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shiltsy

Master up / no formal dining plans

shiltsy
9 years ago

Starting to think about layout and overall design of our upcoming build. We have decided on two story with the master up. We will have a phenomenal view, but also really like the separation that an upstairs MBR gives.... maybe just because we've always had it that way.

Anyway, with the MBR upstairs and no formal dining room, I've been brainstorming on what rooms we would actually have on the main. We don't have a firm size in mind, but I'm guessing it will hit 4500 sq ft pretty quick.

Current thoughts for main floor are kitchen, laundry, mudroom, study, informal dining area, family room, pantry, hearth room and possible a small office/mail area off the kitchen for my wife. Now that I see all of those rooms, maybe we won't struggle to fill the main floor!

Love to hear thoughts or plans from anyone with a similar layout. We'll be engaging an architect soon enough - just brainstorming right now.

Comments (8)

  • dylanursula
    9 years ago

    Shilsty

    We have a similar sized home; so here is what we have on the main floor (its about 1800 sq ft), with a total home size of 4200sqft..

    - Office
    - Dining room
    - Guest Bedroom (Ensuite)
    - Powder Room
    - Family Room
    - Kitchen
    - Eat in kitchen area
    - Screened in porch
    - Playroom (we have kids - we love the toys in one 'relative' place)
    - Combined coat closet/media closet

    We have our laundry upstairs as that is where most of the used bedrooms are.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    9 years ago

    Well, as a good first step, it's not about rooms per se as much as functions. What do you want and need your house to do for you? Some of it you've got already, but kitchen, study, hearth room, mail station, family room, informal dining, laundry and mud room are all potential spaces that can be combined in various ways to take up less space and still maintain function. For example our family room, breakfast nook and kitchen with mail station are all one open space. Our laundry and mud room are combined. So start with functions first...defining rooms can come after.

    Also think about how many in the family, how many guests do you need to accommodate, how long will you be in the house? Do you need to consider resale value and your neighborhood comps? Will you need to consider future functionality be it for aging and infirmity, growing teens, downsizing, etc. Part of this is thinking about how you live. Do you need one away space (like a private study)? Two? and the rest open to all?

    I recommend looking at Sarah Susanka's "not so big house" books which give lots of ideas and principles around designing houses around functions, and liveability more than sq feet.

    Think also about budget (it will cost more than you think) and about being green. We could've built a much larger home, but we didn't want to as this was our retirement home, and we were looking at aging issues...smaller is better when you're infirmed... building green means smaller so less to heat, cool, maintain, insure, furnish and pay taxes on. And by building smaller, we had more money to put into the finishes in the house. Budget also means consideration for ongoing expenses. Building green has kept our operating expenses very low which fits much more easily with our retirement income.

    Consider the site. You mentioned a view....think about where you will be spending most of your time and how to maximize the view. We built into a southern facing slope so were able to get a full daylight lower level that we don't heat or cool, but maintains temperature. The house orientation also helps us capture prevailing breezes in summer and protects our porch/deck from the winds in the winter so we get longer useful season from it. We also get solar gain in the winter from our southern exposure. So many of these decisions have a major impact on the overall livability, comfort and feel of the home that they shouldn't be overlooked.

    I'm linking another older thread that talks a lot about working with an architect that you may also find helpful.

    As you get into more details on the house, there's another great, though very long thread on thing you don't want to forget when designing a home...incredibly detailed and thorough advice from those of us who have experienced all the "we should'ves" or "are so glad we did" things for our homes.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Best tips working with architect

  • HAWKEYES
    9 years ago

    Annie you seem to have built a house on the same concept that we wish to build. Do you mind sharing whats the square footage of your home?

  • amberm145_gw
    9 years ago

    I'm on my phone and don't have access to my plans to post. But our house is only ~2000 sq'. Our main floor has a large kitchen, good size living room which is open to the kitchen, an informal eating area, pantry, mudroom with laundry and a powder room.

    Why do you need it to be 4500sq'? I agree with Annie about Sarah Susanka. Do you need a hearth room, study and office area? Or can one room serve all these functions? Do you need a mudroom and a laundry room? Or can you out the laundry in the mudroom?

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    9 years ago

    Hawkeyes, you can find more on our home in this thread. The main level is about 2100 sq ft and we finished off about half the basement.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Inspiration to reality

  • HAWKEYES
    9 years ago

    Your home is absolutely beautiful! Thanks for the link! We are hoping to build the same size of house someday.

  • annkh_nd
    9 years ago

    I would have a bedroom on the main floor, or at least a room that could be converted to a bedroom. You never know when someone will need to sleep in your house who can't climb stairs, whether it is an elderly parent, a friend with arthritis, or a kid on crutches (I've had all three).

  • musicgal
    9 years ago

    I think the hearth room can serve multiple purposes as it did in colonial homes. A keeping room could have a small sofa that converts to a bed for downstairs sleeping- as well as a long dropleaf side table that would expandout to dining size in case you ever wanted a different type of dining experience.