What are your thoughts on a good floorplan/features, based on your experience. (floor, dishwashers)

[Jan08]

[SIZE=2]We are in the process of designing a home and would really appreciate valuable input from you, home owners. There are many features we see in current model homes, that seem to be almost "standard" these days - but we have learned from the past that just because a feature sells or is currently popular doesn't always mean that it is functional or could be done without/done differently once people actually starting LIVING their daily life in the home. We have some specific questions on these features and would like your input on any of them that you have had experience with...

- 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)

- 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?

- 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?

- 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?)

- 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?

Any other floor plan design tips that you can give in hindsight? What features/layout will you absolutely avoid?
[/SIZE]

[duhrambull]

Originally Posted by Jan08

[SIZE=2][SIZE=2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]- 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)[/SIZE]

A big, open family room with a big LCD TV is more than enough for movies etc.

Originally Posted by Jan08

[SIZE=2]- 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?[/SIZE]

not only double sinks, another seperate veg. sink is also needed.

Originally Posted by Jan08;5372172[SIZE=2

- 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?)[/SIZE]

downstair. a living room with french door is an ideal office.

Originally Posted by Jan08

[SIZE=2]- 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?[/SIZE]

Dinning room is a total waste of space.

[fisher33]

I'm not a homeowner, but I'll give my two cents.

Originally Posted by Jan08

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)

i would like a separate cozy media room, one that you can curl up and watch a movie or some tv in a more intimate area rather than a big family room, even if the family room isn't formal. i don't think upstairs or downstairs would matter, as long as it's smaller. even a section of a larger room (the other half could be a study).

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?

i don't cook a lot, so i can't answer this one...

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?

i think a slightly larger room would be nice, but not huge unless you have a specific hobby that you want room for that's out of the way from everything else. i would just like to have an area to fold and hang wet and out of season clothes that's not in the bedroom.

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?)

i think this depends on what kind of study you want. if you want to run an office out of home that would require a more dedicated space. if you're wanting a library/study you could use a room w/ few chairs, a desk and bookcase. if you only want a desk, you can stick it in a guest bedroom. i personally would put it in a room w/ windows so you can put a chair/ chaise and pile up in it to read. it would be a study/ library/ sitting area - quiet!

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?

i like having a dedicated place to entertain. moving tables and chairs when guests come would only add to the stress for me. having a buffet/ china cabinet, table, etc. already set up even if once a year, is still a nice place to have. i know for most it seems like a waste and i can see why, but to some, it's a necessary waste. haha. it could double as a craft room, homework room for kids, study, etc. during the times not in use.

Originally Posted by Jan08

Any other floor plan design tips that you can give in hindsight? What features/layout will you absolutely avoid?

i don't like floorplans that are too open. i like rooms to have a purpose and to be able to shut the door when needed. i would also make sure you can't see the dirty dishes in your sink as soon as you walk in the door. i don't have any specifics besides from that.

[JayCT]

We have been looking around and one of the issues I see that I dislike with homes that have those big open two story foyers with the big windows. I have seen many homes that have the upstairs hall bathroom located off this or that have one bedroom located on one side of it and the bathroom on the other. This means that you must cross through a very public space in front of that large window to get from bedroom to bath and back. Not what I would like.

Also I have seen so many upscale homes where the kitchens really are not spacious or well laid out. Some builders seem to forget that the kitchen sells the house. I would also want a big pantry. I am sick of having large items like paper towels or the crock pot stored elsewhere.

My wife wants an upstairs laundry and a mud room with built-ins for coats and stuff. Here in New England the dining room is still popular. My wife doesn't agree but I think it is an important feature for an upscale home.

A house we looked at had a huge master over the three car garage. It was 23 by 33. I would rather have had a bonus room for the kids and a more modest sized master (15 by 23 would be more than large enough). The closet was 11 by 11 which was pretty nice. Bigger than a couple of rooms in our current home. Jay

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Jan08

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)

Wherever you put the TV becomes the media room and, in effect, the den. If you have a bonus room that isn't a gym or a TV room, it becomes a closet.

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?

You will NEVER be sorry that your sink is too big or has too many compartments. Actually, I'm not sure a sink that is too big or has too many compartments exists.

Originally Posted by Jan08

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 big laundry room is nice if you have kids who stay dirty and you need a lot of area for folding and sorting, but really any space beyond what is required for a washer, a dryer, a hamper and some shelves or cabinets for storing soap and cleaning supplies just becomes an area that is begging to be filled up with junk. One thing that I have found is that a sink in the utility room can be the most useful thing in the house.

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?)

Is the study going to be more of a library or more of a home office / financial headquarters? If this is a library, I would put it down. If this is where I pay the bills and balance the checkbook, I would put it up. Not sure why, but that's the way I would want it.

Originally Posted by Jan08

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?

I grew up in a house with a formal dining room and a "regular" dining room. We would eat in the "regular" dining room if we had a small number of guests over. We would use the formal dining room only on Thanksgiving when we had too many people to fit at the "regular" dining room table. Otherwise, we ate at the bar in the kitchen where we could all talk, see eachother and cleanup was easiest. If you have a choice between a big, interesting kitchen and a formal dining room, it's a no-brainer. The kitchen is the soul of the house and I think needs the most careful design. A formal dining room has a way of becoming no-mans-land.

Originally Posted by Jan08

Any other floor plan design tips that you can give in hindsight? What features/layout will you absolutely avoid?

I like to have the food prep/cooking area open to the den (or just plain open). When you are having a cook-out or party, everyone wants to hang out in the kitchen and talk. Also, if I'm entertaining guests I don't want to feel segregated while I'm working on the food.

One caveat: Do not sacrifice kitchen storage for anything. If you don't store plates, glasses, pots & pans, etc. in the kitchen because you don't have enough room, you might as well throw them away because you will never see them.

[ylisa7]

Jan08-

Let me start off by saying congratulations and good luck. Building a home the way you want it is so exciting.

A couple of questions? How big is your family? Do you have a lot of dinner parties? Do you "love" TV? Do you "love" to cook?

Overall I prefer a smaller house with a very open floor plan. I hate wasted space and I hate hallways(again wasted space)JMO. I also don't like 2 stories- more to heat and warm, too big for just the 2 of us. I love my husband and I don't want to lose him in the house.

When you are designing your house make sure it's not overkill. Make sure you can afford the house and upkeep. The larger the home the larger the utility bills and overall costs. If money is no problem then this won't be a concern.

1. Media Room- Personally I think TV has gotten really bad and movies are worse. So a media room, for me, is a huge waste of money. My husband also hates stereo and surround sound. He can't stand other noises around him. Now if you are a movie buff or a huge sports fan you might enjoy a media room and I would put it wherever the bedrooms "aren't". You don't want too much noise when someone is trying to sleep.

2. Kitchen sinks. I hate double sinks because I cook a lot and I can never fit big pans in one side of a double sink. Now if the one side of the double sink is big enough for a roasting/lasagna pan then go for it.

3. Laundry rooms don't need to be huge. Again, how big is your family? Do you do tons of laundry? I like space to store detergent etc., a rod for hanging clothes directly from the dryer(which I don't use anymore), and a small counter top for folding. Again none of this is necessary. My bed works just fine.

4. Crafts/hobby rooms seem like excess to me. But if you do crafting or have a hobby where things need to be left out like scrap booking or building models then it might be nice to have an extra room. I would not combine it with the laundry room. Too noisy and possibly too linty(is that a word)?

5. Office- I like an office because I love my computer doing paperwork and organizing. If I had an extra bedroom I wouldn't need a separate room for an office. For security I can see you wanting it upstairs but I wouldn't want it that far away. I think I would rather put a lock on the door and be close to the action in the house.

6. Dining Rooms- Unless you entertain a lot I think they are another huge waste of space. Where are you building? If you are in a warmer climate bring your guests and parties outdoors. Relax and have fun. People are coming to see you not check out your silverware and china. At least I hope that's not the case.

It doesn't matter what anyone says here. You have to make yourself happy. Don't go with the trends if you don't like them(I fall into that category all the time).

Best Wishes and have fun.

Lisa

[CBB]

Originally Posted by Jan08

We are in the process of designing a home and would really appreciate valuable input from you, home owners. There are many features we see in current model homes, that seem to be almost "standard" these days - but we have learned from the past that just because a feature sells or is currently popular doesn't always mean that it is functional or could be done without/done differently once people actually starting LIVING their daily life in the home.

Do you design the home to suit YOUR needs or with resale in mind? Also, I have the same questions as Lisa: How many people will live in the house, do you entertain much, what are your likes/dislikes/hobbies and are you on a budget?

Everybody has his/her own lifestyle and therefore very different demands. You may get dozens of opinions from others, but none of them may be right for you.

I personally need one really large sink; if I happen to need a second one (maybe twice a year), I just cross the hall and use the sink in the powder room.
I don't need a formal dining room. Our dining table is between the open kitchen and the living area and is being used for reading the news paper, sitting and talking, entertaining, our daily meals of course, writing and many other activities.
I don't even NEED an extra laundry room (although having one is nice). Our washer and dryer (under counter plus a sink) are along one wall of a room we enter from the carport; the other wall is storage behind sliding doors, so a real mixed-use area as well.
I don't need a media room. We have one large TV in our living room and another one up in my room (DH and I almost never agree when it comes to watching TV) which is very spacious and also contains office space. Another mixed-use room.

Would I want to live like this if we had four kids? NO! But we are only two (plus our lovely cat) and it suits us just fine.

I personally think that all these gadgets like wine coolers, pot fillers, third and fourth sinks, double dishwashers et al are as superfluous as all those "extra rooms" that became so popular over the last years. There are fewer and fewer people living in one household, yet the homes get bigger and bigger with tools and rooms for every single possible activity. But maybe I'm simply too old to understand it.

Connie

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by CBB

Do you design the home to suit YOUR needs or with resale in mind?

This is a good question and one that I think a lot of people answer incorrectly.

If you build a house and make decisions based on what sells best, some people could possibly construe that as following fads. That's fine and you will probably build a beautiful home, but look at the popular construction practices of the past. Have you ever walked into an unremodeled home from the 50's, 60's or 70's? Did it seem dated? In poor taste? Did you wonder why on earth anyone would design some of the features the way they did? Have you ever heard a realtor say "That's what was hot and what sold at the time."

Get creative with your design and make sure that it feels right for you. If you like something other than what sells right away, someone else will also (unless you just have really terrible taste, in which case you would probably be building a spec house anyway).

[Tek_Freek]

We are in the middle of designing our retirement home. Most of the design is for us, with some things set for resale. We figure that at some point we may have to sell and enter a place for care giving so we want the best of both.

The main room we are keeping for the resale is a dining room. Me, I'd as soon not bother, but my wife insists, and I have to grudgingly agree. For resale it's probably smart.

A pot filler is is something we will be adding. My wife is a small person and those large pots full of water are not easy for her.

This is where we are so far:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k315/Tek_Freek/house.jpg (broken link)

The house will be on a sloping lot so there will be a half basement under the back. It's just the two of us so we will have plenty of room for guests and a craft room for her sewing, cross stitch, etc. The front room on the right will be a library/game/office room. The room left of the garage is going to be my wood shop. Master suite has a sit down shower.

Notice that bedroom 2 has direct access to the shared bath. #1 guest room.

The wood structure going down the right side of the house is level with the deck in the rear so a level walk is available from the front to the deck outside the house. With my knees and hips getting crappy this is a must for me. Fewer steps in a house will be important as I get older.

There is a pass-through in the master closet and a hamper on the other side to catch clothes.

Plenty of storage around the kitchen is a must for us. The pantry should hold plenty and the utility closet has room for brooms, etc. Coat closet is just inside the garage door. A nice size storage closet outside the master can hold linens or extra from the kitchen. Above the stool in the master bath is a recessed medicine cabinet. On the other side of that wall the linen closet simply goes from full width to narrower and back to full with from top to bottom as it passes the medicine cabinet.

A three-season porch is a must as is a nice size deck.

This will probably change as we continue to tweak it, but I think it's close. The real question is whether we want to afford it or decide to go smaller. We have two optional layouts that alter the guest bedroom area so the house is up to 130 square feet smaller. This one is the ideal for us, but we can adapt to a smaller layout if need be.

In case you noticed: The outside walls are going to be ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) and that is why they look thicker than you would expect. I'm considering extending this around the master bedroom to keep it quieter.

Another edit: Removing the linen closet/medicine cabinet from the plan allows for a stairway to an optional bonus room over the garage that we opted not to do (so far).

[ylisa7]

Hey Tek

I like your layout. Are you both excited? Are you putting up walls in the DR or leaving it open? I would leave it open, JMO, lol.

Lisa