Plan A gets more refined

Still preliminary, but Plan A is getting more detailed, more hardline. The kitchen and entry pushed out toward the street; ideas for a roof plan are sketched; and the kitchen layout is informed by our recent post.

Plan A, hardline. Designated A.5

The new plan imagines a "prow," a low-slope standing seam metal roof jutting toward the street, with Pacific Northwest-meets-Mid-Century Modern wood details. One could imagine a jalousie window next to the sink.

On the kitchen: Perhaps the pantry could recede, allowing the dishwasher to fit to the right of the sink. This would allow us to express the king post as kind of a focal point for the end of the kitchen. The layout is now clearly two zones: One end has the sink, dishwasher, pantry, range, dish, glass, and pot storage. The other end has a microwave and coffee maker counter next to the refrigerator, along with a multi-purpose island that has its own sink.

The goal of the extra-wide entry hall is to impress visitors with the spaciousness and vast storage in the house. Hoping that the small bedrooms, closets, and bathrooms later on won't seem so small.

The TV is on the garage wall now, so that it can be seen from the kitchen (thanks, Peggy), and that lets us squeeze in a garden door to a tiny roofed patio.

The laundry is intended to be the stacked appliances with a small countertop and cabinets for supplies. The counter is exposed and the appliances behind a door in this drawing, but we could also hide the counter and the appliances behind bi-fold doors. Or, we could move the laundry to the north side of the hall, where cabinetry for linens is currently.

I gave in and added a bathtub to Bath #2. I had planned to have only showers. I don't think people really take baths anymore, and the target market doesn't have kids. However, they have grandkids and dogs and maybe they just want a bath. And realtors count baths with only showers as 3/4. I think this plan has 2 1/2 baths, where the old shower-only plan had 2 1/4, if that's even a thing.

Sketchy roof plan, with top of fascia elevations

The roof plan respects the garage's existing hip roof by extending it forward, but it treats the main house differently, essentially truncating it to just the eastern half. The idea is that Bedroom #2 (main house, SW) has a new flat roof, revealing an ugly triangular wall where the old hip roof was cut. Worse, this roof is higher than the hip's fascia, so there's also a smaller triangle below it.

High, flat roofs (or maybe sloping toward the street) are in the middle. The smaller entry roof is highest, almost a tower. The larger part gives the Trees Room its tall south-facing windows, and also clerestory north light. It extends across so that Bath #2 has clerestories as well. We can easily skylight the bedroom hall at the laundry and the Master Bath.

Bath #3 remains a problem for the view out of the Trees Room. I propose cutting off the eave of the hip roof at this point, and extending the wall up to meet the roof. It's pretty awful, because the new, ugly triangle is right in the view through the high windows. But, from a construction point of view, it's easy. We're stripping the asphalt shingles in any case, so it's not hard to cut off some OSB sheathing and frame a slightly different geometry before installing the new metal roof.