Just like our first house floor plan and our current house floor plan from yesteryear, a bunch of you have requested a new house floor plan. So here ya go! They definitely help visual people like us see what walls are where, and what flows into what. So we whipped this up with floorplanner.com (which is, as the name might suggest, a free floor planning site). One big difference from the last two floor planning posts that we shared? This time there’s a second level. Who’s got two thumbs and a set of stairs? This girl.
The funny thing is that when we shared a video tour of the new house, some people said “wow, the new house seems so much bigger!” and some other people said “wow, your new house seems so much smaller!” so that was interesting to us. I think it’s hard to judge room size without furniture, so since the new house is empty – and covered in blue trim and wallpaper – it might be throwing people off. In reality the new house and the current house are almost exactly the same square footage (there’s literally only a 20 square foot difference). The new house just looks a lot bigger from the outside since there’s a visible second story instead of a hidden 1000 square foot addition off the back of the house that you can’t see from the street.
As for a few first thoughts about what we’d like to do to alter the actual footprint…
- we’d love to convert the big triple window in the eat-in part of the kitchen into a big french door that leads out onto the deck
- there are a bunch of doors closing everything off on the first floor (they block the flow between the dining room and kitchen, the kitchen and foyer, etc) so we’ll be taking those down to open things up
- the wall between the living room and the kitchen will come down, but we’d love some built in bookcases on each side with a large centered opening (sort of like the built-ins in our current dining room but perhaps with glass doors and lighting)
- we’re planning to fully renovate the chopped up bathroom and sink nook in our bathroom so they’re all one space with a nice big double sink and a soaker tub
- someday we’d love to fully finish the unfinished storage space at the end of the hallway (right now it’s just a raw space full of exposed beams and ducts, but maybe down the line we can floor it and drywall it to create a movie room/bunk room for Clara, potential Bean #2, and their friends when they’re older) Update: due to lots of questions, I wanted to clarify the stairs you see in the unfinished storage space – those lead to the attic, but the area labeled as “unfinished storage” is on the same floor as the bedrooms (no walking up or down to get to it).
This video tour of the new house will probably make more sense out of those bullets, and of course we have a bunch of other stuff banging around in our heads (we change our minds every minute) so we’ll be back with a big ol’ List O’ Planz for all the items on the agenda. Get ready guys, we might break 3,000 words with that baby. Oh wait, we forgot measurements! Here’s an extremely approximated rundown for ya (tape measure + three year old = immediate mayhem).
- Foyer: 9.5 x 8′
- Office: 16 x 13′
- Dining Room: 13.5 x 13′
- Kitchen: 21 x 11′
- Hall Bath: 4.5 x 5′
- Living Room: 20 x 13.5′
- Sunroom: 18 x 12′
- Our Bedroom: 13.5 x 19′
- Our Bath + Sink Nook (since we hope to combine ’em down the line): 8.5 x 7′
- Possible Future Nursery: 11.5 x 13.5′
- Clara’s Room: 13.5 x 12.5′
- Hall Bath: 8.5 x 7′
- Guest Room: 13.5 x 11′
- Laundry Nook: 3 x 7′
- Unfinished Storage (with exposed beams, ducts, etc): 17 x 19.5′
Ever made a floor plan? Ever been so excited to have stairs? Tell $herdog all about it.
So you have to teleport to get in the office, huh? Cool :-)
Hahah! Oops, that’s a doorway from the foyer :)
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I’m sure you were just trying to create a mental boundary so you won’t be in there all the time. It was a subliminal solid wall. ;)
Oh yes, that was it! Ha!
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Floorplanner.com, where have you been my whole life? Thanks for the link! I would have pegged your new house as a center hall colonial. That unfinished storage space sounds exciting. I like the movie room idea!
Looks like there will be LOTS of fun headed your way! [and our way too] I am so excited to see what’s in store! :)
Looks fantastic! We just painted our living room which makes it look MUCH bigger — I’m sure once you take down wallpaper and paint over that . . . interesting molding, your house will do the same! Thanks for the peek!
My first thought when seeing the unfinished storage was “God I couldnt wait to tackle that and turn it into living space!” I would love to see what you guys do with it!!
It’s nice that you’re getting to spend some time owning the house before you move in. Our house was so disgusting when we bought it, it took 11 months of working on it before it was habitable.
Then again, it wasn’t just unattractive and outdated finishes we were working on. Took it down to the studs, we did.
I wish there had been inspirational and informative blogs at the time, it would have made things better.
Anyway, got away from my central thesis here . . .
Which was?
Hahah!
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I love floor plans (I usually scour the web looking new floor plans, and I especially like checking out the ones in the area) so this is great!
I really like the direction you’re headed, can’t wait to see all your ideas come to life.
Stairs always remind me of our first Easter in our Pittsburgh house. It snowed, so my folks hid the eggs inside. We didn’t find one until we moved a year later- in a closet.
Life with stairs was so different from our Mississippi and Navy housing places.
Know you guys have never built a house, so this might be a long shot, but wondered if you had any recc’s for sites w/floor plans for prospective builders. There are just so many out there, all differently formatted, etc… it’s tough to weed through ’em to get to the good stuff so thought I’d try my most trusted source ;-)
http://www.architecturalhouseplans.com/
I browse floorplans quite often. Check out books of them. This website is my favorite, because the houses are more than a diagram of a floor plan. They have continuity in 3-d, with the details, and materials. There are several floorplans on this website that I love.
FYI – the link for the video of the new house layout (towards end, above bulleted list) doesn’t connect. feel free to delete this comment after you read it :)
LOVE your site – have been a loyal reader since right after the first house got started
Thanks Bridgett! I think it’s fixed now :)
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Looks great! I’m wondering, though, if your huge gray sectional will fit in the new living room, as well as your beautiful bedroom rug in the new master bedroom. Those are some of my favorite pieces from your second house and I would be sad if they didn’t work in the new place.
We think we’ll have to reconfigure Karl to make it work, but I’m so excited to see how it goes :)
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Really looking forward to seei the colors in this change from their current palette! Do you think you will keep a similar scheme as your current house, or go warmer?
I think we’re feeling some warmer colors and also some deeper colors and of course lots of white white white!
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This is great, I am so excited to see this new house get some love! Seeing the floor plan made me think what amazing possibilities with the unfinished space upstairs…any plans down the road for a playroom/ or teen space as Claire (are some day maybe other beans) to hang out there? I wish our house had that space over the garage! Sending you guys happy home maker over vibes!
Oh yes, if you check out the bullets we mentioned the plans for that space. So excited!
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Wow, this helps so much to get a better idea of how much space you have. I didn’t even realize you had the extra storage that’s such a big space with so much potential. I wondered how big is your actually yard. Is it similar to your current house? I cannot wait to see all you do to this house.
Yup, very similar lot size (almost an acre in current house and new house). :)
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Love your big ideas so far! We’ve got stairs and I love the idea of having a ranch! Haha
Looks great!!
Where do the stairs lead showing in the unfinished storage space, to the garage?
Just posted an update to the post for everyone about that :)
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Love seeing the floor plan! It really helps visualize the space. I am just so excited for you guys!
So excited about your new house! It is very similar to ours, and I can’t wait to see what you do with it and “borrow” some of your ideas. :-) I am curious, do you have a basement? Finished or unfinished? I don’t remember if you mentioned it previously. Anyway, congratulations on your new digs!
No basement, just a two car garage and a big walk-up attic along with all the unfinished storage space on the second floor :)
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Do you think you’ll have a kitchen table again or just use the dining room. The possibilities are endless! My next house will not have a dining room or living room but that many years down the road… maybe ;)
I think we’d love a casual dining table (maybe with just seating for four) in the kitchen and then the big dining table in the dining room :)
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Thanks for the floor plan – definitely a visual person here! Are those stairs from the side of the laundry into that unfinished storage? If so – up or down? How excited are you to have stairs AND a garage?! I <3 my garage – it's where all of the DIY magic happens. ;)
There are stairs that lead up to the attic in that area too, but the unfinished storage that we drew out is on the same level as the bedrooms and the unfinished attic runs above those things :)
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Besides the fact that I’m so excited to see what happens, I so love the idea of a bunk room/play room! Seriously brilliant. Adding that to my mental list of someday maybes.
I made my first floorplan in seventh grade Shop Class. I fell in love with design then. I even remember the symbols used to mark an outlet and electrical stuff.
I’ve been using floorplanner.com and love it! It’s a neat tool.
Thanks for the visual.
I love seeing floor plans! I really have a thing for them. Question – is that staircase in the unfinished space going to the garage or up to a 3rd floor or what?
That leads up to the attic, but the unfinished storage space is on the same floor as the bedrooms (right over the garage).
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I’m a commercial interior designer so I’m always out in the field measuring buildings for as-built drawings. While I keep a measuring tape in my job bag, my favorite thing ever is the laser measuring tape. Just point and shoot. Plus lasers! Probably more power than you need around the house but when you’re in a gross basement and need to measure a hundred feet across a room it’s super handy. We have a Lecia brand one we call “the toy” even though it was about $500 when we got it.
Woah, that sounds awesome!
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Totally agree Lydia! I love my disto, more commonly referred to as my lifesaver. I have Bosch that I found on amazon for 40 bucks, and they typically run around 100-500.
LOVE IT!! Excited to watch the transformation!!
I have an architecture degree, so I’m a big sucker for floor plans! :)
Are those stairs in the unfinished storage area?
If you finish off that area before Clara’s too big, you should put in a secret entry from her closet.
Just added an update to the post about those stairs :)
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I love the secret door idea, Alli!
Oh Wow! Is there no closet in the other two upstairs rooms?
Oh yes, there’s a closet in every bedroom. See the two unlabeled boxes? We just couldn’t fit the word closet into them since they’re smaller :)
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First of all congrats on the new house! I’m living vicariously through you for the next year because I am hoping to move in the summer of 2014.
Does your new house have a basement and an attic? After living in a house with both, I don’t think I could give up that space. We use the attic for storage and the basement as laundry, playroom and storage.
Can’t wait to see all your renovations as you are this house your home!
It has a two car garage and a walk-up attic on top of that unfinished storage on the second floor, but no basement :)
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So what’s with that random little rectangle between the master bath/sink zones? Is it just dead space or something functional? It’s a nice layout overall, but I must know the truth of the rectangle! ;p
That’s a tiny little linen closet (there’s a bigger one in the hall).
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I can’t wait to see what your inspiration will be for your colors that you plan to use. As fun as Sue the Napkin turned out to be for your last house, I can’t see you using the same colors again!
I agree! Sue the Napkin was great! I’m interested to see, if you do change the color scheme, what will stay and what will go.
I’m sure it’ll change a lot – style and colors will definitely be different since this house is so different and we seem to always be evolving!
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Thanks for sharing!!
One question: what is up with the stairs between the unfinished storage space and the guest room? Where do they go?
Just added an update in the post to help with that!
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I’m so excited to see all the updates you make! PS – got very excited for you today when Ugly Duckling House showed some bookends she is loving from Anthropologie… and they were holding up your book!
http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/search/27210285.jsp?cm_vc=SEARCH_RESULTS
Isn’t that crazy?! I screamed when I saw that!
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The floor plan helps me visualize everything. Hooray! My husband and I always lived in a condo and when we bought a 3 story house, having stairs was very exciting. Until you realize you have to go up and down those stairs. A lot. Like when you’re moving in with boxes and such. I think my legs are much more toned now that we live with stairs! ;-)
Yessss!
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I love me a floor plan almost as much as I love pillows!! So excited to see how you transform this place!!
Can’t wait to see how the master bath turns out as by the floor plan it looks rather…unique. :)
I have the same sort of issue in my house…excited to see how you tackle it :)
We just bought our first house 4 months ago, and when we moved in, we were so excited about having space! We went from ~600 square feet to ~1600. So we were excited about stairs, but in the sense of, “one of us can go to bed early and not have to be 10 feet away from the person who stayed up to finish watching a TV show!”.
You guys even make moving look fun!! So excited to see the new things you will be doing in your new house! Congrats!
I think the link to the video tour doesn’t work :( Id love to see the new digs!
So sorry, updated!
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In the master bathroom, what’s the enclosed box that would be on your left as you enter the room with the shower/tub/toilet?
That’s a little linen closet, but there’s a larger one in the hallway too!
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I’ve been excited about stairs! We’re renovating our house and part of the plan was to move the entire stairwell/staircase. We spent 8 months without interior stairs connecting the two floors – our deck stairs had never gotten so much use before that.
The payoff was huge but I wouldn’t recommend it to very many people.
Please tell me you blogged about this.
Agreed! That would be awesome to read!
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“Ever made a floor plan?”
Hahahahahahahaha (wipes tears from laughing off of face) I’m an interior design major. I’d definitely say I’ve made a floor plan or two (or hundred) in my life time. ;-)
Ditto (that made me laugh too, Caitlin)but I’m Interior Architecture. Just got my masters degree too (sorry but I’m just so excited)! Floors plan and space planning extraordinaire! I like the free floor plan website you guys mentioned. Pretty cool!
hysterical.
I think it’s crazy people ask if you’re pregnant/planning on it etc. BUT you keep calling a spare room the nursery/possible nursery. It may help cut back on the unwanted attention/questions if you call it what it is –
– a spare room. You’re inviting this unwanted questions and speculation by calling it a nursery (even with a ? on it).
It’s no one business what your family and are but since you had to do a whole post on why the speculation bothers you maybe you shouldn’t add fuel to the fire? Just a thought! And obviously a 100 different will label spare rooms a 100 different ways ;)
It was just a nursery when the previous owners lived there so that name has stuck as the easiest way for us to describe it. I agree that a spare room would be a more vague description but since we have a guest room and a room for Clara I think a vague term for it would just elicit a bunch of “what are your plans for the spare room?” questions all the time. Haha! So our intention to make it a nursery someday is out there, even though I’m not currently expecting :)
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Thanks for sharing the floor plans! That with the video definitely helps us figure it out. How great is it that you guys share your life on the internet like this. Brave move Petersiks! Can’t wait to see that long list!
Are sunrooms pretty common in your area? Or do you specifically look for them when you shop for a house? We have one in our new house and I am pretty excited about it!!
They seem to be crazy popular in Richmond, although I never heard of them before we moved here.
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I had the same question. I’m from NC and only knew a few people with them, and I think they all built them themselves. I like seeing how people decorate and incorporate them though.
Bonnie 2 here :) I agree about the sunrooms! So funny you’ve had them in your houses to date. If it were me, I’d turn the new one into a screened-in porch, so much more fun and useful three seasons in RVA (my parents are in Hopewell and we live on their screened porch).
So awesome! With those changes, the layout of the house will be so nice. Nice room sizes too!
You guys are so lucky to have the laundry on the second floor. We have a 2 story and our laundry is in our garage, (boo). I have also found that I get my fair share of cardio having a 2 story: come downstairs to leave, oh my keys are upstairs; turn off lights and go upstairs to bed, oh my phone is downstairs. All in all I don’t mind a 2 story too much. :) Love the layout of your new house and can’t wait to see what you have in store for it!
I have always loved your blog, but am even more excited now that there are a gazillion similarities between your house and my new one. Including taking down the wall between the kitchen and living room, and the master bathroom that is cut into about 50 smaller spaces. I can’t WAIT to see some of these!! Hopefully you will have less critters than me though, between the dead mice (and living ones in the walls) the snake skin under the dishwasher, and the stink bugs, there is plenty of life in this old house of mine!
Eeks! Hope we don’t see critters either!
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what is it that looks like stairs in the unfinished part?
I find it odd that the closet in Clara’s room doesn’t sit the other way. It looks like there would have been room to put it that way.
I can’t wait to see what is in store for this new house. Good luck!
Just added an update in the post to help with the stairs question! And the closet in Clara’s room is why she picked it (it’s really deep with a peaked roof) so maybe checking it out on the video will help to give it more context :)
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Can’t wait to see what you do to this new place!
For a second I thought the nursery has two entrances one stepping out into the stairs lol… Then I realized it’s a closet, just not labeled.
Oh yeah, sorry that’s a closet!
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