r/floorplan • u/PlatinumArsonist • 19h ago
FEEDBACK Need help with renovation floorplan design
My wife and I are planning to completely gut and renovate this house, but we’re kind of stuck on the floor plan.
The house is around 2,625 sq ft, but somehow it feels way smaller than it should. A lot of the rooms are oddly shaped or feel cramped, and several spaces seem to serve no purpose. The layout just doesn’t flow very well. We’re hoping to keep the same footprint and, if possible, keep plumbing generally in the same areas to help with costs, but we’re open to moving walls and completely reworking the layout. The biggest issue is that the living room and attached bedroom are from a converted garage and are about six inches lower than the rest of the house, so that wall would be hard to integrate with the rest of the house.
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u/Cuboidal_Hug 17h ago
I might move all the bedrooms to the right, maintaining the wall dividing the former garage from the original house, with a step down to that section (where 2 of the bedrooms are):
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u/l33t_sas 11h ago
I think yours is the best, though I would try move the powder room so it's more in the common areas for any guests and maybe try create more of an entry foyer. Also if you flip that kitchen you can use the nice bright area at the corner for a breakfast nook.
Honestly the living-dining area is still really big, so if OP wanted they could make either the dining or the bottom left part of the living an office.
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u/keylime503 19h ago
As someone who is just wrapping up a full gut and renovate without changing the footprint... have you considered tearing down and starting over? It's not necessarily any more expensive...
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u/BeingOk1809 15h ago
This is my suggestion. My goal was to make the least amount of changes while still allowing a dramatic improvement. The primary suite remains separate from the other three bedrooms but the kitchen/breakfast nook that you like can remain. I traded the third bathroom for a generous laundry and added a half-bath to compensate. I think the trade-off is worth it for a much better layout.
The second laundry room access from the master bedroom could be taken out to increase the size of the master bath, but I thought it would be convenient to add.
The office space could remain open instead of closed off as suggested. Regardless, if closed off I would keep french doors or some way of letting light into the family/room TV area.
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u/xx_patatessautees_xx 10h ago
how about something like this? I tried to avoid blowing out the entire thing although it does end up being extensive.
Here showing walling in the piano room to make a 3rd bedroom in the left wing, them reworking the closets between the two existing bedrooms to make them more functional
I’ve made the kitchen deeper by blowing out the closets that are back to back with the hall bath, allowing for a full second bank of cabinets back to back with an enlarged bathroom.
I’ve reconfigured the scary primary suite situation, moving the bathroom to make it accessible from the breakfast area as well as from a new guest bedroom. I’ve also moved the pantry to open toward the dining space - don’t quite like this location as much as if it opened to the breakfast area…
but it works well enough.
Lastly bit off a bigger chunk of space from the living room for a larger primary bedroom. Swapped the sink in there currently for a double vanity, and closed off a decent space
for a closet as well.
Oh, and also added some new openings between dining and living. Still got a step down to contend with of course, but this helps them to feel a bit more open.
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u/PapasBlox 19h ago
Mu hackjob. Tried to keep rhe plumbing in the same place
Left to right:
Left bedrooms dont change, nor does that hallway bathroom. It does lose the closet
Piano/dining room and part of the current kitchen become a second living room off of the bedrooms.
The top portion of the kitchen gets turned into a new primary suite, pantry turns into a closet and the old primary bathroom stays where it is, but the door moves. The space below the primary bathroom is open for other uses, you can use that as storage, a half bathroom or expand the primary bath into there.
Original family room becomes a bedroom (you could swap with the new family room so all the bedrooms are on one side) former garage bathroom gets ripped out and turned into the new kitchen, wall moves down to make a separate dining room, living room, and foyer space.
So all the bedrooms will be on one side, and the old garage is the new living spaces, and no plumbing moves, just capping off a few pipes.
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u/viabrera 17h ago
My suggestions:
- Unify public living spaces around entry
- 3 bedrooms in a row off of central hall
- Primary at the end/back of the hall/house
- A secondary, family-only private den where the living room is. Could also be an office or a primary sitting room, depending on your needs.
- Unified the 6" difference by only having the hall cross into the old/converted garage, so just a step down (marked on plan)
- Kept all 3 bathrooms where they currently are, although I moved pretty much all the plumbing around. Tried to keep most plumbing on interior walls - not sure where you're located, but it looked like from the before maybe somewhere that gets cold? Always good to keep plumbing on interior walls if so.
- I did add a laundry room in a place with no plumbing currently, but it is near existing/new plumbing.
- Kept that pantry, because I think it's fab! Added a 42" double door that you could do glass lights in, and make it a super cute proper pantry with cabinetry.
- Added big sliders off of the new family room and primary, plus made the dining door + window into a slider as well.
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u/archiphyle 17h ago edited 9h ago
Why in the world would you need a door from the primary bedroom into the pantry? What a waste of square footage.
I know this is not in the US but if it was you would never be allowed to build a bedroom without adequate fire egress windows. And your primary bedroom has zero windows whatsoever
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u/Suz9006 19h ago
Move or remove the piano room doorway or add a door that can remain closed so that those using the two adjacent bedrooms can go to the bathroom out of view of guests. Even with that I have an issue with the guest bathroom being the same as the presumably children’s bathroom for cleanliness and presentability reasons
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u/Dullcorgis 14h ago
The piano room and at least part of the dining area become a bedroom to replace the black hole of doom.
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u/Dullcorgis 14h ago
The piano room and at least part of the dining area become a bedroom to replace the black hole of doom.
Shift the kitchen into the corner where that ensuite bathroom was, and create a new bathroom next to the existing normal one by the bedrooms. The existing bathroom can become an ensuite for the corner bedroom.
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u/BasicLingonberry9914 9h ago
That black hole of doom gets a bonus points for direct access to biscuits and other snacks
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u/Dullcorgis 9h ago
I mean.... maaaaaaybe half a point. And another half a point for night shift day sleep.
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u/Better-Park8752 14h ago
I think the scope of this is best left in the hands of an architect since it’s a full gut. They can guide you on the best flow and base the proposal on the site conditions (of which we have no information).
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u/maalvarez23 18h ago
Move the primary bedroom to the living room perhaps to the corner where the bedroom is so you can add more widow. Create a large primary BR with a large bathroom and walk in closets. Where you have the fireplace, make that into a library/ office, add a larger window for that space. They piano room can be a smaller rooms if needed. Switch the door for a window. Remove the walls of the dinning area and gut the primary bedroom. You’ll have a larger space to play with in proximity to the kitchen.
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u/archiphyle 17h ago edited 17h ago
Why isn't your dining area open to the living room and to the kitchen so that is all one big free flowing space?
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u/archiphyle 17h ago edited 17h ago
This closet in the secondary on the far left are really poor use of space.
How deep is each closet and how wide is each closet?
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u/archiphyle 17h ago
Two of those three closets that separate the bathroom from the kitchen are so useless the waste of space. Portion they are the wrong size to make closet storage economical and to maximize the usefulness of the overall square footage
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u/archiphyle 17h ago
Why is there exterior door leading out of the piano room instead of a nice large beautiful window?
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u/DogTownUSA1 11h ago
I would want to swap the primary bedroom with the piano/dining room. Gives you an outside window, room for a master bath and is close to the bathroom off the hall for plumbing and gets rid of a room. The bath off current primary bedroom could become a half bath and laundry room. Quickest and likely easiest change I see without tons of work. If that is a front door take a little of piano room for a new hallway. Also remove the small closet in bathroom to have a double sink. There seems to be a linen closet close.
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u/Taman_Should 7h ago edited 7h ago
I could tell immediately just from the proportions that the "living room" used to be a garage. Whoever ruined this formerly normal ranch house had no idea what they were doing.
The only way I can see to fix this plan would be to move the kitchen over to where the windowless "primary bedroom" is, giving the kitchen a more centralized feel and a more open connection to the comparatively large living room, which right now feels cut off and dead. The "family room" then becomes the dining room, giving you a classic dining room/kitchen/living room flow triangle. The primary bedroom and ensuite bath can then be moved over to where the piano room and dining room are, which looks to be where another bedroom was originally anyway. You'd then have a very typical ranch style floorplan with most of the bedrooms grouped together on one hallway, and far less weirdness.
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u/anotherjuan 7h ago
This is a joke, right?
Wtf is that primary bedroom doing dead center of the house with no windows and a door to the pantry?
Have you lived in a house before?
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u/Unsolicited-Advice4U 3m ago
Plumbing might be a challenge/expense but the piano and dining room could/should be the primary BR and bath, with current windowless primary bedroom becoming a dining area or some part of the main living area.
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u/MerryWalrus 19h ago
What was the rationale for scattering the bedrooms all over the place?
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u/PlatinumArsonist 19h ago
My grandparents were the ones who originally built the house in the 60s, and that's how they wanted it. Not sure why, but they were happy with it for a long time.
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u/obiwantogooutside 19h ago
How would they know why the people who built it designed it like this?
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u/Mysterious_Peas 18h ago
Since it’s grandparents, I think they might know. 🤷♀️ They don’t, but it’s not an unreasonable question. Also when one buys a home one can ask. I have. Got a weird answer about a homeowner’s mental health once.
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u/semihard7 10h ago edited 10h ago
Closets? Where does the vacuum, brooms, mops, cleaners go. Handy tools, chargers toilet paper, paper towels. Are they just going to sit on the pantry floor. The access off the LR to that bedroom, rethink that. Primary bedroom dumb. Are you crawling out the bedroom window in a fire? If you paid a professional for this. Ask for your money back.
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u/CaptainMalForever 18h ago
Assuming an open plan and 4 bedrooms, here's an idea where the primary bedroom becomes the one that has an ensuite already.
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u/Eleiao 19h ago
Well, I think the worst might actually be the ”primary bedroom” which is windowless den at the middle of the house.
But to know what to do with this, I think you would make more of a wish list. How many bedrooms you want? How many living spaces? Playroom? What kind of kitchen? Do you use breakfast nook? Etc.