ksr5377 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I keep hearing people mention that it's not the square footage, it's the layout. On one hand I get that, I don't need a 600 sq. ft. master bathroom. But I'm having a hard time picturing the rest of it. We'll be looking to move in the next 6 months or so and I would love it if people would share floor plans that really work for them and why. While I would like a bigger home than we have now I also don't want to spend more money than we need to if we came across something that was well designed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamanthaCarter Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Limited hallways and entryways. I lived in a house in SC that had the longest hall down the middle of it that you've ever seen. We called it the bowling alley. Now I live in a 1920s American foursquare. Cute as a button, but there is an entryway in here that takes up an entire quadrant of the downstairs. That's a lot of square footage of wasted space. We've redeemed it somewhat with an old wardrobe retrofitted as a computer cabinet. We can open it, pull out the keyboard and use the computer, but close it up to hide it all while we're not using it. Because who wants to see the computer and all that junk when they first walk in the front door? Basements with laundry are nice. If it's unfinished, it doesn't count as square footage. And the laundry doesn't use up finished space as it would with a main-floor laundry area. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Renovated New England Colonial. Tons of built in storage including: *a large built in corner bookcase with deep lower drawers perfect for puzzles and games in the living room, *huge entry closet and enough space for a bench in entryway, *3 linen closets in the upstairs landing, *stackable laundry in same landing right next to the bedrooms, * double sized closet in DS's room * a dressing room in our bedroom *totally renovated kitchen with dishwasher and storage built into the island plus lots of creative solutions like a high counter and cabinets over the radiator, * built in desk with 6 drawers and cabinets in kitchen *huge built in cabinets in lower bath * more storage than I could ever use in upstairs bath--6 drawers and 8 shelves (1/2 of each on either side of the pedestal sink) *built in dresser with 8 deep drawers and built in desk in bonus room over garage *built in canning shelves in landing going from kitchen to basement It's definitely more about use of space than square footage. I could live in a much smaller home if it was as functional as this one. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We have almost a 1000 square feet that we live in above our restaurant that has a horrible floor plan because it used to be two bed and breakfast suites and we don't have a good way to remodel them. The pluming is in the middle of the building. It is annoying to go to a Worldmark and stay in smaller areas but it is easier because of the better use of space. The Reno Worldmark has an AMAZING floor plan for such small space, but our plumbing is not suited to one of their floor plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 No ideas on great layouts, but I have seen small square footage floor plans trending on pinterest recently. As for hanging stuff on round walls - I'd hang hooks close to the ceiling and suspend art on ribbons, the way you do in victorian houses with picture molding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 This one recently caught my attention. I would switch the dinning room and kitchen, and knock the wall out between the laundry room and kitchen for a big ol' country kitchen. I like that 2 of the bedrooms are upstairs so that when I'm old and broken we can choose to just not go up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I live in @1600sqft standard rectangle ranch with my family of 6. The type of ranch with the big square of open common rooms when you walk in the door (although surprising for this time period the kitchen is in the front and the large window and living room faces the private backyard...I like the change) and then the short hallway with 3 bedrooms (2 on one side and 1 on the other with the bathroom). What I like about the design: *tons of built-ins: 3 bookshelves, a linen cabinet, a pull-out for dirty laundry, a large closet in the one bathroom for the washer/dryer/laundry sink and lots of shelving above for wash & bathroom stuff, a large inset cabinet between the open living room and kitchen, an inset wall of cabinets in the bonus room, and a wall cabinet for wood for the fireplace. All built into the walls. I excluded normal door type closets (2 coat closets, standard 6ft room closets, broom, small pantry, etc.) We have so much storage space. *open concept living/dining/entry/kitchen. It looks like a U with the kitchen cabinets set into the middle of the U. Plenty of storage space for kitchen items. Good layout for multiple people cooking. Good counter space. Probably the best design I can imagine for the actual square footage of the kitchen. Great for entertaining. Great if you enjoy hanging out together. *the bathroom does double duty (laundry room/bathroom) but the long counter with drawers opposite the machines makes it a great space. Again, probably the best space in terms of storage I've ever lived in. I don't even use all the drawers in the sink/counter because of all the shelf space over the washer/dryer. The long mirror makes it easy for many people to do tasks in there at the same time (and it's easy to see most of your outfit). *the garage and basement have the same thoughtfulness. Sturdy wall of cabinets (to the ceiling) and rough counter across the back of the garage. Wide wooden storage shelves along one side. Space for a chest freezer designed in by the door. More wooden shelving in the basement. A mini-kitchen with original stainless steel stove (it was 1960...you wouldn't want to can upstairs, would you??). Block shower. Toilet. I like the practicality of the house. It was an era where 1200-1600sqft was a standard size for a family home, and more attention was paid to the small details of design and solidity than size. The price was great too. There are times I wish the bedrooms were split up more, that we had a 4th one, that we had another bathroom, but in general this is one of the more efficient designs I've lived in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We're in a duplex now, maybe a thousand square feet, and I really like the layout. It's basically a square, and if you're looking at it from the front door, the bottom left corner would be the kitchen, the top left corner would be the living room, the top right corner is the master bedroom, the bottom right corner is dd's bedroom, the bathroom is between the two bedrooms, and the laundry is in the entryway. The living room is quite large and opens to a good-sized deck, so when it's warm out we just open the door and it's like an extension of the living room. The kitchen is sort of an extra wide galley with everything on one side and the fridge and microwave cart tucked away in a corner nook. The kitchen table sits on the open side. Each bedroom has a regular closet for clothing and a large storage closet, and the master has a large area for an office or a seating area or something in one corner. (Dh and I are still fighting over what to turn it into, lol.) There are a lot of windows and it gets a ton of natural light, which is awesome. The kitchen and living room are completely open, and the bedrooms are sort of tucked away on the other side, which is nice because even though it's small, we don't get a ton of noise from the living room at night with the door shut. (So dh can watch late night tv to his heart's content, lol.) And I love that the bathroom is nowhere near the kitchen. In our last place, the bathroom opened into the kitchen and if someone had to use it during dinner, you could hear everything. It was awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 This one recently caught my attention. I would switch the dinning room and kitchen, and knock the wall out between the laundry room and kitchen for a big ol' country kitchen. I like that 2 of the bedrooms are upstairs so that when I'm old and broken we can choose to just not go up there. 1900 sq ft would be huge to us! Our last place was 700 sq ft. It's so funny how people have such different ideas of what constitutes a small house. :P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 1900 sq ft would be huge to us! Our last place was 700 sq ft. It's so funny how people have such different ideas of what constitutes a small house. :p Very true. I like this layout because it efficiently uses the space. I want a bunch of kids and a school room. This layout accomplishes that without being huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swtonscrappn Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We live in an 1800 square foot house. its 900 upstairs 900 downstairs. I really like the layout. like others have mentioned it is a square. upstairs we have a small square Hall where the living room, the bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and the dining room are off of. the kitchen is behind the dining room and the stairs go down from the kitchen. downstairs we have the same sort of layout where the laundry room, bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and family room come off of the stair landing area. by not having any real hallways I feel like the space was used really well. Excuse the lack of capitalization I'm using talk to text on my cell phone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clementine Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 What is the range of square feet you would consider? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Our house is around 1000 sq feet. It has smaller bedrooms, decent kitchen and family room, and only one full bath. It is also an older style home, with not many renovations. What makes the house awesome is our big yard. :) If it wasn't for that, I would feel a little cramped. That being said, I am extremely grateful for our house. In our area of LA, we rent it at a great price considering what others are going for around us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artichoke Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 The best home building advice I've been given was to look at your lives and base your home on how you'll be using it. Do you host overnight guests? Large gatherings? Need a mud room for messy kids and dogs? Once we really took a look at how we wanted to live in our home, it was easier to choose a floor plan that maximized the space in the way we wanted to use it. Best wishes as you find a new home. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I haven't been inside one of these, but I think the layout is pretty good. It's around 1,100 square feet. There are a few things I would change (move the entrance so that you don't walk into a wall!) but I don't think there's very much wasted space. If I were building it, I'd include attic trusses, so the small area over the bedrooms was accessible as storage with a pull-down ladder. I'd also add a sun room to the kitchen/diner. Personally, I like the separate kitchen - Husband cooks Chinese food and I cook fish a lot - it's good to have some separation from the living room. ETA: I also like the look of this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 1900 sq ft would be huge to us! Our last place was 700 sq ft. It's so funny how people have such different ideas of what constitutes a small house. :p I know, it always makes me laugh. :) Ours is a typical summer bungalow - 750 square feet, basically square. The two bedrooms are actually facing the street, bathroom is right next to them - all open directly onto the living room. Then the other end of the living room (the "back" of the house) is where the "front" door is and the entry way into the kitchen. There is a utility area off the kitchen that holds the washer/dryer, hot water heater, water softener and water pump housing. Dh blocked off the corner of the living room for our bedroom (basically built walls around our bed with a two foot walkway - it's super small), which gave us a small entryway/hall between the living room and kitchen. There's a small dining area at one end of the kitchen. The layout doesn't work that well. I don't like all the doors opening into the living room - limits the usable wall space. It's even worse because we have heat vents that can't be blocked and a fireplace covering most of one wall. We only have 3 feet of counter space in the kitchen because one corner contains the furnace and has to be left unblocked for repairs, etc. We have a rolling cart there. One lower cabinet and no drawers in the entire kitchen. Only two small closets in the entire house - both in the official bedrooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrispyBiscuit Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 We're complete housing weirdos. We just downsized from a 2000 sq foot house to a newly-built 672 sq ft. cabin! We moved in here in December. The entire footprint of the house is 24 x 28 = 672 sq ft. The "big" room is about 14 x 28 and one half is the kitchen and the other half is the living room. It has 3 small rooms -- each about 8x8 and one of which is the bathroom and laundry (stack-able washer/dryer), one is our "master" suite" and the other is our son's room. our master is a catch all" as it contains my homeschool bookshelves and our clothes. Our other home (which we haven't sold yet) is about 1/4 mile from here. The original plan was to build our little cabin, see how we like the land/area, and then build on, but --- I'm finding that I haven't been back to our old house to get "needed" items since December when we moved here (!) thus I'm realizing that my needs are met and apparently the BULK of what I had in my other house was stuff I don't need (but don't necessarily want to toss -- photos, etc.). I'm STRONGLY considering NOT adding on at all and continuing to live in this cash-flow paradise! We're happy as clams. We're cozy. I feel kind of Little House on the Prairie-ish! Our new place is bright, perky and neat (I didn't bring too much stuff in the first place). My new line of thought is, "Now why do I NEED to add on again?" It's not at all bad. We do have a porch outside that's 14 x 24, so that's nice. But I do have ONE child and we have 7 acres so there's room to get out and alone. So.....let me pause to think about what I'd do here if I had another kid ......if I had another kid or two or three...I'd like add on another 8x8 room for each and add on about a 12x12 shared-by-all-of-us closet and that'd be all I needed. I'm finding the "less is more" adage to be true. I grew up in a 3800 sq ft home for a family of 4 so I've lived in both conditions -- room to spread out and more "cozy" as we do now. My husband and I are minimalist personalities. For example, my entire "wardrobe" fits in 4 drawers, as an example. I'm loving the small space to clean. I'm loving that the dirt/chores CAN'T hide my notice (makes me deal with them and not procrastinate) so my house is staying MORE organized/beautiful than ever. We're just LOVING this -- money for trips, money for giving (on top of our always-given-monthly tithe), money for Hibachi Grill last night, money for Opryland Hotel this next month, money for mission trips, money to give, money for Disney again this Fall............fun fun fun! ------ do you think I would AFFORD all that ridiculous curricula below if I didn't live like this?!! (lol!!!) Let me add this, FWIW, ......we didn't downsize for financial reasons. We've never had debt (other than a small mortgage) and my husband makes a nice salary. Before I resigned to be a SAHM, I was a Nurse Practitioner for 8 years and we saved most of my salary. We could afford a large home. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I'm surprised by how many people have multiple eating areas, even in small houses. I have 3000 sq. feet and we only eat in the dinning room. Our "eat in" kitchen area is a craft room. When we downsize, I won't have multiple eating areas then either. It's a waste of space. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I'm finding this thread interesting and hope more great small house floor plans that really work well for the occupant, rather than theoretically from a designer's idea, will be posted! Our house is a small older bungalow, with aspects that work great and others that are awful. Maybe trying to articulate which is which would actually lead me to figure out what could be changed and improved. Great: the bedrooms are tiny, about 8' by 10' each. That turns out to be quite sufficient, and now that I've lived with it, I would not choose larger. Each has at least one really nice large casement window, 2 of which (upstairs in a finished attic) have nice views, and one has a soothing creek sound. Great: other windows are also really nice, which gives a good feeling in the house. Mostly Great: The kitchen has had a reputation of producing delicious food for the 100 years nearly the house has existed--I think in part this is because it is airy and simply a very nice place to be. Many other aspects are not so great about it in modern terms--but my experience is that the bigger and fancier a kitchen is the less wonderful food seems to come out of it, somehow. Nice is some pantry storage space in the basement. Less nice is that the house predates electric in this area and has no place for a refrigerator in the kitchen itself, making one of the biggest work triangles imaginable, small silver lining is that not having the hum of fridge and freezer makes it quieter and perhaps adds to the pleasant feeling of the kitchen. Awful: very poor built in storage. No entry area closets. Extremely minimal room at all at the main used door which has just enough room for an inward opening door to swing open, and then, immediately, there are stairs up to the upstairs bedrooms, a door to one side for the kitchen, and behind the entrance door another to the bathroom. It is a bottle neck with no place for an in and out landing, or other things that would be very helpful to keeping orderly. A nice big mudroom/foyer with a closet and an in/out landing table or cubby or something would be great there. The living room has a door direct into it, again with no entry foyer, closet or anything like that. This is hard both for own family and also if guests come. I think when house was built the custom was to have guests leave boots and so on outside and put wraps on the bed, but this does not work well in my life or present times. Others have speculated that when house was built the basement was used as an entry/mudroom, with horses arriving by the basement door (which is opposite the side for cars) or that other things were done from horse and carriage. I am not sure, only know it does not work well to enter and exit with convenience these days. Bad: spaces that have to double as hallways--yes, it saves square footage, but it hurts use of space if a room is also a hall to another room. Also there is little wall space for shelving and so on. Difficult: only one small bathroom on main floor--no bathroom near upstairs bedrooms. Postive: smallness of the bathroom makes it easy to heat in winter. Just a toilet and sink upstairs for when needed at night or when two people need a toilet at same time would be a big help. Mixed: basement laundry saves main area space, also if there is any overflow it is not a terribly big deal esp. since the floor has drains built in, but trudging up and down steep stairs with laundry gets old, tiring and difficult in cases of injury, pregnancy, aging, or anything like that, and it is dark making it hard to see what needs stain treatment etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I can't find our floor plan, it's a 1920s bungalow. You enter into the living room which is open to the dining room. The two bedroom are on one side of the house with the bath in between. The kitchen is behind the dining room with the basement stairs inbetween. The kitchen is larger than the one in our previous house that was twice the size. The dormer is finished and is ds's room. It runs from the front to back of the house, although it's only about 9 ft wide because of the roof line. The bedrooms are about 10x11 and 10x10 with small walk in closest (unusual for this era of house). There is a large linen closet and a broom closet in the hallway between the bedrooms. A small addition was done in the back which made a full mudroom and laundry room. We have a covered front porch, covered side porch which is connected to a back open deck. It flows very well and the room sizes are small but not confining. There is no wasted space and we utilize it all. It's about 1100 sf total. We have the 2nd bedroom as a library/classroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 We have one primary living space with two entries that constitutes our living and dining area and our small kitchen. Three bedrooms, no true hallway...just a place where bedroom.doors meet. Downstairs bathroom, laundry/sewing room and den/schoolroom. What makes a difference for me...lots of windows and natural light. Six closets on our main floor, two in basement, plus built-ins down there. Lots of storage! No wasted space, cathedral ceilings, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Go to your local library, and check out Sarah Susanka's book "The Not So Big House". This book isn't really about the smallest possible house. Her thesis is that too many people try to get the most possible square feet for their money, when instead, they should look at how they live, and try to design the best house for them. The classic example is the formal dining room. How many people have one that's used maybe once a year? Her website is: http://www.notsobighouse.com. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 We love the not so big house books!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 A small kitchen will seem much less claustrophobic if a wall over sink or stove has a "window" out into the living room or dining room. Then you can have company in the kitchen that isn't right in your way. Places to store junk are a big plus. It also helps to just have less stuff. Get smaller furniture. If you decide to put laundry upstairs, you can get stackable washer and dryer. If you live without TV/entertainment center as the focal point of your living room, you can free up a lot of space. (So we've discovered. Our TV is now in closet and no one ever uses it.) I would SO like to have a formal dining room. As a place to leave projects set up, it would be ideal for the sort of hobby-intensive lifestyle we have. As it is, our family room has already been taken over as a recording studio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 I was initially thinking I would want at least 2000 square feet, if not more. Now I'm wondering if something just a little bigger, 1600-1800 would do. I realize some still think that's huge, but there would actually be substantial savings by going with a smaller home just in the purchase price. I requested the book from library, looking forward to the ideas it may have for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Ours probably falls under the not so small category at 2000sq ft, but it isn't huge, the layout works great for us, and you could probably knock off some square footage by making the bedrooms smaller. http://ww3.coolhouseplans.com/details.html?pid=chp-11446 We changed a few things when we built: We took out the ensuite bathroom in the bedroom upstairs and added that space to the computer area. This is what I use for my office, homeschool stuff and art studio. (Very little homeschool things in there these days as we are really winding down as my kids finish up high school) We also changed the bathroom upstairs from a jack and jill to one that opened into the hallway. This gave us space for a big linen closet. We also took the window out of the walk in closet upstairs. We have attic access for the main part of the house that opens into the computer area. We also have a walk-through door from the computer area to the attic above the garage. Downstairs we didn't make a lot of changes other than putting a closet in where it shows stairs going down to the basement, and setting up an access door into the space under the stairs behind the closet.. There was quite a large dead space back there.We have the added bonus of being able to completely close off the upstairs with some very minor construction if we decide to later. (old and unable to navigate stairs, for example) The heat and air systems for the upstairs and downstairs are separate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Other things to consider in the price/performance relationship: if you are building from scratch, then a slightly higher ceiling (the standard ceiling here is 2.4m, but 2.7m takes it up another foot) gives a feeling of space and doesn't add too much cost. It's not an enormous void (hard to heat and cool) like those vaulted 'great rooms' but it just feels a bit more airy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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