Hilltopmom Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) We have 5 kids. Their ages are almost 16,13,7,2,1. We also Foster newborns so there could always be another baby in our future. Right now, we live in a smallish 3 bedroom home with another " bedroom" made from an enclosed porch we renovated. Here's the bedroom breakdown- Adults in first floor bedroom Infant & medically fragile child in first floor porch room 15 yr old has his own small room on second floor Toddler & 13 yr old share last bedroom on second floor. We have a basement partially finished playroom. We're starting to look at bigger houses, not because I'm against kids Sharing rooms ( that's what most big families do) but because teens & toddlers sharing is difficult. Both teens could use a room without toddlers in it for having a desk & hobby area for things that can't be set up all day on the kitchen table (one has electronics & robotics stuff, one has art supplies). We also need at least one first floor bedroom fir our child who is in a wheelchair, we can't carry him up & down the stairs. Lots of medical supplies & equipment to store as well. And a home nurse who needs space in his room for a comfy chair & TV. Aside from the high cost of larger homes hindering us, it's the fact that most bigger places in our area have extra bedrooms, but no play room, homeschool area, or extra living room for a large family to spread out in. I don't want extra bedrooms but then no extra living space... Just a living room & kitchen/ dining area isn't enough space... (If I'm gonna spend a fortune,& Go thru the trouble of moving & selling our place, I'm going to have most of the things on my wish list, I hope) I'm just curious what home layout those of you with big families have. If the kids were all close together, they'd just all share rooms. The oldest is thinking of living at home for college &'the next oldest will likely stay at home for at least her early adult years too, so thinking ahead to those needs as well. Im also eyeing side by side duplexes with the idea of combining them into one home for us. Anyone want to share what works for your large family? Thanks! Edited March 20, 2016 by Hilltopmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Im also eyeing side by side duplexes with the idea of combining them into one home for us. I was perusing this not because I have a large family but because we are considering a remodel at some point and want sensible living areas, not just more square feet to tax. My grandparents did the duplex thing. I think they inherited the other side from parents, but it worked very well for their 7 kid family. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Yes on sensible areas! I do not want one big open floor plan for the little ones to drag everything off all shelves & all toys across the rooms at all times:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 We do foster care as well so I understand. Right now we have 5 kids. We have an upstairs with 2 bedrooms, full bath and a loft room (slanted ceiling no window). Girls 19 and 20 are up there. Then main floor dh and I have the master bedroom with bath. 12 foster son is sleeping in our former living room that we added a door to make it legal. Then in the basment we have 28 DS in one room and 15 foster DS in another room. Dh has an office down there and a full bath for the boys. Bedroom wise it is good but we are limited to a small family room area off the kitchen/dining as our living space. A friend of mine has a nice layout. Master bedroom/bath and 2 more bedroom and bath on the upper level, 1/2 bath, mud room, kitchen/dining area, office area, and large open living area on the main floor. Lower level is 2 bedrooms with full bath/laundry room (with 2 washers and dryers), storage area, and family room area that also doubles as a bedroom. She can have as many as 14 people in her house if needed with bed space for all. I love her main floor but do like ouraster in the main floor vs. Hers on the upper level. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 We have a very large house that was added on/remodeled with multi-generations in mind (my mom was moving in with us and would be having FT or near FT home health aides around as well as her). We have multitudes (7?) of living spaces in addition to the bedrooms. Yes, it is a monstrosity, lol. Now that Mom has passed on, it is definitely more space than we need, lol A rec room in the basement is great teen space -- allows them to have noisy Xbox/pingpong/air hockey/etc gatherings and stay up all night without disturbing others. Highly recommended if you can make it happen. Put the biggest TV there along with a full out couch and any gaming things . . . and life for teens is good, lol. A finished "bed room" or "office" in the basement (basements often have a large finished rec room and a smaller bedroom/office) with a locking door could be the teen-project room, with the locking door to keep wandering littles out. A pull out futon or sofa in there would even allow for overnight guests on occasion. Most larger houses have at least 2 living spaces on the main floor. The largest family space on the main floor would be for general purpose for the entire family -- couches, TV, contained games. If I had babies, then a basket of infant toys would be in a corner, but other than that, toys live elsewhere (but can come visiting on occasion, lol) A separate living or family room on the main floor would be the main playroom for littles -- for easy supervision when you are in the kitchen/etc. If you have a 3rd main floor living space, or a home office on another floor, that space would be for a school room for general purpose (all ages) but would be little-safe in general. We have a (very) large house as we added on/redesigned when my mom moved in with us. Having many living spaces is/was awesome when we have lots of generations in the house all the time. If you can afford the space, I think you *need* at least 3 living spaces (little play room, general family space, school room) ideally in your shoes. A large basement rec room for teens/games/media would also make it much more comfortable long term, IME. If needed, you can make project spaces in the bigs' bedrooms. (Loft beds with desk space underneath might work well.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 "We have a very large house that was added on/remodeled with multi-generations in mind (my mom was moving in with us and would be having FT or near FT home health aides around as well as her). " (Quote feature not working right for me right now) Yes- this. We have a nurse too. Right now, she hangs out in the main living area since that's where disabled kiddo lives. It's super distracting for homeschooling & not working at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 We have five. DD has her own room. DS1 has his own room. Their rooms have a connecting door between them, and they often hang out at night together, after the little ones are asleep. DS2 and DS3 share a room, with bunk beds. Their room is next to DS1's. DH and I have a room down the hall. DS4 sleeps in our room still, but eventually, we will move him in with either DS1 or the two middle boys. We have a separate schoolroom because I need somewhere to keep our stuff. That's also my infant-safe room -- no LEGO, no small toys allowed in there when we have an infant. I keep the infant/toddler toys in that room as well. Surprisingly, it works very well. Other toys live either in the kids' rooms (I try to keep that limited, just to special toys) or in the playroom next to the schoolroom. With a large family, I do find that having multiple spaces is really helpful. Multiple spaces for playing. Multiple spaces for working. A kid who finds the schoolroom too noisy and distracting (it varies -- if the little guys are hanging out in their room or the playroom, the schoolroom might be quiet, but if they're in there, it might be too loud) can go to his/her own room, my room if need be, or the upstairs office. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoseInABook Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Following along for ideas. Right now we have three bedrooms upstairs, one downstairs with a play room and a Lego/storage room too. Two of mine are in the basement bedroom, two are in an upstairs bedroom, one is the nursery for foster babies, and then the master bedroom. School is done in the dining room which is pretty much an open space for the dining room and living room with a counter cutting off the kitchen area. But it's a ridiculously small house and probably isn't going to work so well long term. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Lol, yeah, we only had 2 little kids when we bought this place- it worked great for years! Now, not so much. Edited March 20, 2016 by Hilltopmom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoseInABook Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) We did the same thing! We thought our house was huge when we bought it with one 1 month old baby and had grand plans to move out when I was pregnant with our third child. We didn't expect to have 3 kids in 2 years and add a 4th shortly after... then jump right into fostering. ;) Now we just creatively stuff everyone into the house and switch up where things are located as needed. Edited March 20, 2016 by NoseInABook 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 We built on to our three-bedroom house about six years ago and we chose to add on three small bedrooms rather than two larger bedrooms because we were facing life with our kids maybe living at home during college and knew that those kids would probably want their own space. That's exactly what has happened. So we have six bedrooms now with an optional seventh bedroom in our basement. We have 7 kids living at home right now. Oldest dd (22) has her own room. DS (19) has his own room. DS (14) and DS (12) share a room. DS (10) and DS (8) share a room and my youngest dd has her own room. Assuming that my oldest at home will move out within the next year, we will get to do another big switch. If any of the olders want their own room there is a larger bedroom in the basement available but for now everyone is upstairs. When we built on we added a bathroom and a family room in addition to the bedrooms. We don't really have an open floor plan which drives my mother crazy - LOL! I like my kitchen with walls. She insists I should knock down walls to open it all up but I like not having my kitchen mess immediately in view when someone walks into the house. I like having different areas of the house a bit secluded. For instance, I can sit at my dining room table and hear the basketball game on the TV in the family room but I can't see them and they can't see me. We also have a full-sized basement so we can spread out if we need some alone time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 We don't have a large family, but we have two full time (12 and 4 yr old), an adult kid who visits, we foster, and have at least 2 extra kids here every day (up to 11 extras, many days) because we are The House in the neighborhood. And we regularly have a family of 7 spend the night for social stuff. So we have a lot of people in and out. With a big spread in ages. Plus homeschooling, of course, and DH's home office. I love our layout. Upstairs we have a master, 2 kids room and a guest room/media room - pull out couch, media set up, and play room. Main level is living area with video games and tv, kitchen, breakfast nook that has a cabinet for art supplies and board games. Dining room. And office with three desks and computers, music area. Basement had another guest room, desk for study, plus more music (keyboards, etc). Very large rec room for pre teens, project area, library. Video games and tv for olders. It works well for the age spread. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) I think I may have too many "wants" for our budget:( I've been spoiled with not needing to work all these years, plus a very cheap house that let us not worry too much about $. Need to get someone out to our current home for pricing guidance on selling this place. Edited March 21, 2016 by Hilltopmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I'm thinking about housing needs for a larger family at the moment too - our house may not work for much longer. Budget really is the killer though. I've seen a few things I thought worked well in other houses. One was a very large loft area - a good part of the second floor - that was bedrooms and recreation area for kids. There were two interesting features - one is that the private bedrooms were really small - just big enough for a bed and storadge really. That small private space is really what made the rec space possible. But also - the bedroom walls were partially movable and the rooms could be opened up right into the larger space. The other thing I've seen is homes built on a slope that really have the basement level as nice useable space. It does mean loseing basement type storage space, which might not work for some, but I think it adds a lot of flexibility. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) We have 5 kids. Their ages are almost 16,13,7,2,1. We also Foster newborns so there could always be another baby in our future. Right now, we live in a smallish 3 bedroom home with another " bedroom" made from an enclosed porch we renovated. Here's the bedroom breakdown- Adults in first floor bedroom Infant & medically fragile child in first floor porch room 15 yr old has his own small room on second floor Toddler & 13 yr old share last bedroom on second floor. We have a basement partially finished playroom. We're starting to look at bigger houses, not because I'm against kids Sharing rooms ( that's what most big families do) but because teens & toddlers sharing is difficult. Both teens could use a room without toddlers in it for having a desk & hobby area for things that can't be set up all day on the kitchen table (one has electronics & robotics stuff, one has art supplies). We also need at least one first floor bedroom fir our child who is in a wheelchair, we can't carry him up & down the stairs. Lots of medical supplies & equipment to store as well. And a home nurse who needs space in his room for a comfy chair & TV. Aside from the high cost of larger homes hindering us, it's the fact that most bigger places in our area have extra bedrooms, but no play room, homeschool area, or extra living room for a large family to spread out in. I don't want extra bedrooms but then no extra living space... Just a living room & kitchen/ dining area isn't enough space... (If I'm gonna spend a fortune,& Go thru the trouble of moving & selling our place, I'm going to have most of the things on my wish list, I hope) I'm just curious what home layout those of you with big families have. If the kids were all close together, they'd just all share rooms. The oldest is thinking of living at home for college &'the next oldest will likely stay at home for at least her early adult years too, so thinking ahead to those needs as well. Im also eyeing side by side duplexes with the idea of combining them into one home for us. Anyone want to share what works for your large family? Thanks! IMO, bedrooms aren't as important as layout and family areas. A kitchen without enough storage or counters would drive me nuts. (Mine is small by many standards, but works for me.) I need the kitchen to be open to a play area for shorties. However, an open home is crazy for an age gap (IMO) because it doesn't allow for separation of common areas. I don't like my teens to have to go to their rooms in order to do EVERYTHING. So our front room is our main area. It has tables and bookshelves, but we have a living room that has couches and the TV. I think that is one of the things I like the most about this house. We have more than one common area so our teens are still "with" us but they can escape a blanket fort if necessary and still be in the main area of the house. So our age range is 19 - living at home while going to college, 17, 14, 12, 11, 9, 7, 6, 4, 2, 1. We looked for a house with a bigger footprint but in the Midwest basements are common. This house had a huge open basement that was unfinished, so a significantly lower price tag. Plus absolutely everything was outdated and had "unique" taste. ;) We are in the very long process of finishing the basement ourselves. The price tag has been very pleasant but the work and time has been a challenge and its been almost two years since we moved in and we started the basement about 6-9 months ago. The walls are all up, textured, painted. The basement is the older kid dominion. The 19yo essentially has her own room. The 2yo sleeps with her at night but otherwise has nothing in her room. The 16yo is a boy. (We only have three boys.) He has his own room. Then there are two more rooms - each with two girls. The basement also allows for a living room and another bathroom. DH intends to eventually add a stacked washer and dryer. It's perfect. So the house is neither enormous nor fancy, but if basements are common in your area - really consider that as untapped space. It is most common for basements to be finished here, but usually it is an adult playground - bar, pool table, etc. With large families, it really helps maximize space. A dining room with enough space for a BIG table. Otherwise eating and game playing is a pain. I guess think about what is really important to your family. We spend a lot of time in common areas. If I had to stack kids like sardines in bedrooms it would be okay. But if we didn't have two separate common areas for teens to play a game and little kids to play games I'd really feel more chaotic than I do, I think. And, for us, outdoor space was the absolute ultimate. We would have been willing to compromise pretty much anything in house for the outdoor space. Other things I love about this house (and I DO absolutely LOVE my house.) There is a mudroom. I won't say it's my FAVORITE thing about this house, but after the yard it sure is. The children come into the mudroom, kick off dirty boots, and then into the laundry room. The laundry room has a tiny half bath off of it - potty and sink. This is my dream layout. Don't give me Pinterest beautiful. Give me a mudroom WITH a potty and a SINK. We have a real fireplace. I can't tell you how much we use this. We are currently creating outdoor areas. The outdoor part of our house is really important to us. We're pouring concrete this year for a patio to grill and sit on - big enough for a couple big picnic tables. This has been a big deal for wide age ranges. Obviously it's great to have outdoor space for little kids, but never underestimate the family bonding over grilling, eating outside, or a bonfire. Plus? These things can be relatively inexpensive - a grill. Outdoor seating. (When we lived in the PNW, the family we rented from had a fire area outside. No fancy ring, just a circle. No fancy seating, just logs, halved, and put on top of other logs, like a lincoln log creation. It was pure genius and free.) We've lived in several houses. (DH was in the military, we voluntarily took a job transfer away and then back, etc.) This one is my favorite. IMO, it is only missing a barn. :( Frankly I love the Midwest because if you focus on the land and not the house, a middle income family can reasonably buy a house with an acre or two of land. That isn't so in many parts of the country. The other part of the Midwest that is great is that a house often offers more than it appears when you start counting the square footage of the basement. Egress windows CAN be very expensive... Or downright reasonable. A friend of ours dug the holes, the windows are beautiful - oh and bought from ReStore for $30 each. The wells were $100 each and the holes were cut professionally for about $1200. They made the basement both safe and wonderful - lots of natural light. Also, look for South facing windows. After almost four years in the PNW, the one thing I KNEW was really important to me was light. And I also knew that no matter how beautiful the house, or how nicely painted, sunshine makes everyone happy. 13 people in our house and the favorite seating of everyone is in the front room by the big window. Love, love, love, love it. Recap: Bedrooms not as vital. Bathrooms not either. Two is a minimum for a big family I think, but with four - well, we have a lot more cleaning. Three would be ideal. If you live in the country then know you will need to empty septic much more often than the average family. Kitchen - big enough for more than one cook. Dining Room - big enough for a BIG table Lighting - necessary Outdoor space doubles your area by creating more places for kids. Ideal: More than one common sitting area :) Edited March 21, 2016 by BlsdMama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) I'll add to that - our very favorite house we lived in (other than this one) was when Ella was born - the beginning of 2009. We had eight kids then. It was tiny for ten people - under 1,000 square feet. It had two bedrooms upstairs and a tiny office thing that allowed for our bed and a dresser - as long as you walked sideways around the foot of the bed. We LOVED it. All the girls in one room and the boys in the other. Their room was more of a big, square hall than a room and probably wouldn't work for a teen boy now the same way as it did back then. :D One bathroom. However, the kitchen was ENORMOUS and it was eat in - a really old farmhouse. There was a big island built around the stove so the kids could talk to me while I cooked. The living room was right off that but had doors that could close. (So, essentially, two separate areas again - one where littles could play and a place for bigs to work at a table, or vice versa.) We also had a LOT of outdoor space there and a barn. We adored that house. We never used the bedrooms except to sleep. We minimized to an insane level - but it made life better. Less caretaking, more doing projects and being outside. I think it was my favorite time of life. I'm sure at some point I would have become discontent. People do you know. But we then moved to the PNW and to a significantly bigger, very pretty house. I liked the house - so pretty. But it never did compare to the little house. It helped clarify for us what was important I think. We knew exactly what we were looking for in this house. Edited March 21, 2016 by BlsdMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Not a hugely large family - we only have three left at home. We have three bedrooms upstairs - master, spare room, and ds (10)'s room. Main floor has two offices - one is small, just big enough for a desk. The other is meant to be a formal living room with a door, but I claimed it as mine and I share it with the piano, the violins, and the cello. Then we have a main room: kitchen, dining, couch area. Downstairs is teen land. Two bedrooms, bathroom, gym area, living room area (tables with tons of lego plus a sectional and TV/games). I really like having the teens in the basement. They are up way later than I am and I don't have to hear it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroe1 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I have never figured out why builders do not accommodate for your type of needs. We do not have a lot of kids, but we have a lot of old people who also need their own spaces with wheelchair accommodations. 1. Find a house, first and foremost, that is wheelchair friendly. Remember, not only do child needs change, but also parents. They do come home to live eventually for most of us. 2. A big ranch, Florida style, or some such does much better. One story for everything is best. Otherwise, get an elevator. Right now we have 4000 sq. ft on one level with rounded corner wide hallways and "drive in" showers to accommodate wheelchairs. We literally lucked into this house as it was already built. We have had up to 7000 sq. which had 2000 sq. ft upstairs. This did not work well for us because of stairs and poor flow. 3. Focus on bedrooms and bathrooms before common areas if you do have to compromise. Getting most bedrooms close together helps in the early and latest years. Early because the kiddos are small and later because parents need a lot of assistance through the night. Bedrooms spaced out are really only good in the between years. 4. Getting one or two massive spaces for living areas is all one needs. These rooms can adjust through the years for changes. For example, a great big family room can double as a homeschool room at the dining table if needed while keeping the other living space for loud tv viewers and piano players. 5. One quiet escape room can be just that during early years and double as a caretaker's room or home office as needs change. 6. That great big yard we all think kids need is wonderful in the early years and becomes a huge burden in later life. Find property that can adjust also. A larger clearing that can be converted to a no maintenance forest eventually is great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashfern Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 We have a 3200 sq ft, 5 bedroom house. We have a huge master bedroom. Right now we have our queen bed, 2 dressers, armoire, love seat, and DH's computer desks. The layout is one giant rectangle. The 16 yo has the smallest bedroom but it has a private full bath attached. The 10 & 8 yo share a bedroom. They have bunk beds so that gives them floor space to play. The 2 yo has his own room. We put a train table in there. Those 3 share a bathroom. The 13 yo has the bedroom on the first floor. The bathroom she uses is the only one on the first floor. There is a formal living room and dining room. The living room could be made into a bedroom with the addition of a door and closet. It would be bigger than two of the current bedrooms. The formal dining room has my computer and the storage for the school stuff. The kitchen is really big (double island and eat-in area) and open to the family room. The basement is unfinished. Most of the toys and the Wii are down there. There are things that I love about the layout and things that I would change. The open concept is nice except when the kids won't stay out of the pantry or run around in circles when I'm cooking. Our old house had a bathroom for every bedroom (there were 4) and then a powder room for guests. I don't like that my 13 yo has to share her bathroom with basically everyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I have never figured out why builders do not accommodate for your type of needs. We do not have a lot of kids, but we have a lot of old people who also need their own spaces with wheelchair accommodations. 1. Find a house, first and foremost, that is wheelchair friendly. Remember, not only do child needs change, but also parents. They do come home to live eventually for most of us. 2. A big ranch, Florida style, or some such does much better. One story for everything is best. Otherwise, get an elevator. Right now we have 4000 sq. ft on one level with rounded corner wide hallways and "drive in" showers to accommodate wheelchairs. We literally lucked into this house as it was already built. We have had up to 7000 sq. which had 2000 sq. ft upstairs. This did not work well for us because of stairs and poor flow. 3. Focus on bedrooms and bathrooms before common areas if you do have to compromise. Getting most bedrooms close together helps in the early and latest years. Early because the kiddos are small and later because parents need a lot of assistance through the night. Bedrooms spaced out are really only good in the between years. 4. Getting one or two massive spaces for living areas is all one needs. These rooms can adjust through the years for changes. For example, a great big family room can double as a homeschool room at the dining table if needed while keeping the other living space for loud tv viewers and piano players. 5. One quiet escape room can be just that during early years and double as a caretaker's room or home office as needs change. 6. That great big yard we all think kids need is wonderful in the early years and becomes a huge burden in later life. Find property that can adjust also. A larger clearing that can be converted to a no maintenance forest eventually is great. It's so fascinating to me to read this - it's the exact opposite of what I would want/ treasure in our home. I will note that we are in a ranch with a basement beneath. There is nothing in the basement that is not also on the first floor and that's great... Because once the kids are gone I have zero intention of setting foot down there. ;) It will be for guests. We see us staying in this house while we are readily mobile and have adult children. However, I do not see this being our forever home as we wouldn't want this much lawn care. But I can't see wanting an older person's home (just one level, focus more on bedrooms/private space over common areas) when I'm not aging. It just wouldn't work now. I think, in this day and age, we often shift houses, don't you think? I can see the value of everything you posted to a 70 year old me, but not to current me with teens and lots of littles. Hm. Something interesting to think on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 One thing I've heard of some larger families doing is turning over the master suite for a dorm style bedroom for 3-4 kids, parents taking another smaller bedroom and converting the extra bedroom into a family room/office/extra living space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) We only have 2 bio kids but foster and will likely be having a family of 7 staying with us for summers. We are building a house that will have a daylight basement which will have a rec room & mud room. Main floor Kitchen, Breakfast Nook, Family room open to each other and in the back. A foyer with formal dining that will be school room to the right and library/living room to the left these 2 rooms will have barn doors. There is also a guest bed and bath which will be an adult guest room. Upstairs will have 3 bedrooms, bathroom, laundry and the master suite. The three kids rooms are all good sized and will have at least 2 beds each and will have double closets. The master suite will not be bigger than the other rooms we don't hang out in our room. We are getting a lot more house for our money by building, while it will be cute it will be using lower end finishes than you usually find around here. Edited March 21, 2016 by rebcoola 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Dawn Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 There is a mudroom. I won't say it's my FAVORITE thing about this house, but after the yard it sure is. The children come into the mudroom, kick off dirty boots, and then into the laundry room. The laundry room has a tiny half bath off of it - potty and sink. This is my dream layout. Don't give me Pinterest beautiful. Give me a mudroom WITH a potty and a SINK. So much good advice in this whole post. And yes, don't overlook the beauty of a mudroom! Mudrooms and entryways are often overlooked, but especially with a large homeschooling family with young children, it can make life so much easier. We are in a split foyer house with no mudroom, and going anywhere with the whole family is literally a balancing act getting our shoes and coats on and off at the front door without knocking anyone down the basement stairs, and with the front door opening into half the space. Taking off snow gear is the same, or if they come in from the backyard, litters the kitchen and has to be carried through the house. Access to a bathroom from a mudroom would be absolutely ideal. Why don't more builders think of these things? :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropymama Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 We have six kids in a traditional split-entry midwestern home. There are three bedrooms up and three down, and a living area on each floor. My older two, dd14 and ds12 have their own rooms downstairs. The third downstairs bedroom is shared by dd10 and dd1. Upstairs is the master and the room ds7 and ds5 share. School happens downstairs in the family room - we put an old dining table down there and some bookshelves and it works. The only unique thing we've done is to keep the last upstairs bedroom empty. It's great for guests, or the baby to sleep in when there are friends over for dd10, or a quiet space for any of us to go when we need it. I don't know how long dd10 and dd1 will be able to share, but for now it's working well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropymama Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Also, I don't know what you mean by large, but it sounds like some of these homes are huge. That's great if you can get it, but we have 2700 sf and it works very well. Probably because it's well laid out - just two big rectangles, one on top of the other. Not very pretty, but super functional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Also, I don't know what you mean by large, but it sounds like some of these homes are huge. That's great if you can get it, but we have 2700 sf and it works very well. Probably because it's well laid out - just two big rectangles, one on top of the other. Not very pretty, but super functional. Ours is about 2100' - footprint. But, the basement almost doubles it - not counting for the unfinished storage room and furnace/utility room. Looking at the house itself you'd never say it was a big house. It just doesn't look it. They just used the space REALLY well. I even have a walk in coat closet here. Granted, it totally reminds my husband of a funeral home and really creeped him out when we looked at the house, lol, but this is something that is INCREDIBLY valuable. She lined the whole thing in cedar. There are shelves and rods through the whole thing. I love the woman who designed this house. The funny thing? Two kids, both teens when they built it. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Ours will be 2700 it's just well configured no one room is very big. It looks huge because the garage/basement is underneath the house, this is strategic so we can see over the dike that blocks us from the river also in case of flood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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