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?
Tera says
What a great floorplan! Do you know if the living room, sunroom, and master bedroom were an addition? I’m guessing based on the outline of the house and the other bedroom with ensuite bath. And is there a basement? Regardless, it looks like there is plenty of room to play around. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tera,
Yes, the back side of the house was an addition in the 70s, and there’s a small unfinished separate entry basement under the bedroom (which is a lot like our current one). So excited.
xo,
s
Ana says
What is that rectangle on the top side of the kitchen (with the black line on the bottom)? And that is a crazy long kitchen you have. Perfect for family gatherings, especially if your relatives are anything like mine — they cluster where the food is. :)
I can’t wait to see your first projects in the new house.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Ana,
That’s a bank of cabinets with a pantry and the line is the wall oven. It’s definitely a much bigger kitchen than our current one- and we can’t wait to have a pantry!
xo,
s
Lyndsay M says
Hi there!
I saw your comment to a reader earlier today about how you haven’t decided what to do about the window that will end up being inside the garage and I wanted to share a similar experience!
Hubby and I bought our house in March and the owner’s before us built a garage onto the house and there was a window exactly like yours above that opened into the garage. When we got our inspection done, they actually would not sell it to us because the window was deemed not fire-safe and the title could not be transferred. The sellers ended up having to tear out the window and re-drywall everything.
I know this is hopefully your forever house, but never say never, right?? :)
Rebecca Foxworth says
We, too, have a sink in the master bedroom. It’s actually very nice to have…a sink outside of the actual “loo” area. The problem we had was the light if one of us got up at night. We found temporary help from a curtain to block the light. We were going to re-route the wall, but settled on the unexpected solution of a dimmer switch, that we make sure we set low before we go to bed. That way we can turn on the light super-low and it won’t disturb anyone.
Briel K. says
I’m excited to see the new place once you are in! All of your ideas sound so fun (and I read through all the comments too). It’s so funny how we are all living vicariously through you guys and are so excited about your life changes. :)
Twila says
I can’t seem to find your step by step kitchen redo???in the “old house” are the cabinet ikea?? if not where are they from???
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Twila,
They’re from Home Depot (KraftMaid). Loved planning the kitchen there. We got our granite there too and had lots of help with the layout thanks to using a certified kitchen designer that they provided for free. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
SandyL says
I love your plans for the new place and can’t wait to see it all come together. Are you planning to keep color themes the same as your current home or are you envisioning a new color direction?
YoungHouseLove says
No way- different. We planning to go less beachy and more smoky and risky and sophisticated… if we can pull if off. Here’s hoping!
xo,
s
kate says
I can not wait to see what you guys do with the new place!!
Snickrsnack Katie says
That is great! So… when you walk in your front door, you will now be in your dining room? That is not something you normally see – but I guess I can picture it because you will also have it act as a study with bookcases. I think the layout will be great!!
Sara @ House Bella says
Smoky and risky and sophisticated, now you’re talking my language! Sounds amazing, and I cannot WAIT to see it all happen. Have you started packing yet?
YoungHouseLove says
Not yet- we’re thinking after Thanksgiving we’ll get on that. Ack!
xo,
s
katherine says
I’m excited, too, and I’m not even the one moving. That might actually be the reason I’m excited. There are no boxes to pack this way. :)
Lizzy says
That’s awesome.
What colors are you going to use? Lighting? Will you have your toilet paper go over the top or under the bottom? How many paces is it from the fridge to the sink? What is the local rabbit population like? Will you be using wood, or aluminum? Will you arrange your utensil drawer alphabetically or by size?
LOL – sorry – I’m just laughing reading all these comments!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Heehee. People are so inquisitive!
xo,
s
Kristin says
Lizzy, LOL :)
mary says
Can’t wait to see you guys work your magic!!!
Roseanna says
“We planning to go less beachy and more smoky and risky and sophisticated… if we can pull if off. Here’s hoping!”
I can’t tell you how happy this makes me! While I LOVE your current decor I’m in the process of decorating a new home and I really want to go with something bold. Greys with pops or yellow or red… The inspiration board you put together recently was a homerun. I’m dying to see what else you come up with!
Julie says
I wish I could bottle your energy for this sort of thing and drink it every day so I could finish my own painting and all sorts of things that need to be done in my house (decorating/art/lamps/curtains/etc). With two little boys that wear me out every day I just can’t seem to get motivated to do it at night.
Yezenia says
OMG, I just used floorplanner.com two days ago! I had so much fun using it for a rental I’m about to list, can’t wait to use it to plan my own home remodel.
And love the spoofy comment above. ; )
Kristin says
Seems like a great layout. I can’t wait to see it transform, especially the office/dining room area. Having your front entrance into your dining room can be tricky, but if anyone can pull it off, it will be you two. My first thought was to wall off the entrance between the new DR and new office and possibly add a short wall between your front door and dining room (short length, not height… maybe 3′) just to provide separation and definition of rooms. Also, the right rugs in each area (a runner for the entry) or furniture placement would probably accomplish the same thing. Mind you, this is coming from someone who hired a designer to do the space plan/layout for our kitchen/DR/LR since we ran into an issue with removing a wall (as in the entire air supply for the second story runs through it). :)
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
oooh, nice floorplan! Love that it’s flexible. It just makes sense to make that room an office, and have the dining room RIGHT off the kitchen.
I never understood the “2 living rooms” or a “living room and a family room” thing. who needs 2 living rooms? We looked at SO many houses that had 2 (or 3?!) living spaces. I’d just rather have an extra bedroom, office, or even a dining room.
Miller says
Can’t wait to see what you do with the entry/dining/office. One thing I don’t like about my ranch style house is that visitors step right off the front stoop and into the living room, without the feel of an actual entryway. Are foyers passe or am I just old-fashioned?
Amy says
1- whats with all the front door opening into the dining room questions?? Technically, your current house’s front door opens to the dining room too…
2- we self installed french doors, wasnt too bad, we just found some rotting wood under the old sliding glass door that had to be replaced, so be on the look out for that!
Marie says
Isn’t your daughter’s room a little far away from your room?
YoungHouseLove says
As long as she’s on the same floor as us we’re good. She’s been sleeping in her own room since we got her home from the hospital so we use a monitor at night (and spend a good portion of the evening across the house in the den while she sleeps in her room) so we think it’ll work out really well!
xo,
s
Heather S. says
We just moved into a new house and were jonesing for a sectional. After a ton of research and many trips to Ikea we actually ended up going with this one from LLBean. (http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/67801?feat=129-CL1) With a 20% off coupon that they often send to email subscribers, it ended up not being much more expensive than the cheapest Ikea one, and feels much more substantial. Like it will hold up to years of farm/family/black lab abuse! Thought I’d pass it along, as it was a fluke that we even found it.
YoungHouseLove says
Interesting! Thanks for the link Heather. We’ll definitely check it out.
xo,
s
suzanne says
It looks fantastic! I can’t wait to see the photos…and of course all the great ideas you two have in store for us!
Kara says
Great house. I’m totally with you on turning the living room into a dining room and the dining room into an office. That’s the right thing to do in a lot of houses of that era. The big living/family room is great. And love the former master w/ensuite bath as a guest room — but you might not like being so far away from Clara! Some friends are in that situation right now and ended up using a regular bedroom closer to the baby’s room.
Mary says
I’m a great fan of you guys and your fantastic work. I’m really looking forward to your new house when it’s done. So exciting!!!
Tasmin says
To collect all your ideas you should use Evernote. Its free and you can “clip” stuff from the internet or your phone. I use it to collect home ideas, photo ideas, everything. Even the text in photos is searchable. I sound like an ad right now, but its just something really useful I found.
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve heard such good things about Evernote! Thanks for the recommendation!
xo,
s
Mary says
Congrats! And I love the new floorplan ideas–that kitchen is going to be awesome!
I know you’ve said you usually have one of you working while the other is hanging with Clara. The office will be kind of cut off from wherever she might be (playroom or family room)–maybe that’s by design, so it’s quieter for the working person ;-D But if you hope to keep tabs on Clara while you both are in there, it might be tricky–those crazy kiddos can get into everything in the blink of an eye :-D Just something to consider with the layout, in general.
Cannot wait to see what you do with the new place!
Is it going to be difficult to turn the lock for the last time at your first house?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, sob. Don’t make me think about it! I’m trying to focus all about how exciting the new house is instead of dwelling on how much I love and adore our first one. I guess it will literally be true that when one door closes (the one to our current house) another door opens (the one at our future house). Still sad to leave our first love though.
xoxo,
s
Ali says
Love your new floor plan…thanks for posting it! We live in a 1960’s rancher in TX! I can’t wait to see what you all do with your new house! I’m thrilled for you all and can’t wait to see the “before” pics in December! :) In my opinion you guys are awesome planners and I love all your ideas for your new house! I can’t wait! This is so fun!
~ Ali
valerie J. says
I’m SO excited for you all. This may be creepy, but I plan on living vicariously through you since you’re getting to start a new project! :) You guys will make it awesome, I know. (No pressure, right?)
T says
As you redo your kitchen and/or build your garage, give very serious thought to having a family entryway/locker-room where your children can store their backpacks, sports equipment, coats, and shoes. Two adults living alone in a home means it’s easy to have a nice neat entryway. Two adults and an infant living in a home also means a nice neat entryway. Two adults and any number of school-aged children, be it just Clara or Clara and a posse of siblings, will mean there is always a pile of stuff that comes and goes every single day, multiple times a day. Right now it looks like your side entry comes straight into the kitchen. You will loathe this arrangement in about 6 years. Trust me.
Megan Elizabeth says
I saw the wall separating the kitchen from your living room in the first floor plan and I knew immediately that you’d add an entry way!
Christy says
I can’t wait to see what you guys do with the new place. I have lots of ideas for our house, but I’m pregnant. Sherry, what types of projects did you tackle while prego? I’ve done cabinet hardware, a garage sale and lots of organizing! I really want to paint some furniture. Is there a low VOC primer and/or sealant on the market? I know I can get the paint, but I’m not sure about the others.
Also, maybe it just bothers me, but it seems like your floor plan is backwards. The one from our builder put the entry at the south end of the page they gave us. I kept getting confused while looking at yours.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! There’s a great low-VOC sealant that’s 100% non-toxic (great for sealing items like the dresser that we refinished for Clara’s nursery) called SafeCoat Acrylacq (more info here). We love it. We got it at a local eco-friendly building supply store, but you can also visit greendepot.com to order some (and hopefully track down a low-VOC primer while you’re at it!). Good luck.
xo,
s
Elizabeth Barnes says
I hate to be a nay-sayer, but you have to rethink your entry into the dining room. This is not a naturally comfortable place for people.. to walk into your home and be standing in your dining room.
I am new to the blogging world… in fact just launched my own blog at http://leezadesigns.com/blog/
I’ve been reading yours occasionally and you two seem like such a special couple. I’m genuinely jealous! Congrats on your home, your baby and your marriage! It’s a beautiful life.
Amanda says
Yessss. I’m so stoked to see the layout! The floor plan was probably the #1 thing I wanted to know once you posted about finding a house. (I may be living vicariously through you guys as I dream about the day when I’ll get my own house. Just a little bit.)
Lauren says
What a big house! I hope everything goes smoothly for ya’ll and can’t wait to see what ya’ll do with the place! If it were my house I definitely would make the sunroom into the playroom, I love sunrooms as playrooms, plus it would be great to see my daughter playing from where we are the most (living room and kitchen). Bedroom 1 would be an office and the formals would be the formals, something weird to me about the though of walking straight into a dining room.
Anywho thats just if it was our home and I’m sure ya’ll will pull everything off great!
mribaro says
Several readers mentioned windows, but I don’t see any in your floorplan, apart from several in your future living room. Or are those french doors? Could you please include the windows in your next layout – it helps imagining different arrangements of furniture … :)
P.S. I have a 3.5 year old girl who sleeps right through all the night-time crying my 0.5 yo produces in the room next to hers.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Mribaro,
Yep, we didn’t include windows in this floorplan because (1) we didn’t remember where all of them were and (2) we found they didn’t show up very clearly so we figured why waste the time. But soon we’ll show the house with real live pictures (and video!) so you’ll be able to see where the windows fall.
-John
Lauren B. says
Great post! For everyone worried about coming into the dining room, you know that if anyone can make it cool and functional it’s these guys! Also, I bet we’ll be seeing this type of layout in all the glossy mags in less than a year! :)
Just wondering…a tutorial on how to use floor planner would be great! Maybe it’s just me, but I’m having difficulty with getting it to work correctly. Just a thought!
Keep us posted!
Lauren B.
YoungHouseLove says
We’re by no means experts on Floorplanner Lauren B so you’re probably better off relying on their own tutorial: http://floorplanner.com/tutorial. We accidentally drew these floorplans wall-by-wall instead of using the four-wall room drawing tool. Oops!
-John
Jill says
Love your ideas and the floor plan. It looks like an awesome house for your family. I find that we also really only use/need one room with a couch to hang out in. We rarely use our other sitting room. I guess people used to have a formal living room for company, but that’s kind of going out of fashion. Looking forward to seeing how you style the new place! Good luck and enjoy!
RC says
Any reason why the house plan is flipped? Isn’t your other house plan (and most plans I see) with the front door at the bottom, not the top. Just to visualize since I always think about walking in a house and this is on my left and that’s in the back right corner except in your plan, you have to mentally flip it…
YoungHouseLove says
John is the reason. Since the house faces North, he was orienting it using cardinal directions. About halfway through we realized it might make sense to flip it but it was too late to make that change without redoing the whole thing so we left it. Once we share pics the layout will make a lot more sense though! We’re even planning to make a video as we walk through right after moving in. Can’t wait.
xo,
s
Landry says
Thank you to whoever suggested Evernote! I just signed up and its great!
Liz says
Love the new floorplan! Just wanted to say, I have friends who did the same thing to their one-level house–they turned the “formal” living room, which you walk right into from the front door, into a casual dining room/kids homework area etc and I love it! It works so well with their house. Like you are envisioning, they have a family room addition at the back of their house (which is all pretty open with the kitchen in the center) and that is their main living area. It’s so livable and perfect for today’s family. Good luck! And BTW–I wouldn’t worry about Clara’s room being next to baby #2’s room. My 2 kids have even shared a room for a while; one might be up crying/coughing etc all night and the other doesn’t even stir. They get used to it.
Trish says
A friend recently told me about your blog, which is now my favorite! I am extremely impressed. My husband and I have been renovating for a year – a 1949 colonial with a 60’s den addition that we gutted and are now putting back together. I am so excited to see the projects and design schemes at your new house to inspire our finishing touches.
dana says
Hey there, I love your floor plan ideas. I hope you don’t mind, I just have one more suggestion…
Our current house and the one before had similar configurations to yours, only in this last one we added a door to isolate the bedrooms, something we felt was missing in the previous house. We found our daughter now rarely ever gets up in the middle of the night to join the fun because she heard her auntie laugh or daddy shout during charades. She now says goodnight and sleeps through gatherings which means she gets her rest and is happy in the morning!
Soo, I think you will find it extra useful to have another door placed at the hallway, right after the full bathroom (think of it placed as a continuation of the wall between the two bathrooms). You can keep it open most the time to keep the flow undisturbed, but will be ever so thankful when entertaining guests, hosting dinners etc. Closing the door means Clara and/or her future siblings will be able to sleep soundly, while the guests still have access to the bathroom.
Hope it helps!
Amanda says
I cannot wait to see the house in all it’s glory! Congrats.
Chelsea says
You mentioned a less beachy home. What colors and shades are you thinking of?
YoungHouseLove says
We’re planning to snap a photo of our big pile of paint swatches and detail what we’re thinking soon!
xo,
s
elvira says
Floor plans make me weak in the knees! I absolutely love them!!! Just thought I’d share… :-)
Hallie says
Genius! If for no other reason than I wouldn’t look at your revised floor plan until I decided what I would do if it were my house, and YES!, you took my advice and then improved upon it!
Guest bedroom with bath? Check!
Dining room into office? Check!
LOVE the entry way idea and LUURVE the fireplace idea!!!!
Best wishes!! Can’t wait to see your progress!
Kristin Jo says
I was really hoping you guys would go for another mid century ranch! I love my 1949 rancher with big huge windows. Can’t wait to see the new Casa Petersik.
BTW, I am sure you will do, but please keep up your awesome how-tos, photos etc from the current house after you move. I love to refer to them as I tackle my house projects. I feel like I’ve gone through many of the same phases as you … recovering from “rainbow” house with too many paint colors, using curtains and bamboo blinds to dress up the windows, using Target accessories to add style on a budget…I’ve also been in a major decluttering phase.
Are you going to decorate for Xmas? Just wondering…
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, we’ll be doing some holiday decorating at our current house and then again at the new house! And of course our old posts will all remain here in our archives- no worries.
xo,
s
Christine says
Thank goodness you’ll still have a sunroom – the Burger-meister will be so pleased :) Great ideas for changing up the room usage in the new house. So excited to see photos/video of the real deal!