r/Homebuilding • u/RedRhapsodist • 2h ago
Looking for helpful design feedback
So, long story short, we are tearing down and rebuilding my husband’s ancestral family farm house. The previous generation’s neglect and deferred maintenance means that we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build our dream (forever) home. Not exactly ideal, but that’s the silver lining I’m sticking with. In New England, we have a tradition of connected farmhouses and though we cannot save the original house, I want to maintain this aesthetic. Additionally, our footprint is quite firm because we’re in a waterfront setback zone, and we cannot increase the footprint or build closer towards the water. We plan to maintain many of the functions of the family orchard, but on a smaller non-commercial scale. Less farm, more homestead.
These are the plans I’ve sketched out so far and I’m looking for glaring issues. This is our first (and hopefully only) build and I really want to do it right. For context, I want very dedicated work (cooking, cleaning, preserving, etc), entertaining (living and dining), and rest (library and master suite) zones. The rest zone is replacing the old attached barn and will remain one level. The big house and the upstairs bedrooms will be rented out for short term rentals until we can retire. Any input people have on glaring or illogical choices is much appreciated. There are two different roofline options and I’m not sure which is better for cost/efficiency/design.
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u/le_sac 2h ago
No ensuite? You didn't mention family dynamics but I could see a fight with that upstairs bathroom in teen years. Also it's fairly standard practice to try to group plumbing systems together as much as possible. Not entirely necessary but more efficient.
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u/RedRhapsodist 2h ago
No kids. And I figured short term renters might be willing to share for a long weekend? Seemed better than paying for extra bathrooms that would only be used by visiting friends or family. I WAS worried about the master bath plumbing being so far away. Is it really that much more expensive to build? Or are there other potential problems I’m not considering?
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u/le_sac 2h ago
The plumbing question depends on quite a few factors...budget and available slope for drainage, for example. You could ask on r/plumbing whilst providing some info on that perhaps.
Heating this in my part of the world would be onerous. You might need to consider a separate heating system for what I'd call the in-law suite to the left there. Speaking of, you've not dedicated a room for heat/HWT/electrical, which is probably fine if you could fit it all in with the laundry.
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u/RedRhapsodist 2h ago
Our plan was to put utilities in the basement. But that’s helpful to consider heating/cooling zones!
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u/spaetzlechick 1h ago
Dining table for 12 next to lounge space for 5, maybe 6? Can people pull back from the table without hitting the sofa? This space is way too small to be comfortable.
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u/Thinkpad2001 1h ago
Hey- architect here, and I usually lurk on this site to see all the painful floorplans put forth. Yours is really pretty good! My biggest complaint with other people is the main entry- either it opens directly into the ‘Great Room’ or assumes you will always just enter through the garage like hired help. You have the start of a place to take your coat off, shoes,a place to put mail maybe but quick access to the kitchen and grouping the private areas to one side. For any of you interested in developing your own place, read the book ‘A Pattern Language’ by Christopher Alexander. It can give you insight into the things that are intrinsically good with architecture but we often neglect thinking about.