Designing a "Catholic" House--thoughts on floorplan?

[Oh_Charlotte]

Do you want all that traffic through the pantry? Food will be on everyone’s mind! I suggest a bathroom that is not interior. Interior bathroom means no window; not nice for a bathroom. Move the bathroom to an outside wall, and pantry to the interior space, with one door only. Also, I suggest a small* full *bathroom downstairs, because, as another poster said, you never know when you may need to turn the den to a bedroom because someone needs a first floor bedroom. Plus it helps when you turn the den to a guestroom for guests (you will have a pull-out bed/couch, right? Then they can peacefully use the downstairs bath while your family’s normal crazy night and morning life continues upstairs.

I also prefer 1st floor laundries because sometimes laundry goes on all day while you are doing most of your work on the first floor. Having the laundry near the kitchen - like that mudroom - is useful for popping in and out of the kitchen or garden or living room You can be near where the kids play while you fold, or watch TV while you fold. Ad, it can be real inconvenient if your children are playing happily downstairs and you have a lot of laundry to do that day. Do you leave the toddlers alone for long periods downstairs playing while you fold upstairs? Do you carry the warm laundry downstairs to fold while they play, defeating the purpose of a 2nd floor laundry? Or do you make then stop what they are doing and come up with you and you get them re-involved in something else while you fold, then make them stop and come downstairs with you while you do finish your main floor work? Then 45 minutes later, the next load is ready to be folded, so everyone stops their activities and you all go upstairs together??

Main floor laundry is better for family life, I think!

I find it easier to have the upstairs for sleeping and showering and dressing and the 1st floor for living and working, which includes laundry…

P.S., An ideal thing is the stove facing the open dining/living room. So, where that island is. Its really nice to look out at the action while you stir the pot on the stove, and not have all the action at your* back,* which is kind of distracting, actually! This can be a problem with venting, but an island cooktop can have vent that raises/lowers, and its really ideal to that that island cooktop with double ovens over on the wall (exterior wall best for that).

 

[IneedGod]

Lovely but I too think you should consider one downstairs bedroom.
Ilness and accidents happen which could render anyone unable to climb stairs.

 

[jeannetherese]

My support for a downstairs laundry room is linked to my concern for being able to carry out all necessary family functions on one floor under certain medical circumstances.
As the OP. ages and the kids move out, this may become an issue. Similarly, if designing my own home, I’d be looking at wheelchair access from garage and from one main door to the outside, and fairly wide hallways.

The 40 year plan…

 

[babochka]

I also prefer 1st floor laundries because sometimes laundry goes on all day while you are doing most of your work on the first floor. Having the laundry near the kitchen - like that mudroom - is useful for popping in and out of the kitchen or garden or living room You can be near where the kids play while you fold, or watch TV while you fold. Ad, it can be real inconvenient if your children are playing happily downstairs and you have a lot of laundry to do that day. Do you leave the toddlers alone for long periods downstairs playing while you fold upstairs? Do you carry the warm laundry downstairs to fold while they play, defeating the purpose of a 2nd floor laundry? Or do you make then stop what they are doing and come up with you and you get them re-involved in something else while you fold, then make them stop and come downstairs with you while you do finish your main floor work? Then 45 minutes later, the next load is ready to be folded, so everyone stops their activities and you all go upstairs together??

Main floor laundry is better for family life, I think!

Excellent point! You have completely changed my opinion on this. We do not have a laundry room (washer/dryer in the garage) and when we moved in here, I had planned to fold the laundry in the spare/guest bedroom. It never gets folded in there because I need to be able to supervise the little ones and enlist the help of the big ones in folding laundry. Therefore, we fold laundry in the dining room or living room. The reasons you stated are also why the homeschooling room never gets used. We do school at the dining room table because I can do other things (cook, etc.) while the kids are working on their school work, but I am readily available if they need me.

 

[JRKH]

I hate to toss in another thing…but as they say on the football games…

Upon further review…

I pity anyone trying to move larger pieces of furniture into or out of the master bedroom…
Doable - but…:bigyikes:…

Agree with the comment about Charlotte’s comment about the first floor Laundry.

The doors on the pantry issue…I can see why it is designed that way…convenience of the garage and bringing in groceries. And personally I would prefer the kids running through there than around through the main hall on the hardwood floors…
As to the powder room without a window…I lived in a house that had one bath and it was an interior bath…We had no problems/complaints…

Camerong,
Thanks for this thread…It’s fun…I just hope we aren’t hurting your feelings with our critiques…Everyone has a different idea…and I would bet that some of these things are things that you guys have already discussed. So if you get tired of us, just tell us to shut-up.

Peace
James

 

[camerong]

Definitely no hurt feelings at all, I love the feedback! At other forums, specifically for house building, my previous versions of this plan were fired upon liberally I have changed my plan countless times as a result of suggestions I’ve heard, and even though we are nearing the end of the planning phase, I suspect I will continue to make changes. I hadn’t thought of insisting on a floor drain or appliance pan under the washer, glad some one brought that up!

It’s an interesting point about having to run up and down the stairs to do laundry. Most people I’ve talked to seem to swear by second floor laundry rooms, but I wonder how many people had lots of kids (second floor would clearly be more convenient for a couple loads a week…) We definitely have room in our mudroom for a laundry room, we’ll see…

Room sizes-I’m comfortable that two bunkbeds can fit in a 10x12 room. It will be cramped, but c’est la vie. Generally, I hope this house is a little cramped–this is not heaven, I worry we make our surroundings so comfortable we make it too easy to become attached to this world. Heaven will have plenty of leg room, let’s not get spoiled here. Plus, less space to put stuff in will mean less possessions. Further, we will eventually have two more bedrooms in the basement, and if we have so many kids that they can’t all comfortably fit in 5 bedrooms, putting food on the table will be a bigger problem than finding place for them to sleep!

As far as the pantry goes, I think the idea will be to keep the door from the mudroom generally shut. But, if the kids are grabbing food off the shelves, we will just have to put the food higher up/discipline better/put a lock on the door I really like the idea of having several paths around the house, such as if we have a big party at the house, we will be able to go from the garage to the kitchen/pantry/freezer without carrying food through the rest of the house.

Regarding the master corner… that is a tough one, one of the parts of this house I’m not a fan of. However, we plan on this being our long-term house (making God laugh, I’m sure, but still) and the few times we move furniture in and our, we’ll just have to deal. With 3’6 minimum, it should be doable. One interesting thing is if you could see the floorplans of old houses, you’ll see far narrower clearances than this, and no one would avoid buying an old neat house because there is a tight corner.

My wife’s parents have a powder room w/o a window, and I think it works okay. Other parts of the house have a higher priority.

Oh Charlotte, we’re avoiding the stove on the island for a number of reasons. As you mention, ventilation is one–down draft is expensive to install. The other is that I hope the island will get used for lots of things–casual coffees, school projects, etc. Growing up, I took apart alternators and VCRs on our kitchen table. Since we only have one dining room table, we will try had to keep it clear for dinners, so I picture the island being a bit more multipurpose. I’ve often longed for a prep sink or cooktop there, but ultimately, I would prefer the wide open space without anyone sitting around getting splashed/burned. It’s a pretty small island, after all.

I love the idea of double ovens, but that’s another grand or two that does not really make sense in our budget when we can get a decent range for $400.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas, please keep them coming if you have them! Don’t worry about offending us, that’s the whole point of the thread!

 

[AnastasiaRomano]

A few thoughts:

• As others have mentioned, seriously consider putting the laundry downstairs. If you put the washer and dryer in the mudroom, this avoids the risk of floods and also allows the parent doing the laundry to more easily supervise children in the living room/dining room. We have a second floor laundry room. I’m not too worried about floods, although I know it’s a possibility – but the bigger issue is that when the kids are downstairs in the living room, dining room or kitchen (which is most of the time), it’s not as easy to supervise them while I’m doing laundry. With a laundry room on the first floor, I wouldn’t have to go as far. Our laundry room works fine, but if I were designing my house from scratch, I think I’d put it on the first floor.
• It is going to be very difficult to get furniture, mattress, boxspring, etc. into and out of the master bedroom, with a wall just 3’6" from the doorway. Not impossible, as you point out, but definitely very difficult. That setup for the master bedroom also could make the master bedroom entryway appear very dark, depending on your lighting situation.

-As others have said, if you’re planning on having a large family, you might want to enlarge the bedrooms. My preference would be this: Get rid of the second floor laundry room and put the washer/dryer in the mudroom. Then, split the laundry room space between the two bedrooms. That would give you two large bedrooms that children can share

 

[JRKH]

Definitely no hurt feelings at all, I love the feedback! At other forums, specifically for house building, my previous versions of this plan were fired upon liberally I have changed my plan countless times as a result of suggestions I’ve heard, and even though we are nearing the end of the planning phase, I suspect I will continue to make changes.

Glad that we are not offending…
Wish I had had access to a forum for home planning/building when I was planning. Might have saved me some mistakes.
Have you brought your plan to a builder/architect yet? I discovered that, after I had everything figured out, certain things had to be changed/adjusted due to building codes…Nothing terrible, but still…

I hadn’t thought of insisting on a floor drain or appliance pan under the washer, glad some one brought that up!

It’s an interesting point about having to run up and down the stairs to do laundry. Most people I’ve talked to seem to swear by second floor laundry rooms, but I wonder how many people had lots of kids (second floor would clearly be more convenient for a couple loads a week…) We definitely have room in our mudroom for a laundry room, we’ll see…

Yea - when I was looking at the plan I thought the mudroom too…

Room sizes-I’m comfortable that two bunkbeds can fit in a 10x12 room. It will be cramped, but c’est la vie. Generally, I hope this house is a little cramped–this is not heaven, I worry we make our surroundings so comfortable we make it too easy to become attached to this world. Heaven will have plenty of leg room, let’s not get spoiled here. Plus, less space to put stuff in will mean less possessions. Further, we will eventually have two more bedrooms in the basement, and if we have so many kids that they can’t all comfortably fit in 5 bedrooms, putting food on the table will be a bigger problem than finding place for them to sleep!

Good points …growing up mom insisted that “bedrooms were for sleeping” so we mostly did not hang out there.

As far as the pantry goes, I think the idea will be to keep the door from the mudroom generally shut. But, if the kids are grabbing food off the shelves, we will just have to put the food higher up/discipline better/put a lock on the door I really like the idea of having several paths around the house, such as if we have a big party at the house, we will be able to go from the garage to the kitchen/pantry/freezer without carrying food through the rest of the house.

I agree with this.

Regarding the master corner… that is a tough one, one of the parts of this house I’m not a fan of. However, we plan on this being our long-term house (making God laugh, I’m sure, but still) and the few times we move furniture in and our, we’ll just have to deal. With 3’6 minimum, it should be doable. One interesting thing is if you could see the floorplans of old houses, you’ll see far narrower clearances than this, and no one would avoid buying an old neat house because there is a tight corner.

Understood and I hesitated to say anything, but every time I looked at the plan that corner jumped out at me. Remember too that in older houses they tended to use bedroom furniture a bit smaller than many do today. BUT - like you say, it should be doable…

My wife’s parents have a powder room w/o a window, and I think it works okay. Other parts of the house have a higher priority.

Oh Charlotte, we’re avoiding the stove on the island for a number of reasons. As you mention, ventilation is one–down draft is expensive to install. The other is that I hope the island will get used for lots of things–casual coffees, school projects, etc. Growing up, I took apart alternators and VCRs on our kitchen table. Since we only have one dining room table, we will try had to keep it clear for dinners, so I picture the island being a bit more multipurpose. I’ve often longed for a prep sink or cooktop there, but ultimately, I would prefer the wide open space without anyone sitting around getting splashed/burned. It’s a pretty small island, after all.

I agree with this reasoning…I was looking at the amount of counter space (seems there is never enough……)and I recalled that when we designed ours, my wife wanted a nice big island space for baking - for rolling out dough and such. Even though she is not all that tall (about 5’4") she always found the table to be a bit too low. The standard kitchen counter top height was perfect but too narrow…So we made her a nice size island for that purpose. Works great for baking and for other things as well.

I love the idea of double ovens, but that’s another grand or two that does not really make sense in our budget when we can get a decent range for $400.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas, please keep them coming if you have them! Don’t worry about offending us, that’s the whole point of the thread!

Be careful what you ask for…bwaaa-haaaa-haaaa-haaaa…:takethat:

Peace
James

 

[Oh_Charlotte]

… I really like the idea of having several paths around the house…

And the kids will love several paths around the house. My old house had side, not central stairs, creating a circular floor pattern where my son could do circles and circles from kitchen to dining room to living room to stair-hall to back-to-kitchen, and around again. He loved it. We had a cooperative cat he would pull on a pull-toy, too. It kept him (and friends) endlessly entertained. Your kids will be able to do figure-eights, with TWO circles to do! Seriously, they will make happy use of it.

 

[Oh_Charlotte]

…I hesitated to say anything, but every time I looked at the plan that corner jumped out at me. Remember too that in older houses they tended to use bedroom furniture a bit smaller than many do today…

I agree, for a long-term house, you should try to solve this. In future years you may need a new bed, as I assume you aren’t going to buy everything gorgeous now, and upgrades will be in the future. You might, for example, be gifted with a large and very beautiful dresser later.

I have a suggestion, in case changing the floor plan doesn’t seem like a good plan for you. The man I love made a sort of trap door in the open landing of his stair well to the third floor he created, for the purpose of bringing in flooring at a later time, also furniture, since the room at the top of the stair allowed little of large size to be brought up. Your trap door would be a large, hinged horizontal one there on the wall of the stair into your bedroom to lift large furniture up and in. Kind of like a plumbing access door, only larger. Designed to screw on/off, maybe, since it would not need regular use.

It would be interesting to see if others here, who can think these things through, believe that would work in your plan.

 

[camerong]

Looking back at the real plans (which don’t have cabinets and things in them yet, so I didn’t post them), the upstairs hallway is 4’6" wide and the mini-hallway inside the master bedroom is 4’ wide, not 3’6". So, it’s quite a bit bigger than these plans show. We will probably rearrange the shower/toilet area so it won’t go quite as far into the master bedroom, further making this a bit easier. We will keep an eye on this in the final plans–if necessary, we can move the door into the mini-hallway into the master bedroom and have a big, open corner, so we can straighten furniture out before it goes through the doorway. I kinda like that idea, then we can put a crucifix at the end of the hallway (although we may be eliminating the laundry room, so maybe we can put one there, too). At any rate, I think we should be in good shape as far as that corner goes, but I appreciate the attention paid to it–we might not have thought about moving the door, if that turns out to be necessary!

 

[JRKH]

And the kids will love several paths around the house. My old house had side, not central stairs, creating a circular floor pattern where my son could do circles and circles from kitchen to dining room to living room to stair-hall to back-to-kitchen, and around again. He loved it. We had a cooperative cat he would pull on a pull-toy, too. It kept him (and friends) endlessly entertained. Your kids will be able to do figure-eights, with TWO circles to do! Seriously, they will make happy use of it.

This is the great thing about unfinished basements…THAT’s where we were sent to run off our energy…WE roller skated there, even built “forts” from old chairs and stuff…Great fun that, and we were out from under foot and not “messing up” the house.
But you know what?? Mom always knew pretty well what was going on through the “built in” intercom system…Which was nothing more than the heating ducts. It was amazing how much sound traveled upstairs that way.

Of course if things got “too quiet”, she would find some excuse to come downstairs…Just to see…

Peace
James

 

[JRKH]

I agree, for a long-term house, you should try to solve this. In future years you may need a new bed, as I assume you aren’t going to buy everything gorgeous now, and upgrades will be in the future. You might, for example, be gifted with a large and very beautiful dresser later.

I have a suggestion, in case changing the floor plan doesn’t seem like a good plan for you. The man I love made a sort of trap door in the open landing of his stair well to the third floor he created, for the purpose of bringing in flooring at a later time, also furniture, since the room at the top of the stair allowed little of large size to be brought up. Your trap door would be a large, hinged horizontal one there on the wall of the stair into your bedroom to lift large furniture up and in. Kind of like a plumbing access door, only larger. Designed to screw on/off, maybe, since it would not need regular use.

It would be interesting to see if others here, who can think these things through, believe that would work in your plan.

Interesting idea, but there may be a simpler solution. If the Nursery door is moved to the other side…opposite the stairwell it would make it easier to “swing” items up the stairs and into the hallway/bedroom. Just another option…

Peace
james

 

[lizaanne]

We will leave the basement unfinished but plan on having two bedrooms in the basement. I figure teenagers will get their own big rooms in the basement,…

If you put bedrooms in the basement, be sure you have proper egress in the event of a fire. Even a window well with a large window should be sufficient - check with your local building codes. Typically an egress window needs to be large enough to accommodate a firefighter in full gear, carrying an adult.

Lots of great ideas and suggestions!!

~Liza

 

[JRKH]

Camerong,
An additional thought…re basements. Are you putting a bathroom in the basement?

If not (at present) you might still want to have the plumbing roughed in since it would have to go under the concrete…

Peace
James

 

[TheRealJuliane]

This is the great thing about unfinished basements…THAT’s where we were sent to run off our energy…WE roller skated there, even built “forts” from old chairs and stuff…Great fun that, and we were out from under foot and not “messing up” the house.
But you know what?? Mom always knew pretty well what was going on through the “built in” intercom system…Which was nothing more than the heating ducts. It was amazing how much sound traveled upstairs that way.

Of course if things got “too quiet”, she would find some excuse to come downstairs…Just to see…

Peace
James

I can’t help but be envious of you guys who can have basements…it’s double the square footage for -0- extra money…I could put a craft room down there, as well as exercise equipment, now that the kids are gone…We wouldn’t have moved from our first house if we’d had that extra storage space.

If we ever get to build, I’m going back to a one-story. I know it is more economical to put 2 stories on the same footprint, but I really dislike 2 story houses.

But OP, your floor plan looks great! Good luck with your build!

 

[JRKH]

I can’t help but be envious of you guys who can have basements…it’s double the square footage for -0- extra money…

Yea - basements are great, but they aren’t -0-extra money…ours added $10,000 to the construction cost but it also ups the resale value.

I could put a craft room down there, as well as exercise equipment, now that the kids are gone…We wouldn’t have moved from our first house if we’d had that extra storage space.

Yes - I have a work shop in mine…I love that it is unfinished…I can make all the mess I want…

If we ever get to build, I’m going back to a one-story. I know it is more economical to put 2 stories on the same footprint, but I really dislike 2 story houses.

The great thing about ranch styles is that they are easier to “age” in…Everything on one level means no stairs except maybe into and out of the house itself…

But OP, your floor plan looks great! Good luck with your build!

I agree…It’s obvious that a lot o thought has gone into it.

Oh and I just had another thought…for the OP…As the house is being built, be sure to take plenty of pictures…Especially at the point where all of the electric and plumbing is roughed in but the drywall is not up…That way later if you are going to be cutting into the walls for any reason, you can look at the pictures to be sure where the wiring and the pipes are…

Peace
James

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Oh and I just had another thought…for the OP…As the house is being built, be sure to take plenty of pictures…Especially at the point where all of the electric and plumbing is roughed in but the drywall is not up…That way later if you are going to be cutting into the walls for any reason, you can look at the pictures to be sure where the wiring and the pipes are.…

Peace
James

Yes, yes, yes!! What a great opportunity to preserve the view of the “guts” of the house…No guesswork necessary!

 

[camerong]

Whoops, I missed all these responses today!

We are planning to later have two legal bedrooms in the basement, with accompanying egress windows. We will definitely rough in for a hall bathroom.

Basements indeed aren’t 0 cost, but as we live in Tornado Alley, we don’t really have a choice either way. I’ve never been in a house in my state without a basement. But yeah, we really are looking forward to having a big unfinished basement, and some day a couple extra rooms for the kids, along with a basement gym and a gathering space.

I agree that single story houses are easier to age in–I think we will just plan on moving one day. I don’t think that a house which works best for us today, at the very start of our lives as parents, will also be the best for us when we’re 65. It would be silly to live for the next 35+ years in an inconvenient situation to avoid moving. After all, when the kids move out, the plan will be to get a townhouse!

Good idea about taking the photos, I’ve seen people talk about that before, and one person saved a ton of effort by having photographed the plumbing.

Thanks for the great thoughts!

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Whoops, I missed all these responses today!

We are planning to later have two legal bedrooms in the basement, with accompanying egress windows. We will definitely rough in for a hall bathroom.

Basements indeed aren’t 0 cost, but as we live in Tornado Alley, we don’t really have a choice either way. I’ve never been in a house in my state without a basement. But yeah, we really are looking forward to having a big unfinished basement, and some day a couple extra rooms for the kids, along with a basement gym and a gathering space.

I agree that single story houses are easier to age in–I think we will just plan on moving one day. I don’t think that a house which works best for us today, at the very start of our lives as parents, will also be the best for us when we’re 65. It would be silly to live for the next 35+ years in an inconvenient situation to avoid moving. After all, when the kids move out, the plan will be to get a townhouse!

Good idea about taking the photos, I’ve seen people talk about that before, and one person saved a ton of effort by having photographed the plumbing.

Thanks for the great thoughts!

Well, you do get attached to the house your kids grow up in…But some people aren’t too sentimental about houses. I am, because I grew up in one house and never moved until I left at age 18. My husband, OTOH, lived in 3 countries before the age of 11. He is still sentimental about the last house he finished growing up in, however. I guess my roots go down deeper than his!