I’m Like A Kid In A Candy Store
Y’all, over the last couple of days, I have had such a hard time focusing on anything other than our new floor plan. I was so excited about it, and so anxious to move forward full steam ahead, that I started making phone calls on Friday.
If you missed the details of our new floor plan, you can check that out here: Here’s Our New Floor Plan! (And The Order In Which We Will Do These Projects)
First, I called the guy who will take up the floor and subfloor in the home gym (soon to be our new master bedroom) and replace. He has done a lot of work on our house in the past, and I trust his work. He answered the phone, but was on his way out of town for the week and won’t be back until this Friday. And I’m sure they have projects in the works right now, so I have no idea when they can actually fit us into the schedule. I’ll have to wait until Friday to find out.
And then I called the contractor to schedule an appointment with him to discuss the kitchen addition. I was able to speak with him, but he was on his way out of town for vacation. So we scheduled a meeting for Tuesday the 30th.
It’s actually really good that they’re both out of town right now because that gives me time to calm down a little, let the “new” and the excitement wear of some, and allow me to approach these projects with a more rational and reasonable mind. Because these last few days, I’ve had just about as much calmness and self-control as a kid set free in a candy store. And we all know that no good decisions can come from that. 😀
I mean, over the last two days, my mind has been all over the place. I started out looking online for prefab buildings for my woodworking workshop that we plan to build in the back yard. I’ll share more details on that later, but for now, I just wanted to get an idea of the size and placement. So I took some spray paint, my tape measure, and a framers square out to the back yard to see what a 16′ x 24′ workshop would look like like behind the carport.
Just in case you can’t see that, I outlined it here…
I put it about 14 feet away from the edge of the carport, which I think is plenty of room to get a vehicle between them if I need to pull the van or a truck up to the workshop to unload plywood or MDF. I’m planning for the workshop to have wide doors on the side that faces the carport. Imagine something like this one from Home Depot, except that I also want a front door on the left side between the two windows….
So if you look on our landscape plan, you can see that concrete area between the carport and the workshop. The landscape plan shows two windows on the carport side of the workshop, but I want that to be big doors that open wide. And then on the side that faces the back yard, I just want a single door instead of double doors.
But I’ll share more details on that later. So from there, my mind went to our future kitchen, and I went onto the IKEA website to start planning our kitchen. It should come as no surprise that I plan to use IKEA Sektion cabinets for our new kitchen. I went from a being a huge skeptic to being a devout believer in IKEA Sektion cabinets during the time I’ve been working on my studio, so I’m already sold on them.
I spent hours and hours planning, arranging, rearranging, etc., working with the floor plan that I showed y’all last Friday. That floor plan looked like this…
And then, based on a comment from a reader that I couldn’t get out of my mind, I changed everything! Again, I won’t go into detail right now, but based on one suggestion from a reader (don’t ever say I don’t listen to my readers! 😀 ), I changed the floor plan and basically turned the kitchen 90 degrees to the left, so that instead of it being long and narrow with the length going towards the back yard, it’s long and not quite so narrow, with the length going side to side behind both the music room and the dining room. Here’s a glimpse. The door on the left is to the deck, and the door on the right is to the laundry room (what is now the pantry).
The new proposed kitchen is basically the same length as the current sunroom, but it’s not as wide. So once the current tiny bathroom and sunroom are torn down, and the new kitchen is added, the overall square footage of our house will go down. Here’s a look at the proposed kitchen overlaid onto our current floor plan as it is now, with the sunroom and bathroom that will be torn down shaded in gray.
But after working on that for a long time, I realized that what I should really be focusing on is designing our closet because that will come first. Again, I plan to use IKEA products, so I’ve been obsessively looking at any and all IKEA Pax wardrobe closets I can find online to get inspiration. And let me just say that after using IKEA’s kitchen planner (which is pretty amazing!), their PAX wardrobe planner is a huge letdown. I struggled and struggled to make changes, move things around, and in the end, I just had this mess…
I mean, what the heck, IKEA!? You can’t tell anything from that! Maybe I’m just not doing it right. But their kitchen planner is so easy to use, and has amazing 2D and 3D views, as well as technical drawings. This Pax wardrobe planner is nothing like it. I’ll probably have to end up just drawing this plan on graph paper. I really like that method anyway because I feel more “connected” to the design when I draw it by hand. And don’t even ask me to explain what I mean by that. 😀 I’m not sure I could articulate it.
So that has been my weekend. I know my mind will calm down eventually (it already feels like it’s calming down some), and I’ll actually be able to think through these projects in a calm and rational way. But over the last weekend, it was all still so new and exciting, and I was so anxious to get things going, that I felt so amped up all weekend, and my mind couldn’t stop racing. It’s been a fun and exciting weekend, but there certainly wasn’t anything relaxing about it. 😀
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I have used an Autocad lookalike called Progecad. I believe they have a free month trial. It might be a little faster than pencil and paper. The buttons and commands are very similar to autocad. I like the try outs, and for my next serious project, I will buy this one.
I’ll look this up! Thank you! I’ve also heard that Sketchup is a good program to use for things like this, but I’ve never tried it out.
I have tried sketchup, but I just could not get the hang of it. I guess if I bought it, it might be easier, but I am reluctant to purchase what I have not tried out.
Hi Kristi,
So Sorry to be a stick in the mud. Wouldn’t it be cost effective to keep your washer and dryer where they are for plumbing and dryer hook up? And make a small laundry room where they are? I am imagining it is going to be costly to turn your pantry into a laundry room. You will already be adding the long wall for the kitchen. Just a thought to go 7 feet wider for your laundry room. I guess that I really am sad that you will loose your pantry that you put so much work into.
Just thinking I wish that I had added5 feet wider when I had the chance.
No, there’s no way that would be more cost effective. The minimum size for a laundry room is 6 x 10. At a construction cost of $230/square foot, that’s $14,000 just for the room, not including cabinets, countertops, decorative stuff, etc. So that would be about $20,000 total, if not a bit more. The place where I want to move it already has plumbing in the wall because it shares a wall with my studio bathroom. There’s no way that adding plumbing and electrical for my dryer will cost $20,000.
I was just wondering if you are on a septic tank. I would hate for you to build too
close to it or even drive over it getting close to your woodworking building
possibly cracking it. Also, is there a possibility to reuse your existing kitchen cabinets
in your new woodworking building?
Love your new designs!
No, we’re not on a septic tank. I love the idea of possibly reusing those cabinets in the workshop! I had just planned to donate them to Restore, but if I can use them and save some money, that’s another possibility. I’ll have to give that some thought!
My one comment on the kitchen has to do with planning. In order to future proof your kitchen, I highly suggest using drawers or pullout shelves in your base cabinets. We remodeled our kitchen two years ago with IKEA cabinets and every base cabinet except one, has drawers or pull out shelves. It has been a game changer in how much I like to cook and the ease at which I do it. You won’t regret it.
Lower drawers are the best. We have the previous IKEA Akurum cabinets, and most of our lowers are drawers. Not only do they hold more than cabs, you pull it out and can see everything at once. So you can put smaller things in them that would not work stored in cabinets.
So many people have told me this! How do you use the one cabinet that isn’t drawers?
I had to have one base cabinet that had a single drawer because a gas line has to be accessible according to code. Whoopee! I have a 9″ cabinet that I can store cookie sheets, etc in net to the stove. (Make sure you put lots of sarcasm in that Whoopee!). All my other base cabinets except corner carousel & sink are all drawers. Most are 2 deep drawers (Cabinets from Cabinets to Go). The big kicker is that the new house is plumbed for gas but everything I’m putting in is electric! I hate traditional 1-door/1-drawer cabinets! Can’t see anything!
Having a ton of tools myself, I don’t think you will be happy with the 16 x 24. My shop is 30 x 40 and there are waaaay too many tools accumulated over the 54 yrs I was married. Try that size but make sure you have room to put a second one besides it with a connecting door. Or better yet, get a steel building estimate before settling for a pre-fab.
YES! On the steel building! We are downsizing to a smaller home, but my husband is ordering his steel building already to store supplies, and his tools. His is 30 X 50, will have large high doors in case we want to store a small RV at some point. He is doing the interior himself with lots of storage areas too. He has done this before for a warehouse for his business. They are wonderful, and it does not take long to get done. Kristi, look into them as well.
We also did all lower drawers for everything in our new kitchen. Saves movements as you grab items from them. Just make sure all drawers are full extension Blum hardware and you’ll be set.
I have all drawers on my lower cabinets including my trash/recycle containers. My cabinet builder advised against doors with rollouts due to the fact your doors with eventually get banged up. He said you might be really careful to make sure your doors are fully open before pulling out rollout but others won’t be.
My cabinets that are not drawers have pull out shelves. I love my drawers but the pullout shelves are adjustable, which works well for storage of my pots and pans, my tall stock pot, appliances such as my blender and large food processor (not enough counter space to keep out) and some flatish but large utensils. Buy enough shelves so you don’t need to stack things or can store with the lids on. (Which is also why I have a lot of shelves in my upper cabinets.
I agree!
AGREE! We have most lowers fitted with pull-out shelving, and I am smitten!
I only wish I’d done the pull out for the corner cabinet, the one that fully comes out of the dead corner. I just went with a fixed shelf, and as a result, The base unit is where things go to die, as I forget they are there!
I totally agree with you. Drawers are a game changer, especially as you get older. I wish all our base cabinets were drawers, but my husband did install the hardware that pulls out, which helps.
I’m excited that you are excited about your changes. Having lived in New England all my life I would have tackled the addition to have it weather tight first then getting my laundry set up so that doesn’t cause a back up in life. Choosing to move the bedroom or putting the kitchen together next is not as important but can be decided for easier life experience. I love that you jump into new opportunities instead of dithering for years over small decisions.
This is a better floor plan.
I’m guessing the change was because of the music room pocket doors. If so, I ‘m so relieved! The thought of the pocket doors being changed for security reasons was very sad. Love the new layout !
Kristi, my mind and eyes must not be functioning together today. I’ve been looking at today’s blog and I am confused on the floor plan for the new kitchen you showed us last Friday…and the one you are showing us today after you decided to turn the kitchen 90 degrees to the left. And then the photo of the tall closets confuses me. I am going to wait until until I understand this all it better before commenting about this part. I know that whatever you choose, and however you do it, will all come into focus for me and I will understand then.
The future workshop plans you have laid out along with the photo from Home Depot on about how it will be looks like it will be perfect. I think you have nailed this project right on target on the size of the building, and the placement distance of it between it and the carport looks like an excellent plan. I am looking forward to see this.
I definitely agree with others on drawers for lower cabinets. So much easier especially for pots and pans
So where does the laundry room go with the kitchen turned? In our old house the laundry was across the whole house, like you’re planning. Most of the landry is made in the bedroom area. We now have laundry near our master, and no more hauling landry across the house. Really the only laundry made in the kitchen is dish and tea towels.
It’s in the same place — the current pantry.
I do like the new layout of the kitchen much better. Great idea anonymous poster. But let me tell you 14 x 24 isn’t nearly big enough. I thought my 24 x 24 sewing room would be big enough. It needs to be twice that size to be big enough. I think you will wish you had it bigger when all is said and done. Have you thought of a drive-through workshop with a garage door on each end so you can unload your truck inside instead of carrying stuff from the truck to the inside of the workshop?
I agree on being able to drive into the building. That’s how my 1200 sq ft shop is. I only have one drive door but I can back into it and unload stuff that it took two men to load. My secret? I have a “wanna be Hoyer lift”. I got the big engine lift from Harbor freight much cheaper than a Hoyer! LOL Same principle with chains and straps/ropes. Also lots of those little carpeted furniture dollies for moving anything. No lifting for me and easy to push stuff around on wheels. My most desired help would be a portable Gantry crane that I could push around the shop.
I’m excited that you are excited about your new addition. ❤️
You might have covered this in previous post, but I am concerned for you for bringing groceries in. You’ll have to walk through several rooms to get to your kitchen. Is there any way that you can put a side door in your kitchen and enter halfway up the ramp?
As far as the kitchen layout goes, nothing is set in stone yet. So I’ll keep playing around with it until I figure out something that works. I had even thought about turning the pantry (soon to be laundry room) window into a door, but the step down from the door on to the concrete ramp would be 8.5 inches, which exceeds the 7 3/4 inches that the building code allows on an exterior door. And there’s no way to add a step without taking up valuable room on the concrete wheelchair ramp outside. But I’ll figure it out! I might even call in reinforcements from someone who specializes in kitchen design if I can’t figure it out.
Gotta love that new project excitement feeling!!
A couple of comments on the kitchen design. The newest version has the fridge ~11 feet away from the counter top across from it and ~10.5 feet away from the counter by the sink. Those distances are exhausting! Putting an island in the middle isn’t necessarily the answer either b/c then you have to go around it every time you go from stove to fridge
Also, echoing the comment about bringing groceries into the kitchen – the original plan had an entrance into the kitchen but this one it is a trek (and I point out the usefulness of planning for shoes / bags / wet things by any commonly used outside door so any door in the new kitchen doesn’t become a dumping ground)
A suggestion is to visit the kitchen forum on Houzz – post your floor plan and your needs / wants / details on how you cook / Matt’s accessibility / etc to give context. You’ll likely get a lot of feedback, some of it maybe terser in tone than is preferred, but the folks there generally have very useful inputs (including doing all drawers in your lower cabinets)
Looking forward to this project!
I would agree about searching Houzz for input. It was great for our full kitchen remodel. I would also agree about the distances in the work triangle. Before committing to any design, mock it up with painters tape and check those distances between sink, fridge, stove. Your future self will thank you. Bigger isn’t always better…but efficiency and good layout will always win.
Kristi, I really hesitated in making this comment because I am sure you have already thought of this but just in case. Please be sure to put a strong exhaust fan in your workout/closet space. We use to have an exercise bike in our family room and I finally banished it to the garage, Granted my husband is a fanatic, die-hard exerciser and sweated a lot! but you just don’t want your clothes to smell like a gym.
I so look forward to your posts and I am feeling so excited for you. Have fun with this.
Interesting idea to rotate the kitchen. Does that make it harder to get the groceries in the house? I think you’ll enjoy having the windows looking out into your back yard, especially once it’s landscaped.
I would go as big as you can for your workshop. Make sure you take the time to plan where the lumber will be stored, functionality of using all the tools and space requirements. We recently built a studio space for me that was 12×32 (same sq ft as yours) and I’m almost outgrowing it already as I add to my tools/product line. I know you’ve got the amazing studio that will help with your space.
Hi Kristi, Love the crossways kitchen. 21 feet wide seems awfully big for a kitchen, plus you lose the see thru aspect from the front door thru the music room. That is a feature that I have always loved. Could you not shorten the kitchen to allow one door from the music room to outside and one into the kitchen? If you need more space you might consider wrapping the corner of the pantry/laundry, recessing the fridge and using the blind corner as an outdoor closet for garden tools or what have you, a corner like that is also a great place for a water heater accessed from outside. I know you have some time to play with this area. You’re clearly headed in the right direction. I’m sure your finalized plan will be perfect for you and Matt.
I’m with you 100% about hand drawing plans on graph paper! There is something about one’s hand, the pencil, the straightedge and one’s brain that allows ideas to just bubble forth. Computer drawings are just not the same, at least for me. Maybe it’s an old school thing? Anyways, your adjusted plans seem to have opened everything up for you and you’ll just figure it out. Well done working through this bumpy process. Carry on….
Do you feel like an entrance from the carport into the main house could be useful to give you and Matt covered access in rainy situations or to make it easier to bring in groceries? Maybe an entrance into the new kitchen?
I actually just redid the plan so that I have a door to the deck and a door on the carport side. I’ve always hoped to cover the wheelchair ramp someday, so it’ll be good to have the kitchen in place before I decide how to do that.
So happy to see you turned the kitchen this direction! It makes much more sense! I can imagine how excited you are! Will you need an architect to draw the plans? I would surely find a different one, since you never heard from the 1st one!
I will because I’ll need plans to submit to the city for approval and permitting, and I’ve already found one to work with! I spoke with him briefly about the project, so I’ll get back with him after I’ve met with the contractor and played around with the kitchen floor plan a little more to see what floor plan I settle on.
Beware the new Pax cabinets!!! A couple of years ago I bought some Pax cabinets to make a wall of bookcases in my basement. They turned out great: easy for me to move and put together all by myself. So when I wanted a new craft cabinet, I went straight for the Pax cabinets. BUT sadly the old, solid, easy to move/put together cabinets, are now the new flimsy, “folded,” easily damaged cabinets, hard to move/construct by one person. Some of the comments about these new cabinets are brutal. Please read through these comments before you commit to Pax cabinets. If you decide to go with them, I’ll look forward to hearing what you think of them.
Somebody probably mentioned this already but…..how do you plan to bring your groceries into the kitchen? It’s a long walk from carport, via studio, via sitting room etc to kitchen. And walking around the kitchen in bad weather is not much fun either. Thought about a door in the side facing the carport?
The kitchen floor plan above isn’t the final one. I still have a long way to go, and if I can’t figure everything out, I have no problem working with a kitchen designer to help me figure it all out.
I was so excited about the original new floor plan – so now I feel I have to share how much I dislike this suggested rotation of the kitchen. 😉
You lose the beautiful sight line from the front door through the music room out to the deck.
You also lose the sightline from the living room through the dining room to the kitchen door (I sort of took for granted it would be a glass door to make the kitchen double aspect).
You lose the easy access to the deck from the combined social areas.
You lose the feeling of the deck being an big and inviting area to hang out (and the cosy spot for a coffee below the kitchen windows).
You lose the kitchen back door to bring in groceries and hang laundry (if you ever do that outside in Texas; I’m in Sweden so I wouldn’t know).
The new kitchen layout is very unpractical… Lots of empty space with no practical use. I really hope you change it back – but I’m convinced you’ll make it beautiful if you stick with this version!
I agree with you. The sight lines on the first one feel better. We have a house with a nice view. You can see it when you open the front door and I’ve always loved that.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post, but are you removing the area to the left of this new kitchen, behind the MBr? Looks like prime screened porch area to me. Adjacent to the kitchen, it’s perfect for morning coffee, or evening grilling and late summer dining. Honestly our screened porch is our favorite “room” of our home…..and we too are in the south.
The area in gray is the current bathroom and sunroom that will be torn down.
So exciting!! I don’t blame you for being anxious to get started!! So, a little off topic but just a thought, how about adding the laundry room to your bedroom so you don’t have to carry your clothes through the house?
It seems more convenient to me to have the laundry room on the side of the house where I actually spend most of my time during the day since I do laundry during the day. I’m only in the bedroom in early morning and then late at night, so having to trek from my studio or workshop, across the house, and into the bedroom, to swap loads of laundry or get stuff out of the dryer doesn’t seem convenient at all.
Kristi, as a 75 year old my main concern is you new place for laundry. Its way to far from the bed and bath. You would regret the distance eventually. Just a suggestion to think about.
Love the new plans overall.
I just mentioned this above, but it seems more convenient to me to have the laundry room on the side of the house where I actually spend most of my time during the day since I do laundry during the day. I’m only in the bedroom in early morning and then late at night, so having to trek from my studio or workshop, across the house, and into the bedroom, to swap loads of laundry or get stuff out of the dryer doesn’t seem convenient at all. I can always get a rolling laundry cart to take laundry to the bedroom and closet once things are folded.
It will be a wonderful thing for you to have this lovely larger kitchen. It will bring you joy every day.
I have a concern about the removal of a dedicated exercise room and storage closet for the Hoyer lift and shower chair.
To put all three purposes into one small room – clothes closet, exercise room, and medical equipment storage space – I think will be a choice that will not work well for you.
For one, think about the added humidity, both from perspiring exercisers and from the damp shower chair and maybe the damp sling of the Hoyer lift. This extra humidity is really not good for clothes or shoes.
Also, it is concerning that you might be very cramped for space. When you or Matt want to exercise, you will have to park the accessibility equipment, either by shoving it up against the closets or pushing it out into the bedroom. And when you need to choose your clothes after your shower, will there be the room in there to step back and look at your outfits? Sure you won’t be backing up over a shower chair?
I just hope that you use this extra time to really thoroughly consider each function you need to meet and exactly where is best to meet that.
Question: Are you sure the IKEA cabinets are deep enough and wide enough to better use your dishes, pots and pans? You don’t want cabinets like you have now, I know. Will it cost less to add on a kitchen, patio, and workshop than the original addition? $270.00 is completely crazy as you decided. I like the rotated kitchen much better because it doesn’t stick out as far in the back. I do hope you get the workshop because you deserve it so much. I know you are excited but I’m glad you have to take a deep breath so you can honestly think about all this a while longer.
Have a good week.
This might’ve been covered/discovered but shift the deck exterior door in the kitchen closer to the corner to eliminate a corner cabinet. And maybe mirror (if possible/desired) for a direct kitchen entrance to eliminate the other corner cabinet.
I am installing Pax in our primary closet right now. Sure was a nice surprise to find that they sent me the new Pax system that everyone is calling Pax 2.0 Apparently they reinvented everything and put this out about 6 months ago. I am a 60 year old lady and can build a tower in this super-easy system in less than 10 minutes. You will love this new system. Even the back board is already permanently attached. And no more of those cam screws. Big improvements!