Give your advice on my DRAFT first floor layout
K. Ellis
16 days ago
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millworkman
16 days agoRelated Discussions
Check out my tile layout and give me some advice...
Comments (3)Thanks, Bill, but I am the one who posted that link! I got the pencil liner for the top of my layout from them for the amazing price of $6.99 per linear foot! I couldn't believe my luck. Regarding the my accent piece, thanks for the reassurance. I want to be sure I understand what you're meaning, though. Are you saying the piece above and below the accent strip will be angled out slightly so as to line up with the accent piece? So the piece below would be flush with the subways below it on the bottom edge, and have extra mortar behind it on the top edge so it is flush with the accent? As always, thanks! Anita...See Morefirst draft-advice appreciated
Comments (3)Ya that would be alot of extra sq footage for the rooms without the hallway, how do you think an architect would put this together and how much does it cost to work with an architect. Im just starting this process of building....See MoreAdvice on first draft of kitchen layout
Comments (8)We recently downsized too. In fact, we just moved into our new house Sunday. The four of us went from 2100 square feet to 1185. It took us a very long time to iron out a floor plan. Ultimately, what worked best for me in space planning was to start with my minimum requirements in mind. Looking at absolute minimums in that 19'9" width from your range to your patio door, you need 26" counter + 36 aisle + 26" island cabs + 15" overhang + 32" for stool + 32" for chair (used less than the recommended minimum since there's overlap) + 36" for table+ 36" for edging past a chair. This adds up to 19'11" and absolutely minimums everywhere probably are not going to be very comfortable. Having ample room in the dining area is a priority for us. In our last (2100 sq ft) house in addition to a small breakfast nook we had a dining room with a sliding glass door and a doorway to the basement without enough room to comfortably walk behind chairs; I think the dining area proper was about 8.5x10. I went through three dining tables in 7 years there. I hated it. In our new house (1185 sq ft.) the dining area is 9'x12.5' (open on two sides, so there's no traffic through it) and with a 3'x7' table I think it's going to work quite nicely. What do you think about skipping the island seating and making the island two cabinets deep, but rotate the island so they open on the sink and the living room sides for added storage? If your kiddos aren't toddler types, you could use the living room facing base cabinets for displaying your pretty stuff. In the iteration below, the white pantries are 6.5' wide, 24" deep and ceiling height....See MoreFirst draft - please take a look and give feedback
Comments (49)To be honest Sunny, while I could recommend further on specifics, for better or worse, it sounds like we're down to the "where do I put the towel rack?" stage, you already know pretty much what you want and any more "big idea" discussion would be pointless. And that's entirely ok. More often than not when I do these "pen to paper" exercises I do them for the lurkers rather than the OP anyway. And for the lurkers, at least one of my three points above has been addressed, that of house area. For a house with basically 4 bedrooms and the support spaces here, 2100SF is plenty. That number might represent a challenge to achieve but that's what a good residential designer does. The other two points, that of maximizing views and circulation remain largely untouched. Two bedrooms are looking elsewhere (one onto what I think will be a largely unused covered patio) and parts of the circulation paths look like the white squares in a crossword puzzle. In concluding, let me get back to Sunny....I guess in a larger sense what I was trying to illustrate is your house has no soul. Sure it has all the pieces (place for piano CHECK......screened porch.....CHECK.......pantry.....CHECK......place for hutch.....CHECK.......walk in closet.....CHECK....etc.) but add all those pieces up and the sum does not make for an inspiring whole. And inspiring wholes do not cost a dime more to build than uninspiring wholes. Designing a skyscraper, where there's a lobby floor with 50 identical floors above is in many ways an easier task than coming up with a well designed small house. Let me reference some threads you might find helpful before you spend a healthy six figures of your hard earned money in an endeavor with no "do-overs" (and again, I'm keeping lurkers in mind here). Read up on what makes good design. First here's a great list of book suggestions: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3281434/book-suggestions?n=10 Second, here's a bunch of great suggestions from others here on what makes good design: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3285825/what-makes-a-house-have-good-design?n=39 (And Sunny, if you thought some of my comments above might have been a tough read, note #31 in my post here). And third, get someone local of talent to sit down with you for a highly interactive "brainstorming session" on the design of your house. And this doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. Just look at the idea I drew above.......which took an hour. I do these all the time and call them "design charrettes". And don't think I have a horse in your race as I only do these locally, face to face, and I'm plenty busy with the locals anyway (some I even reference here!). In lieu of doing another big retype here's a coupla threads that explain those: Not my first post here but the photo heavy one further down. In the charrette photo that's me pen in hand with the builder flanked by the owners (and from the photo you can see I'm a piano player too). http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3178541/question-for-architectrunnerguy-or-others?n=24 And a colleague of mine wrote the process up in his blog http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/design-in-a-day/ And again Sunny, the best of luck with your build....See MoreMark Bischak, Architect
16 days agoK. Ellis
16 days agolast modified: 16 days agoK. Ellis
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16 days agoMrs Pete
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15 days agoK. Ellis
15 days agoK. Ellis
15 days agoMrs Pete
15 days agoMark Bischak, Architect
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15 days agolast modified: 15 days agoMark Bischak, Architect
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