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.
- Do you have a media room and if so, is it something that is heavily used? Would you locate it upstairs or downstairs? Which would be more functional for your daily life? (we don't have the option of having a basement)[/quote]
We have a large living room area and will have a seperate family room in the lower walkout level when we finish it - maybe when the kids leave (years from now) we would turn their playroom into a media room - hubby would love it! for now we will just have nice surround sound and black out blinds in the family room along with super comfy furniture.
- Do you have 2 sinks in your kitchen? Is this a useful feature or is one sink hardly ever used? Are those tiny vegetable sinks functional or would you recommend something bigger?
Nope one sink - don't think we would really use two.
- Does a big room for laundry truly make life easier, or is a small space just as functional? How do you use your big laundry/hobby room if you have one and do you spend time there? Any recommended features?
Our larger laundry room has made no difference. The new house we just built has a smaller one and it is just as functional - in the future I even plan to move the laundry room to the lower level and change our laundry area to a mud room instead. I don't iron, fold, or sort in the laundry room so having extra space there is a waste for me - we used the room intead to build a huge walk in pantry which is perfect!
- would you locate a study upstairs or downstairs if you had a choice? Most floorplans have them downstairs but is there a good reason for this? (Esp if it is not typialy a room you need to have guests in?)
downstairs on main level - ours will also be in our walkout level until the kids leave then moved up to main level.
- would you skip on having a formal dining room and have a bigger area for dining that doubles for both daily life and for formal entertaining? Or is a formal dining room a necessary luxury even if you entertain once a year for the holidays?
never - a formal dining room was a must for me.
Any other floor plan design tips that you can give in hindsight? What features/layout will you absolutely avoid?
a good flow is most important - look at lines of sight from different angles of entry etc... in our 1st house we built, we did not have windows in the bathrooms that opened - this got so stuffy - I love our current windows that alow air movement!
I just spent the better part of a week looking at houses. Some of the things I discovered I like/want/hope for in a house:
Screened in porch area, my favorite house had a screened in back porch that had a step down into a small open deck area. That porch would probably become my favorite "room" in the house.
Bathrooms need to be a decent size, tiny cramped second baths are just awful. I also don't care for bathrooms that can only be reached by going through the kitchen or garage. I don't get the idea behind that one. Pedestal sinks can look nice, but not if there is no other place to keep extra toilet paper, soap, etc. Someone also mentioned on another thread that it makes no sense to use a lot of outside wall space on a bathroom and I agree. I don't want window space wasted on a bathroom, I'd rather stick the bathrooms on the interior and use some solar tubes for natural lighting.
Laundry room a must, hopefully big enough for a folding area and an ironing board. Ironing in the hallway, and folding clothes on my bed is no fun.
Media room, sure, would love some place to toss the kids/future grandkids when they come to visit over the holidays and want to play video games or watch some loud outrageous movie.
Sinks, I want a big double sink because I still wash dishes by hand. I have a tall faucet that I love, it makes handling my big pots and pans so much easier. If I used a dishwasher I think I'd prefer the double drawer type.
Kitchen has to have plenty of cabinets and counter space. I really like the "L" shaped counters that are open to a large dining area on one side. My kitchen has a pantry and I hope my future house will too, so very convenient. I would also like for the kitchen to overlook the back yard. This used to be pretty standard, so while they cooked, moms could watch over kids playing in the back yard. I don't see this as much anymore and I'm curious as to why?
Formal Dining room, not my thing, but I could see putting one in for resale value, maybe. I like the idea of making it a flexible room, I'd probably use it as a library/office.
If I had the opportunity to build from scratch one thing I would definitely look into would be to add some universal design features. Levers instead of knobs on the doors, Hallways and doors wide enough to accommodate a wheel chair. A large shower stall with a seat. Master on the ground floor. To me it just makes sense, especially with a large baby boomer population starting to come into their golden years. Think of the resale value there!
I also don't care for bathrooms that can only be reached by going through the kitchen or garage. I don't get the idea behind that one.
For us it's convenience and cleanliness. If you look at the floor plan I posted on the first page you'll see a small bath just inside the garage, next to the laundry room. I work a lot outside. I love playing in dirt is how my wife describes it. That set of rooms keeps me from walking through the house to go to the bathroom, and it also acts as a mud room so I don't haul all the dirt in when I'm done out there.
It is also very convenient to the kitchen. If we have company the cook doesn't have to worry, there's a bathroom right there.
Levers instead of knobs is a two thumbs up from me.
Q: Do you have a media room and if so, is it something that is heavily used? Would you locate it upstairs or downstairs? Which would be more functional for your daily life? (we don't have the option of having a basement)
A: Yes, in our new house our media room is basically our family room/great room and we use it daily - we have a 73 inch widescreen tv. In previous old house we had a dedicated media room and also used it every day.
____________________________________________
Q: Do you have 2 sinks in your kitchen? Is this a useful feature or is one sink hardly ever used? Are those tiny vegetable sinks functional or would you recommend something bigger?
A:No, one sink has always been plenty for me and I love to cook. It's all about planning the meal's cooking order and the prepping in a neat orderly way.
____________________________________________
Q: Does a big room for laundry truly make life easier, or is a small space just as functional? How do you use your big laundry/hobby room if you have one and do you spend time there? Any recommended features?
A: We have a big laundry room in our new house and I love it. We have 4 cats so we have 4 litter boxes and because of the room's size, we are able to keep them in the laundry room. otherwise we'd have to put them in nicer or more daily-used spaces, like closets or bathrooms.
____________________________________________
Q: would you locate a study upstairs or downstairs if you had a choice? Most floorplans have them downstairs but is there a good reason for this? (Esp if it is not typialy a room you need to have guests in?)
A: My husband and I each have our own office, both upstairs. We don't have kids so we use what would have been kids' bedrooms. We had a one story house before this one so there, we had one room and turned it into a shared office. Both options work fine, either way. We do like having our offices upstairs best though. It keeps our living and wroking quarters upstairs and private and the main level is for "entertaining" and public use.
____________________________________________
Q: would you skip on having a formal dining room and have a bigger area for dining that doubles for both daily life and for formal entertaining? Or is a formal dining room a necessary luxury even if you entertain once a year for the holidays?
A: I could go either way with this. In our previous house we had just a "great room" - living dining area and kitchen, all open to each other. In this house we have a formal living room, a formal dining room, and a great room with a family room, a well laid-out kitchen and a dining area in between with a half wall dividing the family room and dining area.
younglisa Love this topic!
I think even when it comes to resale most open floor plans will allow you to stage so formal dining room walls being absent won't be noticed as much. I'm thinking you're better off designing your house around your family lifestyle knowing others out there have similar lifestyles. Anyone sick to death of cookie cutter mcmansions yet?
By lifestyle I mean things like do you entertain at all, or would you rather be a guest elsewhere? Do your guests always end up in your kitchen when entertaining? Why not just have counter space joining two rooms where a wall would have been like what tek drew? I prefer these kinds of plans as a cook because it keeps you connected with the party but keeps people out from under your feet when you're trying to work. Other women prefer to be full time hostess, handle things more formally by hiring caterers to manage a kitchen, and need solid walls as if it were a restaurant so nobody sees the details or noise. Those solid walls define the occupancy of your party BTW. Large double sinks are just right for me. The veggie sink is a pointless loss of counter space to my sensibilities in light of an oxo colander that sits over one of those sinks and neatly collapses out of my way when I'm done. A behemoth kitchen makes everything harder in its own way and think work triangle & forgiving floors in designs. Large country kitchens take 3 people to clean.
Do you normally have a large pantry? How far do you have to walk to stow the stuff from the car or retrieve it when cooking? It only makes sense to have a laundry room where the clothes are, so why have it on another floor away from bedrooms? This won't matter if you send your laundry out instead of do it at home. That's not my lifestyle, but others do because their time is at a premium. See what I mean?
If you have children, some parents want the distance and privacy during sleeping hours, other parents want to know when they're having a nightmare. Same way some parents allow children to wander into their bedroom if they feel insecure vs coming when you're called. I've known people who own king size 'family beds' because their dogs were hogging the covers! A floor plan in a way defines how you'll live, but especially how functionally you'll be living. Ever have an apartment with one tiny closet? It's no joy unless you're a monk who only owns an alms bowl and a robe. Not many have such a simple life.
Nutshell- life is too short to wear the wrong sized shoes. Resale value be damned, if you know you're going to be living there for a while, why be anything less than perfectly comfortable? Being a happy family/ couple matters more IMO. Achieve that, what better selling point could a home have?
Tek I'm amazed how similar a design I came up with in my own plans. My pass through is larger with tambor door partition at shelf level, but it leads to my full blown wardrobe closet. The closet is basically a free standing wall unconnected to corners that gave the illusion of a bedroom wall where a headboard & side tables would go. The access would be on both sides of the bed because I realized I had to carry 2 wardrobes just for myself (one for career, one for personal life), his fair share of closet space was just as important to me, and also serving as a well lit dressing room when one would rather sleep late. It makes me nuts when things don't have a place to be so a gynormous closet was where I started. Also the proximity of my pillow to the first cup of coffee in the morning hahahahaa.
Working my tedious long term projects (like quilting) there means I don't have to sleep in it, won't lose a guest room, don't have to move it around 15 times because it's dinner time or company came, and I can work on it as time allows during household juggling a simmering pot or the dryer cycle. No more clutter throughout means less stress for me. The actual bedroom plan is total minimalist for a blissful sleep. No knick knacks, brick a brack, fru fru rugs to trip on or narrow paths to walk. Lighting & sound system will set the tone there with tray ceiling and a chaise reading area in a corner. Rid myself of the day, a refuge of silence for both of us and a place to reconnect as a couple. That one room in the house should be all about 'us', the rest of the world (computers, TV, office papers) kept out IMO. That's my attitude about my relationships, though. The walls should fit the relationship and not the other way around.
I remember how stressed out my sisters marriage became when the baby stuff took over their bedroom, the closets overflowing, the unfolded laundry on the bed- not enough hours in the day to keep up with what chores needed doing. Everything about their bedroom reminded them of the 20 pg to-do list and they were sleepless and lost in the room if that makes sense. It's only real function was to hide from friends/ family how overloaded they were. Your retirement stance might make it less of an issue because child care is moot but even people keeping household bills at a desk in the bedroom... not good IMO.
As the lady of the house, it's pretty pointless to have a linen closet in an obscure hallway when I'm the one doling out the linens from the laundry room. My closet was so large I planned on storage of all home fabrics and indoor seasonal things there, including a sewing machine, folding area and ironing board along the same wall as the laundry room. DH's usually don't have a plan nor care about what linen to use for holidays. Same with spring curtains, heavy winter blankets or the keepsake baby boots you can't part with anytime soon. The rest of the closets/built-in's of the house are all about the logical utility of the room they're in. I found myself embarrassed as a guest in someones house looking for the bathroom door and getting a tour of their multiple small closet messes lined up in a hallway.
I also put the master bath where the access to the 3 season room would be (southern exposure, wet wall mostly on bedroom side) thinking in terms of having to rinse off after getting out of the pool and also soaking in a garden tub but having lots of greenery along the wall that shares the master bath with the 3 seasons room. My 3 seasons room would function more like an active green house and painting studio with a sitting area at best. Half a solid wall, the other half (chest high w/fern ledge ) a diffused glass block from bath side. Bring outdoors in but retain heating and privacy. Natural light in bathroom to women means cosmetics will be done right. I wouldn't be soaking in calgon when I had company so it didn't seem impractical to me. Others might argue, but they don't have to live there. Mommy dearest peeking at the living room horseplay before getting in the shower facilitates the eyes in the back of her head mythology that keep kids in line too! hahahahaa
I added a mini bar along the backside of your kitchen counter wall (what would be your dining room wall), with barstools at a high end multi tiered counter. Bumping me when I'm carrying a steaming 25 lb bird because you want ice cubes... Grrrrr! Handy for breakfast time in daily life too because kids/teens really don't sit at tables unless it's a holiday. In the grander scheme of my floor plan, the same work triangle of the kitchen is echoed as a larger work triangle between kitchen, master closet and laundry. My design is based on my personal multi tasking work habits and making sure everything has a place to be. It's also meant for country living, and a dumb waiter going to a root cellar w/utility sink & larger pantry beneath the kitchen (located on your garage wall) will keep my kitchen cleaner while staging a meal. Time consuming process of preserving a harvest just got easier.
Step away from the busy bee heart of the home (ie. the more peripheral you get from the kitchen) the more restful/ lounging the spaces gets defined. He comes home in a suit, he'll use the garage or front door. He steps off his dusty tractor, he'll use the 3 seasons room & master bath and not track mud around the house. That design means 10,000 less marital grievances for the life of a mortgage. No matter which way he walks he still has to give dear wifey a peck coming or going.
I imagined a two way gas fireplace that faces outdoors at will, but I don't think it exists yet. I'm not sure it can be built either, because the heat loss/lack of insulation properties in winter time becomes an issue. The only practical way to accomplish it is to beef up the hearth and literally have two fireplaces back to back w/shared flue according to masons. Would be nice if I could make it happen instead of a chiminea or fire pit on a deck. At the end of the night I'd rather not ruin a wonderful glass of wine with my worry wart self imagining stray embers indoors or out- nice to just close it off/ cut it off as if snuffing out a candle. My plans are further away than your own so I've got more time to dream, and maybe technology will catch up with my ideas by then.
Tao- two story plans don't account for people with unexpected health issues who can't take stairs (like the 3 months of having a broken ankle), caring for the sick in general, or doing spring cleaning summer/winter swap out laundry up and down those stairs. Wifey will be very grumpy! Plan on being out of town then. Are your hands tied together with a smaller city lot? If not, consider the bedrooms on the back of the house (with a view, away from street noise etc).
Tao- two story plans don't account for people with unexpected health issues who can't take stairs (like the 3 months of having a broken ankle), caring for the sick in general, or doing spring cleaning summer/winter swap out laundry up and down those stairs. Wifey will be very grumpy! Plan on being out of town then. Are your hands tied together with a smaller city lot? If not, consider the bedrooms on the back of the house (with a view, away from street noise etc).
These aren't floorplans for a house we're building - they're the existing floorplans for the 12 year old house we bought last year. So we can't really change anything. I did modify the "finished" basement and come up with a different plan so that I could have an additional room which for me is a music studio.
For us, the house is perfect. I have a bad back and had spinal surgery a few months ago but the stairs are good exercise and haven't proven to be a detriment. My husband does all the laundry, not only bringing it down to the laundry room and back up when it's done, but he also does the washing and drying. Because of my back there are a lot of household chores I can no longer do. My husband is amazing because he does everything that we used to evenly share the responsibilities for and he never complains. He's a true gentleman.
The lot is decent size for the community we live in. It's exactly what we wanted: not too big, not too small. We have a 40-45 foot wide by 10 foot deep deck off the back and there's still plenty of lawn. I think the entire lot size is about 9600 square feet.
1) Media room is probably one of the most used room at the house I used to live it (I moved a year ago). When guests come over it's almost always in the media room where we chat and watch sports or movies. It's better to have it downstairs because if you have people come over, you don't want to have them going up and down the stairs, it's just inconvenient, especially if they are older.
2) I wish I had even bigger 2 sinks! If you hardly cook or only cook for 1 or 2, I'd imagine one sink is enough. But if more, 2 sinks are definitely useful to separate things.
3) I think small laundry would be just as sufficient. In my experience, big laundry rooms tend to gather clutter. Hobby room is a good idea if you like to entertain or have a big family. Exercise room is pretty popular lately as well.
4) I don't see any reason to have the study upstairs. I think one reason why people like to have the study down stairs is for the higher ceiling? I'm not exactly sure. For me the study is a time to relax and read or just want some alone time.
5) Two of the rooms I barely use are the formal living room or great room and the formal dining room. Yes I think they are a waste of space, but people love to have them to showcase things I guess...
I like more of the open floor plans, and I hate narrow or enclosed spaces. My style is more contemporary though, if that helps.
I would also like for the kitchen to overlook the back yard. This used to be pretty standard, so while they cooked, moms could watch over kids playing in the back yard. I don't see this as much anymore and I'm curious as to why?
yes, the kitchen has to have a window to the back yard (but no kids here)
Rach1966, my wife prefers the sink facing the guests. If we had children that might change, but I doubt it.
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.
keeping it all about YOU
) a diffused glass block from bath side. Bring outdoors in but retain heating and privacy. Natural light in bathroom to women means cosmetics will be done right. I wouldn't be soaking in calgon when I had company so it didn't seem impractical to me. Others might argue, but they don't have to live there. Mommy dearest peeking at the living room horseplay before getting in the shower facilitates the eyes in the back of her head mythology that keep kids in line too! hahahahaa
Are your hands tied together with a smaller city lot? If not, consider the bedrooms on the back of the house (with a view, away from street noise etc).
