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For porches to be useful twelve feet is almost minimum. You'd probably like to have some seating of some sort on your lanai with some tables and such. Generally you'd also like some room to walk around so twelve feet makes for room enough. If the seating is built in then a narrow lanai can be made to function better but it is still not as useful as a wide enough one. Fourteen to sixteen feet wide is better. Eighteen feet wide is very roomy. Once you get to twenty to twenty four feet wide then you start needing multiple sets of lanai furniture but you'd also have room for huge parties.
Lanais do add fairly inexpensive square footage to a house since it is generally just a floor and roof with perhaps a railing and the materials aren't usually as fancy as the interior house portions. They are also a nice transition between interior and exterior spaces and folks around here spend a lot of time outside. Covered lanais are also a great place to be "outside" yet out of the rain.
If you have a tendency to fill a house with excess junk then build a warehouse of some type as part of the project. Perhaps under the house storage areas, or huge closets or even a separate storage building. If there is a storage place to put excess stuff then you can live an uncluttered and easy to clean life.
Each house should be built to serve the needs of the folks who will occupy it. I once noodled out a rough plan of a "perfect" house for me and my DH and it had a twelve car garage for my DH and four sinks in the kitchen with an interior garden area for me. It wasn't anything we would ever build, though, but it was fun to plot out. Hmm, come to think of it, there should have been a barn in there somewhere, too. Oh wellos! It sure wouldn't fit on our lot.
That's another good starting point for a set of plans. They should address the needs of the folks who will live in it AND they should be set to a specific lot. Each building lot is different and the folks living in the houses are different so each set of plans should match the peoples needs and enhance the characteristics of the lot.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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Cat makes a great point that the house should be designed for the occupant. I once read that when downsizing, which we will be doing, start your plans by evaluating the space you live in now. Note which rooms get the most activity, most hours of the day! Here office, kitchen, den, front and back decks, bedrooms and bath. We seldom use the dinning room or the formal living room, or 2 extra bedrooms (well except for an occasional guest and for storage!! LOL).
Also thinking ahead at that time in life when mobility may be a challenge, so some 36" doorways to at least one bedroom, and also entrances, and roll in shower. Go from there that's what we will do.
Good luck Oink think you/ve got a good start going for you!
mella l
mella l
Art and Science
bytheSEA
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Not sure why I did it, but I decided to list the requirements we wanted in our house before attempting to draw it, structural things like, no hallway, 3 ft overhang, and functional things like rollin showers, support in home care in dotage.... I then attempted to evaluate the pros vs cons of these requirements. When we did start drawing it was easy to evaluate against the list. New items were added and some items changed or removed, but in the end we knew that the house we designed met our requirements.
How wide is that long hallway? Where doit go? No access to laundry from inside of house?
You having fun?
David
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David,
The hall is 4' wide in the current incarnation. It goes to the exterior door that leads to the breezeway to the carport. I had neglected to draw in the interior door to the laundry. I'm trying to get the shower to be a roll-in. I'm having issues with that area of the plan. For the entrance to the "Den" and the entrance to the "Parlor", I'm trying to figure a way to have them normally open but able to close off, but leave a normal size opening door when the room partitions are closed. I'm having trouble with that too. When all partitions are open, rather than Den, Living/Dining, and Parlor, those rooms probably would be more properly labeled as a Great Room. Below is a slightly altered (hopefully improved) version. For some reason doors to the master Bedroom and closet aren't really visible on the image. I may try and delete them and then reinsert them to see if they become visible again.
Thanks for the comments and keep them coming.
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/bldhd/HPP5.jpg
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Posts: 6,214
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Joined: Feb 2006
If you do not need the linen closet next to the Master bath shower, why not make that whole area a wide shower of 4 to 5 foot. The corner showers are only great if that is the space you have (used to have to use one whie diving in an aquarium, hard to get a wet suit off in those corner models....and definately only for one person - not alot of elbow room). The new 5' showers with built in seats are really nice. You don't have a closet door... I would take out some of the hallway areas (esp around the master bed/bath), unless you like halls. They are expensive sq. footage with no use if you don't need them (unless you like halls, then they have a use). The master closet has a sq corner into the bath (with no door into the closet). You can angle off that corner to give more wiggle room in the bath.
The other area is the laundry & bath area. You have a lot of doors there. You could combine the laundry & bath (both have blank walls on one side).
Another sep. idea. I am guessing that the back hall goes out to the car area (based on the exterior closets). You could have your mud room hall/laundry out to the car area & save walking around to the mud room sink....move things around & you can gain footage in the den, or even have enough sq ft to add a 1/2 bath....
This is the time to have fun.... you can even build scrap cardboard mock ups & see what you like, just like when you were a kid!
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oink, I love your floorplan! I also appreciate the link to floorplanner. I decided to give it a try myself and here is what I came up with http://www.floorplanner.com/5yssg8/Floor+plan/hawaii
I too would appreciate any feedback from you and whomever wants to chime in. Keep in mind that I am a girl (reason for all of the flowers [  ] [:X] ) and this is my first try. I know that the rooms are not the right size, the stairs are just as big as the bedroom, LOL. I have not figured that part out yet. In the master bath I tried to do a walk in shower and that looks a bit odd too. Any input would be appreciated!! Thanks!
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Oops. I also failed to mention that it would be post and pier, maybe about 8' up, with a wrap around lanai.
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Oink
Have you considered pocket doors? Double pocket doors could give you at least 6 ft opening.
Don't like solid, use a 15 (3x5) glass panel type
David
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runnergirl,
how about moving your sink to where your tub is, tub to where your sink is and an window in the restroom over the sink.
you'll get airflow and natural sunlight!
peace
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Carey,
I'm currently trying to incorperate some of your suggestions. Not much luck so far. I don't have great desire for halls but it seems no matter what I do I end up with the equivilent of a hall. I like the idea of relocating the laundry exterior door and letting it double as the carport side entry, if I can make it work. The 2 outside closets are the AC and water heater closets, so they have to exist somewhere. I'm trying to move the "Den" closet accross the room to the 2nd bathroom side, if I can make it work. I was hoping the space recovered by eliminating the extra entry at the laundry room would enable that, but it hasn't worked yet. Moving the "Den" closet would enable the "Master Bath" shower expansion. A linen closet is needed in the Master Bath somewhere. The little hallway leading to the "Master Bed" and "Master Bath" is necessary for when there are house guests and all partitioins are closed. That enables the "Master Bath" to function more properly as a common bath while retaining the privacy for the master bedroom.
David,
Yes, I am considering pocket doors. They don't quite provide the result I was desiring but they very well may be a necssary concession due to the expense of the doors I would really like.
Thanks for the comments. Hopefully I will eventually get to the point where I can turn it over to a pro.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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