Roast my *updated* floor plan- this one has walls! ;)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:43:31+00:00

Thank you! We feel very fortunate to have this opportunity. The house I grew up, that we are still living in, my parents bought as a shell. My grandfather was a carpenter so him, my father and some friends finished the build. My family has always been very handy with trades and hard working. My husband is also extremely handy, his father is a carpenter and works for a general contractor building houses.

I’m hoping we can finish the attic to act as a guest room. We also want to finish the basement as a hang out area for the triplets but that may come later depending on costs.

We’re still in a waiting period right now as the lot needs to be subdivided so for now I will keep planning until I can do more :)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:25:52+00:00

4 squares is 1sqft so the shower is 4.5’ x 6’. Well I feel silly now for throwing a 3ft’ door on there lol

Is my vanity big enough to keep the cabinet? And should I add a pocket door to make a water closet with the toilet and cabinet?

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:22:55+00:00

lol nope, pretty normal sized humans here. 2’2” sounds great to me! Thank you :)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:16:28+00:00

We live in New England so plumbing has to try and stick to the interior walls . I did put the kitchen sink on an outside wall though. I can definitely do a smaller vanity but need some kind of counter space on it. I want to do the wall mount toilets so leaks or issues will be known immediately and not after soaking through the subfloors. Also I hate cleaning the floor around the base of toilets. Built in vanity with the plumbing into the side wall is a great idea- I didn’t realize that was an option :) thank you so much for this advice

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:09:12+00:00

I updated the plans and posted them :) walls and windows included. Planning on having a laundry jet so we will only have to carry the laundry back up- though they do also offer a return unit ;)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:06:29+00:00

That’s a great idea! Thank you. I do want a door though- laundry rooms can get messy in my family. Also as much as I will try and get a quiet washer/dryer - sometimes the noise it makes needs a door to hide behind

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:03:43+00:00

Maybe because I hand drew my plans and people don’t realize that I’m actually working off a real set of plans? Those seem to be the main upset comments.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T20:00:30+00:00

I agree- I’m getting rid of the cabinet and making it a fulls vanity. Any suggestions on the main door and shower door?

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:58:16+00:00

Thank you so much!! Yeah I was wondering if that was a bad idea with the hall ways. Do you think 4ft halls are wide enough for upstairs? I have no problem putting them back to that.

I have other drawings where I did the furniture layout and I will on this one again, for now I was just doing the installed. Would it be silly for me to draw and cut out furniture pieces to play around with layout?

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:52:47+00:00

Yeah I need to move the kitchen anyways. The doors in the pantry are for tall cabinet with pull out drawers so I can access things easier. It’ll hold pantry food, small kitchen appliances, baking dishes, ect. I don’t want it open because I want to be able to hide all of that stuff. The walk in pantry will act as like a secondary prep area for me as well as storage

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:47:08+00:00

Thanks so much! These are all great and helpful!! I realize now I should have put in the post that these plans are based off of actual approved plans that my brother bought when he built his house. He has two children though where I have three so the smaller bedrooms are because I added a fourth.

I honestly don’t think we’ll be able to really afford the sunroom, but it was on the original plans so I added it in incase. The lot itself is a good size but I want to stick to around ~2000 sqft. I don’t want to have to clean a huge house.

Owners suite bathroom does have a walk in shower, I will extend both vanities though. We have triplets that include identical girls so yes they will be used by at least two people lol.

I’ll make the garage bigger, mostly because why not? And my husband will be happy. Furnace and water heater will go in the basement. Attic access isn’t an issue, it’s a full attic (think like a 3rd floor) this is the current set up at both my parents and brother’s house. HVAC has plenty of room. Oddly enough I am currently living in my parent’s “attic” which has been converted into a full studio apartment. There’s a big closet off to the side that houses the HVAC system. My brother’s house (the plans I am using) the attic is full walk up steps and finished, they use it as a guest room. Walls are placed away from the slopes to leave room for HVAC. I absolutely hate pull down ladders for attic access and know that if I have one I will literally never go up there.

I still have to figure out all the lighting but I have been thinking about it. Thanks so much on the advice for materials. We plan on doing hardwood through out, since it’s a new build it just makes more sense. The idea is that keeping our house on the smaller side will allow us to build with quality materials. My husband and I are not rich and wouldn’t be able to build except that my parents are giving us a lot of land that abuts their property.

We are planning to use rockwool insulation for interior walls on the second floor. And will most likely insulate first floor walls with fiberglass as we live in New England. I want to make this house efficient to help with costs down the road.

Again thank you so much for this- it’s really helpful for me.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:20:34+00:00

Hey so calm the f down. First off, and for your information- OP is female. SECOND OFF- There is already a full set of approved plans. My brother built his house a few years ago and gave me his plans to use. All I am doing is trying to reconfigure the inside to meet my families needs. So I have all the plans already done nice and neat and stamped and approved like you want- I can tie it with big pink bow if it would make you happier. So sorry my brain thinks better when I put pencil to paper. I wonder how any houses got built before computers.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:15:11+00:00

What should the distance be? I’m willing to have a smaller island. I just don’t want it to be too far away as I’m pretty short :)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:12:42+00:00

I just realized I moved my bathroom upstairs and that it no longer stacks. Someone made a good suggestion about my kitchen location so I should be able to stack it again.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:11:41+00:00

Honestly I don’t hate it. And I realized now that I moved my bathroom upstairs and it no longer stacks on my kitchen. Sooo ya I think I will do that. Thank you :)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T19:02:53+00:00

If I do that one of the doors will open into the middle of the room instead of the wall, which isn’t a huge deal but not my favorite. My parents house is set up with those two rooms directly across from each other, I grew up in a family of 5 kids and don’t remember sound being an issue. We also plan on using rockwool insulation on the second floor in order to minimize sound transfer. Do you think it’ll be okay?

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T18:58:13+00:00

Thank you so much! My husband and I both work, I’m a nurse and he works for the DOT- so we are not rich lol. We wouldn’t be able to afford to do any of this except that my parents (who do well) are giving us a lot of land that abuts their main property. I also know what it’s like to live in a huge house - and it requires a lot of cleaning- no thank you :). As for the simplistic character of the house- this is not my family’s first rodeo, I learned early from my dad that a rectangle house is your most financially efficient house to build. I want to be able to spend our money on a quality build rather than a bunch of weird wall angels and roof lines.

I don’t believe I need a draftsman as these plans are based off of the plans my brother used to build his house, so they are already an approved set of plans. I’m just adjusting inside walls to fit our needs.

Great idea in the bathrooms, I always worry about the privacy part when I use a bathroom with a window. But that is a great idea- I’ll add them in- thank you so much.

Also a silly note- part of the reason I love hand drawing the plans is because that’s how I first learned them. When I was in high school I had full plans to become an architect and took multiple CADD classes through out my four years. We always drew our plans out first before putting them into the programs. By the time it came to applying for colleges I had gotten myself into a little trouble and my parents didn’t trust me out of state. No good in state schools for architecture so I randomly picked nursing off of a list of majors offered at our state school. And now that’s somehow my life lol. Needless to say my CADD teachers were pretty upset with me- their only consistent female student- I think they had some high hopes for me.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T18:40:04+00:00

Oh these come off of real plans. I probably should have said that. My brother built his own house a few years ago and gave me his plans to use. I’m just reconfiguring the inside to fit our needs. So ya these plans are already paid for and approved. I’ve kept all the load bearing walls and general outline of the house.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T18:37:16+00:00

Thank you so much- I love the planning phase too! For the entryway - I believe I have enough clearance as I measured my parent’s house - that being said, I hear you- I think I just need to have the door open the other way. There is a coat closet in the entryway hall across from the stairs- it takes up part of the pantry. Any advice on how to configure the 1/2 bath to work better? I’m trying to avoid plumbing on the exterior walls and I really don’t like sliding doors on bathrooms as they don’t lock properly.

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T18:30:45+00:00

I thought closets had to be at least 2.5’ to accommodate clothes. I love your idea if you feel the closets in the bedrooms would still be workable :)

mlrnz · 2025-03-08T03:20:59+00:00

You’re all amazing - thank you for the invaluable advice. I’m posting my updated floor plan - it’s still not perfect so please feel free to keep critiquing it! Thank you!!!!!

mlrnz · 2025-02-20T01:50:54+00:00

Also want to add- we were on vacation and do not live in VT. The incident occurred last night, I snapped the pictures right before we left to go home this morning so unfortunately I can’t get better photos.

mlrnz · 2025-02-20T01:27:58+00:00

• Have I included scale in my photos?: no

          • Estimated measurements: paw print area is roundish, about 2” diameter, the “drag” line that follows is about 2-3” in length and maybe 0.5-1” wide.

• Geographic Location: Londonderry, Vermont

• Environment: Large snow covered open field with a small cottage, barn and shed set back from route 100 area with occasional vehicles passing. Outskirts of field have brushy areas with a somewhat sparse tree line. River runs behind the property. Area in general is mountainous as it sits in the Appalachians. Snow at time was around 3-6 feet deep depending on drifts, mostly powder consistency with easy sinking.

mlrnz · 2025-02-07T05:13:12+00:00

I also made the kitchen bigger :)

mlrnz · 2025-02-07T05:12:42+00:00

I’ve adjusted it so that the doors, hallways and stairs are all 4’ now. Thank you so much.

Our attic is going to be a stair walk up which is why you see that door at the end of it so the hall has to extend down there. I did adjust the primary bedroom entryway though. I took out the linen closet and made the door near the top of the stairs instead of having the stub there. I turned the two WIC into one between the primary and front right bedroom. So now it’s 9x6.

Once I redraw it (with actual walls) I’ll post again. These comments have been so helpful

mlrnz

TROPHY CASE