Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our house was built in 1949 and severely lacked closets. A TINY closet in the model, a TINY closet in the 2nd bedroom, but an invasively over-sized linen closet in the only bathroom...and that was it.
As a part of the renovation of the house large, custom built-in clothing storage was added to the master, a coat closet was added to the foyer, and a whole wall of custom built-ins were added to the utility room. We then demo'd the linen closet in the bathroom and replaced the pedestal sink with a vanity with storage. For a very small house,we now have quite a bit of built-in storage and we love it.
I like to look at apartment floorplans online, and I've noticed several either no front entrance coat closet, or else a tiny one that has to share space with a water heater. Measly!
I hate that my current house does not have a single linen closet, not even in the bathrooms. It's 13 years old. Fortunately the guest room has a walk-in closet and we were able to turn half of that into space for linens. We do have a entryway coat closet, though. My former home was built in 1971 and it had a very large linen closet at the top of the stairs right by the hallway bath that was so handy, as well as one in the master bath. It's crazy, I don't understand why they are missing in newer homes, especially when there is so much more square footage. Even my son's 1940 home has one.
House was built new (national builder) in 2008. Every bedroom has a decent sized closet, master has two walk-ins (one larger, one smaller - neither huge). Linen closet in upstairs hallway (small!). Very small linen closet in master bath (tiny!). Small coat closet on first floor.
I grew up in a 1950s ranch, that my parents added on to in the late 60s. There was a large linen closet in the hallway, a pantry in the kitchen, and my parents added a lot of closet space in their addition.
In our current house, we ended up removing the coat closet (walling it off and using the space as part of our kitchen remodel on the other side of the wall). It's a much better use of space. With the walk-in closets, we don't need to keep our out of season coats in a coat closet, and since there is a pass through/mudroom - we have a coat hook there that allows for 6 coats to be hung. (Plenty for 2 adults). We put fancy brass coat hooks at the front door (matching on either side) so that if we do entertain - we can hang at least 8 coats there.
Lastly - I wanted a butler's pantry, but there was no easy way to make it happen. When we decided to renovate the first floor (change out flooring, upgrade kitchen) - we also added two closets in the dining room. Each is about 30" wide, they are symmetrically placed (directly across from one another, on either side of opening to living room) and they have shelves - allows a place for the vacuum to be stored, as well as fancier serving pieces that we don't have a good place for. The dining room was 12X15, but because of door placement, this area wasn't really useable as "dining space" - so using the space for closets has not altered the flow for the dining table/chairs at all.
I agree that lack of thought out storage/closet space is an issue in many homes. If a future home has the same issue, I will *build more closets!* - as long as it can be done in an aesthetically pleasing way.
My house was built in 2014. A coat closet was standard in the floor plan, as was a linen closet. For the master bath, if I had wanted a tub, the area for the linen closet would have been used for a shower but I opted for a big shower and got the benefit of the second linen closet. I added extra shelves to the other linen closet and use it as a game closet because I also have a large closet in the laundry room the holds sheets and beddings and some of the other things that might have gone into that other linen closet.
I do wish there was more closet space on the main floor though, because the coat closet also has to hold the vacuum and broom and other similar things so it does get a bit crowded. I had to put a hanging clothes rack in the garage for the rest of the coats although that is actually pretty convenient given that we most often enter and exit via the garage rather than the front door.
Are there any other older home design elements you remember that you would like to see return?
Return? Yeah, sure. But at what cost?
And that IS the reason why most of those things have disappeared. Cost has driven those "extras" into oblivion- even a bare "essential" new starter home is over $200k/avg across the country.
Many new homes in my area are being built without linen closets! They do have a coat closet but not necessarily where you'd expect to find them - near the front door.
I saw a new build last week. TWO linen closets, coat closet near the front door, large mudroom AND.. two pantries! House is under 2000 sqft on the main level. There's a finished walkout basement in the lower level
Houses you buy near me are functionally useless and void of character.
And fwiw, I hate my vacuum in my coat closet. But at least I have a coat closet.
I believe wholeheartedly in the poster on another thread who said they've far surpassed functionality in new homes now, which just about stopped in the 70's. I may go as far as the 80's.
That's interesting about 1970s houses. Although I'm in an apartment now, my previous house was built in 1973. It featured a huge central fireplace that was like a showcase--everyone commented on it. Closets were everywhere--linen closet had louvered doors for ventilation, "family" room which could have also been used as a bedroom had double closets. Upstairs, a huge, deep closet at the top of the stairs, each bedroom also had a big closet. One bedroom had skylights and a closet that you could have slept in.
Also, full basement and attic. Hardwood floors throughout, and another nice touch was that the back door was a Dutch door. That was nice because you could open the top half for ventilation but keep the bottom part closed so the cat wouldn't try to get out or for whatever other reason.
The bathroom had a nice window with shutters--and so many places don't even have a bathroom window these days. Upstairs bathroom was convenient to the bedrooms.
The only problem with having so much storage is that the more storage space you have, the less you throw things out. At least it was like that for me. I had so much stuff when I lived in that house!
We are currently living in a house built in the mid 1990s. It has TONS of closets. TONS. Everywhere they could stick a closet, they did so. Even the his and her closets in the master are a pretty good size. And windows everywhere.
We are buying a house built about ten years ago. It too has closets and windows everywhere. Tons of storage. I've been over there a few times and every time I go I "discover" another closet or cabinet, much to my delight. The only room that doesn't have a window in it is the laundry room, but due to it's location in the house, it really couldn't have one. I may consider a sun tunnel in there one day, who knows.
In my current house, I had to do a lot of customizing of kitchen storage space because there is no pantry - and that is pretty common around here in older homes (20 years and older) though it's sort of 50/50. But in all the newer construction I saw, including the house we're buying, there's a large pantry. Thank goodness.
Oh here's another thing that's much more common in older houses and much less common in newer ones - just a walk through from the garage or some other cramped placement for a washer and dryer. We have a small laundry room just off the garage in our current house but the newer house has a large laundry room with a lot of available storage. My next door neighbors (currently) have a very nice house, but in order to gain a pantry, they had to move their washer and dryer out into the garage! I have looked at older homes that had the laundry room in a detached garage even. So I like the trend of larger laundry rooms.
Anyway, my issue with 1970s built houses (and earlier) is that without serious renovations (and yes, some on the market have had these done), the bathrooms and closets are small. And I remember when my parents bought a new home in the 1970s and I was SO impressed that they actually had a bathroom off the master! But now I recall that it was a tiny little bathroom with a single sink, toilet, and shower - only one person could be in there at a time. And they had a "walk in" closet! Except it was like you could step inside one step and turn around - that was the extent of being able to "walk into" it.
I love historic and older homes - and we looked at a lot of them. Most of them had such small bathrooms and closets that we just couldn't see moving in without doing some sort of major renovations.
I'm pleased with the large closets and spacious bathrooms of both our current and our next house. I think where they sacrificed some space (both homes are around 2600 square feet) is in the minor bedrooms. But I don't have kids - so I really don't care. I don't need my guests getting TOO comfortable. And in the new house, the bedrooms are still 12 x 12 so that's not tiny.
When I was in real estate, we used the term "structural obsolescence" to describe homes that had very outdated floor plans. Lifestyles, needs, expectations and all that change. Another example - electrical plugs - in the older homes I've lived in, I had all sorts of extension cords going on because there simply weren't enough plug ins. Even our current home built in 1997 doesn't have quite enough plug ins.
Something our current home does have though is a big room that is an office. Back in the day, you needed more space because computers and printers and all that were so much larger. Now most homes that we saw had smaller offices, or even just an "office nook" where you'd put all your much smaller office equipment, since now most people are working from a small laptop or even a tablet or even a cell phone - and have WiFi so there's no need for wires everywhere. I'm very glad to see that. So the new home has an office or "smart home" nook but a large, multipurpose second living area/den/man cave.
We have a very large "mud room" in the new house. Though I'm sure we'll use the built in bench and hooks and storage space, because we always tend to fill up space we have, we don't need it nearly as much as I needed that sort of space when I lived in a much colder area and our whole family had coats, hats, scarves, gloves, boots, etc. for so long each year. But we were living in a much older home and it didn't have a space like that. I know that some do, but to me it really seems like a necessity. We hung hooks up and put a bench in there but it was still pretty tight.
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 08-17-2019 at 07:08 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't need my guests getting TOO comfortable. And in the new house, the bedrooms are still 12 x 12 so that's not tiny.
