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Floor Plan

Basement will be unfinished, initially, save for possibly an office area for me. Not sure how I can get rid of steps to the basement. Definitely don't have room to put another staircase elsewhere. Might be able to move basement door to hallway though.....
No, you misunderstand. I'm saying don't have a door to the stairs, at least not at the top. Here is a random pic off the internet, that kinda shows what I'm talking about. You'd want the opening to the side and a small landing so people don't scoot their chair back and fall down the stairs... At the bottom of the stairs is where you'd put a door for now, then remove it when you finish the basement.



This eliminates needing to plan space around a door that does nothing but make for an ugly and inconvenient path to the basement while chewing up space in that room.

This is actually very similar to what I had in my old house, minus the stairs going up. Initially it had a door at the bottom, but I tore it out and widened the opening when I finished my basement. If your basement is (eventually) going to be part of the living space of the house, make it feel like that.
 

FinlayZJ

Doing hoodrat things
VIP
Here's a shot at maximizing square footage. I tried to open the kitchen, and provided a bar top toward dining for entertaining. Guests always sit there while you prep, and least in my experience. Master bedroom is open with pocket doors to the master bath. Shower is a rectangular shape to get the bathroom door to work. Added a small linen closet in the bathroom. Master closets move to one giant closet. Laundry moves to a neutral location between the base of the steps (I assume kids upstairs) and the master. Oversized coat closet to get the space to work. Lost the mud room in the process. Just a thought. The architect here said if you're willing to flip the master suite to the left side, a lot of options open up. Food for thought. It's your house, build it how you want.

 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
Here's a shot at maximizing square footage. I tried to open the kitchen, and provided a bar top toward dining for entertaining. Guests always sit there while you prep, and least in my experience. Master bedroom is open with pocket doors to the master bath. Shower is a rectangular shape to get the bathroom door to work. Added a small linen closet in the bathroom. Master closets move to one giant closet. Laundry moves to a neutral location between the base of the steps (I assume kids upstairs) and the master. Oversized coat closet to get the space to work. Lost the mud room in the process. Just a thought. The architect here said if you're willing to flip the master suite to the left side, a lot of options open up. Food for thought. It's your house, build it how you want.

Not bad, actually. Here are the issues I see with it though:

* Master bedroom would end up with a single dormer for a window (which also means you only have one choice as to where to put the bed)
* Ceiling would be slanted along the roof line on both sides and over the shower/tub.
* Master bath plumbing is directly over the garage and the septic will be at the opposite end of the house.
* Laundry/closet/half would require non-symetric windows on the front.
* Lose the mountain view from the master bedroom.

Moving the master to the opposite side means that you either swap the porch too and end up with a mountain of steps to climb to the front door or have your master bedroom windows opening to the porch and ground level.
 

SAD

Wants $4.50 Gas
VIP
you do everything on earth the hard way.

why dont you just jot down a few ideas and design considerations and contact an architect work with him.... They design things for a living...
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
you do everything on earth the hard way.

why dont you just jot down a few ideas and design considerations and contact an architect work with him.... They design things for a living...
Already discussed:

I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I agree completely and it might be easier to do that. On the other hand, bouncing things back and forth with the builder helps make the design more budget friendly and speeds things along. Adding a third person to the conversation makes it exponentially more complex and time consuming.

I can pick a dozen plans I like out of a book, but the thing that designers all have in common is that they know how to make an expensive floorplan.
 

BobKid

Bite me!
VIP
Already discussed:
Discussed, just not a good answer. :nono:

This is a large investment and you need to do it right. A decent architect will consider factors you never would think to, and will produce a materials list to support his plans making it easier for your builder to provide a real quote. If you half-ass this along the whole time, nobody will end up happy and we'll have to all suffer through endless and pointless whining threads as construction progresses.

Save us all the pain and call a f'ing professional. :mrtiphat:
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
Discussed, just not a good answer. :nono:

This is a large investment and you need to do it right. A decent architect will consider factors you never would think to, and will produce a materials list to support his plans making it easier for your builder to provide a real quote. If you half-ass this along the whole time, nobody will end up happy and we'll have to all suffer through endless and pointless whining threads as construction progresses.

Save us all the pain and call a f'ing professional. :mrtiphat:
If the builder and I can't come up with something between the two of us, I'll certainly hit up an architect.

You are buying 12+ish acres and have no close neighbors...why does it matter about windows opening to ground level?
Visitors staying up, sitting on the porch looking at the sky..... in front of my bedroom window. :naw:
 
Here's a shot at maximizing square footage. I tried to open the kitchen, and provided a bar top toward dining for entertaining. Guests always sit there while you prep, and least in my experience. Master bedroom is open with pocket doors to the master bath. Shower is a rectangular shape to get the bathroom door to work. Added a small linen closet in the bathroom. Master closets move to one giant closet. Laundry moves to a neutral location between the base of the steps (I assume kids upstairs) and the master. Oversized coat closet to get the space to work. Lost the mud room in the process. Just a thought. The architect here said if you're willing to flip the master suite to the left side, a lot of options open up. Food for thought. It's your house, build it how you want.



this design seems to flow alot better and be the open concept the dork desires.

he doesn't listen for shit though, so likely you just wasted your time.


I don't understand master bedroom on bottom level, and kids on top....
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
this design seems to flow alot better and be the open concept the dork desires.

he doesn't listen for shit though, so likely you just wasted your time.


I don't understand master bedroom on bottom level, and kids on top....
What part of my response to that seemed unreasonable?

Are you still angry that I found property I can shoot on, with cable internet, and in an area I like w/good schools for under $70k, when you said it was a pipe dream?
 
Last edited:

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
In this one, I tried having the steps make an L, across the hallway to open up a little more space in the kitchen. That would mean that the hall has a 7ft ceiling as opposed to 9'6" around the rest of the house. Kitchen has a more traditional U shape to it. Would probably rearrange the stove/sink/fridge a bit, but you get the idea. Master bath is still within the 28x40 basement for ease of water flow. Didn't bother drawing the closet structure. Suffice to say there would be something there. Laundry would share the roof over the planned screened porch.

Don't like the proximity of the half bath to the kitchen.

 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
I'm actually really liking that last iteration. The kitchen looks drastically improved and it even opens up the effective dining room space a tad. I can probably open up the space between the dining room and the living room by another couple feet. I have to be careful there because that center wall is structural and I'm not sure I want to go wider than about 12ft there.

We like the concept of being open between the kitchen and dining area and the dining area and family room. That's an idea we're happy with, but we also like having the kitchen somewhat removed from the living room.

At the Compound, we found that the formal dining room and living room never got used. We did, however, consistently use the kitchen, breakfast nook, and family room which were all open to one another. One of the annoyances we had with that layout was that the noise from the kitchen made it hard to watch TV in the family room. Simply put, I'd have to pause the TV every time someone got ice out of the fridge or simply give up if the wife was making something with a blender or mixer.
 

Jays89YJ

Udaho
VIP
Like I said, the kitchen is the part I'm least happy with and the part I'm trying to figure out still. It's a work in progress.




I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I agree completely and it might be easier to do that. On the other hand, bouncing things back and forth with the builder helps make the design more budget friendly and speeds things along. Adding a third person to the conversation makes it exponentially more complex and time consuming.

I can pick a dozen plans I like out of a book, but the thing that designers all have in common is that they know how to make an expensive floorplan.
Hire a designer who works for a builder. I know twenty of them at my old work who would maximize space and flow efficiency on your layout in a few hours and fix your dimensions to minimize waste.
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
Hire a designer who works for a builder. I know twenty of them at my old work who would maximize space and flow efficiency on your layout in a few hours and fix your dimensions to minimize waste.
What is the drawback to doing it myself then handing it to a designer for review and revision?

My dimensions, at this point, aren't intended for use as plans that a builder will use. They're for gauging the space while I revise the layout. It's been a while since I took drafting, but I actually do remember how to dimension things in a somewhat appropriate manner.
 
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