Advice on Floorplan (Ross: wood floors, new home, buy)

[jacob]

The house that I am looking at has north facing entrance and south facing living room and backyard. And all bedrooms (master down) and 3 BR upstairs are facing west, which is completely blocked by another house next to it (I guess about 10-12 feet away). Will this cause no sunlight to come and cause the rooms to be cold ?

Upstairs an open game room (which we want to convert to media room). We don't feel we would use game room as much as a media room. What do you guys think ? Which one is more useful. Also, is an open media room OK, or does it have to be closed ?

I like mom's idea about making one toyroom for toddlers.

Now the master is downstairs. And other bedrooms will be upstairs. Isn't that inconvenient with say one infant and one toddler ? Wouldn't you end up having both the kids in the master BR with you to save a trip up the stairs in the night.

There are 2 sets of stairs But to go from master BR to upstairs, one has to either go through the kitchen to get to the back stairs, or to the formal living room for the front stairs, which adds to the inconvenience.

There is a formal living downstairs. Would it look odd to change that to a game room.
I wonder when will we use the formal living ever.

[socketz]

I went through the same issues as you and it sounds like the floorplan I bought is similar...

1. I thought, I'll just buy a single story and put a game room upstairs. Wrong. Single stories of decent square footage cost alot more per sq/ft to build. You essentially pay about the same price, yet get 300-400 less sq/ft. If your living there for a long time, who cares, but for a short period, this will hurt your ability to sell at a profit.

2. While you only see game rooms decked out as what looks like full fledged sports bars in the new home development models, in reality, most people setup the game room as a 'Rec Room' (old fashioned word for 2nd less formal living room) for kids. I looked at alot of resales and nobody's game room was decked out will plasmas and foosball tables.....typically a 27 inch tv, a dvd player on a stand and tons of shelves will toys and an old couch. That's the reality.

3. As for worrying about it being dark. I just smile. Wait till summer. You will love that you can lay your kids down for bed at 8pm in a nice cool room (you will still need ac). Here you do not want alot of direct sunlight in the house. It gets REALLY hot and the sun stays out from like 7am till 9:30pm. Shade is good here. As long as you have high ceilings down stairs with lots of north-south facing windows, you'll be fine.

This is completely oppposite from CA.....people love facing the rising and setting sun and it keeps the house warm (albiet the temp never varies more than 20 degrees) and makes everythng bright. TX is different. Shade is king. Homes with nice shady trees all around them are very desirable. I know it's hard to conceptualize because the weather is so nice there now.

Come june-august, make a point to come back here and post your thoughts.

[940]

Originally Posted by socketz

I went through the same issues as you and it sounds like the floorplan I bought is similar...

1. I thought, I'll just buy a single story and put a game room upstairs. Wrong. Single stories of decent square footage cost alot more per sq/ft to build. You essentially pay about the same price, yet get 300-400 less sq/ft. If your living there for a long time, who cares, but for a short period, this will hurt your ability to sell at a profit.

Socketz..you've touched on one of the biggest issues I have right now in considering a newer home (our 'dream home') within the next year or two. Do we go for a mostly one level house with all bedrooms down and a media room and bath upstairs or do we go for the 2-story home that might have 2 or 3 bedrooms up and a media room with a bathroom or two. We currently own a one level house with no game room or media room upstairs...just the attic.

I have to think about aging parents and having them climb stairs to the bedrooms. I also have visions of outrageous electric bills while trying to cool the upstairs. Can you or Mom or anyone else give me some pros and cons...I honestly didn't know that you pay about the same price for one level or two levels but still end up short on comparable square footage, as you mentioned in the earlier post.

[daisies76]

Ideally for my family, I want the master down and 3-4 bedrooms upstairs with two bathrooms up, plus a large gameroom. Its not been easy finding what I want, but this definitely would meet our needs. I have two kids, and I want them both to have their own bathrooms. When my daughter reaches teenage years, she isnt going to wantto share a bathroom with her younger brother and vice versa, so I am trying to think about what its going to be in years to come since we plan on staying in this house long term.

I do not want the kids's bedrooms downstairs because when they have their friends spend the night, there will be utter chaos riunning through the house and it would be nice to confine that to the upstairs so that my husband and I can be downstairs without kids being everywhere.

Ideally I would like the master down with one spare bedroom down for when my mom comes out to visit so that she doesnt have to climb the stairs, but that is a hard floorplan to find.

Basically I want to give the kids the upstairs and we will have the downstairs. If we cannot get a spare bedroom downstairs without losing the office/den, then we will put the spare upstairs and unfortunately make the company climb the stairs.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you are staying in the house for awhile, you should think long-term because the kids grow up fast, and they may be babies now, but they will soon want friends to spend the night and friends to come over all the time, etc... we didnt plan for this when we bought our current house because our kids were young and honestly we just didnt think about it, but I will tell you it bothers me now. We bought a smaller one-story house and there is just not the space that we would like to have.

If we had a 4th bedroom up, we would use that for the kids office, like for homework, books, etc... somewhere where there is no TV or toys around, but somewhere they can go to focus on schoolwork, read, school projects and nothing else.

We want 5 bedroom 3.5 bath

Good luck in your search!

Daisies

[socketz]

I think Daisies opinion is pretty common around these parts...another thing I needed was a usable den that wasn't next to the front door, but tucked away in the back of the house.

I went with a 5Bdr/3Ba with 3Bdrs up (2 kids and 1 BDR used as a den) then 2 Bdrs down (master and guest room, but leave crown in guest room so next couple can use as den if needed). My kids are already saying they wont sleep upstairs by themselves......

One thing we did to help this was put a dimmer switch on the light going to the upstairs.

I wanted one story, but the footprint swallows the yard (i.e. my nieghbor has a one story next to me and the house is 6-7 feet longer and less sq/footage) and is generally smaller - and cost more.

I've met alot of people with 2 stories that are just as energy efficient as a one story.

What makes a bigger difference here is the age/facing of the home (bake your living spaces with west sun, you'll see what I mean)

[940]

Thanks for the good information, socketz and daisies76. I do try to think of everything I can concerning what it is we exactly want in this next house...whenever we do buy it.

I think about house placement and west side sun in the summer...I think about bedrooms and finding a floorplan that does have the master down and another bedroom downstairs too for guests/aging parents (and yes, Daisies, that type of floorplan is few and far between)! I do want another home office down but I didn't consider moving it from the front entrance area where it normally seems to be placed in most new homes (socketz).

The issue of keeping kids and their friends upstairs and entertained is understandable...we have no kids so that's a moot point. We do tend to concentrate more on having an upgraded kitchen with all the bells and whistles including an island, walk-in pantry, high-end cabinets and upgraded counter surfaces. We also see the trend in having outdoor living spaces so the idea of a large covered back patio area with maybe a built-in bbq or built-in fireplace is appealing.

Any one else with other ideas to consider? Please weigh in..Thanks!

[socketz]

A one story may be the ticket for you 940. If you go with a quality builder, the kitchen you described is standard. There is also nothing wrong with having the office downstairs as I believe most people prefer it there. I moved mine upstairs because I actually work in the office and have two little kids that hang out downstairs during the day. If you do put the office down, make sure you add the bells and whistles as that will help with resale (i.e. stain grade package, wood floors, double crown, excellent lighting, etc).

[momof2dfw]

Well.... I see all sides.

1 stories - great for families just starting out and empty nesters. There is a market for 1 story homes and less and less are being built. Our last house was a 1 story 4bed/3/bath/3car w/ formal living, dining, study, family room open to a VERY large kitchen. The bedrooms were split w/ the master to one corner, two bedrooms to one side and another bedroom over in another corner past the study w/ a full bath over there. It was great and gave us lots of room. My parents are looking at homes and prefer a large 1 story and still have some yard. What we had was VERY rare as we also had a HUGE backyard even though it was a 1 story at almost 3000 sq ft and a rear entry 3 car garage and drive. Depending on how the one story is laid out you can still have lots of room to splity everyone up and keep the kids "contained", lol.

2 stories - our current home is the first 2 story we have ever lived in. It has been just fine w/ the kids being upstairs. At first they said stuff about not sleeping upstairs but they do and are fine. We have the master down and looking out to the backyard which was a feature we were looking for. No spare bedroom down but our study is down and looks out to the front which I like, I can see the mail when it comes and other deliveries. I would not want a study that looked out to the side of the house. Do make sure that everything that can be added is when it comes to the tech side of things even going as far as having the house security camera ready (connection at the front porch and such, we have this and we were VERY glad the person building thought ahead to do such and left room in the control box for such). Then all of the wood: floors, walls, built-ins. This is a huge plus for a study/office and french doors. Our house has two sets of stairs one being a circular set in the entry and then the back set off the kitchen by the utility room and the first room you will come to going up these stairs is the media room. I LOVE IT THIS WAY!!! For one hauling the clothes to and fro I don't have to carry them ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE HOUSE by the front door and all. I've also been known to "drop" a load down that can land right outside the utility door. Then having these stairs that convienent for the media room is another blessing. You don't have to haul food and drinks all the way across the house, by the front door, up the stairs, across the gameroom, down a hall, etc. Also make sure if you do put in a media room that you at least rough plumb it and have a built in cabinet for storage of things like paper plates, napkins, bottle opener, etc and a small fridge. That is a lifesaver too and makes it that much more enjoyable. Also for safety have a phone jack in the media room. I keep our cord phone plugged in there that way there is always a phone in there and if the power goes out we also have a phone. If your in there watching something you are not going to hear the phone ring, door security chime or the doorbell. As for the bedrooms upstairs, there are 3 w/ two full jack & jill bathrooms. One bedroom is down the hall from the media room and has a jack & jill bath that shares w/ the common areas upstairs. On the other side of the gameroom we have 2 bedrooms that share a jack & jill bath. Even though I have two girls I LOVE that they each have their own bath. Makes those nights we come in a little late much easier as they can both bathe at the same time. Anything w/ 3 bedrooms and only 1 bath upstairs is a HUGE turnoff. Another thing to think about is a bathroom being accessible from the backyard even if you don't have a pool. We have one right at the backdoor and it is great. I passed on homes that did not have one close to the backdoor especially w/ a pool. Upstairs in the gameroom we have a computer outlet but we do not have that computer hooked up to the internet. If my kids want on the internet they have to come to me. I still would go ahead and put one in even though I may not use it and the same goes for phone and cable jacks. Though you may not want or think you will use them in the upstairs bedrooms still put them in there. Trying to add these things later on is not only a pain in the you know what but can be very expensive.

As for energy efficiency, our two story is more energy efficient than our one story was. Just depends on how well it is insulated, how well the ducts are installed, the return air locations, and proper venting. OH, in the media room, PUT EXTRA VENTS IN!!!!! It can get VERY hot in there really quickly. If you have a projection screen you can not just put in ceiling fans to help either.

[940]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Our house has two sets of stairs one being a circular set in the entry and then the back set off the kitchen by the utility room and the first room you will come to going up these stairs is the media room. I LOVE IT THIS WAY!!!
Anything w/ 3 bedrooms and only 1 bath upstairs is a HUGE turnoff. Another thing to think about is a bathroom being accessible from the backyard even if you don't have a pool. We have one right at the backdoor and it is great. I passed on homes that did not have one close to the backdoor especially w/ a pool.
As for energy efficiency, our two story is more energy efficient than our one story was. Just depends on how well it is insulated, how well the ducts are installed, the return air locations, and proper venting. OH, in the media room, PUT EXTRA VENTS IN!!!!! It can get VERY hot in there really quickly. If you have a projection screen you can not just put in ceiling fans to help either.

Thanks again, Socketz..and thanks Mom for your perspective.

Mom, you've touched on some things that I did not consider so I will make a mental note of them when the time comes. I do like having the back stairs heading straight up to the media room from the kitchen/utility. And I have considered putting in an area that would have a refrigerator, some cabinets, microwave and a small sink. I've seen an option like that in some floor plans and it helps with food and drink preparation and storage as you said.

I'm like you when it comes to bathrooms. I want more than the floor plan usually calls for! I have seen homes that had 3 and 4 bedrooms sharing ONE bath which is unacceptable to me. If it were up to me, and if I could afford it, I'd either do the Jack-and-Jill bath option between each set of two bedrooms, or each bedroom would have their own bath. And the extra bath by the back door is a good thing whether it's used as a pool bath or if you've been working outside and you don't want to traipse throughout the house to clean up.

Phone outlets, cable outlets, computer outlets..all good ideas. Along with having each room blocked for ceiling fans if they aren't already. The security camera is an interesting feature I honestly hadn't thought about doing but I may look into it. The extra vents in the media room is a good idea too, especially when everyone's in there and all the electronics are working full force.

Energy efficiency is what's really important to me though. Both you and Socketz have mentioned that if a two-story home is built with efficiency in mind, then it can be just as inexpensive to run as a one level house. That's what I want to hear because two-story homes have always conjured up images in my mind of being large money pits. Glad to hear that that's not always the case.

[Spree]

Energy efficiency is what's really important to me though. Both you and Socketz have mentioned that if a two-story home is built with efficiency in mind, then it can be just as inexpensive to run as a one level house. That's what I want to hear because two-story homes have always conjured up images in my mind of being large money pits. Glad to hear that that's not always the case

Having dual zone for air conditioning/heating will also help.