We’re still holding off on taking you on a full virtual tour of our soon-to-be new home (you know, until the deal is 100% done and we actually live there). But we thought we’d give you a sense of what we’re gonna be working with thanks to this rough floor plan that we threw together with the use of floorplanner.com (it’s a free service, btw). Everything is approximate since we’re borrowing from the measurements that we took during the inspection and copied from the sales flier, but here’s what we’ve got (the washer & dryer are stacked in the small mudroom off of the carport):
*There aren’t measurements for the smaller spaces like the bathrooms or hallways, but the total square footage for this house is around 2,500 square feet
The funny thing is that if you look at our current house’s floor plan it might seem a bit familiar. We always said if we built onto our house we’d love to add a nice bedroom with a true en-suite bath (since our current casa only has one full bath in the entire house and nothing attached to a bedroom at all) and we wouldn’t mind somehow creating a larger family/living room (we’ve always longed for a casual and comfy sectional but our current house just wouldn’t accommodate one thanks to the long narrow family and living room layouts). Sherry has also always had serious island envy and lo and behold, the new house could actually support one of those as well. In other words, just talking about it gets us all geeked out and excited since it’s kind of like a combination of our current house and a few more things we’ve always wanted.
We’re just so thankful that after some pretty rigorous searching we finally found this baby. In fact it has nearly everything going for it when it comes to our parameters (great school, great location near family, a lush and lovely yard for Burger & The Bean, within our budget, etc) except that it’s admittedly a tad bigger than we had targeted.
We like living modestly, making spaces multitask, and most of all not having to clean a huge house. But at around 2,500 square feet it’s nothing too crazy, and we’re sure we can grow into it and take the entertaining brunt off of John’s poor sister (who currently has a 3,000 square foot house so the whole crew always ends up over there- and as fun as that is, we’d love to be a place where the family gathers as well). We figure a bit of extra space couldn’t hurt in that regard, since the average get-together for us is around 10-16 people (and we can currently seat just 6 people at our dining table that sits in the corner of our living room). Plus there are more DIY projects to take on. Ha.
But anyway, here’s how we envision adapting the floor plan to make the house work best for our family (we’ve highlighted the descriptions that have changed in green, but we’ll break things down a bit more below the floor plan for ya):
You’ll notice that we’re thinking about:
- converting the carport into a garage (thanks to a sweet credit the sellers gave us)
- turning the modestly sized dining room into an office, and even adding pretty french doors to separate that area
- converting the formal front living room into an entryway with a casual dining room slash library
- adding a large doorway leading into the kitchen from the new dining room/library
- making one bedroom into a playroom/future nursery for kiddo number two in a few years (we’re waiting a while), making the second one into Clara’s bedroom, and turning the third one into a guest room for family & friends since they stay with us pretty frequently (upgrade: they’ll now have their own small bathroom to use, instead of having to share one shower with all of us).
- adding an island in the kitchen and widening the doorway that leads to the former family room…
- …which will become our one and only living room- we’ve learned that three rooms with sofas in this current house (the living room, den, and sunroom) aren’t necessary for the way we live, and the formal living room just doesn’t get used. So creating a nice large casual living space with a sectional and lots of room will hopefully make our house into a place where everyone gathers, which is a huge goal of ours. And the more spacious kitchen that’s centrally located (which is soon to be open on all four sides) will definitely help create that airy, welcoming, accommodating feeling for large groups like our huge crazy family.
- creating an amazing double sided fireplace since the back of the fireplace in the kitchen can hopefully be blown out so there’s also access to it from the living room.
Update: One change we decided to make after posting this but before moving in was to use Bedroom #1 (the smallest closest bedroom) as Clara’s room and turn Bedroom #2 (the larger middle one) into a playroom/second kids bedroom. Bedroom #2 will probably end up being Clara’s big girl room and our second child will move into the nursery (Bedroom #1) in a few years when he or she exists.
Of course we won’t do any major work (knocking down walls, building an island, fully gutting and renovating the bathrooms, blowing out that fireplace, etc) before we live there a little while and we’re sure it all makes sense for the way we actually end up using the house. We’ve never subscribed to the knock-down-walls-and-refinish-everything-before-moving-in way of life since we never would have come up with the close-off-a-door-to-gain-a-bedroom-and-a-whole-wall-of-cabinetry-in-the-kitchen plan that dawned on us only after living in our house for about six months. But we will jump right in with things like painting the walls, kitchen cabinets, trim, and doors along with switching out light fixtures, other hardware, and beginning to slowly but steadily furnish the place in a casual, affordable, and kid-friendly way. It’s honestly all I think about these days. I have about 500 tear sheets, notes, and other inspiration piles surrounding me at all times. Is it mid-December yet?
Michelle says
How exciting! Congratulations.
Now my math skills may be a bit rusty, but those measurements don’t appear to add up to anything close to 2,500 square feet…even assuming the sunroom is four season and taking into account common areas such as hallways. Am I missing something? More space somewhere? Basement?
Thanks for sharing this process with your readers, we really enjoy being a part of it. :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Michelle- You’re not missing a thing! Here they go by outside house measurements for square footage, so that includes spaces like hallways, closets, and even the exterior walls and all interior walls so when you do the math our house is only around 2000 livable square feet but the rest is just walls, hallways, closets, insulation, exterior brickwork, etc.
Sally- We have chatted with a mason (we used one for opening a wall in our current house) so we’re pretty sure it can be done by a professional (we’d never tackle structural brickwork like that ourselves) but we’ll share more details as we go.
xo,
s
Sally says
Hey Sherry/John,
I read the bit in your post about wanting to blow out the other side of your fireplace and make it two sided…have you done any research on that? If so, how do you do that and what’s involved I have a fireplace in my living room and its on the wall that is shared with our kitchen. When we bought our place about 1.5 yrs ago I had the idea of wanting to make it a two sided fireplace and bring the love/ambiance into what would be the kitchen. However, I haven’t had much success with the googling on that project and kinda stopped looking since its not yet on our priority list (we bought an abandoned foreclosure in Manassas, Va–we love it but its definately got tons of work). Any information, cost, etc you guys may have would be great!
Thanks,
Sally
Susan @ Retro Restyling says
Hey guys, Nikki is right! :) I have two boys… they are night and day. The oldest was the “calm, slept through the night, great attitude and personality” child. Then 7 years later came my youngest son, and I tell everyone his halo is held up by his horns! lol He is 5 years old, has an attitude, is a little hyperactive and still doesn’t sleep through the night! Maybe you should thicken the insulation between the rooms! ;)
Crystal @Beautifulhaven says
Thanks for sharing. I love the ideas.
LesleyG says
My goal is to have the house that everyone gathers at, too. I think your new place looks great for that!
And though you may get criticisms for the dining room out front, let me just say there’s a lot that can be done to create an entry way and totally separate the two spaces. I believe you guys will be able to handle that just fine! :)
Barb says
Where is the laundry room? Is it right inside the door to the carport/garage? Is that supposed to be your pantry as well?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Barb,
Yes, the laundry units are stacked in the little mudroom off to the side of the carport/future garage. That’s not our pantry, there’s a freestanding cabinet pantry in the kitchen. We’ll share pics once we’re in!
xo,
s
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
Love the layout and I love the new layout that you have already come up with. Great use of space. We have a Family Room and a LR(which is really a Great Room,LR,DR, Kitchen), so I completely agree with your new floor plan and just have one LR. We spend more time right now in our LR.
So what kind of sunroom is it? Walls or more of a porch, screened in maybe? Can’t wait to see it and what you do with it. Can’t wait to see what you do with the whole house and the color palette you will use. It’s like a little kid not being able to wait for Christmas morning. LOL! :D
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jen,
It’s a bit more of a finished room than our current sliding door sunroom (think finished drywall with lots of windows), and it gets lots of light and has a high ceiling so we’re really excited!
xo,
s
Michelle says
P.S. Regarding the square footage, it must be all of those bathrooms and closets! :-)
Jennifer @ Milk & Honey Mommy says
I am getting so excited and can’t wait for your move. I get to enjoy the unpacking of boxes and watching magic occur w/o lifting a finge. How does the livingroom to master connection work? It looks like a direct walk to w/no hallway.
Even though both of you have said the house is more house than you intended to buy, I would imagine it will be a great size house for your family. Look at you guys. Each room already has a purpose.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jennifer,
There’s actually just a door that leads to the master from that hallway- it makes sense in person and in pics. Can’t wait to share photos when we’re in.
xo,
s
Tim says
Thank you for the link to floorplanner.com. I now have one more thing to do instead of working! I love home improvement and find it funny that I found your site and realized we don’t live that far from each other. Good luck! Also, I have been trying to do crack research and find the MLS listing for your new house. Ill let you know if Im successful…
Laurie says
So exciting! I would do the same with the dining room….I need a home office. You’re making me anxious to move now…we plan to in about 2 years and because we are building, its all I think about anymore.
Nikki G says
Oh my gosh – I LOVE your floor plan!!! How clever to turn the dining room into an office and the front room to a dining room! That possibility didn’t even cross my mind when reading the current plan, which is kind of ironic since the dining room is the first room you walk into in my house.. haha. (It isn’t weird at all, btw, though at first I was a little concerned. But I think especially since you’ll be able to see into your kitchen upon entering, it will still feel welcoming as soon as you enter!). Also, my parents have french doors in their house and I’ve ALWAYS wanted them in mine – so pretty. So excited for you guys and to see how things unfold as you go!! Congrats! :)
sara @ it's good to be queen says
i’d love to hear where you are thinking of purchasing a sectional. we a moving on Dec 6 and will have a largish living room that i’ve thought a sectional would be perfect for. Also, I’m wondering how to do a good layout of furniture/chairs with a sectional. Can’t wait to see how you do it!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sara @ It’s Good To Be Queen,
We’re looking at one from Ikea actually, but we’ll share what we end up going with once we make the final decision!
xo,
s
Sarah @ Newlywed and Decorating says
I feel like you are reading my mind with this post! Our house had a similar formal living room/family room split floor plan and we switched it around to have one huge livable living room! We have a sectional like you said and it is so great to be able to use and live in all the spaces of your house. Can’t wait to see all your fix-up projects! So exciting!
Amy says
Is your laundry room to the right as you walk into the house from the carport (future garage!)? I guess you’ll need stackables, if so?
YoungHouseLove says
Yup!
xo,
s
Allison says
Thanks for sharing this with us! I’m so excited for you guys and can’t wait for the big move!
Rebecca @ the lil house that could says
I swear we think of the same things at the same time. I just posted a floor plan of our house yesterday :)
To make you feel better cleaning wise, our house (though 2 stories) is similar in size to your new one. Everyone told us we’d spend all of our free time cleaning it and you know what? It’s easier to maintain than our 1200 sq ft condo. I think because now everything has a place, it’s less cluttered and our main bath is not the guest bath, it seems to get less messy. We usually just clean up our hardwoods and we’re good to go for guests!
Jill says
Yay! I’m so excited for you guys!
annie says
I love the idea of the dining room up front and the one big living space. Its so much more practical, and better for entertaining. Regarding the front door opening up on your guests seated at the table, well, I would hope that most people are already there by the time meals are served – AND then its much better location for the whole group to shoot dirty looks at the latecomer! LOL
I see questions about a washer/dryer – is that a mudroom type place just off the carport before you get to the kitchen? I would imagine thats in in there?
I just can’t wait to see what you do with the place!
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, that’s exactly where it is!
xo,
s
Christin says
Wow – just the floor plan is great! I live in the city and there’s no way we could buy a house like that here. Can’t wait to see what you do with it. :)
Shannon says
I love it! I can not wait to see what you do with it, I am so jealous!! Congrats though! I was a little sad when I first heard you were moving but I think this will be great for you guys, and for my viewing pleasure, haha!
Michelle says
Well, the good news is that there will probably be spaces that you won’t have to clean as frequently. For example, the guest room and guest bath, if they don’t get used every day like the other rooms. Once we had lived in our bigger house for a while, we realized we didn’t have to clean everything every single time; we figured out a cleaning rotation that works with how we use the space.
Mindy says
Sherry & John-
I can’t wait to see all of this DIY amazingness happen. Um, double fireplace… holy swank-ness!!! We are in the process of renovating our master bath. Neither of us had a real master suite before either, so we’re pretty stoked. I want to put an island in our kitchen but I want to DIY it, hopefully we can learn a thing or 2 form you guys about it. Any thoughts about the color palette for the house?
xo
Mindy@FindingSilverLinings
http://fisilis.wordpress.com
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Mindy,
We’re still working on the color palette ideas- but we plan to post about what we’re thinking soon. Definitely a little more muddy, sophisticated, and risky – if we can pull it off…
xo,
s
Beth @ bethcooks says
I can’t wait to see it! It;s gonna be so exciting to see all that you come up with!
d says
Can you just move in already?!?! I can’t wait to see everything!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey D,
I know, right?!!!
xo,
s
Kristin says
The floorplan looks absolutely great! Large and small rooms, looks very customizable.
We currently live in an apartment directly under the attic, so every single room has slanted ceilings on one side and, due to a central hallway, the door on the opposite side. But, with some planning, we managed to get all the furniture we needed in there and, after all, it feels very comfortable and cozy.
I am so excited to see more from the house and what you make of it!
carolinaheartstrings says
I love that house. I think it will be perfect for you three and any additions in the future. It is so adaptable, that floor plan and I like the way you envision it to be.
Bev says
I also think it might be weird to walk right into a dining room, but agree that you could make a nice entry hall/vestibule if the front door lines up well and the area is not too narrow. I envision french pocket doors or a wide archway to define the spaces, with some coat hanging space near the front door.
Do you think it might be strange to be able to see into a utilitarian space (the office) from your entertaining space (the dining room)?
Just some food for thought!
YoungHouseLove says
We definitely are confident in our plans but nothing is set in stone or anything. We’re just going to figure things out as we go! Once we share photos (both of the space and of rooms that inspired our decisions) it’ll hopefully make more sense than our little two-dimensional floor plan rendering. One thing is for sure- we’re casual people. We’ll never have a huge formal dining room, and our office will never be so utilitarian that it will look odd through french doors from our big round casual dining table. So excited…
xo,
s
Kay says
Hi guys – thanks for sharing so soon as you know we’ve all been so anxious to see this. Best wishes & blessings in your new venture – I just know it will all be fabulous. And lucky us – we get to see it all take place!
Swetlana says
I’ve been reading this blog for over a year now, I think, and I adore it to pieces! You & John are doing such an amazing job! Raising Clara & Burger, keeping your house all pretty (and now moving into a new one) and then of course this blog! Amazing job!
I am always looking forward to new posts from you guys and even have your blog saved in a little bar right underneath the place where you put the URLs (I seriously can’t think of the English word right now), so I can access your site as fast as possible. :)
Your new house (well, the floor plan) looks great! And so different from what I’ve seen in any house here in Germany! You Americans sure do things differently!
I can’t wait to see all the future projects with all their before/after pictures! :D
aimee says
OMG! this looks amazing and sooo much potential to grow and of course make those renovations of yours that we all know and love. So happy for you, Sherry and John!!
Patti says
I can see from the floor plan why you bought this house, it’s perfect! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
MS says
All looks great! You guys are going to have the time of your lives fixing up the new place. Fuzz mentioned above about break ins with Clara’s room on the front of the house. We bought a ranch a year ago this weekend and I had the OPPOSITE worry. The windows are at the perfect place for teenagers to escape! I’ve decided we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Ha!!! Enjoy the ride!
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
Hey Jen,
It’s a bit more of a finished room than our current sliding door sunroom (think finished drywall with lots of windows), and it gets lots of light and has a high ceiling so we’re really excited!
xo,
s
OMG that sounds so great Sherry. I can’t wait to see what you do with it. We have something similar, but not exactly and I have been trying for the last 3 years to figure out something for that room and get it the way we want it. Ours is only a cover deck really. There is a vinyl roof, all windows and then the previous owners put paneling over where the wood deck rails were (2nd floor), so it’s a little bit of a mess and it’s going to cost us some $$$ to repair we think and make it more of a 3 season sunroom with outdoor furniture. I have to get creative with this room. ;D
Tara says
Love the floor plan and cant wait to see you get started there! Out of curiosity, which direction does the house face?Do you think you’ll get lots of light indoors?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tara,
The house seems to get lots of nice light. It’s north facing!
xo,
s
Steph @ BirdHouse Family says
Wow, it looks amazing! So much potential! I love your ideas for switching up the floor plan. That dining room is huge, so you could easily create a separate entryway area and a dining area. Can’t wait to get the full tour!
elizab says
I saw in your sidebar that you are “digging” the Baby Led Weaning book. I have never read the actual book but we used this approach with our kids and it has been great. I tried so hard to get my oldest to eat purees and he wouldn’t have it! As a first time mom it was so stressful :( He started finger feeding himself small quantities but good variety around 8 months. With my 2nd and now my third child I just went right to finger foods and we skipped purees. Good stuff and everyone was much happier :)
Lisa says
Is the sunroom usable year round? I have three kids, and my “office” is a table in our living room, which looks into a spare bedroom that I’ve turned into an playroom. Its easy to keep an eye on the kids in the playroom while I’m working at my desk. Turning your sunroom into an office instead of converting the dining room would mean that you could keep an eye on Clara in the living room (and if she’s outside, in later years, too). Just a thought. (And I apologize if someone has already brought this point up in the previous three pages of comments.)
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, it has a heat pump so it’s a year-round room. Definitely something to think about! Right now one of us is always on Clara duty while the second person works, but who knows how things will evolve…
xo,
s
Amber says
Is it crazy of how excited I’m getting for you?? I can’t wait for pictures!
Jenn L @ Peas and Crayons says
This new house is going to be Fuuuun to decorate! OMG and I had no idea it was 4 bedrooms – SCORE! December is riiiight around the corner! yay!
xoXOxo
Jenn
Erika says
So excited for you!!!
susanne says
So is the fireplace currently in the kitchen? Love your ideas!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! It’s really charming actually. Just needs lots of work!!
xo,
s
Sarah says
This floorplan looks fabulous! Really excited to see how it all turns out when all is said and done. I was wondering though, if there are any windows in the office adjacent to the garage. I’m guessing there are, since it was a formal dining room before, but would the window then be looking into the garage/carport area once it’s transformed? If so, how would you address that? Would you take the window out? I’m guessing you wouldn’t want a window that opens to the garage in your office… haha.
YoungHouseLove says
We’re still feeling that out. We might remove the window or even obscure it with a bookcase or built in so we don’t look into the garage but don’t have to pay to redrywall and insulate it. Time will tell…
xo,
s
Sheila says
You mean that the ‘dining’ room will be more of a library/sitting room, right?
YoungHouseLove says
Sort of. It’s definitely not going to be a huge formal wood-riddled dining room. Very casual, soft, library-ish, and inviting. Can’t wait to share pics!
xo,
s
Eileen says
I’m so glad that the Duet is stackable. Those babies are too cool to give up!
I feel you on the split master bath. Mine’s very similar, but the sink’s a little more enclosed. I had thought of maybe putting in a pocket door to the ‘entrance’ and then knocking down the wall between the two portions. With your walk-in, it’d be a bit different, but I’m still interested on what you guys decided on. :) So happy for your opportunities!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Eileen,
We actually are leaving our washer and dryer for the new owners, but plan to purchase the same set (or something similar) for the new place. Love them lots.
xo,
s
Angela says
I really like your vision. I’m excited to see it come to life.
I’m surprised you’re okay with Clara being on the other side of the house from you though.
YoungHouseLove says
She’s been sleeping in her own room since she came home from the hospital and we rely on a monitor to hear her so we figure it’ll be fine. As long as we’re all on the same level we’re cool.
xo,
s
Christa M says
Yeahy! Great layout! I of course can’t wait for pictures/videos. I am curious as to what the lil white boxes in the old living room slash new dining room are? Built in shelves?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! Amazing built ins. We have big plans for those!
xo,
s
Lisa says
Although you didn’t show it on the revised floor plan, I assume a master bath remodel will include closing off the sink area so it’s not open to the bed area?! You may have already thought of this, but I would put pocket doors there! I love them for their space-saving aspect and plan to use them as much as possible if we ever get to build a home!
Lisa says
So interested in the dining room option! Our house is currently about 1100 sq. ft. without the basement finished (about halfway done). We have talked about opening up the kitchen more…and our current living room in the front of the house is quite small. I saw on a cable tv show that a designer/architect converted the front living room into a dining room/entertaining room and wondered whether I could get away with that :). The difference for me is that our family room would be in the basement.
Excited to see what you do!
Kelly says
It looks like a great floor plan! I love the vision you have. It will be great to have your own office and I love the playroom idea. I wish we had a whole room for that instead of keeping them in her bedroom.
I hope packing is going well!! I don’t know which is worst… packing or unpacking.
xo,
Kelly