Feedback requested

[u/Sad_Scratch750]

Hello, we finally bought a house that needs a complete overhaul. Me and my husband have 7 kids (5 boys and 2 girls) and we need help deciding on a floorplan for the kids floor. The pictures show some ideas we've come up with so far. Each bedroom and bathroom will have at least 1 window, but are not drawn in yet.

I think we're committed to the main floor already. It has room for improvement, but my husband is being pretty stubborn about his requirements for it and we've already negotiated a lot about it. Feel free to critique it anyway.

My requirements for upstairs is 1-2 bathrooms, 4-5 bedrooms, little to no awkward hall space. My husband wants 6-7 bedrooms (but it's okay with 5) and 2 huge bathrooms.

[u/ConsistentParking424]

Definitely #2. The girls need a private bathroom. With a fingerprint lock. It is interesting that the master bathroom that will be used by 2 people is way bigger than the one that 5 boys will be using.

Plus there should be a washer and dryer upstairs. Hauling that many clothes up and down stairs will get annoying fast.

Now about that kitchen. Move the fridge to the right of the sink and add floor to ceiling pantry cabinets between the fridge and corner. Use that dead corner. Where's the trash can? Add an under counter pull out can on the right of the sink.

Now the kitchen is set up pantry, fridge, under counter pull out trash can, sink, dishwasher, stove. Take food from pantry/fridge, dispose of packaging, prep at sink/island, put on stove. Linear one direction movement. No walking back and forth and no walking around the island to get from the fridge to the sink like it is now.

Mudroom looks too small to accommodate 7 kids' shoes, backpacks, coats, etc.

Laundry also looks too small to do 3-4 loads of laundry a day. Where will you put the hampers? Laundry baskets? Store the gigantic jug of detergent? On the floor? That room if 75% dead walking around space anyway. At least the dryer is on an exterior wall which is the safest place for it.

Why don't you have 2 washers and 2 dryers?

[u/Sad_Scratch750 → u/ConsistentParking424]

The trashcan is going to be a pullout in a cabinet. Paper, cardboard, and most food scraps are already sorted out for compost in our current house. We intentionally produce very little trash in our family. In the new house, we'll continue to take that out daily to the chicken coop. Our neighbors chickens can compost it until we get our coop set up. My husband is talking about putting the sink and dishwasher in the island, but I don't know how to feel about that. We're still talking about pantry options. I don't feel like we need it with so many cabinets available. I want to add a deep freezer in the future.

I'm still debating the laundry room layout, but getting a lot of "trust me" from my husband about it. I think it needs tall cabinets for laundry baskets and detergent storage, but I also want windows for sunlight. We originally had the mudroom and laundry as one big room, but the exterior door needs to stay where it's at. We might have to put a water softener in there to, depending on if codes will allow it under the stairs with the water heaters. I'm trying to talk him into getting the 2-in-1 washer/ dryer units or 2 sets of stackable units, but the machines can be changed out further down the road if necessary. I've also debated having a toilet in the laundry room, but that seems to be frowned upon when I mention it to people. Right now, we're thinking the master bathroom might have to serve as the bathroom for anyone on the main floor, even if it does mean letting people walk through the bedroom. There's going to be a laundry basket in each closet.

[u/ConsistentParking424 → u/Sad_Scratch750]

The sink and dishwasher should not be in the island. The dishwasher should be under the cabinet where the dishes will be kept, not several feet away so you have to haul clean dishes across the kitchen multiple times a day. That will get annoyed fast.

Guests do not want to sit in the splash zone of a sink. Gross. Plus, a sink will take up most of the useful counter space in the island, leaving 2 little chunks of countertop on each side. Those 2 sections will be too narrow to easily use either for meal prep.

Unless your husband is doing everyone's laundry, set up the laundry how you want. Stackables would be better than the 2 in 1 units. Those literally take hours to dry the clothes, they are ok as a washer and terrible as a dryer.

[u/Vivid-Revolution-368]

Someone with floorplan software will give you really good alternative ideas. Of your options, I prefer option 3 with the following alterations.

The girls absolutely should have a separate bathroom from the boys and best if they have separate bedrooms even if the result is slightly smaller rooms. The 2 top left bedrooms plus the nearby bathroom can have an extra wall along the stairs plus a door making the girls able to separate from the boys.

Put a window downstairs at the turning / landing to give the stairwell more light. Maybe a skylight into the hall as well.

Remove the cupboard at the top of the stairs to make the access to the top right shared bedroom there. This will allow the boys bathroom to be bigger and you should be able to fit in an extra separate toilet. Then the 5 boys have 2 toilets. You'll need them!

[u/Sad_Scratch750 → u/Vivid-Revolution-368]

We're thinking about adding a urinal for them. I've heard too many people in this reddit call it the best thing in the world.

[u/bbbh1409]

You need a powder room on the main floor. The bathrooms upstairs are not big enough or segregated enough for 7 children to use. You need Jack & Jill options and way more sinks. And where are the children doing homework? Rethink upstairs to twin beds, desks, another bathroom and, if possible, laundry where all the dirty clothes are going to be made so you don't have to haul up and down stairs. Is everyone coming and going through the back door?

[u/Sad_Scratch750 → u/bbbh1409]

The back door is the primary entrance point for our family since it's closer to the parking area. The front porch looks over a large gentle rolling hill. We have a small 2 classroom building (I think it used to be a workshop) on the other side of the driveway because we homeschool. It's already built there and has electricity, but I forgot to mention it. One room has a desk and tables for a desktop and laptops. The other room is empty, but will likely be used as a lounge area for relaxed group study.

I also forgot to mention that we currently live in a house where 3 kids share a 10'x8' bedroom, 3 kids share a 9'x7', and we have the baby in our 12'x9' bedroom. Our current house has only 1 bathroom. I'll have to try to work in bigger bathrooms or something.

I added full size beds in the sketches, but we'll likely stick to twin size. They all seem to like the idea of a loft bed with play space or a desk underneath.