House plan help/input

[tbrooks]

Ok guys so I'm gonna be getting some property soon. I was planning on just renting it as it is too small for my family of 4. I have since rethought my idea and decided to add on to the main house. Better to pay a mortgage than make rent and pay rent and pay the mortgage. Right now it is roughly 28x30. It has roof trusses that span the full 28 feet. So I can add 14 feet on one end bringing it to 28x44 (roughly). In the process, I will totally gut the existing and start from scratch because it is laid out like a duplex. So here's what I'm thinking so far

I've got 3 kids and the 2 oldest have always shared a room, so I want to give them their own. The main reason I have this layout is the existing heat system is propane radiant floor heat. I can move them so they're positioned where the red squares are and hopefully be able to heat everything. I don't really have the money to spring for a new system. I'm gonna do transoms over the door ways and leave large gaps under the doors, and maybe install a vent in the wall of each room near the floor to circulate the heat. I can't really think of another way to lay it out and make decent use of the existing heaters.

I've got lots of big plans (which may or may not happen) for the inside. I at least want the kitchen, lr, and hall to be all would. Probably get some #2 1x6 t&g from lowes for the ceiling. Barnwood for the kitchen cabinets. I'm gonna do 1x's for the walls. I wanna use some pallet wood, but I haven't decided if I'll do it on the floor or do it to a chair rail on the walls. The walls would be easier, but then I have to come up with something for the floors. Kitchen counters I'm debating between concrete or pennies with epoxy. Pennies would be much easier, but cost a little more lol. I will probably make all the light fixtures, except for the closets and ceiling fans

Any input you guys have would be much appreciated. I can build anything, but I'm no interior designer or architect lol

 

[tbrooks]

Oh and the heaters are called a floor furnace. First time I've ever seen them up here, I really like the fact they don't need electricity as winter storms knock out the power for days sometimes

 

[harley1-5]

I dig it,if it ends up being the same style as your light fixtures it will be awesome

 

[tbrooks]

It will. I wish I could find an old barn or 2 to tear down, it would all go inside. The barnwood for the cabinets and trim i'll be taking of my shop, but I will have to replace them with new. I'd love to have this in the living room

or this

 

[harley1-5]

that 1st fan is awesome.im really in to rustic and steampunk decor

 

[dirtysquared]

I like the plan. With your heating system, I had a cold bedroom in my house from the day I bought it. The furnace never seems to get heat there, and the pellet stove's heat doesn't do the trick either. I went and bought a 220v recessed wall heater. It was $100 at Home Depot, the 30A breaker was another $15 or so, and I already had the 10 gage wire. It took me about 2 hours to run the wire, mount it in the wall, and tie the breaker in, but it solved the problem.

It's not noticable on the electric bill, and run's on its own thermostat. Just throwing this out there if you run into a problem like I had.

 

[tbrooks]

I had to do the same in my old place that had wood heat. I'm hoping the transoms will help with that, and like I said I may put some vents down low, maybe even with a fan. I learned with wood heat its easier to move cold air to the heat source, rather than heat away. The thermostat for the hall heater will be in one of the bedrooms

 

[bummer981]

I would make the kitchen as wide as the living room and make the two bedrooms adjacent to the kitchen smaller. You can never have enough space in the kitchen. even adding one upper and lower cabinet is huge.

 

[tbrooks]

I've been thinking about that, mainly for the extra counter space. I prob will do it.

I found this too, I really like it

 

[tbrooks]

That or an old prop, maybe. I'll have to rig it up so I can get lights, maybe, I might do cans. I like the look of a belt drive fan though

 

[tbrooks]

Been scouring the web this evening looking into belt drive fans and windmills. Got some requests out for windmill prices. Fanimation is about the only retailer in this ceiling fan market, but I can't even think about those prices. Been looking into motors. An old ceiling fan would prob be the easiest, but I don't think it would run a 5 foot windmill well, let alone I would love to run a fan in each room off the same motor, not necessarily windmills. The transoms will come in handy there. I think I will have to go DC to get the low rpm/high torque. I am hoping I can find a vintage/antique look motor, so I can have it fit in the decor. Who knows I may not even go through with it, but it would be awesome.

Any input on flooring or counter tops? I'm iffy on the penny thing. It looks cool, but when its done, Ill either love it or hate it. Good things is I could go over it with concrete. Whatever I do its gotta be cheap, and although I've done lots of them, I don't like tile counters. My buddy did his counters with some oak flooring and they turned out good.

 

[bummer981]

I too don't like the tile counter tops, but I have seen some done with 12x12 granite tiles using a 1/16" joint that look good. Dark granite and black grout. Not sure on the cost. You could save some money by not using bull nose on the edges and wrapping it with oak. I am sure you can get some good prices on tile off the net.

 

[harley1-5]

I like granite counters but too much $$$

 

[bansheedave]

Get some vintage gears and do a gear reduction between the motor and fan to operate it.

 

[tbrooks]

I too don't like the tile counter tops, but I have seen some done with 12x12 granite tiles using a 1/16" joint that look good. Dark granite and black grout. Not sure on the cost. You could save some money by not using bull nose on the edges and wrapping it with oak. I am sure you can get some good prices on tile off the net.

My buddy did his with 24x24, I think. If I remember right he put silicon on the edge, butted em tight and wiped the excess.

I like granite counters but too much $$$

I'm not a big fan, I just see them every day, all the houses I work on have them. Kinda like 1x12 pine floors, I would prob put em in my house, but I already see them too much

Get some vintage gears and do a gear reduction between the motor and fan to operate it.

I know I'll have to figure out something for gearing anyways. I'm the kind of person who just keeps fans on 24/7 anyway. Mainly cause I've never had central HVAC so I like to keep the air moving. So really the motor will only have a big load for initial start and if the power goes out. The big one I'm gonna want fairly slow, but the others just depends on what I get. Prob have like a 4 or 6 inch on the motor and step to like a 12 on the windmill

 

[tbrooks]

Found my kitchen sink

^^This one isn't mine, but I've got one exactly like it that I used for beer and ice at parties. Just gotta figure out how to get a drain basket in so it drains right. I;m gonna take the legs off and I'll leave the front exposed. Me and the old lady gotta decide on the depth as well, because it will need to be shortened. Pretty much set on doin concrete for my counters, and also I've got a pretty good pile of old 2' wide metal roofing, thinking about using for backsplash. Oh and I might do my faucet similar to this

 

[tbrooks]

Alright guys, here's a little better idea of the intended layout. I searched and just used the first site I came across to draw this up and it worked pretty decent. It was nice being able to drag and drop and resize to fit vs measure mark draw erase lol. I'm no designer or architect by any means ( why I'm asking for advice), but here's what I've come up with

The more I look at it the smaller it gets lol. I wanna put some sort of beam, across over the bar, and I wanna come up with something to push the bar out away from the wall. Which will in turn close the gap for the walkway into the kitchen and center the stove better with the sink and table. Some sort of full height cabinet I guess, but I'm not sure. The beds are just kinda thrown in, but the other stuff is where it needs to go I think. I did extend the kitchen and lr vs my earlier plan

 

[tbrooks]

No comments/suggestions? I believe I'm gonna put a full height, 2' wide cabinet on the wall at the bar. I'll shorten each countertop by 6" and it will leave me with a 4 foot walkway. I'll do some sort of design or pattern with barnwood or maybe something else on the cabinet. I'm gonna try and get this tile for the kitchen and maybe the baths too

Its the same as I used in that big kitchen remodel. Except I'm gonna get 6x6, 12x12, 12x24, and 18x18 and do a pattern, because I've never done that before. It has a lot of color variation, but hopefully I can make it work like I did there and kind of fade into different patches of color. Next on my list is to learn more about convection and passive air flow so that I can figure out how the heat can circulate into my bedrooms. I'll have 2-3 cu ft from the transoms and I need to figure out what size the "return" should be. It could be as simple as being the same size, but things aren't usually that easy. If I undercut my doors by 2 inches, that will get me about .5 cu ft. I know usually with central hvac its good to have an 1-1.5 inches. I'm not sure either if its good to have the heat exchange taking place solely at the doors, but with a ceiling fan set to blow down it should work. If I do have to add extra vents, I have to find something to use, because I'm not just gonna buy a grille and slap it on. I may just try and find some old trough style drain grates or something.

Also trying to thing of design for a pull out shelving unit to go in the closet (pantry) by the kitchen. Or some way to make full use of the space, while still having good access.

And for any body who may wonder, there are a few reasons why I don't have many windows planned. To me they just decrease heat efficiency in the winter unless you have an open southern view, which I don't. It should work fairly well for cross ventilation though.

 

[luk3x3]

just kind of an idea, but the er.. second bathroom between the two rooms id suggest move the toilet to the hallway wall, and put double doors on it as a shared bathroom for the rooms. as for the flooring, id say go with some oak or something, maybe stain it yourself?

 

[Blaaster]

Swung door take up so much space, have you investigated the option of sliding doors mid way, not in the room corners.