Part 1 – 2100 sqft House, South Carolina

Posted on: August 24th, 2009 | 9 Comments

2100 sqft House, South Carolina (PDF)
2100 sqft House, South Carolina (Main)
2100 sqft House, South Carolina (Upper)

  • Volker

    [img]wwwth27mainkopie.jpg[/img]

    This house was planned around the cars!
    As indicated in the attached sketch the main floor is more or less planned around the garage and if you subtract the corridor- or moving space not much is left for the regular use.
    The entrance is rather small, although there is a closet, you actually bump into the stairs – and end up directly in the living room – which is rather small when you take off the corridor space to access the rear of the house. Same problem with the dining – you have to go through this room to get to the rear – not a nice place to actually have a formal dinner.
    As we have all learned in previous lessons – the access from the garage is not good either – no closet, no storage space you just bump into the kitchen

  • John Y

    I want to start with what’s right:

    1. The lack of any windows on the southern exposure is going to be a key climate-control feature in South Carolina. Hopefully, there are some trees in the backyard to block the afternoon sun in summer but let it through in winter — otherwise that family room is going to get pretty hot on summer afternoons.

    2. The garage is well-inegrated. I cannot agree with Volker’s complaint about the house being planned around cars: cars are a fact of life, especially in the U.S. south, where driving is often the only way to get anywhere. The fact that they designed the garage into the house so it’s less obtrusive — instead of just stapling it onto the front — is only a good thing.

    Now, all of that said, I wish there were a bit more of an entrance from the garage. That’s likely to be the primary family entrance, so a mud room or at least closet there would be a good idea.

    The kitchen is a bit oddly laid out. Depending on the height of that island, I guess it could work OK to use that as your primary counter space while cooking, with access behind to the fridge, stove and sink. I don’t much like the corner sink, but I suppose if nothing else it should get a lot of light. The millwork off to the southern end of the west wall won’t be used much, but is perhaps good storage for not-often-used small appliances and the like.

    The front of the house — that two-story living room — is wasting space on BOTH floors. I doubt that front room is going to be used much, and by extending the ceiling up in an attempt to look impressive, it cuts off the possibility of a front bedroom that gets some good morning light. Imagine sliding bedroom 2 to the front, putting a closet into that closed-off space in the corner, and keeping the current “bedroom 2″ area as some kind of open study. Wouldn’t that be much nicer?

  • Jane

    I’m with John regarding the upstairs and the wasted space because of the 2 story living room. Formal living rooms in a 3 kid home would have limited appeal to me.
    I took John’s comment and moved a bath/laundry room to the north side of the house upstairs between the two bedrooms (using the space above the living room), changed the existing bathroom and enlarged the bedroom above the garage. Also added a deck to the master bedroom. I don’t like mulitple doors in the master bedroom, so somehow I would like to see the bath and WIC door combined.
    Other than adding in space for a closet and area from the garage into the house, I’m not sure what I would do. The living room has little appeal to me – but I said that already.

  • Cat

    I like this house. I would add storage on the main floor, and I think I would like to move the stairs. It seems awkward somehow to go all the way back to the front door to go upstairs to bed. The formal living might seem redundant, but I think it could easily be repurposed to a library/study/homework room or a teenager game/fun/tv toom.

  • Adam G

    The front entrance is very cramped, and the closet door is battling for dominance with the front door.

    The dining & living room are both good sizes, but I wonder what real use the living room is. There’s a family room round the back; won’t that be where most of the living takes place? After all, it has a decent outlook and good light, and it’s closest to the garage door and kitchen.

    It might prove difficult to furnish the living room, given that so much of it’d need to be devoted to circulation space.

    Out of interest, what are those three extrusions on the east wall next to the living room windows? Would I be right in thinking that the upper level projects out by about two feet? So the windows are inset by the same distance? I thought for a moment that the windows were double height, but that doesn’t seem likely on second viewing.

    Lack of mud room off the garage has been mentioned. I’m guessing, since they seem to have taken a lot of trouble to raise the house off grade, that mud is a real problem. There’s a couple of odd kinks off the garage that seem a bit useless, tho I suppose the one off the west wall may contain mechanical elements. [is it just me or does that wall seperating the garage from the family room look very thin?]

    Going up top. Yes, I can see the problem with the double height living room. That said, given the location of the stairs, to get to that space you’d need a corridor where the second bedroom is now, which effectively means getting rid of the second bedroom. Knock off four foot or so for circulation, and what’s left? A narrow little room that nobody’d love. The area above the living room would become bedroom 2, and I suppose the remainder becomes a study.

  • James Scott

    First the good stuff, lots of windows upstairs. That’s it though.

    The front entry and closet doors will do battle for door supremacy. Who will win?

    The disjointed wall along the end of the garage translates into the family room.

    The kitchen, let’s see, three kids, 2 parents and a dog constantly under foot. Don’t you love being shoulder to shoulder with the people at the sink and the fridge when cooking. I can hear the sounds of happiness…will you get out of my *(&%^%$#^* kitchen!!!!!

    I also want to be the kid who gets the bedroom next to the laundry, nothing like the sound of an off balance washer to lull you to sleep.

    Good Times!

  • Terri

    Main Floor: I agree with comments above–cramped entry with bad door swings, too much of living/dining/kitchen used for circulation and no closet/transition between garage and kitchen. There are a couple of others I might add: the kitchen work triangle is too close–fixed by moving range over to left of sink–and there isn’t enough space next to the island for traffic into family room. I think the corner sink is fine.

    Upper Floor: The master bathroom tries to do too much with the separate tub and shower. That tub is too small to lay in (which is what a soaker tub is supposed to be for) and the shower is a bit cramped. The double sink vanity is also cramped. I do like the separate water closet, though it must rely on a fan for ventilation. Nonetheless, the upstairs rooms seem very nicely insulated from one another, and the laundry looks like a good space in a good location (near bedrooms & bathrooms, and also near stairs).

    As John Y said above, southern light might be unwelcome in South Carolina, but maybe some more windows on the east could have been incorporated in the double-height wall to mitigate the lower light levels in that dining/living space.

  • John Y

    My current thinking is that the stairs should be turned around and moved back. This allows for more space for a bigger entry, and has the access to the upstairs closer to the parts of the house likely to be used in mornings and evenings. One downside would be the required relocation of the powder room, but I think moving that and finding space for a mud room would be good ideas anyway.

    Upstairs, I like the idea of moving the family bath (and possibly the laundry) to the area where Bedroom 2 is, while moving Bedroom 2 to the front of the house and enlarging Bedroom 3.

  • Jim Argeropoulos

    I think the first floor has an issue with every room being a circulation room.
    The family entry has nice proximitry to the kitchen, which is kind of nice, but there is no room for storing anything. It is going to be a mess.
    I think the two story living room is aweful.
    The long narrow walk in closet in the master bedroom feels oddly proportioned.
    Bedroom 3 is a double whammy for connection to bathrooms. I’d probably choose to swing the closet to the bath wall adjoining the master ensuite.