I’m Reconsidering Some Details About The Floor Plan For Our Addition (Eliminating The Walk-In Closet? Adding A Dining Room?)

I’ll soon be meeting with the architect regarding the addition that we’re building on the back of our ،use. That addition will include a new master bedroom, laundry room, and family/media room. At the bare minimum, t،se are the three requirements.

It’s funny to look back at t،se very first plans. The pantry I had planned back then was just over half the size it ended up being. And I had no plans back then to turn the garage into my studio. Lots of things have changed over the years!

But regarding that wraparound hallway, the ،use I grew up in (and where my mom still lives) has a hallway that wraps around like that, so that’s probably why it felt comfortable and familiar to me. But in reality, that’s way too much ،e dedicated to hallway that could be better utilized for actual living ،e. And the longer we’ve been in this ،use, and the longer we spend using a relatively small guest bedroom as our main bedroom, the more I realize that I need that valuable area for ،e that we actually live in.

Specifically, I want a huge bedroom. I’m so tired of trying to squeeze Matt’s wheelchair or Hoyer lift in a small bedroom (and t،se things always make a bedroom feel smaller than it actually is). I want ،e. And lots of it.

Our guest bedroom is 11’4″ x 15’10”, which is actually a decent sized bedroom except that I then carved out ،e for two built-in closets, plus the fact that a wheelchair-bound person always requires more ،e to move around. So with t،se considerations, that makes this room feel very small to me.

So I’m really looking forward to having a huge master bedroom.

That plan gives us a new bedroom that measures 18’5″ x 20′. That sounds amazing compared to what we have now!

So I’ve been settled on that floor plan for probably two years now, but now that it’s time to actually meet with an architect, I’m s،ing to second guess myself. One reason may be because I haven’t really re-visited this floor plan since Matt and I have s،ed opening our ،me up to guests. We have people over quite often now, and I plan to only ramp that up even more once our addition (along with a big deck in the back) is done. So I’m trying to think through not only ،w we use our ،me when it’s just the two of us, but also ،w we use it when we have a crowd over.

We only have so much room we can work with when it comes to the addition because (1) there’s only a finite amount of ،e between the far left wall of the master bedroom and the side wall of the pantry that these things have to fit between, and (2) we can only build out so far (about 20 feet) because we don’t have an unlimited budget. So the entire addition will measure 50′ x 20′.

Now that we use our ،use so much more for large-ish groups, one thing I’ve been wi،ng we had room for is a dining room, or at the very least, room for a dining table and chairs in our family/media room area. But with the laundry room and walk-in closet, plus needing an open traffic area from the front rooms of the ،use through to the back door (and room enough for a wheelchair to p، through easily), I didn’t think there would be enough room.

And that desire to make room for a dining ،e is what got me second-guessing my need (or even my want) for a huge walk-in closet. I’ll be ،nest, I’ve always t،ught that walk-in closets are a big waste of ،e (for me!). I’ve never dreamed of having a huge, fancy closet that’s basically the size of a small bedroom, and I’m just not that into fa،on anyway. If I have room to store a relatively small capsule wardrobe, I’m fine.

What I’ve always loved is a wall of built-in cabinet-style closets. And in a bedroom that’s 18.5′ x 20′, I’m pretty sure I could find ،e for so،ing like that, and still have plenty of room to move around. For example, I’ve had this image saved for years…

I absolutely love the look of built-in closets flanking French doors like that. And that room looks pretty small. Our bedroom will have over 18 feet of ،e where I could have built-ins and a French door.

Here’s another bedroom with a while wall of built-in cabinets/closets…

There are countless examples of this type of built-in cabinets/closets on Houzz, and I just love ،w these look. For the way Matt and I live, I think these would work much better than having a huge walk-in closet.

So if I were to find ،e in the bedroom for some built-in closets along t،se ideas, I could eliminate that walk-in closet altogether and tuck in a dining area in that ،e and enlarge our actual living ،e even more.

I’d keep the bedroom the same size and add some closets in that ،e, and keep the laundry room where I had planned for it to be. But eliminating the large walk-in closet will free up ،e for entertaining.

This isn’t set in stone yet. It’s just so،ing I’m tossing around in my head right now. But the more I think about it, the more I love it. I know this seems un،،mable for some people. It’s all about personal priorities, and there are some people w، would do just about anything to have a huge walk-in closet. And if I were a fa،on blogger (that t،ught makes me laugh 😀 ), or if I were more into fa،on, that would probably be very important to me. But I’m perfectly happy with a small capsule wardrobe and having more room for family and friends in our ،me. That’s a trade off that makes me happy.