The Heart of Functional Living — The Floor Plan

Nest Builder's of New Orleans Floor Plan Extra Touches

In my many years as a contractor, I’ve came to understand that “layout” is the most important element of a house. It’s the flow. The use of space. It’s the heart of functional living. I repeatedly told my clients that the floor plan design is the most important element of construction because it affects how well you live in a house.

If you are building a 6,000 sq ft. house on a few acres of land…well, there are very few layout problems, you can basically design whatever you want. But in New Orleans, with its narrow lots for new houses or the constraints of an existing house, there are always design challenges. For new houses, city zoning enforces front, rear and side setback requirements and they also require a driveway. These specifications limit and shape layout considerations.

To say that creating a truly liveable and functional floor plan requires a great deal of thought is an understatement. I’ve spent hours and hours planning every floor plan that we do. I’ve looked at floor plans from others, toured open houses, measured multiple houses, talked with agents about what works and what doesn’t. Frankly, most of what I saw didn’t work very well: living rooms that couldn’t fit both a couch and an entertainment center well, islands that made kitchens too narrow to negotiate cooking space with another person (my pet peeve) and more.

I believe that, even with constraints, a perfect layout can be found. Our goal is to maximize Living Well every time!

Julie Groth

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Functional Layout Considerations

In the sample floor plan pictured above, letters indicate key layout decision points, detailed below:

A. Peninsula vs. Island. Peninsulas offer a seamless flow of countertop work space for preparing food versus the limited and disconnected space of an island. Islands can be great, if there is enough room. If there is no island blocking the center of the kitchen, peninsulas provide can provide enough space, which is essential when cooking with others. Finally, since the peninsula opens to the dining & living rooms, a wonderful “hang out” area is created.

Counter height. We choose counter height overhang rather than tall counters because you’ll feel more connected to those sitting around the peninsula when it is counter height. And as an added benefit, you can slide the green beans over to your guests for snapping help.

B. The Living Room. Must be large enough to allow multiple furniture placement options. We also provided two walls in living room with extra TV cable and electrical wire (up high), if you’d like to hang your TV higher on the wall. See photo of this placement here.

We even try to provide enough room in the living or dining room for a reading nook or placement of a large furniture piece.

C. Door to Hallway. Why not? Halls are essentially big sound chutes — not good when some family members stay up late to watch TV while others are trying to sleep. Louis Aubert (our designer) reminded us, too, that most old Craftsman style homes do have hall doors. Having a door available to close, when you want to, is highly functional. Otherwise, leave it open. You have a choice.

D. The Master Closet location. The master closets are located between the master bathroom and bedroom to ensure privacy and to muffle sound. Many couples do not share the same schedule. How nice to freely make noise in the bathroom (and to dig around in the closet) while your partner sleeps — in quiet —in the bedroom.

E. Attic storage. Yes! Additional storage is highly functional and who doesn’t need more of that? We held the HVAC system to one side of attic and raised the duct work. This left extra floor space in the attic where we installed additional sheets of plywood for storage space.

F. Master Bedroom-to-Bath door. Again, door location. Close that door when you need to-keep the closet/bath area private.

Other Layout Considerations

Bypass closet doors in the hall bedrooms. When there are swing doors in smaller bedrooms (the hall bedrooms), it limits furniture placement, because the doors swing out into the room. Bypass doors give you more floor space.

Hall Bedrooms. We eked out a few more inches in the size of the hall bedrooms and what a difference this makes! Combined with bypass closet doors that allow more room — functional bedrooms! You can even fit a chair in each bedroom. Also, notice that each bedroom has the window placed in a different location to increase options for headboard placement.

Laundry Room. Notice the “swing space” to the right? Intentionally left as free space for you to put whatever you want: extra freezer, tall cabinet, cat box, whatever.