HawthorneVillager.com

Hello All,

I used to live in Milton (Mattamy) and found this site to be very helpful. I've now doing the new construction thing again in Waterdown.

The house I purchased I feel has a bit of an awkward layout. With a very long dining room that is somewhat closed off from the rest of the house. My builder is small and flexible so I'm considering asking them to redesign it. I've put together the following using paint.

Obviously their architect and engineers need to approve it, but what are your thoughts on the below layout change.



Appreciate your feedback,
Joe

Joe,

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish and what your intentions are for potential resale (also not so sure that structurally it will fly). While I like your custom, open-concept design, keep in mind that many people still want and are looking for that separate dining room.

The builder layout does have that half wall which is open to the Great Room, so it wont feel as closed off. Also with the builder layout it will be much easier to have different paint colours, furniture, etc and not have to worry as much about everything blending as if it was in one big room.

The one thing I would definitely do with that layout is extend the tile out to the garage and basement door area to keep things easy to clean, upgrade the stairs to stained wood vs carpeted and increase the size of the island by a foot deep.

Otherwise, it looks like you made a good decision as the design looks nice and the room sizes are good.

Good luck with your move and congratulations on your purchase!

_________________
Ariel Kormendy
Real Estate Sales Representative

The Kormendy Trott Team
Century 21 Miller Real Estate Ltd.
647-464-0957 Direct

www.kormendytrott.com
www.facebook.com/kormendytrott

I like your revised layout. I prefer an open concept plan.
The only thing I would do, is make that wall between your living room and dining room a little bit longer. In between the post columns of that half wall , create a an arch at the top with a pot light in the centre. This extended wall will help serve you when you are positioning your furniture in the living room. It will also add character to the centre of the room and will make a great focal point.

Congratulations with your new home!

Ms President

If it's going to be your forever home then for sure change it to the way that will fit your lifestyle best. But I do think your proposed changes will hurt resale, perhaps significantly, as it basically takes it from a Kitchen + Family Room + Dining Room layout to a 2-room Kitchen/Breakfast + Family Room layout. It doesn't matter that you call it a "dining room" in the layout; it will be viewed as a breakfast/dinette area in real life.

If it were me I'd keep the kitchen basically as is, but take an extra foot from the great room and give it to the kitchen. That extra foot between fridge and range will make a big difference and will let you have a larger island, and I don't think you'd miss the foot from the great room.

Then I'd keep the dining room but shrink it to maybe 15 feet, get rid of the half walls and have french doors to the dining room. I think the larger walk-through area and french doors would make a world of difference in giving a larger, more open feel vs. the narrow hallway that's currently shown.

Just my opinion ... since you asked.

But of course you need to do what will fit your family and lifestyle best. Good luck and enjoy your new home!!

Looks good. Nice job with Paint.

Structurally the builder will probably have to use more steel beams & that will be a bit of a cost to you..but well worth it in the long run.

With the new layout, you could give yourself a small mud room next to the fridge and move the garage door there if you wanted to. You could make it double or more the depth of the fridge creating an alcove in the kitchen where the fridge is located. You could also move the fridge & stove top over a bit and create a corner pantry.

Hi All,

Thanks for the great feedback. I'll certainly give it a thought. The risk to resale value does concern me. We have no need to move but life happens right?

I welcome other opinions!

I like your new layout I am a fan of deleting the dining area. We did that in our home and we love it. We now have table that sits 10 - 12 people in our kitchen.

The only thing I would suggest is placing a broom closet/pantry or extra coat closet across from the stairs.If you decide on a coat closet you can have it open up towards the stairs This will give you an extra kitchen wall for more cupboards ot the otherside. Or you can build a wall and have a pantry facing into the kitchen allowing a long rectangular kitchen island. I would place your fridge where the optional pantry was (in you made up plan), put the sink and dishwasher in the island, and put you stove with hood fan where your sink was. (delete the window)

This will place all your appliances in a working triangle. Making the kitchen very user friendly. Plus with the stove on the outside wall, your hood fan will vent directly out. This will eliminate all bulk heads in the kitchen.

By placing the closet across from the stairs you can hide that support colume in the wall. I think one of those columes are for support, if it is, you will not be able to move it. The entire house is built on the placement of supports. They are renforced in the basement, foundation and extra footings are poured for the supports. The city will not allow this with out a new set of structure drawings...