Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
housemy_gw

comments on our floor plan

housemy
11 years ago

We are new to this forum. Thanks in advance for any help! We just designed our floor plan for our house with main floor, second floor, and basement. But since this is our first time to design a floor plan, we are not confident with it. Could you please take a look at our plan, and give us some comments?

main floor



second floor: we prefer to have the master bedroom in front of the house, and have a Jack-Jill bath room for our three kids





basement

Comments (4)

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not bad.
    Can you tell us a little about your family--you said 3 kids. What climate? Large backyard or not? houses to the side of your lot or not? Basement a walk out, or most underground? Orientation of your house to the sun?

    Now some observations:
    1. Your design seems to be lacking (enough) windows. Upstairs, I don't think there is any reason that every bedroom shouldn't have a window on 2 sides. That means the back bedrooms need ones on the side walls, and your master could get one in the front lower right corner.

    Your pantry takes up prime window location for the kitchen as well; being that it is in a corner of the house. Your kitchen only has 1 window to it at all. That might be a little dark; especially if you choose dark finishes/cabinets.

    You need to turn any door that swings IN to a toilet room to swing OUT, or convert to a pocket door. (This is applicable for both the J&J and the Master toilet.) Inswinging toilet doors are dangerous--should anyone fall/pass out in the little room, EMTs are going to have a difficult time getting to that person. The door won't open because they will be infront of it. And, they can't take the door off the hinges because the hinges are on the interior of the room... You might think "that'll never happen" and you might be right. But it happens frequently enough that EMTs on this forum bring it up every time as a major design flaw.

    I am not crazy about either of the 2 narrow walk-ins you have (one upstairs bedroom, and the basement bedroom). For upstairs, I think I would just make that simply be a regular reach in. I know that makes that room esp large, but I would consider a way to make the J&J a little larger up there, and have a regular reach in closet, then have an awkward, narrow walk in.

    In the basement, I don't see why your setup for hall bath needs to be in that orientation. I think I'd turn your hall bath 90*, and then also make a regular reach in closet down there. Or, use some of the space of your large room in the lower left corner to make the bathroom more in that direction, with maybe toilet only where your bathroom is, to get a wider closet. You have a lot of wasted "hall" space outside of the storage/utility room there. It would be good, I think, to capture that somewhere other than as hallway.

    Where do you anticipate running HVAC ducting?

    Your deck looks as though it will block almost all light to your center window on the basement plan.

    Your master closet looks like it will have a lot of wasted floorspace in the middle.

    And, your window placement in the master closet is odd. (And, many aren't crazy about windows in a closet. So, to have such a large one there...)

    Any way of swapping the location of your bath/closet with bedroom proper? (To get better lighting in your bedroom?)

    Your mudroom (to kitchen) door swing is going to get in your way (esp on your way to your pantry). I don't have a good work around except to maybe suggest a set of narrow french doors there to make the door swing smaller. I sort of feel that whole back entry is a little congested.

    As you get further in the process, take your kitchen plan to the kitchen forum. I think you have a pretty good layout, but I am not sure if you have enough space behind the island where your stools are. And, I think I'd put the prep sink more to the end of the island (left) than in the center. But, they are very good with that.

    And, finally, do you plan to live here for ever? I see that you have a room on the main level that could house a person should you have a mobility issue. But, it doesn't appear to be planned well for late senior living and/or mobility issued-living.

  • housemy
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Kirkhall,

    Thank you very much for your long comments!

    Our lot size is 80*136, facing south, in Nebraska. It is not a corner lot. Our basement could be walkout or daylight, but we prefer daylight.

    We will revise our floor plan according to your comments.

    Our parent may sometimes stay in the office on the main level. This is why we have a closet there, and have a full bathroom on the main floor. What do you mean by "it doesn't appear to be planned well for late senior living and/or mobility issued-living."?

    Thank you again!

  • amtrucker22
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love the overall layout of your house. Would love to see the elevations!

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, there is a room on the main level with a closet. However, to get into the house, you have to wind through a narrow back entry/kitchen and several doorways. And, the bathroom is standard sized, but not large. (It does, however, have a tub/shower--so you are good on the broken leg front...just not sure about on the wheelchair/degrading health front).

    Let me explain. A wheelchair needs a doorway of 32-36" wide to enter straight in. If it must turn into it, it needs more width (in the case of your back entry, you are going to run into issues).

    And, a wheelchair needs a turning radius of 5'. So, accessible bathrooms needs a 5' clear circle in them. You certainly don't have that.

    Usually there is a step up from the garage slab to the house floor proper (or more than one). Do you have the room in the garage to build a ramp as needed to get up that step? What about the front of your home, if you can't use the back?