Does this modified plan work?

gkc · Feb 09, 2017 1:45 pm

I've taken Bargo Colonial Cottages' "Lakesland 3":

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and modified it:

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to:

Expand the whole back half 1m i.e. Rumpus/Kitchen/Family/Laundry/Bath/Children’s Activity/Bed 5/Ensuite all 1m deeper
Add 5th bedroom (Bed 4) and Children’s Activity, expanding width 3-4m
Lengthened (i.e. left to right) Garage and Rumpus 1m
Widened (i.e. top to bottom) Garage to fit 3rd bay/store and extend pantry (butlers pantry)
Widened Master Bed 1m (not sure about this one)
Encroached Laundry/Bathroom and Bed 4 onto Lounge and Family to allow WIR’s to be moved between rooms and expand Children’s Activity
Expanded Ensuite Shower, added bath, moved toilet, changed to double vanity
Bathroom - changed to double vanity
Toilet – Added small sink (with the help of the extra 1m overall width)
Kitchen – changed to island bench - just trying to give the basic idea of layout at this stage
Moved fridge to create hidden entry to pantry
Sunroom – squared up room, stacker doors
Added Alfresco

Sorry the dimensions aren't drawn on. I made my changes in Paint!

Although I have been in email contact with the builder, I am yet to meet with them. They have given us many photos and addresses for drive-bys and they come highly recommended in our area, so it is quite likely we will build with them. I wanted to post my modified plan here to see if there are any useful tips or critiques regarding my layout. It's by no means final - just trying to come up with something workable before having it drawn properly.

The house will sit in a flat location on about 25 acres - the house running along the longer side. So we are after that farmhouse-ish spread out type of front elevation. Also the rear of this plan would face almost due North, so we are trying to come up with something which takes advantage of that. So long as we can afford to do so, the triple garage, 5th bedroom and generally fairly large house are more about future value than our own needs. I just don't think it makes sense to build a little house on a big block.

Edit: I forgot to point out that our building envelope is 30m x 30m, hence the sideways garage.

jodge · Feb 09, 2017 4:51 pm

Love it! You could maybe flip the laundry and bathroom so you don't hear the washing machine through the wall in the family room? Also move the island left and down and extend the benchtop with cooktop?

gkc · Feb 09, 2017 4:58 pm

Thanks for the feedback jodge - I think you're right about flipping the laundry!

I literally just received notice that the subdivision is registered. Time to pull our fingers out!

jodge · Feb 09, 2017 8:53 pm

hey gkc . . . pull yer finger out!

No, please don't, take your time, get it right.

Out of interest, which direction is north?

gkc · Feb 09, 2017 10:17 pm

Haha yes good point. We exchanged in September.... so we should have been closer to ready. Life got in the way...

North is straight up in the drawings. The whole back wall faces north, hence mostly bedrooms at the front and living spaces at the back.

Should I have posted this in an existing thread?

bank · Feb 10, 2017 12:15 pm

You have done a great job manipulating that in paint!

I have a few small thoughts, in the kitchen you should have bench either side of the stove for practicality, like gkc I would also suggest moving the island closer to the rear bench so that you can pivot between the two.

Think about how you will use the lounge and what furniture will be in there. It might work better to have the opening to the family more to the left so that traffic from the front door isn't cutting through the middle of the room, depends on dimensions and how you plan to use the room though.

Bed 1 does seem huge, I'm not sure you needed to widen it. Although you could leave it then pinch some space from it and move the WIR down to make the ensuite bigger. Maybe with a separate toilet somehow? The ensuite feels a bit cramped with the bath added, I would consider just having a huge double shower across the back wall if you didn't want to devote anymore space to it.

gkc · Feb 15, 2017 7:08 am

Thank you bank - all excellent points. The kitchen is just a hack job at this stage, but I hadn't considered having bench space on both sides of the cooktop - thank you.

I am trying to envisage how we will use the lounge room, but I just don't know. At this stage I am thinking lounges and a small table only, for drinks, chat, board games. Not a room which would be used often by us, but nice to have and valuable when the time comes to sell. I agree with moving the entrance, perhaps with a 1m strip of tiles (or whatever we end up with) connecting the foyer to the kitchen/family. Or is that going to look silly?

I rate a huge shower above having a bath. My wife is neutral on this. A separate toilet is now on the list, great suggestion! I think that will be easy to work in, particularly if the bedroom doesn't need all that space. The ensuite was really a hack job also, but I am starting to picture a better layout now. We have a cramped ensuite now - so this is an important room for us to get right.

The other thing I am considering now is deleting the third garage space. I guess we will see what the cost difference is - which may well cover a decent portion of a shed. Maybe if I do that I can bring the main bed out even further to give space to the ensuite, WIR and WIL.

gkc · Feb 25, 2017 12:19 pm

So Debbie from BCC drew us a couple of what she calls sketches - noting that she is not a draftsperson (not bad considering!).

This first one is based on my hack job above. She improved the entrance, but obviously that and my modifications to make the bedrooms bigger didn't work together.

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This is a complete custom design. The intent here was to keep the living areas to the back and incorporate the things we have said we want so far, such as butlers pantry, larger than standard garage, fifth bedroom and of course adhere to the 30m width restriction. We didn't even ask for this, so it was very nice of Debbie to do draft it for us.
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There are things I like and things I dislike about both plans. Neither is perfect for us, but I am stuck on what I need to change!

jessicagauci · Sep 08, 2017 9:10 pm

Hi gtc did you end up going with Bargo Colonial Cottages? Where are you at in building?

gkc · Sep 08, 2017 11:18 pm

Just lost my post somehow... sigh

The short version was no, but we might do a custom build with BCC yet. And we are stuck on trying to get our envelopes changed.

jessicagauci · Sep 09, 2017 1:25 pm

gkc

Just lost my post somehow... sigh

The short version was no, but we might do a custom build with BCC yet. And we are stuck on trying to get our envelopes changed.

Oh bugger.
Aw man. I hope you sort it all out. At least your property will be going up in value and equity in the meantime!