


Bigger back porch is great. Not sure how the roof line looks, but depending on how you modify this it could be an issue. However, you mention an outdoor kitchen...where? Your entire back wall is windows and only have a short wall on the other side. So your kitchen would have to be built in the open area on the back, or be somewhat smaller along the sides. The back would block any view of the back yard.

My initial thoughts:

This is a one bedroom house? Are the other bedrooms upstairs?

Your W/D are in the middle of the house and not near an outside wall. Your exhaust duct will have to run to the ceiling, which is terrible. I’d suggest trying to locate your dryer where it can vent directly out an outside wall.

The toilet under the stairs may have a sloped ceiling. It appears you have enough on the first flight to get it high enough to not be an issue, but I didn’t do the math.

No idea what the nook is on the right side of the Fireplace. You have space for a built-in, then a cased opening to nowhere?

Where your fridge is located will require a counter-depth fridge.

I’m not sure your back porch door can outswing. Maybe so, but all the ones I’ve seen are inswing.
Posted by way_south
Member since Jul 2017
810 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 10:01 am to
We really like having the laundry room connected through our closet to the master bedroom. We just did plans and made sure that we had it in the house we're building this year. It's a pain to haul laundry through the house when 80% of it goes right into the master closet, at least in our case.
Posted by atom1505
Member since Aug 2016
284 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 10:08 am to
Thanks for all the great advice. I'll respond to your comments individually as well.

1. Great idea. That would also open the stairwell up a lot. I also don't like the length of the hallway.

2. The garage issue is undecided at the moment. The lot is 10 acres, and I have a boat, zero turn, and tractor. I may hold off on building a garage at the moment and instead build a bigger shop near the rear of the property. If that were the case, I would add a garage with a bonus room in the future. I think adding a garage with bonus room now would blow my budget and if I built a garage, I'd like it to have a room on top. May be difficult to add one later.

3. I will talk to designer about moving the shower around.

4. Not certain yet. Need to talk to the designer about the roofline and possible locations of the outdoor kitchen. I thought about moving the whole master wing towards the front porch, allowing the back porch to wrap around to the windows in the master bedroom. This might also put the laundry room closer to the closet so I could have access there.

quote:

This is a one bedroom house? Are the other bedrooms upstairs?


The house is 3bd/3.5 bath with 2bd/bath upstairs and a common area. I could post the second floor plan if helpful. I'm pretty happy with it though.

quote:

Your W/D are in the middle of the house and not near an outside wall. Your exhaust duct will have to run to the ceiling, which is terrible. I’d suggest trying to locate your dryer where it can vent directly out an outside wall.


Great point. Thanks.

quote:

The toilet under the stairs may have a sloped ceiling. It appears you have enough on the first flight to get it high enough to not be an issue, but I didn’t do the math.


Will address with designer as well.

quote:

No idea what the nook is on the right side of the Fireplace. You have space for a built-in, then a cased opening to nowhere?

Where your fridge is located will require a counter-depth fridge.


I'll ask the designer about this, but the fridge issue is a big point. I hate counter depth fridges.


Appreciate all the insight and welcome any more that y'all have.
Posted by BlastOff
New Orleans
Member since Feb 2016
764 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 10:33 am to
quote:

Where your fridge is located will require a counter-depth fridge.


My brother in law just did a reno at his house, they furred out the wall that the fridge was on slightly, left the fridge cubby at the "normal" depth. Voila, standard depth fridge that looks counter depth. Not sure if this is worth exploring.
Posted by Hermit Crab
Under the Sea
Member since Nov 2008
7162 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 11:17 am to
That laundry room is in an odd place. The entry to the master is basically in the living room. Would rather have that separated more than the 1ft hallway thing
Posted by ProudLSUMom
Baton Rouge
Member since Sep 2007
3302 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 11:26 am to
I would want a shorter path from the master bathroom/closet to the laundry room. That is a haul when the 2 spaces are actually adjacent to each other. If this is important to the you or your wife I would explore having a door from the master bath into the laundry area.

I custom built one house and it was certainly worth it. It's great that you're asking for some input. Good luck!
Posted by hungryone
river parishes
Member since Sep 2010
11987 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 11:59 am to
Your current floor plan has zero appeal to me, but that opinion is based on how we live and work. Some of the things that do not work, to me:
—laundry off the front entry. Awful—so you live on 10 acres, come in with dirty shoes and clothes, so you’ve got to traipse through the front entry to drop your dirty stuff? No way. That Landry needs to be accessible from a side entry and function as a mud room/drop zone. I personally don’t like a laundry accessible to the master—I’d rather have a laundry adjacent to an entry door and pantry and storage, so that groceries, larger supplies like bulk paper towels, etc can be stored and easily accessed from the kitchen.
—“runway” through the master BR to the bath. We have a single, very large, room sized closet. No wasted space on two entry doors.
—zero storage near or off of the back porch. If you actually use your back porch, you will want a storage closet for chair cushions, a broom, the grill cover, etc etc. It’s nice to have storage nearby so you don’t drag that stuff through the whole house from wherever you have to put it.
—seriously insufficient closets/storage for stuff. Vacuum cleaner, mop, brooms, Swiffer, Shark, suitcases, craft supplies, rarely worn winter clothes or hunting gear, firearms, coolers, deep freeze/extra fridge, Etc. All that stuff has to go somewhere, and if you have no garage, it will go where?
—a well designed and situated kitchen, with proper flow to the back porch, will mean that you don’t need a full outdoor kitchen. You can have a smoker or whatever you need close by, but not have to duplicate EVERYthing outside, if your kitchen is more thoughtfully connected to the porch. If you ran the kitchen along the outside wall, you could have pass thru windows that opened to the porch—and make it easy to hand things outside without walking around.

Did you pick out this house because of the exterior appearance and then try to get the floor plan to fit your needs? That’s backwards, imho. It’s never too late to start again. Think about how you LIVE, not how the house looks (yet). Do you come home with muddy shoes from wading along the creek? Do you buy in bulk and need someplace to store 25 rolls of TP? How much non-clothing stuff do you need to store (hobbies, activities, sports equipment)?

Have fun with the process.....and always put in more closets than you think you will need,
Posted by redfish99
B.R.
Member since Aug 2007
16410 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 1:55 pm to
Make sure all header heights are same on front and back exterior walls both doors and windows. Add appliance garage in both Kitchen and MBath cabinet IS corners. IMO formal dining waste of valuable footage. Swap out and put cooktop on Island and sink on wall this will be patron central during parties. Good Luck
This post was edited on 8/25/20 at 1:59 pm
Posted by Geauxld Finger
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2005
31674 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 2:02 pm to
quote:

laundry off the front entry. Awful—so you live on 10 acres, come in with dirty shoes and clothes, so you’ve got to traipse through the front entry to drop your dirty stuff? No way. That Landry needs to be accessible from a side entry and function as a mud room/drop zone. I personally don’t like a laundry accessible to the master—I’d rather have a laundry adjacent to an entry door and pantry and storage, so that groceries, larger supplies like bulk paper towels, etc can be stored and easily accessed from the kitchen.


100% agree

the kitchen seems off to me. I feel like everything is pushed to the walls. id probably re-work that dining/butler's pantry area. too separated away from the rest of the house.
This post was edited on 8/25/20 at 2:05 pm
Posted by hungryone
river parishes
Member since Sep 2010
11987 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 2:10 pm to
Other thoughts:
--are you set on 2-story? You've got 10 acres, why does it need to go up? Energy costs can be lower in a single-story floorplan, and a broader floorplan would give you more configuration flexibility. If this is a "forever" house, then consider how you might live as an empty nester--upstairs bedrooms often become wasted space when the kids move out. Whereas, single story plans keep that space closer at hand...and single story floorplans are so much easier to manage when mobility decreases.
Posted by MikeBRLA
Baton Rouge
Member since Jun 2005
16448 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 2:22 pm to
Why aren’t there any windows on either side of the house? That is something you do on a zero lot line house but you are on 10 acres. Not to be rude, but as all of the others have mentioned there are MANY design flaws with this house that really aren’t worth fixing. I’d simply start over from scratch if I were you. Also, it’s kind of hard to design a house if you don’t even know where your garage is going to be yet. I’d figure that out first then design everything to go together, rather than piecemealed together.
This post was edited on 8/25/20 at 2:24 pm
Posted by LSUtigerME
Walker, LA
Member since Oct 2012
3789 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 3:17 pm to
quote:

Swap out and put cooktop on Island and sink on wall this will be patron central during parties.

I was going to suggest this as well, except for the ventilation requirements. Cooktops in islands create a lot of trouble there. Not that it’s impossible, but more difficult. You either have to use a downdraft, which sucks, or have a freestanding island hood which can be expensive and block views/openness.

I like the sink on the wall in that spot because you can add a window and bring in some natural light.
Posted by AUjim
America
Member since Dec 2012
3662 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 3:20 pm to
Is this going to be colonial/georgian style?

1. Is that island 5x9? That is huge and awesome! However, my personal suggestion would be to shrink it just a tiny bit (to allow for walking space) and add a row of cabinets to that rear wall of the kitchen. Make that where your dishwasher and sink are. Move your fridge to the other side of the stove so your work triangle is still manageable. Have a one level, flat island that is your 'breakfast' area....it just makes it more usable to me.

2. POCKET DOORS. Use them on your master closets, master bathroom, water closet, pantry, and laundry room.

3. Laundry room. Good size, but rearrange where the sink is to move your entry from the foyer to that little nook hallway. Again, use a pocket door.

4. Make sure you are claiming that under-stairs area for storage. Even if all you have is a little built in with a cabinet door in your water closet-claim it as much as feasible. Being able to store Towels/linens/toilet paper frees up a spot somewhere else.

5. I would absolutely NOT get rid of or shrink the dining room. In every day practice, you could make that an office or whatever, but if/when it comes time to resale, I think you'll be glad you kept it.

Overall that looks like an awesome plan that uses its square footage wisely. Looking forward to seeing it come alive.
Posted by bluemoons
the marsh
Member since Oct 2012
5503 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 3:27 pm to
Jeez you guys are brutal. OP is likely spending money with a designer and has a set number of sets he can obtain prior to paying more (speaking from experience). If any of you guys have ever worked with draftsmen, you know it's not always easy as "starting over."

OP, I think it's a nice plan. Definitely could use some improvements that should be easily doable. My thoughts:

1. I don't like dining rooms. If you want a study or a home office, I like the suggestion of the earlier poster about bumping the pantry/butler pantry area down, and lining that wall up with the inside staircase wall. I also like the idea of exposing the staircase with an open rail. That should open the whole living area up a good bit. You could use folding french doors with glass panes or a big barn door on the hallway side of your study to open that up when not in use.

2. I'm not a fan of the length and width of that hallway. Like others have said, I think that's a weird way to walk into a house. This IMO is the biggest flaw with the plan. There may be some way to eliminate that corridor altogether.

3. Not to beat a dead horse, but even if you don't plan on building a garage now, I'd try to figure where you'd like it to be and plan a side entry around that. Also agree with other posters that the side entry should come through a mudroom, kitchen, or other tiled area. Less wear on floors especially if you spend a lot of time outside.

4. I would definitely rearrange the master bath to incorporate a larger shower. I'd also add a window to the exterior in the shower if you can. Others have said this, but more windows and more natural light. If you have wooded property, you will thank yourself.

Overall I think it's a cool plan. Post the modifications when you get the next set from the draftsperson.
Posted by atom1505
Member since Aug 2016
284 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 3:39 pm to
A lot to respond to here so I'll try to go in order.

quote:

AUjim


Thanks. It's a lowcountry style cottage house but we're trying to open up the inside. .

I definitely intend to talk with the designer as the process moves along about a lot of pocket doors, especially in closet areas, bathroom, etc.

I like the laundry room but agree with another poster that running ducts through the ceiling is a bad idea. I just don't like where the laundry room is located and don't think it should be right when you walk in the front door of the house.

I'm not a real big fan of dining rooms in general and would like to talk to the designer about converting it into something else and adding informal space in the kitchen.

quote:

bluemoons


Yeah, I think we get 2 secondary iterations of the floorplan on the designer's normal fee schedule ($1.80/sqft). Reading some of the comments here was a bit discouraging but I'd definitely like to avoid just starting from scratch. Not afraid to spend the money, but I don't want to hemorrhage it...especially on the front end.

quote:

hungryone



Thanks for all the comments. I'm not dead set on two story, but my wife likes the look so that's that. I also like the relatively smaller footprint of a two-story house. We do not have kids but probably will at some point and I'd like kids to be upstairs. This is probably not a "forever" house, but it's a long-time house. I'd say 10-15 years if I had to guess. It's our first build.

Thanks for the storage notes as well. I agree and figured I would discuss that with the designer as time goes on, but I will mention it to them when I send my first comments. I definitely want some storage outside. We also may rearrange the closets in the master to make the master bed or bath bigger. I think I included in my OP, but one thought I had was elongating the entire master wing of the house. This would give more space in the master bedroom and also bump the bathroom/closet closer to the current laundry area.


eta: if anyone is interested, this is the house we pulled a lot of inspiration from:

LINK

This post was edited on 8/27/20 at 11:10 am
Posted by MikeBRLA
Baton Rouge
Member since Jun 2005
16448 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 4:13 pm to
quote:

Jeez you guys are brutal. OP is likely spending money with a designer and has a set number of sets he can obtain prior to paying more (speaking from experience). If any of you guys have ever worked with draftsmen, you know it's not always easy as "starting over."


I’d much rather start over and lose a little money to a draftsman than end up spending 100s of thousands of dollars building a house on open land that was designed for a zero lot line cookie cutter neighborhood.
Posted by atom1505
Member since Aug 2016
284 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 4:40 pm to
Understood and I agree, but did you look at the link I posted? That's the house we really got a lot of this inspiration from as you can tell. It doesn't seem to me like it was designed for a zero lot line neighborhood. Definitely not cookie-cutter. Maybe I'm wrong? Either way, we like the plan but wanted to try to make it our own.
Posted by LSUtigerME
Walker, LA
Member since Oct 2012
3789 posts
Posted on 8/25/20 at 4:41 pm to
quote:

I definitely intend to talk with the designer as the process moves along about a lot of pocket doors, especially in closet areas, bathroom, etc.

I’ll counter this and recommend minimizing pocket doors and barn doors. I have 5 in my house and should really only have used 2. Pockets doors are a pain in the arse, not very secure, and don’t close off very well. Similar for barn doors. Only use them strategically and not anywhere you want actual privacy (bathroom, etc.). They do save some space so they have advantages, but don’t go overboard.

Also, keep in mind it is very difficult to put anything on the wall where the door slides into. So don’t anticipate having light switches, receptacles, cabinets, etc. on the “pocket” area.

The house you posted inspiration has a lot of features that have been mentioned here that should be incorporated.
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