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smc0904

Advice/Comments on one level house plan

SMC0904
9 years ago

We have once again made some changes to the house plan. We are a family of four which includes 2 little ones. We are looking for a home that has a good flow, good use of space, and a lot of storage .If you could let me know of anything that can improve or that just doesn't make sense, etc i would appreciate any advice.

The first room on left once you enter front door will be a play room with french doors then eventually a den or second living area for kids. The rectangle between kitchen hall and great room will probably be a butler's pantry/charging area for electronic devices/mail, etc. I had wanted a mudroom but doesn't seem to work in this design and i really can't add anymore square footage. It's almost 2,900 sq feet right now and i would like it to come down closer to 2,800. I may decrease the lenght and/or width of kitchen slightly. My master closet is large but i realy can't take out square footage in that area without decreasing the bedroom sizes which i do not want to do.

Thanks for your help!

Comments (5)

  • Michelle
    9 years ago

    I think as your kids get bigger you will really miss that mud room. We build our current home when our kids were 4 and 1.5, flash forward 8.5 years, now our kids are 12, 9 and 5 and one of the reasons we're building again is get room for a large mudroom. Work to get a mud room with a lot of storage if you can.

  • pixie_lou
    9 years ago

    Would you want to move the playroom doors to the bedroom hallway? That way when guests arrive their first view isn't into the playroom.

  • bird_lover66
    9 years ago

    You seem a bit ambivalent about the size of your master closet. If that's the case, you could use a bit of it for recessed built-ins in the family room or you could add hall closet space if you move the closet door and bedroom door. You can never have too much hall closet space, imo. :)

    I'm not a fan of jack and jill baths, because one child or more will frequently forget to unlock the door leading to the other sibling's room. If my kids had a jack and jill, I would not put locks on the doors leading into their rooms - only the door leading to the toilet/shower.

    And if you are trying to reduce square footage, imo the best place for the reduction would be in the family room and dining room, thereby reducing the family room to 18 X 20 and the dining room to 13 1/2 by 15. You would still have more than adaquate room for a walkway behind the sofa.
    You could also reduce square footage by decreasing the wideth of the foyer to 6 feet instead of 7 feet. As long as you have doors on either side (playroom and dining room), you won't be able to put any furniture in there, anyway (for example, a console). Six feet would still look nice.

    I wouldn't move the door of the playroom to the hallway, since this room could be used for multiple purposes. If the room is used for "noisy" purposes (a second tv room once the kids are teens), you wouldn't want that opening into the bedroom wing, imo. Also, if the room is decorated nicely at some point and not full of toys :) , I'd want it off the foyer.

  • Katie S.
    9 years ago

    Looks like your tv is on the other side of your closet? You could store your receiver, cable box, etc. in there and run the wires through the other side. That way your tv could be wall mounted with a very clean look, no components everywhere. There are remotes that will through walls.

  • SMC0904
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Michelle1973 - I may revisit the mudroom and see if i can manage to get one in there without adding much more footage. There is currently a small wall to the left as you enter from garage which i can have some hook/cuby but nothing significant.

    bird_lover66 - I agree with your comment about the jack and jill baths and plan to only have locks to the toilet/shower room.

    cas81611 - That is a great point. My husband was going to run the cable/wires down to the basement but now we can just have it in our closet up on a higher shelf so to not interfere with the closet storage.