Provide Feedback on a House Floorplan!

[TX_Diver]

Packing laundry up and down those stairs is going to get old. Maybe add an egress window to that room down stairs, way easier now.

Agree on both. Laundry (and pantry) are cost compromises that I agree are from ideal but we are leaning towards just dealing with rather than making the footprint bigger and costing more.

 

[TX_Diver]

I know you said budget is limited but can you make that bathroom between the bedrooms have two sinks and a door separating the shower & toilet from the sink area? Makes it much more efficient for someone to shower while another brushing teeth.

The biggest annoyance with our house is we don’t have a broom closet on the main floor so that stuff is either in the garage or inside the door going to the basement. The second poor natural lighting in the hallway leading to the front door.

I think we could probably fit a second sink. Not sure on a door but will take a look.

Also a big kitchen is very overlooked. Our first and current home has big kitchens and it’s such a stress reliever not feeling cramped. Also dual ovens, trust me it is the way

Do you have dual built in ovens or a wide freestanding stove with 2 ovens?

Our garage door is 8’ which is enough to easily fit a cargo van or a 1/2 ton truck with a slight lift. The garage ceiling is about another 1.5 feet so we could build storage up there too. Would be nice we had more depth though.

Think we’ll be 8 clear in the basement with a little more room between trusses that may work for some storage

 

[TX_Diver]

as others have said, garage is to small, add width to the kitchen by at least a 1ft, otherwise it'll feel cramped. The dining room is to narrow, widen that by 2ft, the wall on the left hand side of the entry should go, unless its a small wall. It'll make the living room feel smaller. Most garages need 30ft to fit even full size 1/2 trucks and still have access around the vehicle without sucking your gut in.

Id move the dishwasher down about 2ft just so you can now get use out of the corner cabinet instead of being total dead space.

Bedroom #2 id do a 5/0 window instead of 2 windows, you could shrink that room 16in-24in and gain that in the dining room.

In the basement, keep the stairs with a landing and a turn, you'll lost to much room upstairs going straight. Add a window to the room down stairs now for a E-scape window. so down the road you can turn it into a bedroom a lot easier for home value.

All good feedback to consider. Thanks

 

[TX_Diver]

I agree with the deeper garage. At least a portion of it. I would make the garage the entire width also. Move the plumbing stuff under the kitchen. Two doors make parking two cars much easier. Upstairs I would remove the half wall behind the couch, you are locking your layout in and will never be able to change it. I dont see where a tv would go now. You have 14 hard chairs and very little padded furniture, you may want to ditch the counter chairs to give space to widen your kitchen and living room seating areas. The key to making the exterior of a rectangle house nice is to balance the color to shingle ratio. Maybe a hip roof with a smaller peak on the "show" side. Shutters help too.

Leaning towards a gabled roof so snow doesn’t shed in front of the garage. What do you mean color to shingle ratio? I’ll look into that.

No TV so didnt make provisions for that.

Will look at that half wall. Seemed like a good idea to provide some separation but it does lock it in also.

 

[TX_Diver]

What kinda lot space do have to work with and any codes about spacing from structure to property line?

Plenty so I have some flexibility. House is on a few acres

 

[fngTony]

Do you have dual built in ovens or a wide freestanding stove with 2 ovens?

 

[rookieforever33]

Leaning towards a gabled roof so snow doesn’t shed in front of the garage. What do you mean color to shingle ratio? I’ll look into that.

No TV so didnt make provisions for that.

Will look at that half wall. Seemed like a good idea to provide some separation but it does lock it in also.

Color to shingle ratio as in enough siding or brick area to draw your eyes so you dont just see a big roof when you look at the house. Separation can be there without a half wall. TV space can be on the other side of a walkway without being intrusive. You dont need to have one to make space for it. You may never sell this house, but someone will. If you are not concerned about resale and you dont have a TV you probably dont have kids in the house, just make the 3rd bedroom in the basement then.

 

[ben h]

I'd consider putting one of the bedrooms in the basement to give some more flexibility on the main without increasing the foot print. You may not want to sell this home but somebody will in the future and kitchens/master baths sell homes; both of yours are cramped. I would not do the "open sided galley" style kitchen and instead opt for big island. This will eliminate one of your corner cabinets which are expensive and don't work very well.

It looks like you have ICF on the main level, but not the basement? I'd do ICF the entire way. Get a topo survey of your lot and make sure you have enough slope to put the garage in the basement and not have too many stairs to the front door.

 

[TX_Diver]

Just my opinions….

I think you cant see the TV from either the kitchen or the dining table. Or maybe there isnt a TV.

What door is the main entrance? (Not designed, but actually used)

Garage isnt big enough for a boat on a trailer.

Wouldnt want stairs as I get old, and my wife would kill me if I put the car parking and laundry a stair case away from the kitchen and bedrooms. But maybe you planned this to force exercise.

Why do the bedrooms have 2 beds? Other than hotels I struggle to see how that gets used, maybe old couples that dont share a bed. Kids only share a room till pre-teen age these days. Doesnt seem like a long term plan.

Master bedroom sharing a wall with the living room doesn't seem ideal.
I assume NE cause its in a hot climate, or is that for views.

Is there a food pantry near the kitchen?
If two people want access to the sink they better be friendly.

Corner cabinets suck! You planned two.

Where will the freezer go?

Who ever sleeps in bedroom 3 will get to hear all the pooping and flushing from 2 sides and if its a kid may be mentally damaged hearing mom and dad practice making more kids. Maybe spray foam some interior walls. LOL.

No TV but I think I could put one below the wood stove on the plan view in an emergency

Door on the north would be the main. Most of the property is north and east of us.

There will be a separate shop for a boat and any toys later

Stairs aren’t ideal but at that point we’d likely give this house to the kids and build a smaller one elsewhere on the property for my wife and I.

We have 4 kids so that’s the reason for the multiple beds. And one bedroom being much larger than the other. I like the suggestions to add a window well so we can put another bedroom downstairs later too.

NE for views. Actually in a pretty cold climate (WY)

Pantry is downstairs. Probably a bigger compromise than the laundry room

We are going to revisit the kitchen width. Not sure on what to do to eliminate corner cabinets other than eliminate the corners which eliminates counterspace too?

Freezers will go downstairs. We had that setup in an old house and it was fine.


Fair point on bedroom 3. The bathroom and closets are there for some separation but still not ideal. Not sure on other options with the limited footprint. Open to suggestions though.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Piggy backing off another’s comment about a double oven. If you or your wife do a lot of baking they are great. We did ours in the corner and have a range top for cooking on.

 

[dieselchessy]

You can do a Walk-in corner pantry in the kitchen to eliminate a corner cabinet and get the pantry near the kitchen.

The multi-door multi-junction hallway between the bedrooms would make moving furniture in/out an adventure.

No chance of ever hauling someone out on a stretcher.

AI answer:

The
bathroom is the room in a home most likely to need stretcher access, primarily due to the high frequency of falls, slips, and emergency situations occurring there. The bedroom is the second most critical area, particularly for residents with mobility limitations, followed by the living room and narrow hallway transitions.

Key Considerations for Stretcher Access

• Small Spaces: Bathrooms are often the smallest, most cluttered rooms with limited turning space, making it difficult for emergency responders to maneuver a stretcher.
• Common Fall Points: A high percentage of emergency visits for elderly residents involve injuries from falls, with the bathroom, bedroom, and stairs being top locations.
• Pathways: A clear, unobstructed path is needed between the bedroom, bathroom, and exterior doors to allow paramedics to transport a patient without having to move furniture or turn sharply.
• Design Needs: Ideally, doors should be wide enough, and doorways to bathrooms or bedrooms should be accessible to accommodate emergency equipment.

 

[fngTony]

You’re working with two levels but I don’t understand how you’re splitting it. For example I would combine the living, dining, main bathroom, utility and garage into the first level and move the bedrooms and laundry upstairs. We lived in bi-level then traditional ranch with finished basement and now a ground level living with bedrooms upstairs and an unfinished basement. The current home flows the best for us. You’re doing similar trying to keep all living and sleeping areas on one level but it’s crowding the rooms and making it difficult for moving furniture or ems as someone said.

 

[TX_Diver]

You’re working with two levels but I don’t understand how you’re splitting it. For example I would combine the living, dining, main bathroom, utility and garage into the first level and move the bedrooms and laundry upstairs. We lived in bi-level then traditional ranch with finished basement and now a ground level living with bedrooms upstairs and an unfinished basement. The current home flows the best for us. You’re doing similar trying to keep all living and sleeping areas on one level but it’s crowding the rooms and making it difficult for moving furniture or ems as someone said.

Makes sense. I'm not sure I explained that well initially.

The garage, etc. are all below grade. in the basement. The only wall that will have direct exterior access from the basement is the East wall (Garage walls). The others are true basement walls with no windows (except the window well I'm thinking of putting in the NW corner to leave the option of making that basement room a bedroom in the future). The other thought is to do the bare minimum in the basement for now to save $$$ and I'll build it out later. Initially I'd put in the pantry and the walls needed to support the floor, but paint, finishes, bathroom, etc. would all be later.

There is a decent amount of topography on the lot so that the basement is effectively walk out (drive out?) to the East. If this was a true 2 story w/ exterior access from all floors/sides I'd lay it out differently for sure.

 

[TX_Diver]

Latest thoughts with some of the input from this thread. Added 2' to the long dimension of the house for this iteration.

Still thinking about the kitchen a bit. Layout of the sink/stove/fridge is still ab it odd, and a 7'-3" wide horseshoe kitchen seems like a bit of wasted space (but 5'-3" probably was too narrow in my original plan).

Also widened the dining room by 2' and shrunk BR2 a bit and made BR3 a bit wider.

Nothing is finalized but lots of helpful feedback to think about so far. Thanks!



Not sure on what to do with washer/dryer/water heater but for now they're in the garage in this iteration.

 

[CorbLand]

I am no help on the plans but I have some suggestions for just general building.

Outlets. Our need and demand for power is not going down. Put more outlets than you think you need. The up front costs is pretty minimal to add an extra outlet or three in some rooms.

Light switches. Don’t put them at the standard height. Lower them about a foot. Sounds weird but it’s actually really nice.

Make sure that you wire a wall for a wall mounted TV. Even if you don’t plan to have one, if you want one later or go to sell, you will be glad you did it. Same with bracing for mounting one when framing.

If you are mounting things like paper towel holders and toilet paper holders on the wall, brace them when framing.

Raise your dishwasher. It makes it look weird but not having to bend over to load and unload it is amazing.

I would really think about if your wife is going to be good with one sink in the master bath. That’s a pretty small counter if she wants to do her hair and makeup while you’re trying to shave and brush your teeth.

 

[Bannedinshortorder!]

Go another 1000 sf bigger or you will regret it.

 

[dtrkyman]

Big kitchen, big master suite and big garage!

 

[rookieforever33]

Are you working with an architect or engineer? I designed our house on graph paper then tried to get it turned into a buildable set of prints. After reaching out to a few architects in my area I quickly found that was not the route I wanted to go. They all wanted to "help" during construction and charge a percentage. A contractor told me there was a local engineer that builders in the area use when additions are built or houses modified. It cost me 2k to get legal, stamped, buildable prints based on my design. He showed me some changes that needed to be made structurally, as well as a few changes that would be more efficient, ie cheaper, to construct. Good luck on your build. Its a PITA while doing it. But nice once you are done and have what you want.

 

[BigSkyHntr]

Cramped hallways suck! You’re going to struggle a bit getting furniture into the bedrooms esp. bedroom 2. I’d consider eliminating that little corner closet opening to the living room. Or at least moving it somewhere else. It would open that area up nicely. And I would somehow try to have a little bigger master bathroom. Like was mentioned, a double vanity is awesome.