Long + narrow, single storey barn, our chosen layout.

[Mr Punter]

23 hours ago, Jenni said:

Mr Punter. 

I'm struggling to 'defend' barn 1, as that has been decided by my mother. When I suggested similar to your thoughts (which I think works well), it was dismissed, she wants to be able to access the bathroom from the utility room, to clean dogs off before they hit the main room. 

You're correct that area above bedrooms is just loft space, and main kitchen/living area will be vaulted. 

 

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Why not extend the WC down and make it a dog shower / boot room?

[newhome]

On 27/11/2018 at 16:10, Mr Punter said:

Why not extend the WC down and make it a dog shower / boot room?

 

That would work pretty well I think. It would definitely work better for me than having muddy dogs in the main bathroom 24 x 7. An external mixer tap is an even better idea however if it’s just for dogs and cleaning boots. 

 

[Sue B]

My view on en-suites come from the cleaning angle.

Our first house was a normal small 3 bed semi when we bought it.  We did a large two storey side and rear extention and ended up with a family bathroom for our two children and we had en-suite shower room.  I realised within months that I never went into the family bathroom, I only ever visited it to clean it after the kids had been in there and when we knew a visit from family or friends was iminent - it was filthy!

Move on 10 years and we moved to our first self build.  The children were then 16 and 18 and I designed the house ( yes, myself without an architect) with four bedrooms, all with en-suites plus a downstairs cloakroom for visitors.  My whole reason for making each room en-suite was so that I DIDN'T have to clean up after the kids.  Their bathrooms were in their rooms, I just made sure their bedroom doors were kept shut, tightly shut to keep any escaping germs, bugs and other unpleasant items in there rather than in my air.  When my son moved out and we were getting ready to sell up, I went into his shower room for the first time in 7 years.  It was VILE.   It took me a day to clean the smallest shower room in the world, but I had lived happily without worrying about how bad the room was for each of those 7 years.  I gave them en-suites to avoid me doing the cleaning. 

 

When I design the next house (just starting thinking about it now) there will be en-suites again in each bedroom and there are only the two of us now.

[Sue B]

When it comes to the actual design, I have a personal dislike of corridors - they take up space for no gain.  It is one of the reasons I struggle with bungalows.  I would put the room at the end of the corridor run, across the whole width of the building and reduce the length of the corridor.  It does mean you don't have an exit door at the end but you can do that in the corridor wall and walk around the outside of the house.  I have to say if either house was up for sale, I would look at the floor plans and walk away without viewing as the layouts would never work for me.  If they work for you and your family, then that is what you need to build but you have asked for our views - sorry.