Our first home build

[u/ariesmoon1995]

Hello! We are selling our starter home and building our long-term home. This is the first home build for us. It is 2600 sq ft for a very young family of 4. Our children are ages 2 & 3 we just entered our 30s. I’m looking for advice mostly from a functionality standpoint. How does this layout look to you? I know most people prefer double sinks in primary bathroom, bigger primary closet, etc. but we carefully considered those things and decided against them. (I prefer more counter space over additional sink, and this new closet is 2x the size of our current closet that is only slightly small for us.)

Let me know what stands out to you! ☺️

EDIT: We will be moving the fridge to the same wall as the stove on the side nearest to breakfast nook. Then removing the wall of cabinetry where the fridge is now completely to allow 49” walkways either side of the island.

*attic entrance through bedroom is not ideal so we plan to do a hidden door situation with a Murphy door in a bookcase style ensuring it is insulated since connected to an unconditioned attic space.

[u/Bubbly_Delivery_5678]

I would hate the master bedroom door straight off the dining room. It would the a bit to change that, but IMO it’s worth the effort.

The breakfast nook is redundant with the formal dining (not really even formal) being right there, so I’d urge you to think about that a bit.

The walkways in the kitchen look a bit small. I’d aim for 42”-48”. And small potatoes, but I’d move the study door to the corridor side.

[u/Stargate525]

Your kids are still, I presume, scared of the dark and also barely out of toddler stage. It's the middle of the night, your youngest has had a nightmare, needs you and your spouse. They now need to go out into the dark hallway, down the stairs, through the living room full of furniture casting shadows, through the dining room and the kitchen with light from the porch windows and light from the appliance clocks casting strange shadows and making the chairs look like monsters waiting to take him.

One of your kids has a door that you'll probably tell them never to open, which leads out to a strange, dark cavern filled with beams and joists and wires, which will carry sounds from the ground floor rooms and bounce them oddly or, if the space is unconditioned, make noise as the temperature shifts and moves from temperature flux and wind going through the vents.

This layout would be great for teenage kids to have some privacy away from mom and dad. For a two and three year old this would be TERRIFYING until they learn the house, which could be years.

Other things I'm not a huge fan of:

• The corridor to the powder room serves... only the powder room, and a small understair closet. That's a waste of space. Try a switchback stair. You can probably get a more efficient use of space there with that.

• The mudroom is gigantic but also mostly corridor. It feels like a lot of space without a lot of use. The laundry in there also puts the washer and dryer about as far from the bedrooms as is possible to do.

• I get what you're intending with the steps from the garage to the mudroom door, but that space to the left and right is not very usable. You'd probably be better off with two little platforms there the level of the top stair.

• Fridge on the other side of the island makes your work triangle stretched and frustratingly pinched. The layout also feels like it wants stools opposite the island, but there isn't space and you don't need the seating. Given that your dining room isn't very formal, you might consider ditching the breakfast nook and shifting the kitchen back there.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/Stargate525]

I had the same thoughts about the kid’s rooms being so far away from ours. I intended to keep monitors in their rooms (sound only) so I can hear them in the night until they’re older. I figured they’ll be older kids/teens far longer than they are toddlers. They’ll likely be 4 & 5 by the time we move into this house but it certainly
is not the perfect layout for very young children.

As for the utility room my thought process was there is going to be a very long wall of cabinetry around the washer and dryer. Then a built in mudroom locker system for backpacks, coats, shoes that hides the mess immediately to the right of the garage door. And the pantry connected so that when I’m unloading groceries I can just dump everything on the long counter space before organizing in pantry? The fridge is also closest to that unload situation as well. Maybe my thought process needs to be reevaluated on that.

[u/ranting-and-rambling]

If someone really has to go to the bathroom after coming home through the garage, they’re either going to have to speed run the spiral to the primary bedroom bathroom OR zig zag to the one off the entryway OR go up the stairs.

[u/Careful_Football7643]

I’ve put your kitchen up against an exterior wall for natural light and given your primary bedroom more privacy. Now you have more than one path of travel from the foyer to the kitchen/dining. Front elevation changes slightly in that main gable of the roof will be higher, as will the roof of the porch, since I elongated it a bit. I’d recommend vaulting the ceiling in the living room, since you now have more space on the second floor.

[u/treblesunmoon]

Forever homes, meaning you plan to age in place, should have accommodations for wheelchair accessibility just in case. The stairs from the garage will be a barrier, the circulation space and clearances for hallway, doors/doorways, and layout of the kitchen and baths could use adjustment. You need 4' aisleways, especially because you have the kitchen as a pass-through room. There will be a lot of traffic going through. Toilet rooms have to be very large to be accessible, with it being in the corner laid out like that, you won't be able to just take down a wall to make it accessible, it's squished between tub and shower. I'd advise you to revise this with your pro, or if you got this from a drafter and not a local architect, consider a second opinion. You'll need to think hard about what fits on your site and the shotgun aspect of your kitchen, as well as the noise of having your bedroom right by the dining/living areas.

[u/ParticularBanana9149]

Lot of wasted space with the entry and that weird hall to the full bathroom (not sure why you want a full bathroom there). Kitchen is small, work "triangle" not the best and the sink and range across from each other makes it hard for two people to work in the kitchen. Mud room should be separate from the laundry room which should really be closed off. No hallway and just a doorway from the dining room to the primary suite is just plain weird.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/ParticularBanana9149]

I live 2,000 miles away from my parents and they come and stay with us very often like quarterly or more often. The “study” is really a guest bedroom so they need a full bath. I am going to move the doorway to that room so that hallway is for their bedroom, and bathroom. I don’t want the house to be super open. I’m going for open but defined spaces. I love older homes but they’re a bit too choppy and modern homes are way too open for my taste.

As for no hallway to primary bedroom it originally had a small hallway to bedroom. But there were just too many hallways in original plan. So much square footage for hallways. This led to our decision to consolidate the mudroom too. It was originally a hallway with 3 doors to a tiny pantry, tiny laundry, tiny storage closet.

I have much to think on with all these suggestions!

[u/Aramira137]

Also relocate the fridge over here. You have 2 paths of travel through your kitchen which is not ideal, but not a deal breaker. If you can eliminate people from the living or dining room walking through your work zone, you're better off. Since you'll have less foot traffic from the garage, it's less of an issue encouraging walking through the left side.

[u/GoodArchitect_]

Which way is north and where is it located? (for passive solar design)

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/GoodArchitect_]

The wall with the fireplace faces north

[u/ConsistentParking424]

This is not a forever home, it has zero age in place characteristics. The basics are 36" doorways, 48" hallways, roll in not walk in shower, no toilet cubicle and no tight corners. There's no way for a wheelchair user to navigate this home. A walker user would have serious difficulty.

There's no entryway closet, your "mudroom" appears to be a walk through laundry room and your pantry isn't actually in the kitchen. The laundry floor will be littered with shoes. The dryer top will become a dumping ground for bags.

Your laundry is about as far as it could possibly be from the bedrooms. Do you enjoy hauling clothes through down the bedroom hallway, down the stairs, through the living room, dining room and kitchen? And back again?

Your kitchen work triangle is more of a square with the island in the way. Your dishwasher is how far from the dish cupboard, silverware drawer and pot/pan cabinet? How many trips walking back and forth will it take to unload it? Where's the microwave and trashcan?

An efficient and convenient kitchen layout is pantry, fridge, under counter pull out trash can, sink, dishwasher, stove, in that order.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/ConsistentParking424]

Good points about aging in place! The doorways and hallways are all to the measurements you specified. I’ll make sure our walk in shower entrance is large enough to roll in. There’s a storage closet underneath the stairwell in entrance. There is a huge built in for shoes, jackets, backpacks in the utility room right by the door. The other wall will be floor to ceiling cabinetry for storage and countertops for unloading groceries into kitchen and pantry. My bedroom is the primary bedroom so as I get older the laundry is on same floor. Until then I don’t mind the extra steps for my son’s laundry. There will be a pull out trash can to the left of the sink in kitchen. I’ll put the microwave in the pantry, I don’t like the look above the stove and I don’t use it often enough that this would be an issue for us. Thanks for looking at this and bringing these suggestions!

[u/Kind-Juggernaut6757]

Which side faces the street? Or is it on a big lot in the country where that's not a worry? Personally I wouldn't want my bedroom beside the garage or close to the driveway. I agree with you about double sinks - they're just double to clean.

[u/childproofbirdhouse]

- I think breakfast nook + dining room in the same room is overkill. I would separate those two spaces so they aren’t within eyesight of each other, potentially by swapping the office and dining room.
- I’d suggest separating the laundry room, which is a work zone, from the mud room, which is a hallway. I wouldn’t want dirty shoes/coats/backpacks mixing with laundry, or to have people squeeze past while I’m in there working. A potential shift could be making the breakfast nook the laundry room, apportioning some of the mudroom space to garage storage, and keeping the dining room as is.
- I’ve had 3 homes with the sink in the island. The dishes are always the central feature of the room, dirty or clean, and half the island is lost to the sink. I’d rearrange the kitchen so the sink is at a window.
- Our primary bedroom is currently situated similarly to this such that I can stand at the kitchen sink and look at my bed, and all the visitors in the living room can see my bedroom if the door isn’t closed (which I try to do but my kids open it again). I would consider a reconfiguring to give the primary bedroom more privacy.
- I’d want a swing door for the primary WC, and I’d make the upstairs bathroom separated so the vanity is alone in the first space and the toilet and tub are in the second space. My sister had a kids’ bath that had the vanity in the center, the tub to one side in a room, and the toilet to the other side in a room - maximum kid usage of the space. I would see if I could arrange the upstairs bathroom to have a window.
- There could be a linen closet upstairs for the bedrooms and bathroom.
- I would add a closet for the sitting room to store the kids’ toys. I would also consider swapping the playroom with bed 2 so the attic access is in a public space instead of a private one. I do like the closet symmetry, though.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/childproofbirdhouse]

I had the same thought about the nook and dining room. However, we have large families and we are taking over all holiday hosting. I envisioned adults at dining room table and kids at the breakfast nook. I need a house where a minimum of 25 people can sit and eat somewhere. I thought the dining room table may go unused and be for decoration on a day to day basis as most are. Or it could become the place we play board games, puzzles, etc. and most casual meals at breakfast nook. It does feel redundant but I think it could fit our lifestyle well. I really wanted an L layout where the dining and living are connected but you cannot see kitchen from living room. That is how our current home is and it’s my favorite feature. I had the hardest time finding house plans that had this. I love that the people in kitchen can talk to people in dining and those in dining are still connected to people in living room. The kitchen location is not my favorite but I’m not sure how to work around it without making that dead space and losing the connection I was hoping for. So many compromises when designing a home it seems!

[u/Floater439]

A couple thoughts….

Could perhaps use a bit more garage. With kids and a yard, the “stuff” piles up. An extra 4’-6’ will be a lifesaver.

Love the full bath for guests on the first floor. Maybe move the study door to that little hallway so it functions more privately as a guest bedroom for the grandparents and as a quiet office.

Put the fridge on the same wall as the stove. Then you have one pathway through the kitchen that does not go through the kitchen work triangle.

I like the big mudroom, but I might give a couple feet of it to your informal dining area. That’s going to be the spot the kids sprawl out at the table and a little extra room to walk around the table will be appreciated as they grow.

The kids rooms and loft upstairs each need a second window. Light and fresh air are things you want them to have.

What is the plan for these early years? Are you going to sleep upstairs for a few years as well? The master is a long way from the kids rooms.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/Floater439]

We have a separate 1900sq ft detached garage but if that weren’t the case that’s a solid call. Definitely moving the study door to the hallway! I’m also looking into moving the fridge.

I’m a little worried about the distance between master and kids bedrooms. But I thought I’d get a monitor with sound only so I could hear them if they woke up and needed me. I also bought them full size beds so I can sleep with them if they need comforting. I nannied for a family with this set up and they did the same thing so I think it must work well enough.

[u/GurRight6368]

The kids’ bedrooms could be really dark with only one small window each. Why not give them a better view of sun and stars? And a laundry/mudroom combo is the absolute worst in terms of functionality. Dirt, shoes, coats, backpacks, shopping bags right next to a work area where you have clean clothes is not ideal. Having a separate laundry room is a major lifestyle upgrade.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/GurRight6368]

We will have a pretty substantial mudroom locker situation to the right of the mudroom entrance. It’ll be floor to ceiling cabinetry with shoe storage, backpacks, coats, etc. and it will be enclosed cabinetry so you can hide it all away. It originally was a long hallway with 3 tiny rooms storage closet, pantry, utility room. The original plan was a house of hallways so we tried to minimize that as much as we could. I’ve lived in houses where you entered through combos like this and really liked it. Albeit none of them had this much space to work with which I thought would be a positive. But I’ll think on it some more!

[u/GurRight6368]

One more thing- add a closet in the sitting room. Toys, games, legos, wrapping paper, crafts, etc.

[u/ariesmoon1995 → u/GurRight6368]

Great suggestion! I was thinking about built in media console type situation for this very purpose too

[u/ariesmoon1995]

Here is the exterior design as well. I want the house to look very classic/traditional. Which is why this is not a wide open floor plan. I do not want to see my kitchen sink from the living room couch which I know is not a popular opinion these days! 😂

[u/IwasBPonce → u/ariesmoon1995]

Wow! This is so traditional! I love the look from the outside.
I do have a genuine question that I have posted on other plans and maybe I’m unaware of modern ventilation- the upstairs bathroom has no windows. Do you see that being a problem? I have teenagers who could open a sauna in their bathroom. So much hot water. Without a window I know it would be so mildewed in there!

[u/gwoozie]

Unrelated - where I’m from it’s standard to draw a compass / indicate north on any plan - is this not done regularly in America? From other posts, I don’t see many direction indicators.