Matt Actually Has Strong Options About These Two Decisions
Alright, y’all. You’ve already been warned that if you don’t like playing around with floor plans and considering all fo the possibilities, you might want to just take a break from the blog and check back in a week or so. By then, I’ll probably have all of the decisions worked out, my studio finished, and be moving on to projects for our new bedroom. Also, my workshop build is scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday. Woohoo!
But for now, I still have things to discuss about our floor plan and the possibilities. This past weekend, I sat down with Matt and just laid it all out on the table for him. I wanted him to understand all of the possibilities and the decisions that needed to be made, and give him an opportunity to ask any and all questions. I wanted to see if he had any opinions at all about the direction of our house, how each area could and would be used, and see if he saw any accessibility issues with any potential plans or possibilities.
At first, it didn’t seem like he had any strong opinions. But after talking for a bit, he actually did start to express some strong opinions about a couple of things. I was shocked! The two things he expressed strong opinions about were (1) how to use the guest bedroom once we’re moved out of it and into our new bedroom, and (2) where to put our new workout area.
As far as the new workout area, Matt wants to build a small room at the back of our bathroom. And regarding the guest bedroom, he really likes the idea of it being a combo laundry room and closet. So here’s what we’re looking at…
The room at the back of the bathroom wouldn’t need to be huge. It just needs to accommodate a few pieces of exercise equipment, but I’d also like it to be filled with windows like a little sunroom. I love this idea because it would remove the exterior door from our bathroom. I was willing to live with that exterior door in the bathroom if I had to, but it does feel kind of awkward to have an exterior door in the bathroom. But if we add on a little sunroom/workout room, that room will obviously have the exterior door, and the door in the bathroom will be a pocket door that matches the pocket door into the bedroom, which was the plan all along.
And then, as far as the laundry room and closet, he wants it all kept as one big room. I discussed the possibility of building a wall and separating it into a closet area at the front of the house, accessible from the bedroom, and turning the back half of the room into a laundry room, accessible from the hallway. He didn’t like that at all. He wants it all one big room, which is fine with me. Since he has a strong opinion about it, and I could have been happy with it either way, we’ll keep it one big room.
What he didn’t have a strong opinion (or any input) about is the hallway bathroom. So I’m still contemplating what to do about that. But as you can see on the floor plan above, I’m seriously considering removing that bathroom, and expanding the studio bathroom so that it’s a guest bathroom that takes up some of the current pantry area. That would leave me with a much larger guest bathroom, and a much smaller (but still a good size) pantry.
I don’t know that that would be the exact arrangement of that bathroom, but it would be a full bathroom to include a shower and/or a bathtub. That way, my studio could easily be used as a guest bedroom if and when needed, and our guest(s) could have a private full bathroom.
And that would leave the current hallway bathroom free for us to use as storage. That would be very helpful because the one thing I’m still missing is storage for Matt’s shower wheelchair, Hoyer lift, etc. That small bathroom area would be perfect for that. And if we do that, it would also turn that entire side of the house past the cased opening in the music room into a master suite. I love that idea.
So the plans are coming along. I was so glad to have Matt’s input. At least two decisions were made much easier for me knowing that he actually did have a strong opinion about them. Getting those opinions out of him wasn’t easy, and it took quite a bit of coaxing, but once he made his decisions, he was very set on them. I’m very happy with those decisions, and if I can just get the bathroom situation settled in my mind, we’ll have a complete and finalized plan.
UDPATE: Just a word about turning our hallway bathroom into a laundry room…
I did consider this option, but there are several reasons I decided not to go this direction. When it comes right down to it, I don’t see any benefit at all (neither for me, nor for a future owner) in that option.
First, I love the idea of my laundry room being in a big, spacious room, rather than tucked away in a tiny room. Second, I don’t love seeing Matt’s equipment sitting around when it’s not in use. If given an option, I’d rather not have it in my pretty closet area or my pretty laundry room. And since there’s a small room available where it could be stored when not in use, it just makes sense to me.
So it’s definitely beneficial for me to put the laundry room in the bedroom, and turn the hallway bathroom into a storage area. So is there any benefit to a future owner for me to turn the hallway bathroom into a laundry room? Not really.
If I turn the hallway bathroom into a laundry room, and the bedroom into a huge closet/storage area, and then a future owner wants to turn that closet/storage area back into a guest bedroom, that leaves a guest bedroom with no conveniently accessible bathroom. So their only option would be to turn that laundry room back into a guest bathroom. And then they’ll have to find a new place for a laundry room.
So the situation for a future owner is the same regardless of what I do now. If I put the laundry where I want it (in the big room) and turn the small bathroom into a storage room, and then a future owner wants to turn that room back into a guest bedroom, they have to turn the storage room back into a bathroom and find a place for a laundry room. If I turn the bathroom into a laundry room and the bedroom into a closet/storage area, and a future owner wants that room to be a guest bedroom, they have to turn the laundry room back into a guest bedroom and find a place for a laundry room. They’re in the same situation either way I go. Regardless of what I do now, if they want that large room to be a bedroom, they’ll be turning the small room back into a bathroom, and having to find a new place for a laundry room. So I’d rather make the decision that I prefer for my own benefit while this house is ours. And my choice would be the big laundry room/closet combo, and tucking Matt’s equipment away into it’s own small storage area.
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.
You have a guest bathroom, but no guest room?
It’s the bathroom company uses when they come in for dinner or her church gatherings.
I love everything about it. Great point about being able to set up a bed in the studio if needed and have a private guest suite in an instant. I’ve been looking at the bed cabinets on wheels and they get so small and can be wheeled exactly where you need them. Many can even be folded back into the cabinet with a mattress topper for extra comfort. And you’d still have a nice pantry space for even more storage!
Wow thanks for sharing this info Kate. I didn’t know about the bed cabinets. Will definitely look into them for our home too!
Have you considered having the laundry off the kitchen – perhaps with a pocket door into the enlarged full bath? Maybe with a utility sink, as well, for workshop cleanup. All the plumbing together, and access from two directions into the bathroom – especially if you’re eliminating the hall bath.
The laundry by the kitchen was my original plan. I’ve moved away from that idea to the current one.
I really like everything you are doing … making the old bedroom and closet/laundry combo, expanding the studio bathroom to a full bath (by expanding into the current pantry you will still have room for a good size pantry) and adding the workout room to the back of the master bath. My only suggestion would be to leave the hallway bath alone (you can never have too many bathrooms) and either make the workout room a little bigger to store the equipment or just keep the shower chair in the shower, the Hoyer lift in the corner of the bedroom and the wheelchair tucked in a corner of the closet. With the first option, it should be easy to move his equipment thru the bathroom to the bedroom. With the second option there is little moving equipment around, the Hoyer lift is used most days so keeping it in the bedroom makes sense to me; I think if folds up pretty flat so it could fit in a corner, the shower chair could stay in the corner of the shower and you could tuck the wheelchair in the closet/laundry room. I like this plan because you wouldn’t have to be moving equipment frequently. But I think you will hate this plan because you won’t like having the equipment out all the time and it will affect how you will decorate the bedroom and honestly, I don’t know if I would want the equipment out all the time but then I can be lazy and would probably get tired of putting it up and getting it out again. Looking forward to the final plan and what works for you and Matt because all that matters in the long run is how it functions for you and Matt.
I like the new plan, and especially with Matt being on board with it. Things will move along quickly now. Can’t wait to see the new plans. We have plans for a “full” bathroom in our basement and I have it set as a corner toilet, corner sink, and of course a corner shower. I don’t have a lot of space to use down there, so the corners were it, and it really works well on paper and masking tape on the floor. I’ll let you know how it comes along in reality.
Cheers to you both!
Here’s my two cents! I would keep your perfectly good bathroom and put the storage closet in the new workout space. It seems like a hassle to bring all that equipment out of the bedroom and bathroom into the hallway and into the storage closet. The new workout area would be just outside the bathroom and more convenient to place the equipment. Having three bathrooms is a win-win in my opinion.
Just a thought. Could you put a pocket door to the guest bathroom in the music room? You would then close off the hall entrance, at that point you would have use of the whole hallway to include in the master “wing” . Replace the tub with a shower.
Keep the pantry/ laundry-off the kitchen. Love the workout room off the master bathroom, and add your storage there
I think the workout space off the back bathroom door, reducing the size of the back deck, is a great idea (in fact, in one of my earlier follow-up comments, I had proposed just that solution). I never understood having a back outer door from the bathroom. I do have one question, though, which I’ve asked before: the plan shows what look to be French doors leading outside from the new bedroom, at the front of the house. Couldn’t you bump out that wall (or add a space onto it) to create either a storage space for Matt’s equipment there, or to move your sitting area out to create room to put the closet door in the bedroom instead of the hallway?
I keep coming back to that idea in my head every time I look at the floor plan, too: Why not extend the future master bedroom at the front of the house to gain more storeroom which is apparently really useful for Matt’s equipment? O would that disturb the outside look of the house too much?
It certainly seems to make sense to you and me to square out the front of the house where the new master bedroom is, but apparently not to anybody else since we’re not generating any replies. The front of the house off the new master bedroom is already very strange as depicted in the plan with those doors leading outside to nowhere. That spot is currently a window, so if it becomes doors, some kind of threshold and leveling to make it even with the ground outside would have to be done anyway. Instead, why not bump out that wall, get rid of those doors to nowhere, and use that extra space either in the bedroom or as Matt’s equipment storage?
Since you already have all the plumbing in place, have you considered making the guest bathroom into the laundry room? A sunny window there would be amazing. Then maybe carve out space in the master closet for storage.
I did consider it, but I don’t see any benefit in it. I’d much rather have my laundry room in a big, spacious room, than have it crammed into a tiny former bathroom. And I don’t like Matt’s equipment in the way (or visible all the time), so it makes sense to have that in its own separate storage area.
Dear Kristi,
Couldn’t Matt’s equipment be stored in the future closet that is now the guest bedroom/your bedroom? It might be time to consider a ceiling mounted track/lift for the bedroom so you could eliminate the Hoyer lift in that location.
I think the current guest bathroom would make a really nice laundry room.
I think Matt has some really great ideas. I think the workout space on the other side of the master bathroom is ideal.
It’s all coming together! I’m happy and excited for you both!!!
YHWH Bless You : )
While I love the idea of using the guest bathroom as a laundry room, when it comes down to it, it just isn’t all that practical. Primarily because of venting of the dryer. We don’t use our dryer much for our clothes (we have a hanging rod), we do use it for towels and sheets. In our previous home, our laundry room was on the second floor (I won’t go into all the issues that we had with that arrangment) but an issue was the venting that had to come out through the roof. It can cause problems. https://homeinspectioninsider.com/roof-dryer-vent/ I much prefer our laundry room now, in a different house on the first floor, which vents the dryer straight back to the backside of our house.
Just a thought… I understand the mindset of not decorating or designing a home with resale in mind but (hear me out) I want to suggest moving the laundry room to your current bathroom instead of in the second bedroom. This frees up the second bedroom to accommodate both your clothing closet and storage needs while still leaving the second bedroom easily recovenverted to a second bedroom…one day if needed!
100% agree but mostly because plumbing connections are already there!
I did consider that, but there are several reasons I decided not to go that direction. First, I love the idea of my laundry room being in a big, spacious room, rather than in a tiny room. But also, I don’t see any benefit in that, neither for me, nor for any future owner. If I turn the bathroom into a laundry room, and the bedroom into a huge closet/storage area, and then a future owner wants to turn that room back into a guest bedroom, that leaves a guest bedroom with no conveniently accessible bathroom. So their only option would be to turn that laundry room back into a guest bathroom, and then find a place for the laundry room. So the situation for a future owner is the same either way. If I put the laundry where I want it (in the big room) and turn the small bathroom into a storage room, and then a future owner wants to turn that room back into a guest bedroom, they have to turn the storage room back into a bathroom and find a place for a laundry room. If I turn the bathroom into a laundry room and the bedroom into a closet/storage area, and a future owner wants that room to be a guest bedroom, they have to turn the laundry room back into a guest bedroom and find a place for a laundry room. They’re in the same situation either way I go, so I’d rather make the decision that I prefer for my own benefit while this house is ours.
Have you considered asking Matt’s Occupational Therapist for accessibility suggestions? A lot of us have specialized training for just such things.
I would not stress about what your future plans are for the bathroom as it sounds like you have a lot to do before that decision would need to be made. In that time things can change and might influence how you might utilize that space.
I love the guest bathroom in the studio. What about moving the opening, or adding another door, actually in the studio where the paint swatch cabinet sits now? It would make for much easier access and feel less like one is walking to Narnia to get to the loo. I know it’s probably actually just a couple of steps, but given that it’s a couple of steps AND around a corner it can feel like someone is exploring the bowels of your house when they’re just trying to find the bathroom!
The workout room as a sunroom…you live in Texas, is that actually practical? Will your A/C be able to keep that room at a comfortable temperature for Matt to exercise?
I really like the idea of a sunroom/workout room off the bathroom. It would be so easy to go from your workout to the shower. Just one more idea that popped into my head this morning. You currently have a walled-off, former master bathroom that I think we all forget about. What if you made that into your laundry room? I know you tapped off the plumbing and I don’t know what it would take to re-attach that, but that might be a good place to put it, especially if you have a small addition right next to it. I originally envisioned a small hallway from your current exterior bathroom door to the old bathroom, but that was before reading this post. I love reading your thought process as I find floor plans facinating. Happy planning.
Love the idea of the workout room being off of the primary bath!! no workout smells in your closet and much more motivating to work out in full sunlight – how wonderful.
Kristi, What is your potential for severe weather in Waco? We are not in tornado alley in Arkansas, but we had doozies the end of May with terrible destruction. I sure wish we had built a safe room/closet when we added on 20 plus years ago. (My sister, who lives where more tornadoes barrel through, made her pantry the safe room when she built her house 5 years ago.) Since you have the opportunity, you might consider using your new added on exercise room (or another space set for remodel) for a safe room for you both to hunker down. Just a thought if you have severe weather.
Hall bath is interior, would be good for safety. .
Consider laundry at window end of closet. 1. Noise should Matt asleep or I’ll. 2. Venting, humidity control. Possibly noise insulation. Looking good.
Good points!!! When I had small children, I was doing laundry all. the. time. Our last house had the laundry room on the second floor, near the bedrooms. While convenient, it was noisy — and the front-loader washing machine rocked the house. We had known there were possible issues while building the house, so we asked the builder to add a layer of sound-proofing (walls) and had asked for reinforced joists. While the noise and shaking were not eliminated entirely, I was shocked when I experienced my neighbor’s upstairs laundry situation when there were no precautions taken. And we all had to have professional vent cleaning because of the lint build-up through the dryer vents through the roof.
I love the new ideas! The only idea I can offer is making the new guest bathroom a jack and Jill with the second door access being in the pantry and the pantry storage space all being on one wall to create a walkway on the opposite side of the room. That way your weekly guests wouldn’t have to walk through the studio to get to the guest bath if the studio is less than magazine photo shoot ready.
There are now so many changes being proposed, 3 of them plumbing heavy (new kitchen, bathroom, and laundry area). Have you gone down the road of pricing all of this? Are you starting to approach what you originally vetoed due to the expense? Just curious about the cost of all these changes in comparison!
Hey, I’m a big fan of the latest plan! I see it working for your life, and I like how the sunroom/workout room helps enclose the other side of the deck a bit. It’s giving it a semi enclosed courtyard feel, which I have always found very appealing. It will also be nice to have access to the deck from your private suite without going around.
Kristi, All your plans look great to me. I wouldn’t worry about what “future owners” might want. You do what works best for you and Matt now.
Like you, I love to play with floorplans! My thought after seeing today’s post is that so many rooms will now be “touched” that it erodes the savings of not doing the big renovation project you originally planned. If you add the sunroom/workout room, it seems more cost effective to just enlarge this room enough to accommodate Matt’s equipment? You could partition the space by using pretty fabric from ceiling to floor so you don’t see the equipment parked against the wall and you wouldn’t have to worry about the door swing from a closet. This would keep the workout room on the smaller side. Then you could leave the hall bath, studio bath and pantry as they are. Your studio could still be used as the occasional guest room; the guests would just have to use the shower in the existing hall bath. Maybe keep a couple of lush hotel style robes on hand for their use when the need arises. I realize this would not give you that full side of the house as private space though. Unfortunately, I can’t see a way to fix that without creating an obstacle for Matt.
I echo all of these thoughts. The current hall bathroom is so nice for your weekly guests and could remain undisturbed. It would be available for future owners who would possibly be returning the closet/laundry back to a bedroom. That would mean they’d only need a new location for a laundry room which could be accomplished in the studio bath area. The costs of enlarging the workout room for Matt’s storage would likely be offset by not disturbing existing rooms.
That does seem like a cost effective idea! No digging into plumbing except for the laundry area.
I AGREE WITH YOU….!!!
After all, how often does she have guests. Don’t destroy all of those other beautiful rooms for a occasional night stay…
Sounds good to me. I like the exercise place built off the back of the house. The hallway bath to a storage room and the laundry area in the big empty room. However, I would want the laundry area blocked off from the closet, so the clothes are not damp and musty. Regardless of what Matt says, I’d separate the two. He will understand once it is explained to him.
You are moving forward.
I wonder if it’s possible to tuck the shower chair in the new exercise room (in a cabinet or something) so it is next door to the shower where it will be used?
Then you could close off the current guest bathroom door and instead switch the door to be via the music room (between the piano and the bookcase).
Then, finally, with no guest bath door anymore, the hallway leading to your bedroom looks large (on paper!) so maybe the hoyer and wheelchair could be stored against the wall where the door was (behind a curtain or double doors)?
This keeps a bathroom in the current location (for those future owners!, but they’d have to switch the doors back) and maybe you could still put the laundry in the pantry then.
For what it’s worth, no matter matter how well vented it is, a laundry room will always have an issue with lint in the air. Our dryer vents directly through an exterior wall and I go out of my way to be careful cleaning the lint trap, but there’s just…lint. Granted, we have 4 kids, so we do much more laundry than most people, but I wouldn’t want that in my closet.
I would check that your venting is not leaking lint into the room. My dryer is in my entryway and vented directly through the exterior wall behind it and I do not have a problem with lint in that area – and I would notice since my appliances are dark charcoal and the counter between is black.
I ask this kindly, are you comfortable having your guests walking through your studio at any time, despite any stage of projects? Say you had guests today, could they safely walk through your studio?
Just…well…thoughts…
(1) Do you really want all your guests coming through your studio to go to the bathroom?
(2) The reason you gave for moving away from what has been the plan for the last decade–tearing down the sunroom and bathroom and building the new master and family room space–seems to be…disappearing? You said you didn’t want to spend that much, nor felt you should have that much house for just you and Matt. Yet, now you are tearing out the bathroom, tearing down the sunroom, building on a kitchen, remodeling a kitchen to a dining room, remodeling a pantry to a bathroom, turning a gym to a bedroom, turning a bedroom to a closet, turning a bathroom to a closet, building a sunroom/workout room to replace a bathroom, and what was the sunroom will now be a deck? I don’t see how these new plans address the original issues you said you had with the plan that had been in place for more or less a decade. Maybe I’m wrong, but you are now still tearing out the sunroom and bathroom, but you are also still adding on quite a lot of square footage (and kitchen square footage at that, so usually pricier) and remodeling a lot of things, including things that I’d think would be a bit pricy (two bathrooms and a kitchen). It isn’t that this floor plan is bad or doesn’t do the things you say you want from your home, but it feels a little like a manic spiral that doesn’t make sense?
I swear, I’m not trying to be offensive or a troll… I’ve been a reader since you moved into this house. I just don’t understand what is being accomplished here that wasn’t addressed in your original plan that didn’t include a remodel of nearly your entire home? If it really is a cost savings, fabulous! It just seems like it isn’t to me, and the old floor plan makes more sense to me than this.
My head is spinning with the changing explanations of proposed changes. And the emphasis on “future buyers” surprises me since it was not a concern until recently. Yes, if that time ever comes, of course, the new people would have to refigure the layout to suit themselves. So be it.
What is the practical design that suits Kristi and Matt?
I can see Heather’s reasoning, and I think she raises some good questions. As far a people walking through the studio to access a bathroom—it seems like a bad idea. Realistically, a work in progress (or many of them going at once) will be a curiosity to anyone passing along that space. Since Kristi will be busy elsewhere while entertaining the Wednesday visitors there probably would be no supervision. Given the usual work routine, cleaning up/putting projects away before visitors arrive every week would be a strain or would not be done. I just don’t see that studio as a public space.
This is the same way I’m feeling. I’m a long, long time follower and I truly don’t want to be a negative Nancy, but all these spiraling changes just seem to make less sense and cost more with each proposal. I much preferred the original plan, even a scaled back version of the original seems like a cleaner way to go with much less ripping out previously finished rooms.
Kristi,
I applaud all of your thoughts about placement of closets, work out equipment room, Matt’s necessary equipment location, bathroom ideas, and all other things you are working so hard to get all worked out before getting things going. I love the way you ask for ideas from your bloggers too. All of your plans are very important to you and Matt. I wouldn’t worry one iota about future buyers. Future buyers are not involved in your and Matt’s routine and happiness. Leaving out future buyers is one thing less to worry about.
I love this plan especially the workout room directly connected to the bathroom and back porch. Y’all will love all the windows! Also love the idea of expanding your studio bathroom to a full bath. As far as a “guest room”, truthfully I can see you accommodating guests with a restroom and not a bedroom especially since you weekly have guests in your home and rarely have sleep iver guests. It goes right back to using your home in the way you actually live in it. Besides, with furnishings today such as a sleeper sofa or chair and half (Ikea!), you can easily accommodate an occasional overnight guest in a way that works with your current decor. Maybe in the studio or Matt’s sitting room? Kristi I am really enjoying this planning process! We have a smaller home and after 19 years, we’re trying to get unstuck from what previous owners named each room and even our entryways so we can use our home the way we function. So this is a great help to us too! Great job Kristi AND Matt ☺️
Can Matt enter and leave the house without passing through the studio if you have guests in there?
I would never want my laundry inside my closet because of the humidity generated by the washer. I would be afraid it would lead to dampness in the clothing.
I am just wondering what you will be looking at outside the kitchen window?
Is it going to be the neighbors house or are they farther away? My neighbors house is a higher elevation and I feel like they can look right into my kitchen.
Sounds like a good idea. I wondered where you were going to put Matt’s equipment since I didn’t see a room for it.
It seems like a long way for your guests to go through your studio to use the bathroom while they are visiting. That full bath off the studio doesn’t seem useful, even if guests could potentially sleep in your studio…
I love it, and love that Matt gave his input!
Kristi, I love the way your plans are developing for the house remodel. Would you consider moving the door to the bathroom in the studio to the other wall where your beautiful paint sample cabinet is? That would make it much more assessable from the sitting room. I would then see about putting the paint sample cabinet where the current bathroom door is now. Just a thought.
Your title should read “… Opinions,” vs. “Options.” ☺️
I noticed what looks like French doors and a porch off of the new master bedroom, but haven’t read anything about that idea. Is it a new option?
Thanks for sharing your thinking with us! I may be projecting, but my art studio is seldom guest-ready and it would stress me out to have to clean it up every time we host people. What if the door to the guest bathroom were to the right of the TV space in the sitting room? It wouldn’t create a huge hardship for the occasional overnight guests sleeping in the studio, or you while you were working there, but it would provide better access for short term visitors, Matt’s in-home caregivers, etc. If you moved the opening, could you get a utility sink on the wall opposite the utility closet (where the studio bath entrance is now), perhaps in its own cabinet or closet.
I’m curious. How often do you have sleepover guests that would require a bathtub or shower? If you have guests only occasionally, the idea of using your studio as a guest bedroom is a really good one. A lot of us have tons of little-used spaces that circle around infrequent guest visits or holiday gatherings, and I’m all for creating double-duty areas. A dining room that sees the light of day only a few times a year, a parlor that seldom has anyone sitting in it, guest bedrooms that are little more than big cat beds—all of those things can be folded into rooms where the main purpose is more about daily living.
It makes sense to have a really functional bathroom for your daytime guests, maybe even a shower to make the bathroom “complete,” but I’m thinking why a tub unless you have lots of overnight guests?
It seems to me that you have an awful lot of moving parts and some of them are not going to give you any significant benefits.
Adding space on the other side of the primary bathroom for a workout room makes some sense – but the expense is going to be high as with the current plan for the kitchen you are creating two distinct rooms that require 3 outside walls each. If you rotate the kitchen 90º along the back wall of the house there would only be a few feet between that and the proposed new workout room. It seems to me that it would be more economical to join those two spaces across the back of the house (similar to what you had envisioned earlier in the process but perhaps not as deep). I don’t think what you are proposing now wouldn’t save you much in funds – especially with the other changes you’re thinking of.
Creating a combined closet/laundry room is a good idea. That area of the house is where most of the laundry is generated between clothing, bedding and bathroom linens – but despite Matt’s opinion I think not having an entrance to that directly from the bedroom would be something you’ll come to regret in future especially since that place houses your clothing. Leaving your bedroom to access your closet might seem like a small thing now but it will get old fast IMHO.
I don’t see any point in disturbing your hallway bathroom only to create a larger bathroom off your studio. And then there’s still the issue of what to do about the space off the kitchen whichever orientation of that you choose.
You’ll figure it all out in the end but I think you have some more thinking to do about how you are using your spaces and how traffic patterns will work between the various areas in your house.
Haha, Carol, you and I are on the same wavelength. I just drew out a little floorplan that would rotate the kitchen and join it to the workout room in the back.
OMG, I mean Carswell, sorry!
I was thinking about what another commenter said about the cost of changing so many rooms v. the cost of doing the big addition you had previously planned. I also love playing with floor plans, so I made a quick one with the idea of building a single addition across the back of the house, but a smaller one than originally planned: https://imgur.com/a/j0wXOkZ. I added red lines where changes would be made, but didn’t spend much time moving items around. I just flipped the kitchen 90 degrees, but obviously the layout would have to totally change. I think this would be roughly half the size of the big addition. What do you think?
I like this a lot and if only one entrance into the new kitchen was kept (through the music room) then the layout would not need to change much.
Fantastic! I think you’ve got it!