Need help with rearranging the floor plan on our remodel

[Landor n Stella]

http://heartlandhouse.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/im-stumped-with-the-floor-plan/

Yeah, you can laugh. I'm a trained architect and I'm kind of freaking out about the floor plan for our house remodel. We are going to live in it for a while after it's done, and then either sell or rent. So I thought the people in this thread would have some advice for what renters or buyers are looking for. I've got a couple of options drawn up in the post, but only the last one is really jiving for me, and it still needs help. Much appreciated!

[velocistar237]

I see no reason to make the dining room as big as in option 1. Options 2 and 3 both look good enough to me. One thought I have is that it would be nice to have the shared bathroom be more central. Can you swap the half and full bathrooms in option 2? You might have to shorten the longer kitchen counter.

Are you going to put a closet in bedroom 3?
Would an over-under W/D help solve any of these problems?

[Daley]

I'm kinda feeling the same way about bathroom location, it needs to be more centrally located. I honestly like the second layout overall.

I've always been a firm believer that more isn't always more. I know bigger numbers look more attractive on MLS websites when selling or renting (excuse the square footage), and everyone else is flipping these houses in your area to similar specs, but you know what I look for in a house? Workable living space and generous storage, not a plethora of tiny rooms.

Working from that second floorplan: Instead of going for a full three bedroom 1.5 bath with mostly postage stamp space, what about going with a two bedroom with an open bonus room/office/den with temporary wall/door partition, one massive bath with a water closet, linen closet, laundry chute, jacuzzi bathtub (possibly) with entry both from the second bedroom and dining area? Then you don't have to provide closet space on the "third bedroom", no having the bathroom in the back of the house, or doing a postage stamp layout. Then if you add on a pantry in the kitchen in the upper left corner where the extended countertop is... I think it'd make for a unique, well laid out luxury two bedroom. Forgive the scribbly edits.

By the way, where's the fridge and possible dishwasher going in these floorplans?

Edit: Excuse the door placement for the external bathroom door, it should swing the other direction. I don't know what I was thinking there.

[totoro]

If this will be a rental later I would make it a three bedroom.  I own a three and a two bedroom rental in an up down duplex and the three bedroom makes an extra $200 a month.

As for bathrooms, I personally don't care about a pseudo master but others might.  I do care about a second half bath because with three bedrooms you are likely to have four people and waiting for the bathroom is annoying when someone is taking a bath.  I would pay more for a 1.5 bath rental if it was three bedrooms. 

I guess one question might be what the neighbourhood standards are.  Are you in an area with loads of new homes with master bathrooms?

[Sylly]

How feasible would it be to make the half bath a 3/4 instead (shower, no tub)? Then it can be an actual master suite and IMO, a lot more functional and also desirable in a rental. I tend to see a half bath more as the bathroom for guest usage, so it seems weird to me to stick the half bath inside a bed room.

For option 3, switching the half bath to full bath should be doable, at the cost of a smaller room.


Some thoughts on Option 2:
Expand the half bath into either a 3/4 or full bath, pushing into the current full bath.
Shrink bottom half of full bath, put toilet there. Move bath tub to top end of full bath, sink along the wall facing the window.

Other ideas, but may need changing windows
Turn half bath into laundry closet, stacked if necessary.
Turn full bath into bathroom for master suite. Increase width, reduce height.
Put another full bath on top of the master bathroom, grab space from current overly wide hallway.
Narrower hallway may need to jog to connect to back door.
Stick coat closet behind back door

On 2 vs 3 bedroom, it may depend on your area which has greater rental market. Having 3 bedrooms can work, I think, but I also believe you shouldn't force it if it'll make for an awkward layout.

edit to add:
Oh, and I totally admire what you're doing!

[Landor n Stella]

Thanks for all the feedback and thoughts! This is just what I needed to jumpstart some ideas.

First I can answer some of the questions about the area:
In our area, 2 bedroom rentals are pretty plentiful, but there is a shortage of nice 3 beds, making them rent higher. Possibly if we sell this is also true for those looking to buy.
There's a lot of older, sadder homes in our area. And a few neighborhoods of brand new mcmansions. So there is a wide gap of options, and I think it would be nice to suit the need with a well-done, modernized, but still full of character renovated house.

I'm going to work on incorporating some of these thoughts into a new drawing. Look for an edit/update to the blog for new plans (maybe later tonight). Thanks again for being a great community and collaborating with me!