(Brendan)
Partly just to let you know, and partly just to document these so that we don't forget, here are some small items that we'd like to change about the final design.
First, we're going to have to have a way to get out the lawn mower, snow blower, and other outdoor implements of human torture... I mean labor... out of the garage. We specifically wanted only a two car garage door, because we hate large facades of nothing but garage doors. We have a three-car garage now, with double-car garage door and a single-car garage door, and the only reason we open the single door is just to get out the mower and other stuff. So why have that huge door? You could do the same thing with a much smaller roll-up door that was off to the side. So, we asked my brother for a garage that had a double-car door, and then some extra space on the side for the outdoor implements. But the small door isn't in the design yet, and I think it would go best on the North side of the garage:
My brother had originally shown the garage above with two single-car garage doors, but this would actually be a double-car garage door with both car spots toward the South of the garage, and the space shown above between the car spots would be on the North with access from that smaller door.
A second modification is the addition of a boys bathroom upstairs. The way it was depicted, there was a bathroom adjacent to the girls' room, but this is going to get pretty crowded. We would leave that bathroom as is, and add another that is smaller and just has a toilet and a stand-up shower. Probably some room would be sacrificed from the girls' room, or some combination of both the boys' and girls' rooms. My brother though this wouldn't be a problem.
One thing I think will need to change about the chapel (though I'm unsure until we get into the specific design) is the layout of the windows. I love the verticality the shape of the windows will add to the chapel, I'm just wondering about wallspace for art and other devotionals. Right now the windows seem to take up almost all of both walls. And I'm not sure if they'd need to be laid out like they are since we wouldn't want a clear glass outlook onto the surroundings anyway. Filtered light is much preferred in the chapel, or standard glass light that comes from above where the most you would see is sky but wouldn't be looking out on the surroundings. They'll be enough places to look on the surroundings elsewhere in the home, and the chapel is meant to be more interior and reflective.
Lastly, Molly would like a walk-in pantry, or at least a bigger pantry near the kitchen for food storage and easy access. Currently, there is only a smaller pantry in the kitchen, but some small space could be sacrificed from the mud room to provide extra area for a pantry. Again, my brother thought this wouldn't be a problem.
There is still a small question in our mind about whether the stairway, as it sits all the way on the South end of the home, will be easy enough access for all the traffic going up and down. For example, when kids are playing in their rooms, and Molly is in the kitchen, she'd have to walk quite a distance to monitor them. Potentially another stairway to the upper floor could be added in the basement stairwell by the garage. But, the more I think about it, I'm not sure I'd want to do this, because it wold take even more room away from the bedrooms upstairs, and having the stairway go directly into a bedroom seems odd. Still, something to look into.
Partly just to let you know, and partly just to document these so that we don't forget, here are some small items that we'd like to change about the final design.
First, we're going to have to have a way to get out the lawn mower, snow blower, and other outdoor implements of human torture... I mean labor... out of the garage. We specifically wanted only a two car garage door, because we hate large facades of nothing but garage doors. We have a three-car garage now, with double-car garage door and a single-car garage door, and the only reason we open the single door is just to get out the mower and other stuff. So why have that huge door? You could do the same thing with a much smaller roll-up door that was off to the side. So, we asked my brother for a garage that had a double-car door, and then some extra space on the side for the outdoor implements. But the small door isn't in the design yet, and I think it would go best on the North side of the garage:
My brother had originally shown the garage above with two single-car garage doors, but this would actually be a double-car garage door with both car spots toward the South of the garage, and the space shown above between the car spots would be on the North with access from that smaller door.A second modification is the addition of a boys bathroom upstairs. The way it was depicted, there was a bathroom adjacent to the girls' room, but this is going to get pretty crowded. We would leave that bathroom as is, and add another that is smaller and just has a toilet and a stand-up shower. Probably some room would be sacrificed from the girls' room, or some combination of both the boys' and girls' rooms. My brother though this wouldn't be a problem.
One thing I think will need to change about the chapel (though I'm unsure until we get into the specific design) is the layout of the windows. I love the verticality the shape of the windows will add to the chapel, I'm just wondering about wallspace for art and other devotionals. Right now the windows seem to take up almost all of both walls. And I'm not sure if they'd need to be laid out like they are since we wouldn't want a clear glass outlook onto the surroundings anyway. Filtered light is much preferred in the chapel, or standard glass light that comes from above where the most you would see is sky but wouldn't be looking out on the surroundings. They'll be enough places to look on the surroundings elsewhere in the home, and the chapel is meant to be more interior and reflective.
Lastly, Molly would like a walk-in pantry, or at least a bigger pantry near the kitchen for food storage and easy access. Currently, there is only a smaller pantry in the kitchen, but some small space could be sacrificed from the mud room to provide extra area for a pantry. Again, my brother thought this wouldn't be a problem.
There is still a small question in our mind about whether the stairway, as it sits all the way on the South end of the home, will be easy enough access for all the traffic going up and down. For example, when kids are playing in their rooms, and Molly is in the kitchen, she'd have to walk quite a distance to monitor them. Potentially another stairway to the upper floor could be added in the basement stairwell by the garage. But, the more I think about it, I'm not sure I'd want to do this, because it wold take even more room away from the bedrooms upstairs, and having the stairway go directly into a bedroom seems odd. Still, something to look into.
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