Please help with great room height/design, prelim plans...

10 years ago

Hello there,

We are building a tuscan style predominantly 1 story home in So Cal and have been working on a layout with our architect. We love everything about it except the greatroom. DH and I are concerned that the 2 story room (plus angular ceiling) will be waaaay too grand and too 'cold' for our otherwise intimate feeling home. We are hoping to make the great room be 1 1/2 stories, kind of like this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-3WBViHssK8/TB_625DBF3I/AAAAAAAAEAA/JJNHrt6M O_Q/s1600/greatroom.jpg

But what we are getting is essentially 2 1/2 stories due to the mezzanine on the 2nd floor connecting the kids' rooms to our MBR. We are getting this look, which I just don't like for us:
https://www.houzz.com/photos/tuscan-inspiration-family-room-and-dining-area-rustic-family-room-columbus-phvw-vp~94128-Inspiration--Family-Room-and- Dining-Area-mediterranean-family-room-columbus

Without rearranging the whole layout, can anyone offer suggestions to bring down the scale. The home is going to be big (about 8000sf) but we don't want it to feel cavernous or gigantic.

Thank you,

Katherine

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by kath0000 on Sat, Apr 27, 13 at 18:09

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

Steph Morris
Original Author
10 years ago
Great room close up.
Steph Morris
Original Author
10 years ago
2nd floor (above great room is open to below except for the loft drawn in on the left side)
Steph Morris
Original Author
10 years ago
2nd floor close up.
palimpsest
10 years ago
Could you just turn the mezzanine into a regular straight hallway and drop the roof/ceiling over the great room?
Steph Morris
Original Author
10 years ago
Do you mean to close off the mezzanine portion that looks over the great room and just put a solid wall there? We would still be able to keep the windows on the mezzanine that look into the inner courtyard. That is an option we discussed but the views of the mountains are fabulous (toward the top of the paper) so that would be my least ideal option.
palimpsest
10 years ago
You could probably do some kind of window on the other side of the mezzanine that penetrated the lower roof somehow.
lyfia
10 years ago
Although the view may be nice, I wonder how often will you stand there and really look at the view as you would have to stop to do so with the openings in the pic you show from Houzz. Unless you leave it all open I don't think you'd see much of the view.

BTW that is a pretty long walk to the stairs from the master and down to the main living areas. Are you good with that?
Steph Morris
Original Author
10 years ago
It's a long walk to a lot of the house, we realize. Heck, we both have 10 pounds to lose. :) The secondary stairs by the kids' bedrooms upstairs leads right to the kitchen so I have a feeling that's where we will go down. Which means walking through the mezzanine more.

Still undecided about the roof. We went to look at some models today that had similar great room concepts. They had flat ceilings with some nice coffered details instead of the gable roof line we plan on doing in that room. So now we are thinking that may be a another option.