Take a Video Tour of Our Floor Plan

Today I want to give you a tour of the floor plan we chose for our new home. I know it’s hard to envision what the house will look like based on the floor plan alone, so I recorded a video tour for you.

There is another home under construction in our neighborhood with the same floor plan. It’s also oriented the same way our house will be. Watch the video below to see what the layout of our new home will look like.

The home in the video above varies slightly from ours because it’s a different elevation and we customized a few things for our plan. Below I’ll walk you through our floor plan to point out what we love about it and what we changed.

I think when you’re building a home, it’s essential to see a similar house that’s already built or under construction. At first, I thought I wouldn’t like our home because of the dining room (more on that below and in the video above). However, when we walked into a house with the same floor plan, I fell in love with the layout. I think the dining room will be my favorite spot in the house.

So, if at all possible, ask the builder to show you homes with the same floor plan. Our builder even offered to contact past buyers with the same floor plan if we wanted to see furnished, lived in homes too.

We knew for sure that we wanted a modern exterior elevation. Our builder offers several plans with a modern elevation, but the one we chose is the only one level plan, and it looked the most mid-century modern. But we still had to make sure the layout of the house worked for our needs.

Thankfully, the layout is perfect for us. Let me show you what we love about it.

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1. Foyer

Because of our chosen elevation, we have a two-story foyer. So immediately when you walk in, it feels like you’re in a larger home.

The front elevation of our home will look similar to this:

See that square window above the front door and the skinny windows on the side above the roof? They pour natural light into the foyer, which has a sloped ceiling matching the angle of the roof line.

Picture a big sputnik chandelier hanging in that window. I’m torn between this classic sputnik light in polished nickel or this colorful elliptical sputnik light in royal or slate blue.

2. Study

The study is like a peninsula sticking off the side of the house with windows on three sides. The study has a view of the front porch and the side patio. We opted for the French doors but asked the builder to make them open out into the foyer so we could maximize the space inside the study.

3. Owner’s Suite

On the other side of the foyer is the owner’s suite. The room is big enough for our king-sized bed with plenty of room to spare.

In the owner’s bathroom, our builder’s standard configuration is a large walk-in shower. Dreamy! We rarely used the garden tub in our last house and would have always preferred a bigger shower. I’ll talk about it more when I share the bathroom design, but we upgraded to dual showerheads. By the way, there is still a tub in the house in the kids’ bathroom.

4. Dining Room

The foyer leads straight into the dining room, which is what I thought I’d hate about this layout. From the floor plan, it looks like you’d welcome people into your house and have to walk them around the dining table. However, I think this is going to be one of my favorite rooms in the house. First, the dining room is huge at 16’ x 13’6”. There is plenty of room for a dining set off to one side and a generous walkway to the rest of the house.

To maximize the space, I plan to do a long banquette or settee opposite the patio doors. That will allow us to move the dining table over closer to the wall. During the design process, I added a second junction box so I could hang two lights over the table, and I had them move the junction boxes over so they’d work for the furniture layout I’m planning.

I can’t wait to fill the dining room with plants. I want to make it feel like those cool mid-century homes that have an atrium or courtyard in the middle.

I envision the dining room being more than just a place to eat. It will be our homework spot, a work surface for me, our library, and a place to play board games.

The dining room forms the lower part of a T-shape with the kitchen and great room.

5. Covered Patio

The study, dining room, and great room wrap around the covered patio giving it a courtyard feel. The patio is a generous 9’ x 21’.

6. Great Room

The builder offers an optional corner fireplace in the great room, but to do so they remove one of the four windows. We decided to keep the window. We’ve had a corner fireplace before and found it a challenge to arrange furniture around. Also, we rarely used our fireplace in Minnesota, so I don’t imagine we’ll use one here.

7. Kitchen

The kitchen is incredible for a smaller, one level home. It will be the biggest kitchen I’ve ever had…so many cabinets, and a huge walk-in pantry! Plus, the skylights over the kitchen island will let in a lot of natural light.

We changed one thing in the kitchen. We deleted some cabinets near the wall oven to create a counter-height desk space. My husband will get the study, and I get the desk in the kitchen. We even adjusted the upper cabinets to make enough room for my computer. And I couldn’t resist adding two junction boxes for sconces in the desk area.

8. The Boys’ Wing

The hallway next to the kitchen leads to what I call The Boy’s Wing. I love how the owner’s bedroom and study are up front, and the kids’ bedrooms are in the back of the house. It gives us some separation even though all the bedrooms are on the same level.

The Boy’s Wing has two bedrooms with one bathroom in the middle for them to share. We changed the large walk-in closet in Bedroom 3 to a standard closet to get more space in that bedroom. The boys plan to share Bedroom 2 and use Bedroom 3 as a playroom. I know at some point they’ll want their own rooms, but for now I’m happy to let them share.

9. Mudroom

Across from the kids’ bedrooms is the entrance from the garage, the laundry room, and a powder bath.

One issue we had with this layout was the view from the great room down the back hallway. In the other homes we saw under construction, the entire area looked like a utility room. The builders standard flooring includes tile starting at the archway from the living room. That change in flooring made it feel like the house ended there and the rest was just utility space.

Here’s what it looked like in another home we toured:

We plan to continue the same flooring as the living area to make the back hallway feel like a continuation of the house (which it is).

Also, from the living room looking down the back hall, you see a small coat closet. The closet just kind of sticks out in that corner. If you didn’t know better, you might think it was the door to the garage, further making it look like a utility room.

We asked the builder to remove that closet. There’s another closet a few feet away near the kids’ bathroom. By removing the small closet, it opens up the back hallway. Where that closet was, we plan to hang a mirror and put a small entry table. From the living room, that will create a more inviting look to the hallway. We also want to do a fun wallpaper on that wall.

Opposite the garage entry, in the corner that isn’t visible from the living room, we’ll add hooks and a bench to create a small mudroom.

10. Garage

Our house has a two-car, rear-entry garage. Our last house had a three car garage, and we both felt the third stall was unnecessary. In our last house, the third garage stall was a dumping ground for clutter. Going forward we want to live in a smaller footprint and be very intentional about what we choose to keep and store.

We did add two 240V outlets to the garage for charging electric cars. As you might remember, my husband’s car died before we moved to Texas. So, We only had one car for the first six months we were here. Now, my husband has an electric car and we plan to change out my car for an electric one in a few years. Adding the necessary outlets now is much easier than adding them later.

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When it came to finding the perfect floor plan for us, it was helpful to see other homes that were under construction with the same layout. We also made sure to ask the sales agent if we could make minor changes to the floor plan. It doesn’t hurt to ask. I’m glad we were able to remove the small coat closet and reduce the coat closet in the third bedroom. Those changes are going to make the house more functional for us.