Didn't want to hijack Phalynx "any suggestions" post

[Bill Houghton]

Hello,

I didn't want to hijack Phalynx's thread "New Cabin plan. Please suggest refinements" but the suggestions in that thread were awesome.  My son and I spent about 6 hours this weekend coming up with this plan, do you see any obvious suggestions, changes here? We placed the washer and dryer (stacked) in the bathroom.  My heat is going to be elec baseboard, under floor tube from outside boiler and wood stove.

Thanks in advance.

Bill in the U.P.

[phalynx]

Hey, you hijacked my thread!!!   

Only thing I see, of course I am learning as I go, is how will you access your water heater?

[bayview]

   Many people are going with more open floor plans . . .  But I think the chairs at the half-wall in the kitchen are in the way of the natural flow.  (Seated people would block the hall to the bath and bedrooms.)  Maybe rotate into the dining area.

   In most smaller floor plans, there is quite a bit of give and take.  Smaller bedrooms will give the living areas more room.  The living room in the following plan is 14 X 16.  Plenty of room for a wood burning stove . . .

   Your bath is very small, will be very cramped, especially with the stacked washer/dryer.  Where do you turn on the light?  Plug in your razor?  Moving the w/d to another area will really free up the bath.  Can you imagine laundry day?  Someone needing to use the bathroom and there are clothes everywhere . . .   

   A furnace could be located in the attic.

   Instead of walking directly into the bedrooms, in your plan, you must make two turns.  One from the hall and then another turn into the bedroom.  Making it difficult moving furniture.  Or, for elderly to get to the bath.

   The following plan has ample storage for the bedrooms and a large closet in the hall.

   A entry door on a gable end probably should have some sort of porch.

   Just some ideas, hope I have helped . . .     

   

   

[MountainDon]

 Well Bill, let's see... (I started this reply 2 hours ago, then something came up and I had to go out and rescue a car... so some of my comments have been already mentioned)

My eye first went to the wood stove. The specs on my VC Aspen state 13" minimum from rear corners to walls when angled like that. Do you have a specific stove in mind? I'd check on clearances required.

This might be a personal thing, but I don't like windows right tight beside my bed, or over the headboard. I had a bedroom like that once and didn't like the cool/cold drafts. Maybe the windows were crap?

How is that water heater accessed. It will have to be replaced someday. I like the way all the plumbing is clustered.

Good point on the laundry in the bathroom having possible conflicts, though.

Even though I've not included a coat closet in our cabin layout, I would want to have a coat closet near the front door in a home that I lived in full time. For full time in the country a mud room would be even nicer. The porch I'll add in spring/summer will be designed so I could enclose it

I like the openness across the width; living room area to kitchen.However, Is that a "breakfast bar" and a dining table? Personally we prefer a table only as it's more conducive to seating guests, especially with an extra leaf or two. But it does give you extra storage space underneath; above too if you go that route.

One thing I have always preferred as well, is not to have the master bedroom and the children's bedroom(s) side by side. Separation may be more difficult in a small home than a larger one, though.   Our old 832 sq ft house had the bedrooms across the back separated by the bathroom. I/we liked that.

[CREATIVE1]

Does your program allow you to do a 3-D walkthrough of the plan?  I changed my mind about several things when I got a better idea of how the plan would actually live.

[Bill Houghton]

Wow, thank you everyone.  Excellent feedback.   

phalynx, water heater will be in an accessable cabinet.

bayviewps, wow, really cool plan.  I wanted to have the kitchen table toward the front for two reasons; that faces south and also to keep the front symmetrical as far as a door in the middle and a window of equal size on either side.   As far as folks seated at the counter restricting flow to the hall, I don't see that as a big issue.  We held the counter in from the corner a bit to allow for a little more room.  I wanted the kitchen that way so I could see the wood stove and the window on the west wall which looks out over our field and apple trees.  The bathroom; I agree it is small.  My effort with this floor plan really was about that bathroom.  I wanted to keep the kitchen oriented the way it is without making the bedroom too small.  I could probably fudge the wall out a foot toward the kitchen yet and be ok.  I will be heading to Lowes to have a kitchen estimate done and will decide after their plan and dimensions are in hand if we can spare that extra foot or so.  As far as a furnace in the attic, I am pretty set on electric with my outside boiler and the wood stove.  On my last cottage this worked out pretty well.  I would set the thermostat on the hydronic heat low, fill the outside boiler up to the max and leave the elec thermostat set lower than the hydronic.  The turn as you enter the bedrooms is another area of compromise.  I have lived in a few places that were like this and never found it to be an issue.  The door swing area is kind of wasted space anyway.  If there were a way around it, I would consider.

MountainDon, wood stove will be per code and stove recommendations.  I will be getting as good of windows as I can, so hope there isn't any draft issues, etc... The views are just too good to not have windows on both walls IMHO.

CREATIVE1, we are using the BH&G 3D program and it allows a walk through.  I like this plan but I am open to suggestions.  It is amazing how long it took to come up with this plan, so I know there have to be some more viable optoins.

I am on lunch, so hopefully I didn't leave anything out.

Bill in the U.P.

[CREATIVE1]

When we built our present house, a two story on stilts, I designed the kitchen.  The guy making the cabinets convinced me to move the refrigerator to a spot where you have to walk past the sink and stove for access.  NEVER AGAIN!!  Unless you live alone, everyone who wants a drink or is just grazing interferes with the cook.  So I like your original kitchen plan with the fridge right OUT there.

[Bill Houghton]

When we built our present house, a two story on stilts, I designed the kitchen.  The guy making the cabinets convinced me to move the refrigerator to a spot where you have to walk past the sink and stove for access.  NEVER AGAIN!!  Unless you live alone, everyone who wants a drink or is just grazing interferes with the cook.  So I like your original kitchen plan with the fridge right OUT there.

Good advice Creative1.  This is for many years to come a weekend cottage. There will be card games at the table and the occasional beverage needed from the fridge.  If we are not playing cards, my buddies can sit at the bar peninsula and I can stand in the kitchen, keep an eye on the wood stove, the game on T.V. and hand out the cold ones     Plus, for the real good freinds, when the table, bar and living room is full, they can still make their way around to fridge and get their own!

Bill in the U.P.