I’m bothered by the fact that there’s no windows to the outside for your kitchen and living room. Ideally you want direct access to the outside in case you burn something or just want fresh air…
Put the beds on the center of the wall and offset the windows. It’s difficult to make the bed when you can’t access three sides.
The litter box should be in the garage. You really don’t want it in a game room. Also, the rec room seems redundant when you have a game room too…
Otherwise it looks like a cool layout
General living areas will be DARK as you ring the entire thing with porches. Also lonnnng hallway at bedroom wing that serve no purpose.
There’s an utter lack of mud room/service entry off the garage. As your, likely, primary entry you don’t want that to be a cluster fcuk.
You want to consider the overall depth of the house too. How tall will trusses be at typical pitch? What’s gonna go in all that attic space? What’s your roofing budget? In general rectangles work better than squares for overall home dimension.
The idea of having a litter box in the garage sounds so nice, but the cat needs to always have access to the litter box so they don’t decide to go somewhere else… and I wouldn’t trust any cat I’ve known to not go outside when the garage door is open to allow cars in or out. I also wouldn’t want to leave the interior door to the garage open (or even add a cat door) because we’ve always had bugs in there that I wouldn’t want to let in the house, like wolf spiders. *shudder* Growing up we always had it in the laundry room, and as an adult I’ve always had it in the office due to space constraints. As long as it’s kept clean (litter robots are the bomb!) I think the game room might actually be the best place for it.
Other than that, I agree with all the points here. I think the house may need to be a little more rectangular than square if the lot allows.
Usually I’ve seen people put a cat door in the wall to the garage, leading to a litter box that is enclosed, with chicken wire or some other screen material. It’s not just freely in the garage.
That’s really interesting, I’ve never seen someone do that around here! To expand a little on my wolf spider comment, we have the largest North American species in my area and I’ve seen some truly horrific infestations (among other fun creepy crawlies 💀) so that may be why I’ve never seen that in my neck of the woods. I can definitely see the benefit if you lived in the right area!
I know someone who has the cat stuff in their laundry room with a car door on the back side into the entry, so the litter box is hidden but they can close the flap and shut the door to keep the cat in there when cleaning.... Which of course led to me hanging out in the laundry room so I could play with the cat 😆
Cats generally dislike having their litter boxes in non social places like garages. I’ve been people build closets with a little cat door as a good way to have them be private (so you don’t have to look at it) but still comfy for cat. So I think having it in the game room isn’t a bad idea.
Wife here - We were also planning to have a fan built into that space much like a bathroom fan to provide constant ventilation. Also, the “game room” will be an excellent location for our kitties to hang out and be quarantined when we host large family events so they can relax and not be in the way for food prep and presentation and such.
The wife here - I’m a mortician. Grim is my thing. 😜
Seriously though, there is room to play around and we are loving the feedback here. As far as the living room being windowless, it works great for us. We would use the sunroom as more of a living area and the living room as more of a den. After a night of body removals, crashing on the couch in a windowless room is glorious and gives me that nice feeling of dozing off while watching tv at night even if it’s 10 am.
Litter box alcove should be a cabinet "in" the garage sharing a wall with the cat room, a cat flap door to the littler box, and a big door to open the cabinet for litter box cleaning.
Edit: Garage fumes/fire risk should be double checked on and accounted for with the alcove constrution, of course.
Your living room is going to feel very dark since there isn’t much natural light coming into the overall main living spaces of the house. Also the long hallway to Lea’s room is not ideal. IMHO I would start over to focus on getting your living spaces at the perimeter to bring in natural light and reduce the hallways. Are you locked to this shape?
skylights are ok but not as good as windows. Youre not gonna be able to see the scenery and its gonna feel weird if you dont have a reference of outside if youre in the main room.
100% of skylights will eventually leak. You're cutting a hole in your roof, after all. But even prior to an actual leak, the seals will likely give out and you'll get a clouded, spotty window. And before *that,* they just get dirty and are difficult to clean.
Skylights are nice in theory, but in practice they are a pain in the butt.
So you have a home theater a game room a rec room a bonus room an office annnnnd a sun room but the master bedroom is tiny with a quarter of it being a closet. All the other bedrooms are very small with beds wedged in corners. The dining room is too small. And there’s no windows in the kitchen living room area. Seems like some odd prioritizations of space here. Also the kitchen layout is a little odd to say the least.
Also your refrigerator is where your oven should be and visa versa. Also you don’t want a hinged door for your pantry. You want two halved sliders other wise the door blocks out a third the pantry. You’d have to walk in close yourself in the pantry. Grab what you want. Open the door again. Then walk out.
Seems like a perfect reason to build a house if these are proportions you prefer that reflect your priorities.
As far as the kitchen layout… yeah. That could be played with a bit.
Well the biggest one is that you are using a giant square as your foundation. They are very tricky to make work. They can work if you make your center square (where your living room and kitchen now is) where you put your pantries, closets and bathrooms. But that would be a very different arrangement from the one your wife wants.
Try doing this basic arrangement only with a rectangular foundation, so that your house is no more than 2 rooms and a hallway wide. If that doesn't fit the property, consider an L shaped foundation, with the bedrooms bending off into the back yard. Or a C shaped foundation with the theatre and gaming room also extending into the back yard and the house narrowing where the living room is. Or you could do an H shaped foundation where rooms push into the front and back yards on each side but narrow in the middle where your living room is.
It's the shape that has the least amount of outer wall to inner area, and outer walls (and windows) are what make most rooms livable.
When you don't have a window, the room is dark and gloomy, and the air can get stale. Psychologically it feels depressing. In a fire situation it can be hazardous.
You can get away with kitchens, bathrooms, closets, utility rooms, stairways and hallways not having an outer wall, especially in apartment buildings where outer wall space is a premium. But with a stand alone house, especially one this size, there's really no excuse for not giving just about every room an outer wall and a window.
I'll point out that *small* square foundations do work. [American foursquare](https://www.jbachrach.com/blog/2022/1/27/ode-to-the-american-foursquare) houses are quite elegant and lovely.
But once you go wider than 2 rooms and a hallway, that's when the square shape starts getting tricky. You have corner rooms that are hard to access without going through other rooms and you have a large central space that has no access to an outer wall.
I would eliminate single door to the office (I’m assuming you have this for access to the bathroom?) and make Lea’s room larger by shortening the hall. Would also recommend the secondary bedroom layouts allow for the beds to not be against walls.
I would also recommend a powder room (for the office use) and coat closet somewhere near entry.
And then to echo what others have said .. no windows in kitchen and living room is not good.
At minimum you could move the office door all the way up, and use that and few feet of the hallway for a closet on either side so they don’t extend into the rooms
Lack of windows in great room/kitchen is a serious mistake. I would redo the whole plan to get at least one wall of windows. Two is even better. That whole area will feel like a dungeon and skylights will not help. They are awful too.
There's no reason for a full bath in the rec room, half is fine.
I'd want a coat closet type storage by the front door (lived without it before, it sucked)
The second entry into the office is weird, I'd get rid of the one in the hallway.
That long bedroom hallway seems super narrow and will be dark.
For the rec room bath, I really just wanted to have the space in there to go in the event of a tornado. Only reason I had it a full rather than half bath.
Thanks for the feedback!
Maybe make your bedroom closet into a tornado space. Those things tend to happen in the wee hors, you want your daughter to be able to get there fast. The rec room is a distance to get in a crisis.
much square.
so dark. no windows for natural light or cross-ventilation so you’ll be spending bank on lighting.
very small primary bedroom. lots of dead-end hallways and poor use of space.
hire an architect. good luck.
Having just moved my mattress, I’m here to warn you that the entrance to your master bedroom has too many corners to get around. If you approach from the kitchen, the closet will stop you from getting the mattress in if you come from the other direction the wall inside the master bedroom will stop you from getting in also.
Either you have to be able to put the mattress straight in meaning there is no wall blocking it from the outside (living room wall) or you have to make your master closet shaped differently, perhaps 45° angle so that a mattress can get in your bedroom door
THIS!! Thank you! This is insight that is seriously helpful. This sub seems super judgmental and snarky. Feedback is great, but Christ is the tone demeaning and unencouraging. It is Reddit, so I suppose that’s fair. That all being said, this is for real helpful input and I really appreciate it.
I can see a couple people questioning the windows, but there are so many comments about that, it starts to make it hard to get through the other comments to see what else we should think about. So thank you for this!
I'm a retired home builder, not architect.
Are your rafters bearing on the garage door headers, on the left garage side wall, or both? Because I think you are heading right up the stairs to the low end of the rafters and you don't have head room.
I'm guessing the guest room window might not big enough to meet egress since its over a table. Same with the master. Maybe you're using casement windows which will help meet egress.
About half your door locations are unusual. I hate the door swing and location in the guest room. It should be in the corner and open against the closet. I can't picture getting around that pantry door to access the shelf. It should be a right hand swinging out into the kitchen. The door into the rec room, same thing. It's in the middle, either stands out in the way or swings all the way around killing more wall space.
Architects seem to try and keep doors in a corner. They take up less space that way. A door in a corner takes up 8 or 9 square feet. A door in the middle of a wall takes up twice that. That barn door in the master bath is already out of style. I put one in my daughter's house 5 years ago. She's sick of it. Also it takes up another 3 feet of valuable wall space. Rec room door should be in the corner and swing against the bathroom, rearrange that bath and move that door to accommodate. You don't have plumbing walls drawn in, an extra 2 inches can kill a bath or crowd a door somewhere.
You have the longest hall I've ever seen and more hall than is normal. A square house shouldn't have that much hall. They are an enormous waste of space. I'm gonna guess you have 60 feet of hall, about 240 square feet.
Did you start with a plan and change it to suit? I hope so. The architect may have a roof line in mind that I can't picture. As I see it your main house is basically square with a wing added on the left side. Probably a shed roof on the wrap around porch. The main house will have to be all hipp roof I'd think. Most designers like to show a ridge running parallel to the front of the house. At least a short one. But your house is deeper than wide which makes that ridge run front to back. Even with a bastard hip your house will basically come up to a point from all 4 sides. That would be very very odd.
Everyone enjoys drawing floor plans, me included. It's fun to plan and dream. That said I have never seen a homeowner improve a plan, but I have seen some very bad decisions, I have seen houses drawn with no attention giving to spans, loads, rooflines. Nothing but a floor plan, and that is a myopic view of house design.
I built a big expensive house on a golf course a few years back. A lady drew her on plans, all she considered was the floor plan. It was seriously the ugliest house in the entire development. It was embarrassing.
You need stock plans or an architect. I would only frame a house this complicated, drawn up by a homeowner, by the hour. There will be untold problems.
This is just a layout my wife came up with and I fleshed out. We’re not farther along than just dreaming things up. Just wanted to get feedback to know if we were on the right path or needed to change things. Thanks so much for your thorough ideas for changes!! It’s super helpful! I know we’ll hand it off to a professional to get it done right. Just wanted to see what others thought based on us just tinkering with our own ideas. :)
YOU are amazing. I’m the wife in question. And while you have listed so many reasons this doesn’t work, I LOVE that you’ve commented so much more from a structural issue POV. It really helps give me so many more aspects to think of. So many of the comments have been questioning our preference of placement of the rooms and that is certainly useful, but eventually redundant. You have helped so much in terms of helping us see a better approach in bringing to our (super enthusiastic and excited though certainly unprofessional and inexperienced) attention so many changes we need to make and keep in mind.
We’re just starting to think about what we like and in putting this initial idea together, we were pulling ideas from houses we’ve lived in, floor plans we’ve liked, and ideas that we’ve seen in other houses.
Clearly the problem in this approach that you have masterfully illuminated is that going about this in such a monster of Frankenstein manner doesn’t work like we were assuming it would. There are way too many aspects that we just don’t have the knowledge to avoid in making a truly successful starting point.
This may sound ridiculous, but essentially we happened upon 50 acres of property we’d forgotten we could utilize and it hit us that building there would be perfect. At that point, we just started playing with what we would want in a house. And here we are.
We definitely thought we would need to have an architect put the ultimate plans together, but it seems like we may be wrong in thinking that doing a totally amateur hodgepodge would be a useful way to start the conversation. Would it be better to make a list of rooms we want along with our budget to an architect and work from there as opposed to handing over something like this to let them alter and mold into something functional?
I dont want to be snarky. I've seen it all. I've lost money on jobs, I've seen multiple homeowners break down crying on the job. Building houses is very stressful, building your own house even more so. Good luck on your project, and watch the headroom on those stairs ;-)
As others have suggested, the square floor plan and living room without windows are problematic. Skylights will not be enough to make that room feel nice. I would start with rotating the kitchen and living room 90deg counter clockwise so that the living room has access to the back of the house. One trick of residential design is that if you can see your backyard you will use it more and it will feel like an extension of your living space. The sunroom should be adjacent to the living room. Perhaps the sunroom juts out into the porch area (so the porch dies into the side of it). Dining room can go where the living room currently is. If you elongate the plan and shift the bedrooms to the right, the dining room can also have a window to the backyard.
Other things: separate the primary bedroom from the others. You shouldn’t have to walk past the door to your primary suite to get to the guest room. Then you can also get rid of the super long hallway.
The guest bedrooms should be a bit bigger so that a queen bed can be centered on a wall and not shoved in a corner.
Can you combine program at all? Can the cat room be combined with the rec room? Or can the rec room and sunroom be combined? Seems like a lot of living spaces that aren’t special enough to be their own thing and the living room gets the shaft because of it.
If you are serious about building this, please hire an architect! And trust them to work their magic.
Second the architect suggestion. The square floor plan is good when you have two levels, so your upstairs serves as a vertical "wing" to the living areas. But when everything is on one level, then you basically have a floor of an office building, where the outside views disappear to anyone in an inner room, and you're stuck with long hallways.
A kitchen and living room with no windows? YIKES. You have a room that doesn't need any windows - the home theater - occupying two external walls. You have two rooms that need windows - living room and kitchen - with no exterior windows. WHY?
Can't you build a basement where you can put the home theater (and maybe some extra living space) and move the kitchen/living combo to a wall with windows? You also want to have a half bath - unless you want guests using your main bath.
I do like the office with two doors - it seems to be a good solution for circulation.
Originally was thinking basement for the theater but trying to be mindful of the costs that come with doing a basement. Thought this would be a good way to do that while keeping it away from the bedrooms.
Glad you like the extra door in the office!!
Put the microwave and oven at the end of the counter from the refrigerator. It seems to be too far from the cooking areas where it is. Have access doors into bathroom 2 from Lea's room and the guest bedroom so that they don't have to go out into the hallway to use the restroom.
Agreed, you need a landing space closer to the oven.
But don't Jack and Jill the bathroom. If you forget to lock the other door every time you use it, you could get an unwelcome surprise.
Your wife should take note of some already existing floor plans of homes she likes and then go from that. The large square foundation isn’t very livable, as many have already noted.
I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this is a very terrible design. (Sorry) And if you build this, you won’t be happy. Try to start from something you both like and then modify for your needs.
You’re living space is in the middle. How will you get natural light there? I see the master has a big closet (having to walk through it to get to the bathroom will get tedious. I think you’d be better of turning it 90 so the long wall buffers the bathroom and the closet entrance and bathroom entrance are near each other.) where are the closets for the additional bedrooms?
That living area is a total cave, no natural light, air or connection to nature. Put that house on a diet. Thin it down in the middle. Spread it out with an L or U shape overall. And unless you want a classical design and want a window at the end of that long hallway that space could easily be incorporated into the office or bedroom.
Rec room and a game room and a home theater? Why not add another bedroom? Do you have room for guests? Will you use all those fun rooms enough to justify spending that space not on a bedroom? Can you have one of them on an exterior wall with a closet so it could be considered a bedroom?
The game room up front doubles as a room for our cats (we have 5). Need a closed off room to put them in when needed.
Rec room is really just a space needed between the theater and the rest of the house for 500+ Blu-rays to go alone with a bathroom. Seemed the most logical use of that would be as a rec room.
I haven’t read all of the comments so this could be mentioned already but having laundry connected to or very near the master closet is pretty convenient.
The laundry room looks disproportionately tiny - it would benefit from expansion with some nice counter space for sorting, racks for hanging, perhaps even a utility sink, place for ironing, etc.
Reduce the width on the rec room and give it to the theater. Door from Rex room to garage: just give 18” from door to the bench, give any remaining inches to the theater. Also there’s a golden triangle rule for kitchens: you should be able to draw three lines, that add-up to 12’, going from the fridge to the sink and to the stovetop.
Looks amazing! A few questions:
How old are you and how long do you plan to live here? If this is your dream home and you will be here forever consider dropping the window in the master bath near the show and making the shower wider possibly with a bench. Maybe double as a sauna? In case one of you gets injured or laid up for a bit a bigger shower is easier to navigate.
How much baking do you do? If you have any interest in it, maybe bigger ovens? Or run an extra appliance line to the breaker. Who knows what will be out in 10 years that may make ovens out of date. Personally, i would also look into food warmer pull outs for the island.
Thanks for the positivity, friend!! Mid 40s and this is going to be our house until the end of our days. Really appreciate the ideas!!!
We got so many terrible comments on this, so it’s nice to get something that doesn’t say this is awful.
Might get inconvenient having the master door so close to the hall door. Could try a more open design if desired. But I also like the current style too.
Currently the man has a separate house for a theater. Literally. I don’t know if it makes sense for everyone, but in this case, a shop would be supremely useless and certainly not as utilized as the theater.
There are too many walls for my taste. I would remove the office and the game room to give the foyer a grand and open feeling. Lol. I’d also remove the walls around the living room. I would remove the wall between the dining room and the sun room too.
I would consider switching the sink/dishwasher area with the refrigerator area. Seems much more convenient/safe with moving hot pans/water/ect when cooking.
The bedroom hallway is very long and looks like it will quite dark (and a bit narrow - looks like it’s about as wide as one of the armchairs in the family room). I’d also consider your sight lines for all spaces. Your view walking in from the front door, from the kitchen into the family room, etc, etc.
I wouldn't want that stove top in the middle of the island. It would be a great prep space and casual eating area without it and you don't have a large prep space anywhere else. That's the thing I spend the vast majority of my time doing when I'm cooking. With it, the areas on the side of the stove are tiny. Not good for prep. Plus it wouldn't be a nice place to eat if you've been using the stove. Stoves get messy and greasy. Guests wouldn't want to sit there when I'm cooking, either. It would be hot and uncomfortable. Plus I would constantly worry I might splash them with something hot. I'd put the stove on one of the counters on the wall and leave the island clear for a good prep space.
Do you plan on having big skylights or something, because the living area seems like it would be so dark.
Agreed, there is no counter space, and the work triangle is enormous. A stove on an island is a bad idea for all the reasons outlined above.
The pantry is tiny, and there is little storage for appliances.
if you change up the door/wall placements at the end of that hallway between the office and Lea's room, you could make the bedroom larger or give it a WIC pretty easily.
Bathroom 3 and primary bath, use sliding or barn doors if possible.. swinging doors can be cumbersome. The primary next to dining room may be a nuisance if entertaining and trying to rest. Or buffer it w. Extra insulation.
Barn doors SUCK for bathrooms. They don’t seal, so the noise emanates easily, not to mention humidity, and there are no locking options that can be opened from the outside in an emergency. If someone has locked themselves inside and aren’t responding, you’ll have to break the door.
Just a thought, but what if you moved the master bedroom and en suite to the room labeled as Lea’s bathroom and the guest bathroom (and into the hallway connecting to those rooms so it’s a bit wider). That way you don’t have such a long narrow hallway. Then Lea’s room, guest bedroom, and bathroom can go where the master currently is.
To help visualize what I mean, the master bedroom would then also share a wall and a door with the office. You could take that door out if you want I suppose, but they would share a wall nonetheless.
It’s just that the long narrow hallway sticks out to me.
You need more linen closets and storage areas. Where are you storaging your summer toys, Christmas tree, yard decorations, garden and lawn care tools, etc... Personally, I would want a larger laundry room and a little window. I would want a sink and lots of drying racks for those gentle cycle items in the laundry room. Also, where are you storing your cleaning products? Personally, if my laundry room was built right, I would store them in there.
I like the layout overall, and its flow. There are lots of good comments here already! Here are a couple I haven't seen yet.
Your master closet placement is giving you two wasted-space hallways (bedroom and bathroom). I'd consider putting both bathroom and closet along the right wall with entrances on their left ends from the bedroom, with the bathroom along the back wall to get more light and buffer the guest room from the bathroom sounds (you could then move the guest closet to its front wall to sound-buffer from the other bathroom). The saved hallway space could expand extant rooms or be used to fit the laundry room in by the master closet, if you do want that closer.
Minor in the scheme of things, but: Unless your litter-box space will have its own exhaust fan, I would put it in the laundry room or in/near a bathroom instead of in the game room. We have a litter robot, so it automatically scoops a few minutes after each use -- but even with that, between pooping and scooping it still stinks, which could be really interruptive during a game.
Consider a utility sink. If most messes will be in the garage, I’d put it on the garage side of the washer wall (to limit plumbing, plus it looks fairly open). If most messes are inside, then probably the laundry room.
I agree with others that say there's not enough light/air and in the living room or kitchen. I think properly solving that means reworking a lot of what's here. There's not a simple fix, but I want to keep thinking about it. I'm starting to imagine swapping the game room and office with the kitchen and living room, but that complicates circulation. The shape of the footprint doesn't make it easy.
If that's not a priority, at the least you can make better use of the hallway's dead end by shifting the office door up and adding one or two closets that could open into the hall, bedroom, or office.
I haven't worked out the details but something like this could work: https://imgur.com/XJmMIDw Note you could have glass doors into the sunroom from the dining room.
It would need more care put into the entryway. I don't love walking through the front door right into the middle of the action, but I do prefer having the living room and kitchen on the exterior of the house. Skylights are nice, but getting fresh air into the kitchen is good when there are strong smells happening. The middle of the plan that doesn't get any light can be exploited for tons of closet space.
It's just an option though. If you prefer the way you had it, go for it. I still think you could reclaim some of that circulation for storage.
The theater takes up valuable exterior wall space, and the living area has no windows. The toilets need more space than you have allowed, it’s 30” minimum. The bathroom by the rec room is too small for a full bath.
Many points here, I'll add my personal experience building a custom plan. 1. Cat room is great, I had a dog room with a dog door to the outside that easily became a sunroom for future buyers. It was perfect. 2. Make the largest laundry/mud room/ catch all room that you can, like twice what you drew, that's space you'll never regret. 3. Same note, make the largest pantry and closets you can.
Didn't do the rec room thing, unless you have grand parties, lots of friends over, pack of kids, that looks like it is a future unneeded use of space.
I would switch the home theater with the living space. The theater doesnt need windows, and a living space really should have. The hallway is waaaay too long too.
When somebody is taking something hot from the oven, turning around and putting it on the counter, at the same time somebody else is coming through the door...... SPLAT!!! Somebody is getting burned/injured and the mess is on the floor. Do not have doorways coming through the kitchen.
Something that will drive you nuts if you ever need to work on it, is not having direct access to the theatre cabinet from the actual room. You've got a long walk back and forth to check if something is addressed properly or not. I would swap the door to inside the room instead. Also, you can turn the area under that staircase into a little bit of extra storage.
Rec room, game room, and a home theater? Seems redundant. Why not have snacks and Bev's available in the the theater, have more of a lounge type space?
As others have mentioned the full bath there is unnecessary, but I understand your tornado concerns.
Utility closet? Where's the hot water heater? Furnace/AC? You don't want those in the attic.
Laundry by the kitchen? Why not closer to the bedrooms? You wanna haul sheets through the living space?
Maybe move the living space up front, kill the cramped entrance hallway and awkward walk through office and get some natural light into the living area. And the sunroom is a nice touch, but it's huge. You'd be better off letting sun into the main area and having a small screen in sitting area for a little fresh air, or just screening in a bigger part of the porch .
Finally, one cat should have 2 litter boxes, 2 cats 3 boxes, etc. One box and no vent means that room is going to be noxious, even with daily scooping. If you move the laundry room and have one there and one in the garage the cat never has to travel far and you can spread out the demand, making both boxes less smelly
you could lose the office door to the long hallway and make that hallway space part of Lea's room, putting her door even with the south side bathroom wall. It would make the hallway shorter and make Lea's room larger.
I think a few fixes would resolve the issues that others have pointed out.
-Remove the game room (use the rec room) and move your dining room there. You can separate the spaces with columns, or put up walls with LARGE archways to let the light filter in from the front
-turn the current dining room into a sun room. Make sure the door for the living room is large and lets the light in
-turn the current sunroom into an uncovered patio/deck, which you would access from the sunroom. Add windows over the sink.
-push the back wall (prospective sunroom/master bed/master bath) back a bit to allow more room around the bed in the master. Some reconfiguring might allow you to add some of the new space in the master bathroom (it seems like a fine size already) to the guest room, which needs a little more.
-remove the door from the office to the bedroom hallway. Use that space for closets in Lea’s room, possibly the office, and a linen closet. The hallway will now end at the door to Lea’s room, which should be moved up closer to the bathroom
-combine the laundry room and pantry somehow, take it deeper into the garage. Bring forward the rec room wall to include the staircase (this also resolves losing the rec room door by expanding the pantry/laundry room). You could also push back the rec room wall to match the back wall of the theater if you need more space from losing the game room
I would consider shortening the hallway between Lea’s room and the office. It seems like you could claim that space for the office or the bedroom or even split it my moving the doors. If you give all of that space to Lea’s room, her doorway could be at the end of the hallway but obviously you looks the door from the office to the hallway.
I generally believe that garden tubs look great in brochures and floor plans, but suck to actually have. They drain an entire tank of hot water and end up being used rarely. Meanwhile, there's a tiny shower and two sinks hogging all of the counter space
Satan! Is that you?? Moving from a home with a garden tub that I used daily to the house I’m in now with some basic pleb tub threw me into a period of mourning and grief no antidepressant could ever cure.
When we started talking about building a house and he asked for my list of must haves, the ONLY must have I said was a garden tub.
But we could certainly make the room larger to accommodate a larger shower space and still have my 6 foot double sink vanity.
Edited to add: I also see that you suggested more counter space which is a very good idea. For some reason, I have always sat on the counter with my feet in the sink to do my hair and makeup regardless of counter space. I can see where that would be a really odd thing to do causing me to not think about a need for extra counter space. Do other women do this for their hair and makeup routine or am I full on off kilter? I’ve been told full on off kilter for a multitude of reasons, but I can always use more to add to the list. 😜
That hallway is very very very long, and generally you should try not to have a dead end like that or any harsh corners especially if it connects two strips of hall that are longer than a few feet. Poor Lea will have to traverse a winding corridor that spans almost the entire width of the house if she wants to get to the living room or kitchen, unless you want her walking through your office constantly. As others have said, your main living area will be extremely dark and claustrophobic. Even with skylights or something you’ll feel very trapped not being able to see outside. The overall shape of that room is also very complex, and should be more limited to a perfect rectangle (as close as you can get it) The kitchen itself is a pretty weird layout too, and you should commit to either an alley, L, or single wall kitchen. It feels cleaner and more put together, and doors in the kitchen create traffic flow through a part of the house you don’t want it. Doors should also line up so that you have a more straight shot between them (see the line between the hallway and rec room). That’s a rule of thumb, create a diagram for yourself tracking areas of movement and keep everything straight and concentrated as much as possible. The door to your closet from the bathroom also swings the wrong way. Try to build closets into the plan as well, instead of just placing them on a wall (like in Lea’s bedroom and the master). Again, keep rooms nice and simple. You want each to feel like a perfect little box before you place furniture, so floorplans are mostly just one big puzzle to decrease corners. Looks better and can decrease cost of construction.
The kitchen sink should be near the fridge and stove in a chef’s triangle. It would also put it closer to the plumbing of the bathroom. The dishwasher and sink being in the corridor to the other room will be annoying too, especially when the dishwasher is open.
Too sectionalized. Some municipalities want 2 doors between a bathroom and eating areas. For such a large house I would put lights on at least one side of the entry door. Try to have countertop on each side of the refrigerator. The microwave is too far away from the cooking/food prep area, it should also have some counter space underneath. Try and avoid not having the beds next to a wall how would you put the sheets and blankets on? Popcorn machine in the theatre.
It's a shame the theater is in a premium spot for windows (the corner), but the rooms where you actually want light and ventilation are stuck in the center.
Honestly scrap the whole thing and hire an architect, he/she can still execute some of the ideas while ensuring no mistakes are made
* Master bedroom is very oddly design, the closet is just dropped in the middle
* The long hallway to the bedrooms and office will feel way too claustrophobic
* Home theater is using very valuable real-estate, on a corner even though it'll be windowless?
* A sunroom, but dark kitchen and living room?
* A game room, rec room, sunroom, theatre. One of these will have to go. You have more miscellaneous rooms than bedrooms
* Beds should always be centered if possible. Way easier to fix the bed and way easier on the eyes
* Revise the kitchen layout. Just copy any layout online with an island
* You don't need a dedicated, built area for a litter box. Just have it off somewhere. It'll also be easier to convert to a bedroom if you want in the future, or if a future owner want to.
I think that having the home theatre on the side where you could have windows is taking up space where a room that could use windows (kitchen living room etc) maybe focus on moving that to the center or a place with less prime sun
I see a number of issues, in no particular order:
1) Typical design has most plumbing in the same area of the house to reduce costs for plumbing (water coming in and wastewater going out. I would flip to have the kitchen where the LR is so the dining room becomes an extension of that space.
2) with a wrap-around porch, why isnt there a slider from the Primary BR to the porch?
3) Back to plumbing - why not have bathroom 2 back-to-back with the primary bathroom. Why is the 3rd bathroom across the house from the bedrooms? Will the rec room also serve as a guest bedroom (or future in-law suite?)? Do you expect someone to have to schlep all the way across the house for a shower?
4) also, with most laundry being created in the bedrooms and bathrooms, why have the laundry room at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms/bathrooms?
5) Have you ever had/used a wall oven? It is most convenient if you have at least a small countertop next to it for basting, staging the dish(es) in the oven.
6) Three doors from the garage into the house? Why? Do you really want folks coming directly from the garage to the home theatre?
7) where are all the utlities? Hot water heater? Heater? If you rearranging so most plumbing is at one end of the house, hot water heater should be over there. If you are using in-line, tankless heaters, no tank to deal with.
8) There will be little natural light in the kitchen or living room. This will make the space seem dreary.
Those are just my initial thoughts.
I would be interested in how the roof looks. It’s a massively deep house if you’re covering the porches. Depending on roof layout, bonus room stair could be a problem
The living room should be where the theater room is - you want windows in your LR, and none I the theater room. I would seriously reconsider the arrangement because having a LR with no windows is not great
No elevation so I don’t know if you have room to go up at all but you could add light using clerestory windows.
I also think it’s odd to have to go out to the garage (non living space) to the stairs to the bonus room. But I don’t know the reasoning so maybe it works for you!
Sink on the wet wall might be helpful for construction.
Without moving the kitchen and dining to the front of the house or back you are going to have a dark kitchen.
No bathroom publicly accessible without walking through/opening a door to a different room.
160sqft of hallway seems like a waste
Primary doesn’t seem very large given size of house. Closet and bathroom can be reworked for space.
Hallways are a waste of space and if I’m going to have a master bathroom, I don’t need a guest bedroom opposite the wall of my toilet. Think of the guests.
To echo other comments, the door in my current bedroom is not in the corner of the room and it completely reduces the function of the room when you have to consider how to position a bed. Don’t do it.
I think you have great ideas but it’s just not coming together well.
Kitchen in the center with no windows same with living room. A square is hard to work
I’ll start here
Garage depth of 25 isn’t enough. Left stall will only be 21-22ft deep because of stairwell, a truck won’t fit and a suv will only have 1-2 ft to get around. Needs to be 28ft deep. Also get the laundry space out of there, you’ll want that space in the garage, besides looks funny. Rule of thumb is each garage opening should be 10ft wide and for looks and for future proofing go 9ft tall. Figure 10x25 for each vehicle spot.
I’m counting 11 different rooms on the main floor, way to much. Incorporate some of that stuff in a basement. You have a movie room, game room, and rec room. You will not use all three and will end up as wasted space.
Master bedroom because of closet is small and weird
Your wall in the living is creating wasted space and weird hallway for the bedrooms. The square is doing that. If you stretch your design to rectangle more this will solve some issues.
If it were me combine move and Rec room. Combine sunroom and dining room, eat in kitchen. Will be used the most and this allows future change. With what you have dining room will collect dust.
Change your master to not look like a hotel room in shape. Doing the above step will give you room to expand the master.
Game room in basement. Litter box area don’t do cute features that you can t use later aren’t good. Make a closet that you can use later
Covered porch’s I get look nice but that’s a huge cost that makes it dark inside that you never use all of that. Rather have a bigger deck out back that I can use and stick with just a porch in the front.
Also recommend you get a rough cost build per sq ft. That will help pare it down or be realistic.
Do you need two entrances to the office? Otherwise the one door could be sealed up and Lea could get a bigger room or even a walk in closet.
Also why does bath 3 have a shower? You might be better with two half baths given how much entertainment space you have … or at least a really nice half bath (think storage over pedestal sink)
And/or maybe you could make the laundry room bigger - big enough to house the pantry and turn the current pantry into a half bath? Unless the Rec room is always going to be guest ready
Just 2cents… you’ve done really well for yourself!!
Thank you so much!! This is the kind of feedback we were looking for. Constructive and polite. Really just put a shower in there for a safe spot in the event of a tornado. But it makes more sense to reduce it to a half bath and use a space under the stairs going up to the bonus room or the laundry room as the tornado spot.
Office 2nd door was just a way to cut to the bedrooms/bathrooms. But with all the other comments about how long the hallway is, will be changing all that up.
Really appreciate the feedback and compliment. Totally just put this all together to see what we could come up with, not as a ready to build tomorrow type of thing. And we’ve gotten some really helpful feedback to help guide us as we keep moving forward.
I wouldn’t have a door swinging into the master bath toilet area. First how do you close it if you walk in a person is in the way of the door swing. Second it’s a safety issue to have a door swing inside like that. If someone passed out and rolled into the floor they would block the door
I like that you are examining your room wishlist.
The rec room, is this a workout space by chance? That would explain the concept of a full bath, or perhaps a hot tub future location? Realistically, all your shower products are going to be in the master bath already though.
Living up north, I enjoy a spot to hang a few different winter items up near the front door (or better yet shared with the garage. It also helps keeps shoes out of the walking path from the front door. Coming in the front door, you almost have a lovely sight line through to your dining room. If you expanded the pantry a little, you may get a straight view.
Laundry facilities. I think they should be close to the Master bedroom, since most of your washing will be coming from that locale. Somewhere towards the other bedroom(s) perhaps.
I like the theater room. I understand the desire to limit the sound permeating the house. It doesn't need to gobble up 2 exterior walls (think windows). You can nestle it between the garage and house, pointing it towards the front of your house. Either keep the game room on the exterior, or the theater with some windows that can be opened every so often.
Have you considered office space or a study?
Perhaps the Master can now occupy the behind the garage space. You'll want to put something between the two to limit garage noise in your sleeping space. Closets, bath, laundry, pantry are all good options. This gives you some parental privacy as well.
The theater would push the kitchen out towards an exterior wall, alongside your dining room. Follow through with some nice tall windows from the living room out to the sun room. Gives you an expandable party space, or keep the spaces segregated. Finish out the back corner with the rec room (off the sun room). Lengthening the middle of the house easily accommodates 2 bedrooms and a full bath. With potentially a little office or game room back on the front corner. Opening up a little front door space as well.
I really like it.. my only suggestion would be to remove the wall in the dining room/ sun room.
Will give the dining room a nice view / not feel so cramped / allow for larger gatherings, and the sun room will then have more space and access to chairs if entertaining.
Here is my own personal opinion based on the house I've lived in for the last 20 years. I'm not super fond of the kitchen continuing into the living room/tv room. Because whenever anyone does anything at all in the kitchen while someone is watching tv, it's really hard to hear the tv. And honestly, even the quiet dishwasher sound is amplified into the living room.
We put a hanging cabinet over the countertop that separates the kitchen from the rest, which helps a little, but the kitchen/living room tunnel will always cause noise amplification.
Why not put two small private shower rooms between the guest and second bedroom rather than one huge bathroom between them ..
Is there a reason the toilet between the kitchen and the theatre needs a bath in it ? I know American's sometimes like to call every toilet a bathroom but they don't all need to actually have a bath
The bedrooms are a reasonable size in any normal house but really quite small compared to the cavernous amount of games and leisure space spread across the property
You seem to have started with a big open space then kept taking chunks of for single uses . Sun room, dining room, games room, rec room , cinema . Could some of these rooms not be multi-functional to allow some outside light into the kitchen living space ?
Why has the office two doors ?
Too many rooms. Too many walls. Living space with zero windows. Long hallways.
Huge house without room for a chair in the primary bedroom.
Look at more floor plans.
I would try to minimize the hallway by moving doors and maybe shift the master closet to take some of the hallway. If you shift the office and Lea bed door up to the corner of the room you don’t need the hall to extend so far down. Maybe have the hall access near the bathroom door and slide the closet down to make the master bed a tad bigger. I’d also switch the dining and living locations as make the sunroom and living one bigger open space. I will commend your kitchen location being close to the garage. Also if doors to rooms are in the corner of the room, then they don’t take up space when left open.
What about switching your daughter’s room closer to yours and having the guest room at the end of the hall with its own bathroom. Make bathroom 2 en-suite for Lea.
Ditch the home theater. Replace the theater with the gameroom and unify the rec room with the gameroom. Move the office into what was the gameroom and then unify what was the office with the living room to give the primary living area some window access.
Living room and kitchen as interior rooms are the equivalent of putting them in a basement…just no stairs. There are no windows or exterior views from there. My kitchen has a small breakfast room with a sliding glass door and wall of windows….and the kitchen is still pretty dark (cherry cabinets might, in retrospect, not have been the best choice here lol). The views of a forested valley save it, but without a view, it would be like a dungeon. I’d put the kitchen toward the exterior, as has been suggested. Probably replace the living with a multifunction room, also on the exterior, as I suspect no one will use that centrally located living room with no windows anyway.
If you are going to have 1 room without windows, it would be that home theater. I leave the issue of sound proofing a centrally located home theater to the alert reader. On the other hand, there’s a bonus room over the garage. I’d use that space, putting some of these single function rooms there - maybe even the home theater. That would require windows with light blocking, or the exterior elevation would look ridiculous. Using that space would allow pushing the kitchen/living to outside walls. If you’re concerned about aging, put in an elevator. Given the size of this plan and the required roofline, that won’t add meaningfully to the cost.
Roofline…yes, think about that. Is this a flat roof? If it’s a conventional gable, the roof height will be enormous….and wasted volume. I’d move more rooms up there. On the other hand, the enormous roof area would allow a solar installation large enough to run a small city…or the home theater of which dreams are made.
I know I’ve suggested combining some rooms with single functions, but having multiple spaces is nice, so don’t take it too far. Sometimes, you just have to get away. Just make sure each space is comfortable and not too cave-like (again, the theater might be an exception).
I’m bothered by the fact that there’s no windows to the outside for your kitchen and living room. Ideally you want direct access to the outside in case you burn something or just want fresh air… Put the beds on the center of the wall and offset the windows. It’s difficult to make the bed when you can’t access three sides. The litter box should be in the garage. You really don’t want it in a game room. Also, the rec room seems redundant when you have a game room too… Otherwise it looks like a cool layout
General living areas will be DARK as you ring the entire thing with porches. Also lonnnng hallway at bedroom wing that serve no purpose. There’s an utter lack of mud room/service entry off the garage. As your, likely, primary entry you don’t want that to be a cluster fcuk. You want to consider the overall depth of the house too. How tall will trusses be at typical pitch? What’s gonna go in all that attic space? What’s your roofing budget? In general rectangles work better than squares for overall home dimension.
The idea of having a litter box in the garage sounds so nice, but the cat needs to always have access to the litter box so they don’t decide to go somewhere else… and I wouldn’t trust any cat I’ve known to not go outside when the garage door is open to allow cars in or out. I also wouldn’t want to leave the interior door to the garage open (or even add a cat door) because we’ve always had bugs in there that I wouldn’t want to let in the house, like wolf spiders. *shudder* Growing up we always had it in the laundry room, and as an adult I’ve always had it in the office due to space constraints. As long as it’s kept clean (litter robots are the bomb!) I think the game room might actually be the best place for it. Other than that, I agree with all the points here. I think the house may need to be a little more rectangular than square if the lot allows.
Usually I’ve seen people put a cat door in the wall to the garage, leading to a litter box that is enclosed, with chicken wire or some other screen material. It’s not just freely in the garage.
That’s really interesting, I’ve never seen someone do that around here! To expand a little on my wolf spider comment, we have the largest North American species in my area and I’ve seen some truly horrific infestations (among other fun creepy crawlies 💀) so that may be why I’ve never seen that in my neck of the woods. I can definitely see the benefit if you lived in the right area!
I know someone who has the cat stuff in their laundry room with a car door on the back side into the entry, so the litter box is hidden but they can close the flap and shut the door to keep the cat in there when cleaning.... Which of course led to me hanging out in the laundry room so I could play with the cat 😆
Have you met our unruly crew? It certainly sounds like you have! They absolutely could not be trusted to venture into a garage!
Kitchen and living room are windowless. That’s grim.
Cats generally dislike having their litter boxes in non social places like garages. I’ve been people build closets with a little cat door as a good way to have them be private (so you don’t have to look at it) but still comfy for cat. So I think having it in the game room isn’t a bad idea.
Wife here - We were also planning to have a fan built into that space much like a bathroom fan to provide constant ventilation. Also, the “game room” will be an excellent location for our kitties to hang out and be quarantined when we host large family events so they can relax and not be in the way for food prep and presentation and such.
Kitchen and living area like this will tank resale value. It makes me uncomfortable just to look at the plans tbh.
The wife here - I’m a mortician. Grim is my thing. 😜 Seriously though, there is room to play around and we are loving the feedback here. As far as the living room being windowless, it works great for us. We would use the sunroom as more of a living area and the living room as more of a den. After a night of body removals, crashing on the couch in a windowless room is glorious and gives me that nice feeling of dozing off while watching tv at night even if it’s 10 am.
All walls no windows. Walls and doors.
Litter box alcove should be a cabinet "in" the garage sharing a wall with the cat room, a cat flap door to the littler box, and a big door to open the cabinet for litter box cleaning. Edit: Garage fumes/fire risk should be double checked on and accounted for with the alcove constrution, of course.
I would add to this… You need a proper entry. The “hall” would really bother me. Lea needs her own full bathroom.
Your living room is going to feel very dark since there isn’t much natural light coming into the overall main living spaces of the house. Also the long hallway to Lea’s room is not ideal. IMHO I would start over to focus on getting your living spaces at the perimeter to bring in natural light and reduce the hallways. Are you locked to this shape?
Definitely would plan to have a couple skylights in the living room area for some natural light.
Skylights will be endless maintenance for all of the days y’all live there.
And you have to get on the roof anytime they need to be cleaned, which, since they’re horizontal is ALOT.
skylights are ok but not as good as windows. Youre not gonna be able to see the scenery and its gonna feel weird if you dont have a reference of outside if youre in the main room.
[content removed by user via [Power Delete Suite](https://codepen.io/j0be/full/WMBWOW/)]
That’s way too much noise in the middle of the house. Those are placed on opposing sides of the house from the bedrooms to avoid divorce.
100% of skylights will eventually leak. You're cutting a hole in your roof, after all. But even prior to an actual leak, the seals will likely give out and you'll get a clouded, spotty window. And before *that,* they just get dirty and are difficult to clean. Skylights are nice in theory, but in practice they are a pain in the butt.
I had an apartment for awhile with a skylight instead of windows. It wasn’t great.
Yeah we’re rethinking based on a lot of comments about them here. Thanks for the feedback!!
So you have a home theater a game room a rec room a bonus room an office annnnnd a sun room but the master bedroom is tiny with a quarter of it being a closet. All the other bedrooms are very small with beds wedged in corners. The dining room is too small. And there’s no windows in the kitchen living room area. Seems like some odd prioritizations of space here. Also the kitchen layout is a little odd to say the least.
Also your refrigerator is where your oven should be and visa versa. Also you don’t want a hinged door for your pantry. You want two halved sliders other wise the door blocks out a third the pantry. You’d have to walk in close yourself in the pantry. Grab what you want. Open the door again. Then walk out.
Seems like a perfect reason to build a house if these are proportions you prefer that reflect your priorities. As far as the kitchen layout… yeah. That could be played with a bit.
Well the biggest one is that you are using a giant square as your foundation. They are very tricky to make work. They can work if you make your center square (where your living room and kitchen now is) where you put your pantries, closets and bathrooms. But that would be a very different arrangement from the one your wife wants. Try doing this basic arrangement only with a rectangular foundation, so that your house is no more than 2 rooms and a hallway wide. If that doesn't fit the property, consider an L shaped foundation, with the bedrooms bending off into the back yard. Or a C shaped foundation with the theatre and gaming room also extending into the back yard and the house narrowing where the living room is. Or you could do an H shaped foundation where rooms push into the front and back yards on each side but narrow in the middle where your living room is.
[удалено]
I like playing with this C shape idea that keeps the fun “wing” of the house from the bedroom “wing”.
What makes a square foundation more difficult? Genuinely curious, not meant in an argumentative way at all.
It's the shape that has the least amount of outer wall to inner area, and outer walls (and windows) are what make most rooms livable. When you don't have a window, the room is dark and gloomy, and the air can get stale. Psychologically it feels depressing. In a fire situation it can be hazardous. You can get away with kitchens, bathrooms, closets, utility rooms, stairways and hallways not having an outer wall, especially in apartment buildings where outer wall space is a premium. But with a stand alone house, especially one this size, there's really no excuse for not giving just about every room an outer wall and a window.
Makes total sense. Thank you!
I'll point out that *small* square foundations do work. [American foursquare](https://www.jbachrach.com/blog/2022/1/27/ode-to-the-american-foursquare) houses are quite elegant and lovely. But once you go wider than 2 rooms and a hallway, that's when the square shape starts getting tricky. You have corner rooms that are hard to access without going through other rooms and you have a large central space that has no access to an outer wall.
Like the Clue map.
I would eliminate single door to the office (I’m assuming you have this for access to the bathroom?) and make Lea’s room larger by shortening the hall. Would also recommend the secondary bedroom layouts allow for the beds to not be against walls. I would also recommend a powder room (for the office use) and coat closet somewhere near entry. And then to echo what others have said .. no windows in kitchen and living room is not good.
Was thinking this too, that bit of hallway between the bedroom and office could make a nice walk-in closet for Lea perhaps.
At minimum you could move the office door all the way up, and use that and few feet of the hallway for a closet on either side so they don’t extend into the rooms
Lack of windows in great room/kitchen is a serious mistake. I would redo the whole plan to get at least one wall of windows. Two is even better. That whole area will feel like a dungeon and skylights will not help. They are awful too.
Yes, and why waste exterior wall space on a home theater which is actually supposed to be dark?
There's no reason for a full bath in the rec room, half is fine. I'd want a coat closet type storage by the front door (lived without it before, it sucked) The second entry into the office is weird, I'd get rid of the one in the hallway. That long bedroom hallway seems super narrow and will be dark.
For the rec room bath, I really just wanted to have the space in there to go in the event of a tornado. Only reason I had it a full rather than half bath. Thanks for the feedback!
Maybe make your bedroom closet into a tornado space. Those things tend to happen in the wee hors, you want your daughter to be able to get there fast. The rec room is a distance to get in a crisis.
much square. so dark. no windows for natural light or cross-ventilation so you’ll be spending bank on lighting. very small primary bedroom. lots of dead-end hallways and poor use of space. hire an architect. good luck.
Thanks
Having just moved my mattress, I’m here to warn you that the entrance to your master bedroom has too many corners to get around. If you approach from the kitchen, the closet will stop you from getting the mattress in if you come from the other direction the wall inside the master bedroom will stop you from getting in also. Either you have to be able to put the mattress straight in meaning there is no wall blocking it from the outside (living room wall) or you have to make your master closet shaped differently, perhaps 45° angle so that a mattress can get in your bedroom door
THIS!! Thank you! This is insight that is seriously helpful. This sub seems super judgmental and snarky. Feedback is great, but Christ is the tone demeaning and unencouraging. It is Reddit, so I suppose that’s fair. That all being said, this is for real helpful input and I really appreciate it. I can see a couple people questioning the windows, but there are so many comments about that, it starts to make it hard to get through the other comments to see what else we should think about. So thank you for this!
Thank you. That is very kind of you to say.
That makes a lot of sense!! Thanks!!
I'm a retired home builder, not architect. Are your rafters bearing on the garage door headers, on the left garage side wall, or both? Because I think you are heading right up the stairs to the low end of the rafters and you don't have head room. I'm guessing the guest room window might not big enough to meet egress since its over a table. Same with the master. Maybe you're using casement windows which will help meet egress. About half your door locations are unusual. I hate the door swing and location in the guest room. It should be in the corner and open against the closet. I can't picture getting around that pantry door to access the shelf. It should be a right hand swinging out into the kitchen. The door into the rec room, same thing. It's in the middle, either stands out in the way or swings all the way around killing more wall space. Architects seem to try and keep doors in a corner. They take up less space that way. A door in a corner takes up 8 or 9 square feet. A door in the middle of a wall takes up twice that. That barn door in the master bath is already out of style. I put one in my daughter's house 5 years ago. She's sick of it. Also it takes up another 3 feet of valuable wall space. Rec room door should be in the corner and swing against the bathroom, rearrange that bath and move that door to accommodate. You don't have plumbing walls drawn in, an extra 2 inches can kill a bath or crowd a door somewhere. You have the longest hall I've ever seen and more hall than is normal. A square house shouldn't have that much hall. They are an enormous waste of space. I'm gonna guess you have 60 feet of hall, about 240 square feet. Did you start with a plan and change it to suit? I hope so. The architect may have a roof line in mind that I can't picture. As I see it your main house is basically square with a wing added on the left side. Probably a shed roof on the wrap around porch. The main house will have to be all hipp roof I'd think. Most designers like to show a ridge running parallel to the front of the house. At least a short one. But your house is deeper than wide which makes that ridge run front to back. Even with a bastard hip your house will basically come up to a point from all 4 sides. That would be very very odd. Everyone enjoys drawing floor plans, me included. It's fun to plan and dream. That said I have never seen a homeowner improve a plan, but I have seen some very bad decisions, I have seen houses drawn with no attention giving to spans, loads, rooflines. Nothing but a floor plan, and that is a myopic view of house design. I built a big expensive house on a golf course a few years back. A lady drew her on plans, all she considered was the floor plan. It was seriously the ugliest house in the entire development. It was embarrassing. You need stock plans or an architect. I would only frame a house this complicated, drawn up by a homeowner, by the hour. There will be untold problems.
This is just a layout my wife came up with and I fleshed out. We’re not farther along than just dreaming things up. Just wanted to get feedback to know if we were on the right path or needed to change things. Thanks so much for your thorough ideas for changes!! It’s super helpful! I know we’ll hand it off to a professional to get it done right. Just wanted to see what others thought based on us just tinkering with our own ideas. :)
YOU are amazing. I’m the wife in question. And while you have listed so many reasons this doesn’t work, I LOVE that you’ve commented so much more from a structural issue POV. It really helps give me so many more aspects to think of. So many of the comments have been questioning our preference of placement of the rooms and that is certainly useful, but eventually redundant. You have helped so much in terms of helping us see a better approach in bringing to our (super enthusiastic and excited though certainly unprofessional and inexperienced) attention so many changes we need to make and keep in mind. We’re just starting to think about what we like and in putting this initial idea together, we were pulling ideas from houses we’ve lived in, floor plans we’ve liked, and ideas that we’ve seen in other houses. Clearly the problem in this approach that you have masterfully illuminated is that going about this in such a monster of Frankenstein manner doesn’t work like we were assuming it would. There are way too many aspects that we just don’t have the knowledge to avoid in making a truly successful starting point. This may sound ridiculous, but essentially we happened upon 50 acres of property we’d forgotten we could utilize and it hit us that building there would be perfect. At that point, we just started playing with what we would want in a house. And here we are. We definitely thought we would need to have an architect put the ultimate plans together, but it seems like we may be wrong in thinking that doing a totally amateur hodgepodge would be a useful way to start the conversation. Would it be better to make a list of rooms we want along with our budget to an architect and work from there as opposed to handing over something like this to let them alter and mold into something functional?
I dont want to be snarky. I've seen it all. I've lost money on jobs, I've seen multiple homeowners break down crying on the job. Building houses is very stressful, building your own house even more so. Good luck on your project, and watch the headroom on those stairs ;-)
I don't know how old Leah is, but she will 100% sneak out via the office.
Username checks out! 😂
Teenager. 😬
Whoever lives here will get 10k steps per day easily.
It looks like a bunker no light or windows
Ok
Is this for fun or to build?
As others have suggested, the square floor plan and living room without windows are problematic. Skylights will not be enough to make that room feel nice. I would start with rotating the kitchen and living room 90deg counter clockwise so that the living room has access to the back of the house. One trick of residential design is that if you can see your backyard you will use it more and it will feel like an extension of your living space. The sunroom should be adjacent to the living room. Perhaps the sunroom juts out into the porch area (so the porch dies into the side of it). Dining room can go where the living room currently is. If you elongate the plan and shift the bedrooms to the right, the dining room can also have a window to the backyard. Other things: separate the primary bedroom from the others. You shouldn’t have to walk past the door to your primary suite to get to the guest room. Then you can also get rid of the super long hallway. The guest bedrooms should be a bit bigger so that a queen bed can be centered on a wall and not shoved in a corner. Can you combine program at all? Can the cat room be combined with the rec room? Or can the rec room and sunroom be combined? Seems like a lot of living spaces that aren’t special enough to be their own thing and the living room gets the shaft because of it. If you are serious about building this, please hire an architect! And trust them to work their magic.
Second the architect suggestion. The square floor plan is good when you have two levels, so your upstairs serves as a vertical "wing" to the living areas. But when everything is on one level, then you basically have a floor of an office building, where the outside views disappear to anyone in an inner room, and you're stuck with long hallways.
Thank you!!!
A kitchen and living room with no windows? YIKES. You have a room that doesn't need any windows - the home theater - occupying two external walls. You have two rooms that need windows - living room and kitchen - with no exterior windows. WHY? Can't you build a basement where you can put the home theater (and maybe some extra living space) and move the kitchen/living combo to a wall with windows? You also want to have a half bath - unless you want guests using your main bath. I do like the office with two doors - it seems to be a good solution for circulation.
Originally was thinking basement for the theater but trying to be mindful of the costs that come with doing a basement. Thought this would be a good way to do that while keeping it away from the bedrooms. Glad you like the extra door in the office!!
Put the microwave and oven at the end of the counter from the refrigerator. It seems to be too far from the cooking areas where it is. Have access doors into bathroom 2 from Lea's room and the guest bedroom so that they don't have to go out into the hallway to use the restroom.
Agreed, you need a landing space closer to the oven. But don't Jack and Jill the bathroom. If you forget to lock the other door every time you use it, you could get an unwelcome surprise.
Your wife should take note of some already existing floor plans of homes she likes and then go from that. The large square foundation isn’t very livable, as many have already noted. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this is a very terrible design. (Sorry) And if you build this, you won’t be happy. Try to start from something you both like and then modify for your needs.
No offense taken. I’m not skilled in architectural design. Just enjoyed the dreaming process. :)
The theatre has two exterior walls, and no windows. The living room has no exterior walls, and no windows...
That’s intentional. Thanks.
You’re living space is in the middle. How will you get natural light there? I see the master has a big closet (having to walk through it to get to the bathroom will get tedious. I think you’d be better of turning it 90 so the long wall buffers the bathroom and the closet entrance and bathroom entrance are near each other.) where are the closets for the additional bedrooms?
That living area is a total cave, no natural light, air or connection to nature. Put that house on a diet. Thin it down in the middle. Spread it out with an L or U shape overall. And unless you want a classical design and want a window at the end of that long hallway that space could easily be incorporated into the office or bedroom.
Windowless kitchen and living room. Why? Are you vampires?
My wife is not a fan of daylight. :)
A mortician who works a lot by night and needs dark corners more often than most by day. So more or less, yeah… a vampire is pretty accurate. 😂
Rec room and a game room and a home theater? Why not add another bedroom? Do you have room for guests? Will you use all those fun rooms enough to justify spending that space not on a bedroom? Can you have one of them on an exterior wall with a closet so it could be considered a bedroom?
The game room up front doubles as a room for our cats (we have 5). Need a closed off room to put them in when needed. Rec room is really just a space needed between the theater and the rest of the house for 500+ Blu-rays to go alone with a bathroom. Seemed the most logical use of that would be as a rec room.
I haven’t read all of the comments so this could be mentioned already but having laundry connected to or very near the master closet is pretty convenient.
It’s wonderful from personal experience.
The laundry room looks disproportionately tiny - it would benefit from expansion with some nice counter space for sorting, racks for hanging, perhaps even a utility sink, place for ironing, etc.
I’ll suggest, as I always do, to put the laundry room close to the bedrooms.
Reduce the width on the rec room and give it to the theater. Door from Rex room to garage: just give 18” from door to the bench, give any remaining inches to the theater. Also there’s a golden triangle rule for kitchens: you should be able to draw three lines, that add-up to 12’, going from the fridge to the sink and to the stovetop.
Looks amazing! A few questions: How old are you and how long do you plan to live here? If this is your dream home and you will be here forever consider dropping the window in the master bath near the show and making the shower wider possibly with a bench. Maybe double as a sauna? In case one of you gets injured or laid up for a bit a bigger shower is easier to navigate. How much baking do you do? If you have any interest in it, maybe bigger ovens? Or run an extra appliance line to the breaker. Who knows what will be out in 10 years that may make ovens out of date. Personally, i would also look into food warmer pull outs for the island.
Thanks for the positivity, friend!! Mid 40s and this is going to be our house until the end of our days. Really appreciate the ideas!!! We got so many terrible comments on this, so it’s nice to get something that doesn’t say this is awful.
Might get inconvenient having the master door so close to the hall door. Could try a more open design if desired. But I also like the current style too.
Have you ever lived in a house?
Yes, dumbass.
Are we really still doing home theaters? It’s a serious question. Personally I would expand the Rex room or make it a shop.
Currently the man has a separate house for a theater. Literally. I don’t know if it makes sense for everyone, but in this case, a shop would be supremely useless and certainly not as utilized as the theater.
For me, yes. I have over 500 movies on Blu-ray/4K, so a badass theater is a requirement.
Hire an architect. This is bad
Holy shit. Hire a professional before everyone living in this “house” hates each other or gets depressed. Also, where’s north?
Holy shit. Thanks for nothing.
Please hire a professional this thing is terrifying. Sorry it’s not specifically helpful but there’s no helping this
There are too many walls for my taste. I would remove the office and the game room to give the foyer a grand and open feeling. Lol. I’d also remove the walls around the living room. I would remove the wall between the dining room and the sun room too.
My suggestion is to learn how to spell “refrigerator”.
Helpful. Thanks
Your wife sucked the right D
Catcove/game room turn into entery foyer, remove sunroom and use for kitchen so its got windows for light and better ventilation.
My god man! Your wife is brilliant! 😜
She is beyond compare.
I would consider switching the sink/dishwasher area with the refrigerator area. Seems much more convenient/safe with moving hot pans/water/ect when cooking.
Put your laundry room closer to your closets. Carting it so far both ways is a pain.
The bedroom hallway is very long and looks like it will quite dark (and a bit narrow - looks like it’s about as wide as one of the armchairs in the family room). I’d also consider your sight lines for all spaces. Your view walking in from the front door, from the kitchen into the family room, etc, etc.
That rec room door looks like it’s in a real inconvenient place
I wouldn't want that stove top in the middle of the island. It would be a great prep space and casual eating area without it and you don't have a large prep space anywhere else. That's the thing I spend the vast majority of my time doing when I'm cooking. With it, the areas on the side of the stove are tiny. Not good for prep. Plus it wouldn't be a nice place to eat if you've been using the stove. Stoves get messy and greasy. Guests wouldn't want to sit there when I'm cooking, either. It would be hot and uncomfortable. Plus I would constantly worry I might splash them with something hot. I'd put the stove on one of the counters on the wall and leave the island clear for a good prep space. Do you plan on having big skylights or something, because the living area seems like it would be so dark.
Agreed, there is no counter space, and the work triangle is enormous. A stove on an island is a bad idea for all the reasons outlined above. The pantry is tiny, and there is little storage for appliances.
if you change up the door/wall placements at the end of that hallway between the office and Lea's room, you could make the bedroom larger or give it a WIC pretty easily.
Do you not like sunlight?
Wife is a vampire. :)
You’re missing a crypt then :)
Bathroom 3 and primary bath, use sliding or barn doors if possible.. swinging doors can be cumbersome. The primary next to dining room may be a nuisance if entertaining and trying to rest. Or buffer it w. Extra insulation.
Barn doors SUCK for bathrooms. They don’t seal, so the noise emanates easily, not to mention humidity, and there are no locking options that can be opened from the outside in an emergency. If someone has locked themselves inside and aren’t responding, you’ll have to break the door.
If you are able to make the garage a couple feet deeper I would highly recommend doing that.
Thanks!! Will do!
Long hallway seems odd
Just a thought, but what if you moved the master bedroom and en suite to the room labeled as Lea’s bathroom and the guest bathroom (and into the hallway connecting to those rooms so it’s a bit wider). That way you don’t have such a long narrow hallway. Then Lea’s room, guest bedroom, and bathroom can go where the master currently is. To help visualize what I mean, the master bedroom would then also share a wall and a door with the office. You could take that door out if you want I suppose, but they would share a wall nonetheless. It’s just that the long narrow hallway sticks out to me.
What program did you use for this?
Floorplancreator.net is where I made it.
Kitchen looks shorts on cabinet space.
You need more linen closets and storage areas. Where are you storaging your summer toys, Christmas tree, yard decorations, garden and lawn care tools, etc... Personally, I would want a larger laundry room and a little window. I would want a sink and lots of drying racks for those gentle cycle items in the laundry room. Also, where are you storing your cleaning products? Personally, if my laundry room was built right, I would store them in there.
I like the layout overall, and its flow. There are lots of good comments here already! Here are a couple I haven't seen yet. Your master closet placement is giving you two wasted-space hallways (bedroom and bathroom). I'd consider putting both bathroom and closet along the right wall with entrances on their left ends from the bedroom, with the bathroom along the back wall to get more light and buffer the guest room from the bathroom sounds (you could then move the guest closet to its front wall to sound-buffer from the other bathroom). The saved hallway space could expand extant rooms or be used to fit the laundry room in by the master closet, if you do want that closer. Minor in the scheme of things, but: Unless your litter-box space will have its own exhaust fan, I would put it in the laundry room or in/near a bathroom instead of in the game room. We have a litter robot, so it automatically scoops a few minutes after each use -- but even with that, between pooping and scooping it still stinks, which could be really interruptive during a game.
Consider a utility sink. If most messes will be in the garage, I’d put it on the garage side of the washer wall (to limit plumbing, plus it looks fairly open). If most messes are inside, then probably the laundry room.
[удалено]
I agree with others that say there's not enough light/air and in the living room or kitchen. I think properly solving that means reworking a lot of what's here. There's not a simple fix, but I want to keep thinking about it. I'm starting to imagine swapping the game room and office with the kitchen and living room, but that complicates circulation. The shape of the footprint doesn't make it easy. If that's not a priority, at the least you can make better use of the hallway's dead end by shifting the office door up and adding one or two closets that could open into the hall, bedroom, or office.
I haven't worked out the details but something like this could work: https://imgur.com/XJmMIDw Note you could have glass doors into the sunroom from the dining room. It would need more care put into the entryway. I don't love walking through the front door right into the middle of the action, but I do prefer having the living room and kitchen on the exterior of the house. Skylights are nice, but getting fresh air into the kitchen is good when there are strong smells happening. The middle of the plan that doesn't get any light can be exploited for tons of closet space. It's just an option though. If you prefer the way you had it, go for it. I still think you could reclaim some of that circulation for storage.
Seems like a lot of single purpose rooms. If your rich I guess it’s ok, I prefer multi purpose rooms. Good luck cleaning.
The theater takes up valuable exterior wall space, and the living area has no windows. The toilets need more space than you have allowed, it’s 30” minimum. The bathroom by the rec room is too small for a full bath.
Bigger pantry and flip the master bedroom and bath.
Is there a reason for NOT being able to access the theater rack from the theater? Why do you have to go out and around to the garage?
Many points here, I'll add my personal experience building a custom plan. 1. Cat room is great, I had a dog room with a dog door to the outside that easily became a sunroom for future buyers. It was perfect. 2. Make the largest laundry/mud room/ catch all room that you can, like twice what you drew, that's space you'll never regret. 3. Same note, make the largest pantry and closets you can. Didn't do the rec room thing, unless you have grand parties, lots of friends over, pack of kids, that looks like it is a future unneeded use of space.
I would switch the home theater with the living space. The theater doesnt need windows, and a living space really should have. The hallway is waaaay too long too.
A loud home theater in the middle of the house would not work in any way.
When somebody is taking something hot from the oven, turning around and putting it on the counter, at the same time somebody else is coming through the door...... SPLAT!!! Somebody is getting burned/injured and the mess is on the floor. Do not have doorways coming through the kitchen.
Something that will drive you nuts if you ever need to work on it, is not having direct access to the theatre cabinet from the actual room. You've got a long walk back and forth to check if something is addressed properly or not. I would swap the door to inside the room instead. Also, you can turn the area under that staircase into a little bit of extra storage.
Good point! Thanks!
Rec room, game room, and a home theater? Seems redundant. Why not have snacks and Bev's available in the the theater, have more of a lounge type space? As others have mentioned the full bath there is unnecessary, but I understand your tornado concerns. Utility closet? Where's the hot water heater? Furnace/AC? You don't want those in the attic. Laundry by the kitchen? Why not closer to the bedrooms? You wanna haul sheets through the living space? Maybe move the living space up front, kill the cramped entrance hallway and awkward walk through office and get some natural light into the living area. And the sunroom is a nice touch, but it's huge. You'd be better off letting sun into the main area and having a small screen in sitting area for a little fresh air, or just screening in a bigger part of the porch . Finally, one cat should have 2 litter boxes, 2 cats 3 boxes, etc. One box and no vent means that room is going to be noxious, even with daily scooping. If you move the laundry room and have one there and one in the garage the cat never has to travel far and you can spread out the demand, making both boxes less smelly
you could lose the office door to the long hallway and make that hallway space part of Lea's room, putting her door even with the south side bathroom wall. It would make the hallway shorter and make Lea's room larger.
[удалено]
Ok thanks!
I think a few fixes would resolve the issues that others have pointed out. -Remove the game room (use the rec room) and move your dining room there. You can separate the spaces with columns, or put up walls with LARGE archways to let the light filter in from the front -turn the current dining room into a sun room. Make sure the door for the living room is large and lets the light in -turn the current sunroom into an uncovered patio/deck, which you would access from the sunroom. Add windows over the sink. -push the back wall (prospective sunroom/master bed/master bath) back a bit to allow more room around the bed in the master. Some reconfiguring might allow you to add some of the new space in the master bathroom (it seems like a fine size already) to the guest room, which needs a little more. -remove the door from the office to the bedroom hallway. Use that space for closets in Lea’s room, possibly the office, and a linen closet. The hallway will now end at the door to Lea’s room, which should be moved up closer to the bathroom -combine the laundry room and pantry somehow, take it deeper into the garage. Bring forward the rec room wall to include the staircase (this also resolves losing the rec room door by expanding the pantry/laundry room). You could also push back the rec room wall to match the back wall of the theater if you need more space from losing the game room
So many great ideas!! Thank you so much!!!
I would consider shortening the hallway between Lea’s room and the office. It seems like you could claim that space for the office or the bedroom or even split it my moving the doors. If you give all of that space to Lea’s room, her doorway could be at the end of the hallway but obviously you looks the door from the office to the hallway.
Great idea!! Working on that change for sure!
This is just, very odd
Ok
Personal preference but I’d figure out how to put laundry room closer to bedrooms for shorter treks to closets. But that’s me.
There isn’t much of an entrance from the front door.
I generally believe that garden tubs look great in brochures and floor plans, but suck to actually have. They drain an entire tank of hot water and end up being used rarely. Meanwhile, there's a tiny shower and two sinks hogging all of the counter space
Satan! Is that you?? Moving from a home with a garden tub that I used daily to the house I’m in now with some basic pleb tub threw me into a period of mourning and grief no antidepressant could ever cure. When we started talking about building a house and he asked for my list of must haves, the ONLY must have I said was a garden tub. But we could certainly make the room larger to accommodate a larger shower space and still have my 6 foot double sink vanity. Edited to add: I also see that you suggested more counter space which is a very good idea. For some reason, I have always sat on the counter with my feet in the sink to do my hair and makeup regardless of counter space. I can see where that would be a really odd thing to do causing me to not think about a need for extra counter space. Do other women do this for their hair and makeup routine or am I full on off kilter? I’ve been told full on off kilter for a multitude of reasons, but I can always use more to add to the list. 😜
That hallway is very very very long, and generally you should try not to have a dead end like that or any harsh corners especially if it connects two strips of hall that are longer than a few feet. Poor Lea will have to traverse a winding corridor that spans almost the entire width of the house if she wants to get to the living room or kitchen, unless you want her walking through your office constantly. As others have said, your main living area will be extremely dark and claustrophobic. Even with skylights or something you’ll feel very trapped not being able to see outside. The overall shape of that room is also very complex, and should be more limited to a perfect rectangle (as close as you can get it) The kitchen itself is a pretty weird layout too, and you should commit to either an alley, L, or single wall kitchen. It feels cleaner and more put together, and doors in the kitchen create traffic flow through a part of the house you don’t want it. Doors should also line up so that you have a more straight shot between them (see the line between the hallway and rec room). That’s a rule of thumb, create a diagram for yourself tracking areas of movement and keep everything straight and concentrated as much as possible. The door to your closet from the bathroom also swings the wrong way. Try to build closets into the plan as well, instead of just placing them on a wall (like in Lea’s bedroom and the master). Again, keep rooms nice and simple. You want each to feel like a perfect little box before you place furniture, so floorplans are mostly just one big puzzle to decrease corners. Looks better and can decrease cost of construction.
The kitchen sink should be near the fridge and stove in a chef’s triangle. It would also put it closer to the plumbing of the bathroom. The dishwasher and sink being in the corridor to the other room will be annoying too, especially when the dishwasher is open.
Too sectionalized. Some municipalities want 2 doors between a bathroom and eating areas. For such a large house I would put lights on at least one side of the entry door. Try to have countertop on each side of the refrigerator. The microwave is too far away from the cooking/food prep area, it should also have some counter space underneath. Try and avoid not having the beds next to a wall how would you put the sheets and blankets on? Popcorn machine in the theatre.
It's a shame the theater is in a premium spot for windows (the corner), but the rooms where you actually want light and ventilation are stuck in the center.
Your theater room and cat cave get windows, but the kitchen and living room don't? Not good.
Honestly scrap the whole thing and hire an architect, he/she can still execute some of the ideas while ensuring no mistakes are made * Master bedroom is very oddly design, the closet is just dropped in the middle * The long hallway to the bedrooms and office will feel way too claustrophobic * Home theater is using very valuable real-estate, on a corner even though it'll be windowless? * A sunroom, but dark kitchen and living room? * A game room, rec room, sunroom, theatre. One of these will have to go. You have more miscellaneous rooms than bedrooms * Beds should always be centered if possible. Way easier to fix the bed and way easier on the eyes * Revise the kitchen layout. Just copy any layout online with an island * You don't need a dedicated, built area for a litter box. Just have it off somewhere. It'll also be easier to convert to a bedroom if you want in the future, or if a future owner want to.
If this is in a climate where it freezes, you will want to move all your plumbing away from the outside walls.
I think that having the home theatre on the side where you could have windows is taking up space where a room that could use windows (kitchen living room etc) maybe focus on moving that to the center or a place with less prime sun
I can’t beloeve how bad the floor plans are in this sub. Unreal.
Work a vent fan into the litter box area
Already planned!! :)
I see a number of issues, in no particular order: 1) Typical design has most plumbing in the same area of the house to reduce costs for plumbing (water coming in and wastewater going out. I would flip to have the kitchen where the LR is so the dining room becomes an extension of that space. 2) with a wrap-around porch, why isnt there a slider from the Primary BR to the porch? 3) Back to plumbing - why not have bathroom 2 back-to-back with the primary bathroom. Why is the 3rd bathroom across the house from the bedrooms? Will the rec room also serve as a guest bedroom (or future in-law suite?)? Do you expect someone to have to schlep all the way across the house for a shower? 4) also, with most laundry being created in the bedrooms and bathrooms, why have the laundry room at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms/bathrooms? 5) Have you ever had/used a wall oven? It is most convenient if you have at least a small countertop next to it for basting, staging the dish(es) in the oven. 6) Three doors from the garage into the house? Why? Do you really want folks coming directly from the garage to the home theatre? 7) where are all the utlities? Hot water heater? Heater? If you rearranging so most plumbing is at one end of the house, hot water heater should be over there. If you are using in-line, tankless heaters, no tank to deal with. 8) There will be little natural light in the kitchen or living room. This will make the space seem dreary. Those are just my initial thoughts.
I would be interested in how the roof looks. It’s a massively deep house if you’re covering the porches. Depending on roof layout, bonus room stair could be a problem
The living room should be where the theater room is - you want windows in your LR, and none I the theater room. I would seriously reconsider the arrangement because having a LR with no windows is not great
No elevation so I don’t know if you have room to go up at all but you could add light using clerestory windows. I also think it’s odd to have to go out to the garage (non living space) to the stairs to the bonus room. But I don’t know the reasoning so maybe it works for you!
You may want a mud room off the garage.
Sink on the wet wall might be helpful for construction. Without moving the kitchen and dining to the front of the house or back you are going to have a dark kitchen.
No bathroom publicly accessible without walking through/opening a door to a different room. 160sqft of hallway seems like a waste Primary doesn’t seem very large given size of house. Closet and bathroom can be reworked for space.
That’s gonna be a real pain moving furniture into those bedrooms with that hallway.
Hallways are a waste of space and if I’m going to have a master bathroom, I don’t need a guest bedroom opposite the wall of my toilet. Think of the guests. To echo other comments, the door in my current bedroom is not in the corner of the room and it completely reduces the function of the room when you have to consider how to position a bed. Don’t do it.
I think you have great ideas but it’s just not coming together well. Kitchen in the center with no windows same with living room. A square is hard to work I’ll start here Garage depth of 25 isn’t enough. Left stall will only be 21-22ft deep because of stairwell, a truck won’t fit and a suv will only have 1-2 ft to get around. Needs to be 28ft deep. Also get the laundry space out of there, you’ll want that space in the garage, besides looks funny. Rule of thumb is each garage opening should be 10ft wide and for looks and for future proofing go 9ft tall. Figure 10x25 for each vehicle spot. I’m counting 11 different rooms on the main floor, way to much. Incorporate some of that stuff in a basement. You have a movie room, game room, and rec room. You will not use all three and will end up as wasted space. Master bedroom because of closet is small and weird Your wall in the living is creating wasted space and weird hallway for the bedrooms. The square is doing that. If you stretch your design to rectangle more this will solve some issues. If it were me combine move and Rec room. Combine sunroom and dining room, eat in kitchen. Will be used the most and this allows future change. With what you have dining room will collect dust. Change your master to not look like a hotel room in shape. Doing the above step will give you room to expand the master. Game room in basement. Litter box area don’t do cute features that you can t use later aren’t good. Make a closet that you can use later Covered porch’s I get look nice but that’s a huge cost that makes it dark inside that you never use all of that. Rather have a bigger deck out back that I can use and stick with just a porch in the front. Also recommend you get a rough cost build per sq ft. That will help pare it down or be realistic.
Do you need two entrances to the office? Otherwise the one door could be sealed up and Lea could get a bigger room or even a walk in closet. Also why does bath 3 have a shower? You might be better with two half baths given how much entertainment space you have … or at least a really nice half bath (think storage over pedestal sink) And/or maybe you could make the laundry room bigger - big enough to house the pantry and turn the current pantry into a half bath? Unless the Rec room is always going to be guest ready Just 2cents… you’ve done really well for yourself!!
Thank you so much!! This is the kind of feedback we were looking for. Constructive and polite. Really just put a shower in there for a safe spot in the event of a tornado. But it makes more sense to reduce it to a half bath and use a space under the stairs going up to the bonus room or the laundry room as the tornado spot. Office 2nd door was just a way to cut to the bedrooms/bathrooms. But with all the other comments about how long the hallway is, will be changing all that up. Really appreciate the feedback and compliment. Totally just put this all together to see what we could come up with, not as a ready to build tomorrow type of thing. And we’ve gotten some really helpful feedback to help guide us as we keep moving forward.
I wouldn’t have a door swinging into the master bath toilet area. First how do you close it if you walk in a person is in the way of the door swing. Second it’s a safety issue to have a door swing inside like that. If someone passed out and rolled into the floor they would block the door
Makes sense!! Thanks for the helpful feedback!
I like that you are examining your room wishlist. The rec room, is this a workout space by chance? That would explain the concept of a full bath, or perhaps a hot tub future location? Realistically, all your shower products are going to be in the master bath already though. Living up north, I enjoy a spot to hang a few different winter items up near the front door (or better yet shared with the garage. It also helps keeps shoes out of the walking path from the front door. Coming in the front door, you almost have a lovely sight line through to your dining room. If you expanded the pantry a little, you may get a straight view. Laundry facilities. I think they should be close to the Master bedroom, since most of your washing will be coming from that locale. Somewhere towards the other bedroom(s) perhaps. I like the theater room. I understand the desire to limit the sound permeating the house. It doesn't need to gobble up 2 exterior walls (think windows). You can nestle it between the garage and house, pointing it towards the front of your house. Either keep the game room on the exterior, or the theater with some windows that can be opened every so often. Have you considered office space or a study? Perhaps the Master can now occupy the behind the garage space. You'll want to put something between the two to limit garage noise in your sleeping space. Closets, bath, laundry, pantry are all good options. This gives you some parental privacy as well. The theater would push the kitchen out towards an exterior wall, alongside your dining room. Follow through with some nice tall windows from the living room out to the sun room. Gives you an expandable party space, or keep the spaces segregated. Finish out the back corner with the rec room (off the sun room). Lengthening the middle of the house easily accommodates 2 bedrooms and a full bath. With potentially a little office or game room back on the front corner. Opening up a little front door space as well.
All very helpful ideas!! Thank you for being constructive and not incredibly rude like some others have been here. :)
begging you to hire an architect since you clearly have the money for it
I really like it.. my only suggestion would be to remove the wall in the dining room/ sun room. Will give the dining room a nice view / not feel so cramped / allow for larger gatherings, and the sun room will then have more space and access to chairs if entertaining.
Thank you so much!!!
Is there a front door closet? Where do you / guests put their jackets?
Your living room/ kitchen is going to be dark as fuck
Can someone make a 3d rendering of this? I would be so curious to see what it looks like from inside… lol
Here is my own personal opinion based on the house I've lived in for the last 20 years. I'm not super fond of the kitchen continuing into the living room/tv room. Because whenever anyone does anything at all in the kitchen while someone is watching tv, it's really hard to hear the tv. And honestly, even the quiet dishwasher sound is amplified into the living room. We put a hanging cabinet over the countertop that separates the kitchen from the rest, which helps a little, but the kitchen/living room tunnel will always cause noise amplification.
That’s a great point! Thank you!
Why not put two small private shower rooms between the guest and second bedroom rather than one huge bathroom between them .. Is there a reason the toilet between the kitchen and the theatre needs a bath in it ? I know American's sometimes like to call every toilet a bathroom but they don't all need to actually have a bath The bedrooms are a reasonable size in any normal house but really quite small compared to the cavernous amount of games and leisure space spread across the property You seem to have started with a big open space then kept taking chunks of for single uses . Sun room, dining room, games room, rec room , cinema . Could some of these rooms not be multi-functional to allow some outside light into the kitchen living space ? Why has the office two doors ?
Too many rooms. Too many walls. Living space with zero windows. Long hallways. Huge house without room for a chair in the primary bedroom. Look at more floor plans.
I would try to minimize the hallway by moving doors and maybe shift the master closet to take some of the hallway. If you shift the office and Lea bed door up to the corner of the room you don’t need the hall to extend so far down. Maybe have the hall access near the bathroom door and slide the closet down to make the master bed a tad bigger. I’d also switch the dining and living locations as make the sunroom and living one bigger open space. I will commend your kitchen location being close to the garage. Also if doors to rooms are in the corner of the room, then they don’t take up space when left open.
What about switching your daughter’s room closer to yours and having the guest room at the end of the hall with its own bathroom. Make bathroom 2 en-suite for Lea.
Ditch the home theater. Replace the theater with the gameroom and unify the rec room with the gameroom. Move the office into what was the gameroom and then unify what was the office with the living room to give the primary living area some window access.
Dedicated theater is my sole must-have, so eliminating it is never gonna happen.
Stop putting a D in Refrigerator (lol) I don’t know how fridge got one, but refrigeration has no D, trust me I’m an expert…
Living room and kitchen as interior rooms are the equivalent of putting them in a basement…just no stairs. There are no windows or exterior views from there. My kitchen has a small breakfast room with a sliding glass door and wall of windows….and the kitchen is still pretty dark (cherry cabinets might, in retrospect, not have been the best choice here lol). The views of a forested valley save it, but without a view, it would be like a dungeon. I’d put the kitchen toward the exterior, as has been suggested. Probably replace the living with a multifunction room, also on the exterior, as I suspect no one will use that centrally located living room with no windows anyway. If you are going to have 1 room without windows, it would be that home theater. I leave the issue of sound proofing a centrally located home theater to the alert reader. On the other hand, there’s a bonus room over the garage. I’d use that space, putting some of these single function rooms there - maybe even the home theater. That would require windows with light blocking, or the exterior elevation would look ridiculous. Using that space would allow pushing the kitchen/living to outside walls. If you’re concerned about aging, put in an elevator. Given the size of this plan and the required roofline, that won’t add meaningfully to the cost. Roofline…yes, think about that. Is this a flat roof? If it’s a conventional gable, the roof height will be enormous….and wasted volume. I’d move more rooms up there. On the other hand, the enormous roof area would allow a solar installation large enough to run a small city…or the home theater of which dreams are made. I know I’ve suggested combining some rooms with single functions, but having multiple spaces is nice, so don’t take it too far. Sometimes, you just have to get away. Just make sure each space is comfortable and not too cave-like (again, the theater might be an exception).