The Most Influential Floor Plan Suggestion (And A Look At Our New Floor Plan)

I had really hoped to have my desk chair completely finished today so that I could show you the finished chair, but my mom and I ran into a huge problem on that project that took us far too long to figure out yesterday, so it didn’t get finished. I’m really hoping we can get it finished today so that I can show you the finished chair tomorrow. It’s looking so pretty, and that velvet fabric is gorgeous!!

But in the meantime, I realized that I did y’all so wrong yesterday. 😀 I wrote that whole post, mentioned that we finally had a floor plan, and that there was one submission in particular that really influenced me. And then I didn’t show y’all either one of those things. I didn’t show y’all the influential floor plan submission, and I didn’t show y’all our new floor plan.

I didn’t quite feel ready to share. I wanted to keep it to myself for a bit longer, just to make sure I wasn’t going to make more changes (and I still may make more changes, of course). But really, I wanted to just enjoy it without any more input from anyone. I kind of got input overload, which I asked for, and loved, and appreciated immensely. But that inundation of ideas and information and creativity wouldn’t let my mind rest. I was losing sleep, lying awake in bed, eyes wide open, until 2:45am some nights.

So once the decision was made, and my mind could finally calm down, and I could get some good sleep, I just wanted to stay in that calmness for a while and soak it up. I wanted to be able to admire the new floor plan without questions or doubts. And I wanted to enjoy the plans without further input unless that input was specific answers to specific questions that I ask. And fortunately, my mom has been here the last couple of days and has filled that role perfectly.

But last night, I realized that’s not fair. I asked y’all for your input, and so many of you very generously took time to draw out plans and write out explanations of/reasoning for your plans. So for me to say, “Okay, thanks! I have a plan now! But you’ll have to wait for some future unknown date when I have architectural drawings to see the plan,” well, that wasn’t very nice, now was it. 😀

And particularly, it was what she suggested for this area that really struck me.

And when I say it “struck me”, you’ll remember yesterday that I told you that I initially wrote this idea off in about three seconds. I took one look, and thought to myself, “Well, that’s crazy! I can’t do that!” After all, that plan requires me to get rid of my studio half bathroom.

But over the next hour, I really started thinking about it. Do you know which room I haven’t used in over a year? The studio half bathroom. That room has been torn up since I was planning on redoing it and had kind of started on it before turning my attention to the studio. So when I’m in my studio and I need to use the bathroom, I go to the hallway bathroom. It has never once felt like a problem to me.

Also, I’ve always thought it was weird that I have to walk into the back door from the carport into and through my studio to get to the main part of the house. But turning that bathroom into a walk-through pantry that goes right into the kitchen solves that problem! It turns that awkward entrance from the carport through the studio into something that feels much more natural walking through a walk-through pantry directly into the kitchen. That just makes sense to me.

Looking at Jenny’s floor plan was also the first time I’ve ever seriously considered removing the wall between the current kitchen and the music room. In fact, for about two days, I was sure I was going to go in that direction. I drew up a floor plan with those rooms combined into one big living room, sent it to my mom, and said, “This is it! This is the new plan!” But in the end, I did change my mind about that.

Now regarding the other side of the house, there were a few other floor plans that really resonated with me. For some reason, it had never occurred to me to add on a guest bedroom on the back of the house. My mind was stuck, and I thought that if we have a guest bedroom, it has to be where it is now. So seeing the floor plans with the guest bedroom as part of an addition really helped to get me out of that tunnel vision. That includes this one from Diana.

This one from MJ…

This one from Christina…

And this one from Maureen…

All of those had the guest bedroom on the back side of the hallway bathroom, with the entrance to the bathroom moved to the opposite side of where it is now. And I loved that because if we can move that bathroom entrance, that gives me the private master suite that I really want. Basically, everything beyond the cased opening in the music room would be master suite, and I think it would be so pretty to put some French doors in that opening.

So when I combined all of those ideas — Jenny’s kitchen and walk-through pantry as well as her suggestion to combine the kitchen and music room, adding the guest bedroom onto the back of the house, and swapping the entrance to the hallway bathroom, I came to realize that I’d also need to utilize M’s suggestion of having a back hallway connecting the two sides.

So when I put all of those ideas together, this was my original plan.

Starting at the entrance, I would actually have a proper foyer because I’d add some separation between the entryway and the dining room on the right. The music room and the kitchen would be combined to become the living room. The breakfast room and pantry combine to become the kitchen, with the studio half bathroom becoming the walk-through pantry from the back doors. And then on the other side, the current guest bedroom becomes the closet/laundry room combo. On the back of the house, we add on a home gym and guest bedroom, and a breezeway connects the guest bedroom/bathroom and kitchen, and also provides room for a hallway to access both guest areas so that the hallway bathroom can remain its current size.

So I sat with that for a couple of days, and I was so certain that this was the one. This was the final floor plan. I was so certain about it that my mom, brother, and I went over it in great detail at lunch on Sunday, and they both loved the plan.

But the more I thought about it, the more I started to have doubts about a couple of things. First, I love my current entryway and living room. I just love it. As much as I’ve told myself over the years that I’d really prefer a formal entryway, when it comes right down to it, I love what I have. I like the openness of it, and I finally have a front living room that I love. It took me way too many tries to get there, and now that I have it, the thought of changing it makes me sad.

Also, if I turn that front living room into a dining room, the idea of putting up some sort of wall, even with a huge cased opening, to separate the entryway from the dining room just made me sad. But I also don’t like the idea of having that room as a dining room without a separation of some sort. It seems weird walking right into a dining room. So without the separation seems weird, but with the separation seems like it chops up the space, which is now so open and airy and pretty. I just don’t want to mess that up.

Also, I didn’t love the idea of the TV in the family room being visible from the front door. And believe me when I say I tried every furniture arrangement possible, keeping Matt’s mobility in mind, and the only way I could make it work was to put the TV on the shared wall with the hallway bathroom.

And finally, that music room is my favorite room in our house. I started looking at all of the things I’d have to undo and redo, including the ceiling, and it just made me so sad. I’d lose my doors, my bookcases, the ceiling…literally everything. And there really isn’t room anywhere else for the piano. That piano is sentimental to me, and I can’t displace it. I just won’t. So the thought of completely losing this room seemed unbearable to me.

So in the end, I added a new family room as part of the addition…

I know what you’re thinking. We’re right back where we started. Well, kind of, but not completely. This addition is still quite a bit smaller than the original plan (720 square feet for this one compared to 1215 for the original one). Also, there are phases with this plan that can spread out the financial burden over time rather than having it all at once. And the main thing is that I went over the estimate that I got from the contractor last year (the one that came to $236,000) with a fine tooth comb to see what he budgeted for each thing, and how I could bring those costs down. The most obvious budget item is the cost of the contractor. Just by being my own contractor, we can save $50,000 right off the top. But there were so many more opportunities to bring the costs down. I’ll share all of that in excruciating detail at a later date.

But as of right now, I’m almost 100% certain that this is the final plan. And I’m very glad that I went on this long journey over the last few months because we are ending up with a very different plan than the one we had originally, and I think this one is so much better and a more efficient use of space.

Just for comparison, here’s the original plan after I added the walk-in closet and the storage closet…

And this is the new and improved plan…

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.