Need help with my 'Away Room'
Now, let's see if I can make this work. The husband and I are building a small (1700 sq ft) retirement home in a semi-rural area. One of the ways we hope to live large in our small space is by using one of three bedrooms as a Susanka-style "away room". We need this room to provide electronic office space (printers, a server, a place for a workstation), a pleasant, well lit area for my jewelry crafting, incidental storage (craft and office supplies), and occasional extra guest space.
I've tried to attach the basic drawing. The parameters I can work with are door placement, window placement and maybe size, and, of course, future furniture/built ins --and that's all. The W16 window that faces east (towards the 'D') is 4' long, and set at desk height; the W14 and W15 windows facing towards the shorter wall are small and set high because that is the shady side of the house. The real view and all the sun are on the dining/living room side, and those windows are all full height.
I'd like to make a strong connection between this somewhat small room and the dining/living area, so I've specified a double door --its shown as a French door on the plans. I had thought to put wardrobes or closets flanking those doors. My question for the design mavens out there is: is this somewhat boring arrangement the best I can do? Should I keep this opening centered on the wall, or slide it closer to one side or the other? Are French doors the right solution here, or should I be looking at pocket doors (wh/ the hubby is not a fan of) or barn doors? And what should I do with the opposite side of the wall, that faces the dining area?
Help! I need to specify the 'bones' of this room now, but fear that without a real plan of how the whole thing will work I'll make a fundamental mistake that will make the whole room less usable.
Background: Several years ago, the husband and I bought a pretty piece of land near where he grew up in the hills that ring Adelaide, South Australia. There are lovely rural views to the north (that's the sunny side of the house there) and we plan to make as much use of passive solar heating as possible. The long dining/kitchen/living room faces this direction. Now as we are (hopefully) thundering down on retirement, we would like to build but caring for my elderly mom prevents spending big blocks of time there. Our back-up plan involves using a prefab housing manufacturer to factory build; the house is then trucked out to the site and erected in a very short time (2-3 days). This limits a lot of our options with regard to how things are set up *and* I am very shortly going to have to make a lot of decisions in a really short period time. I'm hoping I can get my fellow Houzzers to play along --which in this case means limiting themselves to the question posted.... (So, nope, can't do anything about the kitchen design except move the island around.)
I've tried to attach the basic drawing. The parameters I can work with are door placement, window placement and maybe size, and, of course, future furniture/built ins --and that's all. The W16 window that faces east (towards the 'D') is 4' long, and set at desk height; the W14 and W15 windows facing towards the shorter wall are small and set high because that is the shady side of the house. The real view and all the sun are on the dining/living room side, and those windows are all full height.
I'd like to make a strong connection between this somewhat small room and the dining/living area, so I've specified a double door --its shown as a French door on the plans. I had thought to put wardrobes or closets flanking those doors. My question for the design mavens out there is: is this somewhat boring arrangement the best I can do? Should I keep this opening centered on the wall, or slide it closer to one side or the other? Are French doors the right solution here, or should I be looking at pocket doors (wh/ the hubby is not a fan of) or barn doors? And what should I do with the opposite side of the wall, that faces the dining area?
Help! I need to specify the 'bones' of this room now, but fear that without a real plan of how the whole thing will work I'll make a fundamental mistake that will make the whole room less usable.
Background: Several years ago, the husband and I bought a pretty piece of land near where he grew up in the hills that ring Adelaide, South Australia. There are lovely rural views to the north (that's the sunny side of the house there) and we plan to make as much use of passive solar heating as possible. The long dining/kitchen/living room faces this direction. Now as we are (hopefully) thundering down on retirement, we would like to build but caring for my elderly mom prevents spending big blocks of time there. Our back-up plan involves using a prefab housing manufacturer to factory build; the house is then trucked out to the site and erected in a very short time (2-3 days). This limits a lot of our options with regard to how things are set up *and* I am very shortly going to have to make a lot of decisions in a really short period time. I'm hoping I can get my fellow Houzzers to play along --which in this case means limiting themselves to the question posted.... (So, nope, can't do anything about the kitchen design except move the island around.)
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I admit to not being crazy about the french doors. Pocket doors would be more functional - but I understand your husband's dislike of them. I DO like the idea of the barn door. You could do something in a style that compliments the rest of your home's style - and I think you get a lot more flexibility in what the door looks like.
Style and Sustainability-Master Bedroom
Phinney Ridge House
Ira Frazin Architect
While I was looking for glass barn doors though, I found a pic of something different. There is a product here I've normally seen for patio type doors called a Nana door. The following picture seems to be similar only for internal use. It sort of accordian folds back. This could be really interesting in your space. Wouldn't require a lot of floor space and would almost totally open up to other rooms.
Oak 4 light clear glass Folding Internal Door