better resale value... which floorplan?!

[meresal]

Sorry, I'm in a huge rush... we are signing the contract on our house tonight and I leave in 10 minutes.

We are building and we need to decide on the final floorplan and we're down to one room. It is the left entry room when you walk in the front door. For somewhat of a visual, there is no right entry room, it is a coat closet.

The first room on the left will either be a open living room that shares an archway with the dining room.... or a closed off room with french doors, to the door hallway not the dining room, to make a study.

Which would you choose?

To me, the study makes it feel like you're walking into a hallway when entering the house. Whereas, the living room, though most likely very unused, really opens up the front of the house.

Please help!

 

[grapegravity]

I would do a open living room that shares a archway with the dining room.. In my opinion, it makes the house feels more grande, bigger and spacious

But I'm bias as I have this floor plan at my new house....

 

[lyra]

Date: 9/21/2009 5:02:55 PM
Author: grapegravity
I would do a open living room that shares a archway with the dining room.. In my opinion, it makes the house feels more grande, bigger and spacious

But I''m bias as I have this floor plan at my new house....

I agree with this. Good luck, sounds lovely.

 

[tyty333]

Do you have another room to use as an office? If not I would make it an office because you will get more use out of that
than a formal living room. I have a formal living room and I can probably count the number of times I've been in there for
social occasions on 1 hand. (we dont do a lot of parties though and maybe you do). If I built again I would probably design
the formal living room differently so that I could use it for other purposes (pool room, study, etc.)

EDIT - btw I didnt answer this with respect to resell value. I would think if its a 4 bdroom then a family may have room for
an office. If its a 3 bedroom or smaller than they might like an office but I have no idea as far as resell value goes.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Congrats, Mer!!!!! In your contract, see if you can have them write in a clause that allows you to back out with all of your earnest money in the case that you are not happy with financing/construction/the attitude of your contractor/etc. We did this and it helped us leverage some great closing incentives when our lender's financing tried to pull some funny stuff at the last minute. A full point plus all closing costs ended up being paid by the builder on top of all of the great incentives they had given us at contract signing.

Floorplans that are more open are all the rage here in TX, so I'd go with a more open feeling.

What will work best for your lifestyle?

Also, I agree with tyty. If you don't have an office elsewhere, I'd go with the french doors. You can always opt for glass french doors that will make the house look more open. http://nombach.com/staingradefrenchglass_files/image001.jpg

 

[Haven]

I''d go for the open floorplan.

It sounds lovely!

 

[Burberrygirl]

The house I grew up in was extremely open with a big entry and archways going into all the major rooms. I have to say it made things easier on my mom. She could be in the kitchen and see into the great room, family room, living room and dining room. In my opinion, the more open the better. If I were you I'd go with the open living room that shares an archway with the dining room.

ETA: I should add that our formal living room was really my moms personal living room. She entertained her friends in there but also used it to get away from us kids. It was her personal space were she would read and rest (so I guess she used it somewhat as a study). Some people might think formal living rooms are a waste of space, but my mom spent a lot of time in there.

 

[shimmer]

Date: 9/21/2009 5:09:44 PM
Author: LaurenThePartier
Congrats, Mer!!!!! In your contract, see if you can have them write in a clause that allows you to back out with all of your earnest money in the case that you are not happy with financing/construction/the attitude of your contractor/etc. We did this and it helped us leverage some great closing incentives when our lender''s financing tried to pull some funny stuff at the last minute. A full point plus all closing costs ended up being paid by the builder on top of all of the great incentives they had given us at contract signing.


Floorplans that are more open are all the rage here in TX, so I''d go with a more open feeling.


What will work best for your lifestyle?


Also, I agree with tyty. If you don''t have an office elsewhere, I''d go with the french doors. You can always opt for glass french doors that will make the house look more open. http://nombach.com/staingradefrenchglass_files/image001.jpg

OMG I wish I did this, I had a horrible experience

I would do the study if you would get more use out of it.

 

[Cehrabehra]

It depends on the rest of the house, really. I don''t believe in having rooms that aren''t used - if it''s going to be a living room that is just for show so that you have something for people to look at - forget it, I''d get the study, especially if you think you''re going to use it. You can always leave the doors open and make a sitting room out of it. Also - how many sitting areas are there in the rest of the house and what do you need? I ''need'' two sitting areas AND a study... my husband and I both have desks and need somewhere to put them but I also have 3 children who need a different room to hang out in sometimes so I can sit in the other with friends. Formality is attractive but I find it a complete and utter waste. Also consider - how many bedrooms.. if it can close off it can be a guest room as well. I wouldn''t put in a living room just so people who enter have a view or you can have a formal room that never gets used regardless of resale.

 

[violet3]

hmmm....I would do the open doorway, but I would still make it a study. As long as it''s reasonably tidy, there''s no reason you can''t have an office there and leave it open to give it the feel you want. Congratulations!

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 9/21/2009 6:06:34 PM
Author: violet3
hmmm....I would do the open doorway, but I would still make it a study. As long as it''s reasonably tidy, there''s no reason you can''t have an office there and leave it open to give it the feel you want. Congratulations!

Ditto!

 

[AprilBaby]

I would go with the french doors between the rooms so you could leave them open for a living/dining room OR use the front room as an office. Most people want a home office somewhere and don''t use the living room.

 

[pennquaker09]

I think the French door idea is better, but I''m not into all that open living space. I like a combination, but I also think there should be a sense of separation.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Date: 9/21/2009 5:50:05 PM
Author: shimmer

Date: 9/21/2009 5:09:44 PM
Author: LaurenThePartier
Congrats, Mer!!!!! In your contract, see if you can have them write in a clause that allows you to back out with all of your earnest money in the case that you are not happy with financing/construction/the attitude of your contractor/etc. We did this and it helped us leverage some great closing incentives when our lender''s financing tried to pull some funny stuff at the last minute. A full point plus all closing costs ended up being paid by the builder on top of all of the great incentives they had given us at contract signing.


Floorplans that are more open are all the rage here in TX, so I''d go with a more open feeling.


What will work best for your lifestyle?


Also, I agree with tyty. If you don''t have an office elsewhere, I''d go with the french doors. You can always opt for glass french doors that will make the house look more open. http://nombach.com/staingradefrenchglass_files/image001.jpg

OMG I wish I did this, I had a horrible experience

I would do the study if you would get more use out of it.

What happened, Shimmer??? We didn''t have problems until the builder''s lender started sending us settlement sheets - with US paying a point, despite the fact that I never implied we would want to pay a point.

 

[shimmer]

Lauren, we had many problems throughout the process. Basically he was not very honest or experienced and called us liars about everything HE forgot (ex of some little things--he said we requested no bathroom fans when the inspector failed it for not having any--WTF, why would anyone not want a bathroom fan?? and did not paint the doors thus voiding the warranty after I asked repeatedly if they should be done and he said it was a bad idea as the paint would chip). Almost everything turned into an argument, I could write pages of things that went wrong that they didn't fix. The most unfortunate thing is that he is/was a 'family friend' and that member of my family is still on HIS side. Well, that family member is going to be stuck with this house when it does not sell, the total was $60k more than the appraisal so I'm guessing we'll never get the full amount we put in.


ETA: sorry meresal, for the threadjack

ETA2: Lauren, I just read your post and see your trouble was with the closing...I misunderstood and went WAY off topic hehe.

 

[meresal]

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it!

Final decision... we decided to go with the open layout. It is a 4 bdrm, 2151 sq ft house, with formal dining, breakfast room, family room (den), utility room, covered porch, and now a formal living room/sun area (or reading area and great for "Holiday" tree!!

).

We liked the idea of having the option for another "room", but it is so small, there was no way to get a full office in there and a sleeper sofa. We would never use it as an office, since neither of us work from home or conduct business from home, and since we already have the 4 bdrms we figured it was ok to keep it open, like a few of you all said.

I'll post a picture of the open "look", to give you an idea of the decision we went with. Maybe you can see the "hallway" feeling I felt like we would get by closing off that front. We will either be doing tile thruout all the public rooms, or wood floors. That will be decided in the next 2 weeks! We are so excited!

Thanks again!!

ETA: We decided to flip the floorplan, so what was the "left" entry, will now be the "right" entry (like it is in this picture). Another thing I love about building... you can factor in the sun!!! No more glare on the flatscreen during Sunday afternoon football!!!