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ang24_gw

Rough Draft of House Plan, Critique Please?

Ang24
10 years ago

So here are the rough draft of the floor plans. Please any critique is welcome. I've also uploaded the original floor plans, of how they looked before we had them changed. Mind you, the pictures I uploaded for some reason uploaded oddly so the color may be off on them, but you get the idea of the layout.

1st floor:

1st floor original:

2nd floor:

2nd floor original:

So the changes we made were we widened the upstairs bathroom, added a window seat and bookshelves in the 4th bedroom/office, the laundry room and powder room on the main floor, along with adding a breakfast bar in the kitchen and changed the master bathroom up.

The circled x's are recessed lighting, x's are regular light fixtures, Little black dots you see against the walls are light switches and little triangles you can barely see are outlets. Though mainly I'm just worried about the layout, what do y'all think? What would you change, add or does it work together?

Comments (6)

  • mrspete
    10 years ago

    Simple, straightforward. Overall I like it. A couple comments:

    The turn to go upstairs is a bit tight. No problem for everyday life, but how's that going to work when you're trying to move something large -- like a mattress or a sofa upstairs?

    Pet peeve of mine: I hate walking past one table to reach another table. This would be a deal-breaker for me.

    Is the dishwasher to the right of the sink? If so, this is a major problem: The dishwasher is in the corner, which means you can't reach the upper shelves while the dishwasher is open. Just move it to the left, and you're golden.

    The pantry is much more important to me than is the laundry; thus, I'd cut the laundry down a bit and extend the pantry into its space. Or maybe make it a pantry /laundry combination in an L-shaped room.

    I'd ditch the breakfast bar. It's making a good-sized breakfast area too narrow, and you have a table right there -- do you need two casual eating areas side by side?

    I would definitely add more windows to the master bedroom. Possibly the kitchen too.

    I liked the original master bath much better. The hand-drawn one is kind of jumbled up. As it was, you had a focal point upon entry (window) and everything nicely divided into spaces with no wasted space. I can't see that you gained anything with the re-draw.

    Ditto for the upstairs bath. It was nothing special to start with, but you've made it over-fussy and lost function with the re-draw.

    Love the window seat. I'd do it in all the bedrooms!

  • lavender_lass
    10 years ago

    How large is your living room? It looks like it got much smaller, with the kitchen expansion. Do you plan to have a family room in the basement?

    Remember, you have to leave walkways to get from the kitchen to the bedroom, the front door to the kitchen and out the breakfast room slider. It looks like you have about 14' x 11' left in the living room. And, you have to have setback from the fireplace. So, maybe 14' x 8' or 9'?

  • bird_lover6
    10 years ago

    You're going to have to walk a long way during the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. A real pet peeve of many of us here. (Especially those of us who are currently living with this situation. :) )

  • misiwa
    10 years ago

    Overall, I like the flow of the rooms, and it seems like with some tweeks this could be a nice plan.

    However, some of the proportions seem really odd. For example, your foyer closet is 4X5. That is too small for a walk-in, too big for a reach-in. That is 10 square feet that is just wasted.

    And the laundry room - is it really 8X16? Unless there is something going on in there besides laundry (sewing? crafts?) that room is twice the size it needs to be. Maybe give some space to the pantry, and some space to cubbies and a drop zone for the garage entry?

    I like big kitchens, but only when they are functional. There is what looks like a 10X11 area just open in the middle of the kitchen. That is a lot of walking back and forth space. Lots of counter space can be nice, but lots of floor space doesn't really help you cook. I would reexamine the whole kitchen layout. Maybe post it on the kitchen forum?

    Do you really need three eating areas? I agree with previous posters that you could loose either the breakfast table or the bar. I would vote for the table, since there is another table in the dining room just a few more steps away, and then make the counter seating nicer when reconfiguring the kitchen. Maybe a wider counter, or an island with seating on two sides? Then give some of that breakfast space back to the living room, which as lavender lass pointed out, seems too small.

    I think you have a good start on a nice plan. It just needs some fine tuning. As i've been working on my own house plan, I've started measuring everything around me. Sometimes I'm surprised by the dimensions of rooms I am in. Try measuring some of the rooms where you are living now, and see how they compare to this plan. i think it could give you some ideas about where things are out of proportion with function or comfort.

  • lafdr
    10 years ago

    I would take out either the breakfast area or the dining room, and expand the living room into that space. Your living room seems too small. By making only one eating area, you can make it bigger for one bigger table if that would help make up for losing a table. If it were me, I would keep the table between the kitchen and living room and make the entry into a bigger great room/living room.

    Rather than an open loft, I would enclose the upper area with a door and a closet. For resale it could be a bedroom. It would keep in the noise of a tv. or keep out noise if someone wanted a quiet place to get away.

    Overall, I think there are great livable features and large closets. Yay!

    If you can add a few feet of width to the garage you will not be sorry.

  • lazy_gardens
    10 years ago

    Let's envision the upstairs at "getting ready for school" time. Susy has the door locked because she's taking her usual 30-minute tub-bath and Timmy needs to pee. Much yelling and pounding on the door ensues.

    Can you split the toilet and bathing areas? Add a powder room?

    I've lived in old houses that had a "bath room" - just the bathing. And they had a toilet area in a smaller room. Separate entrances. It was usually very convenient.

    And make sure each room has a grooming area to minimize the bathroom clutter and competition. (with a 13-foot vanity mirros and 2 sinks, 3 teenagers will find a way to take up all the room.