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misselle_gw

Very First Drawings

Misselle
9 years ago

Hi all. So as titled, this is my very first drawing. I'm still about 18 months away from starting, however I live in a pretty expensive area and believe that building will be the way to go. Firstly, I live on the Eastern Coast of Australia. Obviously I haven't got land yet, however am playing with ideas to see what I need and if I can afford it etc. To start with, it seems small, well it is, but it is only me, so I don't need a lot of room. The rumpus is a artist studio/workshop as I am an artist and very hands on with DIY etc. My intention with this space is if, or when, I sell the room is a good shape and size, I can simply add a dividing wall and turn the whole house into a four bedroom place. But then I'm wondering if my current living area sizes are large enough for a four bed house....

Yes I realise I'm a little all over the place, but the general idea of this exercise is using the spaces I know I want/need and turning it in to something practical both short term and long term.

I should add, I came up with this design by drawing the individual spaces, cutting them out then playing with different layouts. Please feel free to move things around if I've done something silly that I haven't noticed yet.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Comments (19)

  • lookintomyeyes83
    9 years ago

    To start off, love to meet other artists on forums! What do you work on?

    As for the layout, my biggest concern in trying to later convert the house into a 4-bedroom is the lack of privacy between the bedrooms and the lounge. It's usually preferable to have a hallway or some other 'transition' space to separate public areas from private ones.
    Eg, I am a very light sleeper, but many of my husband's friends work nights. So when they want to stay up and talk, watch movies in our apartment, they wake me up! Having walls, closets, etc to separate noise, and to provide privacy (tv's keep people awake, loud snorer's can interfere with tv watching!).

    It may also help you to visualize yourself, or your future buyers, living in the house. Does it 'flow'?
    As you don't have much by way of fixtures, furniture, windows, closets etc in the plan its difficult to comment on if it 'works' from a space planning perspective.

    Is there a reason you are hoping for a custom home rather than using a stock plan? They might be cheaper, but perhaps you have some very unique needs for your rumpus room?

  • Misselle
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I do agree. I played with this for ages, the only way I could come up with was a funny looking L shaped hall that runs right along two sides of the lounge :( Hence why I'm asking for suggestions lol. I started with the rumpus not be attached at all, but as started in my origional message, thinking long term, I thought being attached meant I could convert the space to make to more re-sale friendly. I origionally has the rumpus larger too, 20 x 20, but changed the size for the same reason. I have also been looking at kit homes available here, but that would also mean doing the rumpus seperate I think.... Hmmm, obviously I'm confused lol. Hence why I thought asking here for opinions, I've been looking on here for weeks and am loving reading everyone ideas and comments.

    So Yes, a qualified artist, specialising in sculpture, however I also dabble with painting. My work is mainly about bring awareness to serious social issues, such as homelessness and mental health. All the nasty stuff people don't want to think/talk about.

    Back to the design, because I'm a sculptor, I have a LOT of art stuff lol and experience in trying to find room for it all. Currently I literaly have cupboards and stuff piled to the ceiling, and It's always like this, so the idea of the large rumpus is having enough storage and well as work space for large scale pieces.

  • colleenoz
    9 years ago

    Why not swap out the bedrooms and studio/rumpus room? Then you could have a long straight hallway running between the bedrooms and the wall forming one side of the lounge and the studio. You should also make the bedrooms larger so the house is more of a rectangle. The more corners you have the more difficult/expensive roofing will be.
    You might even consider making the three little rooms at the top left a little larger for the same reason; you could get an estimate for both plans and it may well work out that it's cheaper to have more floor space and a simple roof than smaller rooms with a complex roof.

  • Misselle
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Ok revised drawing, I have played with this idea before but was wondering if the bathroom and toilet is too far away from the bedrooms?

  • mrsmuggleton
    9 years ago

    I don't like the W.C. placement near the kitchen as currently shown. If the W.C. door was off the laundry it would be better. I also wonder if any of the bedrooms are actually large enough for a king/queen size bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers or two. That would be the minimum requirements for a main bedroom.

    Yes, the bathroom/loo is too far from the bedrooms IMO. I can see why you have them grouped together like that, would be cheaper to build that way.

  • zone4newby
    9 years ago

    I think the last design works better if you swap the kitchen and the lounge, bringing the bathroom and laundry with the kitchen. Then the bathroom, w/c and laundry would be closer to the bedrooms and your studio, and both your lounge and your studio could have windows on three sides.

    I assume you'll want a sink in your studio, so moving plumbing a little closer is helpful in that respect too.

  • zone4newby
    9 years ago

    Taking my proposed change further:
    Push the bedroom wing back (to the left in your drawing) so that it is inline with the front of the house, and then the bathroom wing can share an interior wall with the back bedroom- you could even add a door directly from that bedroom to the bath. I would extend the studio space to the full width of the bedroom wing, because extra corners are expensive, and you'd enjoy the space. The hallway to the bedroom wing would no longer be in the center of the house, but it may feel more private that way, and it will be easier to arrange a kitchen if the hallway is off-center.

    Now your home has a simple L shape, an ensuite bath, and a larger studio. :)

  • colleenoz
    9 years ago

    You first concept was better IMO. Why do you seem to be averse to the idea of having the outline of the house closer to a plain rectangle or L shape? The fiddlier you make the outline of the house, the harder and more expensive it will be to build the walls and roof it.

  • Misselle
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hi everyone. Thank you so much! This information is great! I knew I was out of my depth when I started the drawings, so I really appreciate everyones suggestions. I have had a crazy busy day, but wanted to pop in and let you all know I am taking this on board and I am in the process is rearranging again. Hopefully I'll get this done tomorow and will posted another new pic. Thanks again :-)

  • Misselle
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    O.K. So after (very carefully) listening to everyone's advice I have come up with this....

    Which I like, I think it works, and it's a nice square shape with no sticky-out bits! I think with this design, because the kitchen is smaller, I need to make the utility larger to accommodate the fridge/freezer, however I think if I move that lounge wall up a couple of feet, it'll do the job :)

    So everyone.... What do you think???

  • zone4newby
    9 years ago

    I like it, except that you've got your table in the hallway right next to the bathroom. Is there a reason it couldn't go where you've written the word "lounge"? That seems like a big empty space.

    I'd be tempted to put a narrow wall where you have your table, to give the bedrooms some separation from the living space.

  • colleenoz
    9 years ago

    I'd move the right hand wall out a few feet so you could have a hallway separating the bedrooms, bathroom and WC from the main living area, with no direct access to any of them form the main room. In our town it would be a code violation to have the WC so close to an eating/food prep area and I wouldn't be surprised if it was where you live as well.
    I'd also rotate the kitchen and utility rooms through ninety degrees so they're both on the left hand wall. Cooking in a kitchen with no window is depressing IMO. That would have the added advantage of being able to move the door into the rumpus room to the right hand corner. Doors that open into the middle of the room can be awkward in terms of furniture placement.

  • chicagoans
    9 years ago

    I'd try to rearrange so that there is no sight line straight to the toilet. Even the cleanest loo in the world isn't something I want to see when eating, lounging, or cooking. But having said that... I think it's too early to start sweating the details.

    You say you don't have land yet. I think it's great that you're figuring out the spaces you need, the extras you want, and the kind of flow you'd like to have. However... your land will dictate much of your design; at least it should.

    If you have views, you'll want to take advantage of them and place rooms where you can have windows toward the view. (Likewise there might be a neighbor you want to block from view.) If you'll have a garage, you'll need to determine where that sits in reference to the street and the house, and which house entrance will be used from the garage. If you have terrain, that could affect placement of garage, doors, etc. The best designs take into account directions/position of the sun for heating and cooling purposes during the different seasons.

    So it's great to learn as much as you can about good design and what you want in a home. But keep in mind that many of the details (and even big design issues) may change once you find your land.

  • annkh_nd
    9 years ago

    Is there a reason you want to keep everything on one floor?

    I think a 1-1/2 or 2 story, with the whole upstairs serving as rumpus/studio would be wonderful. You could have more windows, and a powder room upstairs, increasing costs a bit, but you would reduce the overall footprint. It's usually less expensive to build up than out.

    And there are tons of stock plans for bedroom 2-story, to give you a starting point.

    Good luck!

  • Misselle
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks everyone! @colleenoz - I do have other furniture I have not drawn in to go in the lounge room too, so I'm a little concerned about trying to fit the dinning table in there as well, but I do know what you mean.

    I'm not covinced about the kitchen being in the middle of the house, but I'm worried about the lounge not having usable wall space for furniture and art etc.

    Being on my own, finically speaking, I'm extreamly aware of my budget, I think the current drawings are between 1100 and 1200sf. In an ideal world, I would like it to be slightly smaller, to trying and keep costs down, but I dnt know where I would mine losing the space from. Also the same reason I haven't really consided two stories. Is it going to blow my costs out of the water.... Hopefully before I started building, I win a small fortune on lotto, I would be happy with say $50,000 to $100,000 grand, then I really can build my dream home :-) Otherwise, realistically I need to keep totally costs under $270,000 and I think that is a streatch :(

  • colleenoz
    9 years ago

    In that case, how about moving the kitchen to the upper left as I suggested, then moving the rumpus room door to the right corner (also as suggested), then using the bookcases as a freestanding screen between the living areas and bathroom/WC bedrooms (instead of building a wall)? Or building the wall anyway and putting your bookcases there? You'd still have about the same amount of wall space in the living area. Plus, if you're concerned about wall space for the lounge it seems to me it makes more sense to have the kitchen where a window is (which will make the kitchen more pleasant) instead of against an inner wall.

  • mrsmuggleton
    9 years ago

    I really dislike the WC opening out onto the lounge/kitchen area as shown. I would swap the kitchen and laundry areas around. That would allow a little distance between meal area/prep and the wc. You could have the door outside in the same area as shown, just have to walk through the kitchen with your laundry to get out to the line.

    Alternatively, you could incorporate the WC in the bathroom.

  • Misselle
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I've been throwing around the idea of swapping the kitchen and laundry, and or also moving the kitchen/laundry 90 degrees to the left hand wall. I'm so confused lol. I blame my crazy scupltors brain wanting to see everything in 3D lol.

    I want to Thanks everyone again for your wonderful advice! I really would be lost without you all :-)

  • zone4newby
    9 years ago

    You could absolutely make a 3-d model-- either a physical model out of cardboard, or a virtual one using something like sketchup. It is really helpful for figuring out if your sight-lines are what you want, and that kind of thing. We had a 3-d model that my husband eventually printed, and it is enormously helpful.

    If you make a physical model and you size it right, you could use your phone to virtually walk through it.