Kitchen Color Poll

Click here for the kitchen color choices. It's limited really, but I'm anal.

Latest Exterior Renderings

More changes to the outside, plus removal of dining room bump-out. Opinions and suggestions welcome!

Introduction

We live in a typical 1970's era 4-level split home. The design problems, in my mind, include:

• No master suite
• Entrance from garage to house runs through "bedroom 4" (lower level)
• Dining room, used daily, is cramped for our family of five
• No "dumping ground" (mudroom, mail sorting area)
• No doors from kitchen/dining room to back patio where we like to grill and lounge during the summer
• Doors from family room (lower level) to outside are drafty despite being replaced 2 years ago. Placement of doors limits furniture arrangement, creates awkward traffic patterns.
• 3/4 bath on lower level has possibly the smallest shower ever (30"x30"), right next to the 22" wide door.
• There is a big window into both bathrooms. The one on the upper level isn't so bad, but having the one in the lower level is just weird, as guests walking to the front door have a nice view in...
• It looks like a 1970's era split level home ;)

We like our 5-acre property and the community we live in. The flow of the house needs some help, especially since we now have 3 daughters! We might move if we can't come up with a workable remodel plan, but I think I might have it below. I designed it myself using Punch! Home Design - Platinum Edition. I am a software engineer, not an architect, though I'm thinking about playing one on TV. I am a huge fan of Sarah Susanka's Not So Big House books and derived some of my ideas from her collection. I've gathered other ideas from various places around the internet. I'm currently on variation #37,208 or so and I always think "this is the one"...

Please chime in with comments, suggestions or ideas. You can respond however you know me from or e-mail julie@mindcapers.com. We don't want to sink too much money into this house, but could probably recoup $50-75k of upgrades when we sell. If we do this, we'll probably stay about 20 years or so, before trading it for a place in the Caribbean.

Images

Exising Exterior Views

Upper Level Floor Plans

Lower Level Floor Plans

Design Notes

• The garage is 22' wide and 24' deep. Part of the plan is to steal 44" of the depth for the master bath and a closet in one of the other bedrooms. We have a 30'x60' underutilized pole barn that we will be putting a concrete floor (currently dirt/gravel) in, so storage/workspace in the garage is a non-issue, we just park cars in there.
• The tub/shower in the master bath has a skylight (garage roof) is over it, the tub can be partially sunk in this configuration.
• Entering the house from the garage is now through a mudroom area with a bench, coat hooks, and mail sorting area.
• Kitchen could be redone at the same time, but no rush.
• Lower level bathroom could be left alone, but I like the new configuration better.
• There is a 3' wide soffit through which heating vents run on the lower level. This soffit runs through the proposed hallway/mudroom. Expanding it enough to run plumbing for the new master bath should work fine.