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SaraP
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We are getting ready to do major renovations on our 40 year old rancher over the next few years and I'd love to know from other large (and growing) families . . . What works about your house? What doesn't? What would you change if you could?
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Mama to six on earth, two in heaven and two waiting in Russia. Foxberry Farm Almanac
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juststartn
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How long do you plan on staying there?
My suggestions for revamping would depend on whether you planned on staying there "til they take you out in a box" (ie, my feelings on my house), or is this a "til the youngest is out of the house" kind of house...
Rachel
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amyable
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We have been house hunting for ages so I've got a laundry list of things I love! 
I don't know the layout of your house or what you could change, so I'll just describe what I saw as the perfect house for our family of 7 (4 girls and a boy) the other day. The only reason we didn't buy it is we found out a convicted criminal with a gun was living across the street - exactly what we were trying to move to *avoid* LOL.
Anyway, this house had a centrally located kitchen. It truly served as the heart of the home. I loved, loved, loved that! It was quite large and had an island large enough to seat all 5 of our kids. Great storage drawers, etc. It's kitchen sink overlooked an opening into a sunroom, so not only could you see into that room which would make a great schooling room, you could see through the many windows out to the backyard. There was enough room still left in the kitchen to fit a table that would seat the 9 we often need to seat (my family plus my parents).
Washer dryer on that floor, and also a diningroom next to the kitchen (which they were using as an office) and a living room/family room in the front of the house. Nice large coat closet! I joke with my realtor that that's all I care about, a place for the family to put their coats and junk that comes in the house! We have a raised ranch/split foyer- where you have to either go right up or down stairs, so imagine the 7 of us coming home on a regular basis, and the log jam that results on the 4x5 foyer as the 4 or 1yo sits on the bottom step to take off theirr shoes.  (yes, we tell them not to all the time). So some kind of real sized foyer or mudroom would be great!
We don't need the huge master bedrooms we are seeing, but more room for the kids would be nice. They are introverts for the most part, and really like their space! Big closets here too would be nice - enough for 3 or more people to share if that is what God sends us.
And while we would love one of those huge jetted tubs for a time, we'd much rather not have huge bathrooms, if that is taking away from living space. We've seen some that look bigger than one of our bedrooms.  Now, big enough so several kids can brush hair/teeth at the same time without hurting each other would be nice!
I'd love some built in bookcases/storage drawers too. We seem to have no place to put things.
I don't know if this rambling mess helped any! I think basically for our large-ish and maybe growing family, our real wants are: closet space, bedroom floor space, a nice entryway or mudroom, and enough space to eat! Oh I thought of something else - enough room in the laundry room to hang some clothes, stash laundry waiting to be done, maybe iron, etc.
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Becky Le
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I would gladly give up our formal dining room in order to have a really big kitchen. Our kitchen is square with 2 sizable entryways on either side and a door on the 3rd wall which makes space a real problem. It is so hard to cook with the kids and teach them to cook when we are all crammed into a tiny bit of counter space.  Our townhouse had a HUGE kitchen that allowed for a breakfast bar, a kitchen island, a kitchen dining table and chairs AND a play area. I would LOVE to have that back again, especially now that we have more littles to watch over.
The only other major complaint I have is not having a bathroom on every level but that wouldn't really apply to you! 
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Becky, loving wife to Chris and mom to Stephen (11/99), Elizabeth (04/01), Catherine (08/04), Natalie & Samantha (10/07)
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mom2mpr
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We don't have a huge family but do have a lot of house guests since family lives far from us.
These are my suggestions:
-big laundry/mud room. We are outside a lot and need space for outdoor clothes and a little room to don them. Also, our laundry/mud has become the "front door" so to speak. I need more space there. It is always dirty and cluttered.
-I second the kitchen as a central room. We are working on ours and making it a working kitchen as when it is "eat in" it gets really small. So, we are using our formal dining for daily living/eating. When the carpet gets gross it will be replaced by some type of wood floor.
-I also second the planning on the amount of time you are going to stay there. Though that is hard nowadays. We were only supposed to be here 2 years and 4 1/2 years later I am finally trying to make or house "work." But even then we are still on the edge waiting for the next career move. But I must make the kitchen and dining work for us. It has been a long 4 years with as much time as I spend in the kitchen.
My best friend has a ranch and they added on a room to their kitchen area-so their house now looks like a T.
It is an awesome room with a basement and was a great addition of living space for them.
Hope that helps. Enjoy the fun of dreaming and planning.
Anne
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Servant2theKing
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What doesn't work...never place a stove, refrigerator or dishwasher in the main walkway of your kitchen. Our refrigerator door blocks the only thoroughfare between our kitchen and the rest of the house...very frustrating. The only thing that consoles me is that it's not the stove!
Can you plan things so that you're able to "camp out" during your renovating? We stayed in our older motorhome while fixing up our old house (before moving to the home we're in now)...having separate living/sleeping quarters made such a BIG difference...you don't have to tear down the tent while you're in the midst of projects, in order to accomodate family needs. Jobs seem to go SO much faster and family life isn't quite as testy when there's a separate space to retreat to while things are all torn apart! If you can't manage that, especially since you plan to work on your home for a couple years, you might want to consider prioritizing projects with daily family needs in mind...where will you cook, eat, play and sleep while working on each job? Best of luck!
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Bethany
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We have a ranch and my favorite thing is my large laundry room which is on the same hall as the bedrooms. This has greatly eased the burden of laundry. The hamper is in there for the girls, so all their dirty clothes are in the laundry room and when it's full I do a load. To put away, we just walk down the hall to the dressing/clothes room. I would like larger bedrooms. The rooms are decent but with the size, ceiling height, and the need for a ceiling fan, there isn't much clearance for bunk beds.
But what I love about my ranch best, you already have, NO STAIRS!!!! 
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SaraP
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juststartn wrote:
| How long do you plan on staying there? |
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Our house is one of two on the same property that we own jointly with my parents and they will take me off the property in a box. But my parents have just finished building a new, smaller house from which they intend to leave feet first and probably we will end up there at some point with one of our children's families in this house.
So we will probably be in this house for another 20-30 years.
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SaraP
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amyable wrote:
| And while we would love one of those huge jetted tubs for a time, we'd much rather not have huge bathrooms, if that is taking away from living space. |
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Funny you should mention that! When we moved here 4 years ago we renovated the master bathroom right away because it was a disaster and we ended up with an absolutely heavenly jetted tub because the bathroom was too small to accomodate a standard tub. The smallest standard tubs are about 5' long, but Kohler makes a jetted one that fits in a corner and is just 45" along each wall. So maybe when you find that dream house it will have a normal-sozed bathroom just crying out for a lovely tub.
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amyable
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Servant2theKing wrote:
What doesn't work...never place a stove, refrigerator or dishwasher in the main walkway of your kitchen. Our refrigerator door blocks the only thoroughfare between our kitchen and the rest of the house...very frustrating. |
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Ditto that!! Our fridge door opens up and blocks the doorway to the kitchen. Not fun while people need to go in and out to eat/serve as we prepare the meals since we eat in the adjoining dining room. You also have to reach in the 2" space between the fridge and the wall to flick the light switch.  I don't advise that either.
SaraP wrote:
| we ended up with an absolutely heavenly jetted tub because the bathroom was too small to accomodate a standard tub. The smallest standard tubs are about 5' long, but Kohler makes a jetted one that fits in a corner and is just 45" along each wall. |
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Cool! I'll be on the lookout.
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Amy
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JodieLyn
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two living areas..
not so much totally seperate but space that the kids can play in one and adults visit in one.. wether that second space is the kitchen with the dining table in there to sit at for the adult or a living room and family room or even an extra bedroom made into a play room..
I'm not talking lock the kids away where you can't see them or hear them just enough space so that the adults aren't talking over the noise of the kids playing on the floor and dodging this way and that to see each other around the kids.
I personally would love a bathroom that has a drain on the OUTSIDE of the bathtub 
a large kitchen with the dining area open to it would be lovely..
an area where you could do pantry storage.. I try and have at least a year's worth of basic supplies on hand and a lot of kitchen's may be big but they're short on real storage space.
lots of storage space everywhere really.. the easier it is to access something the higher probability it will end up back in that location. It's all the stuff with difficult to get to spaces that end up not put away.
I would love space for two washers and dryers.. or at least 1 washer and 2 dryers.. so that laundry can be hurried up considerably.
space for an extra fridge and a big freezer (chest or upright though chest freezers are better on power use and less loss of cold when opened.. and door less likely to be left ajar)
a big mud room with boot storage and hat and glove storage and hooks for coats and snowpants would also be really lovely.
LOTS OF INSULATION.. this house tiny though it is, is wonderful because someone added lots of extra insulation and it stays cooler without a/c and warmer with less heating. And windows too.. double paned are usually better.. it doesn't just keep the cold out but the heat too.. but I know there's all sorts of fancy windows out there that will increase your insulation.
But you also don't want your house too airtight.. you end up getting sick more without the air exchange.
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JodieLyn
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oh and THIS TUB is the one I want.. look at that overflow drain.. it's outside the top edge of the tub.. you can fill that one clear full and actually be covered in water 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Mimip
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A dishwasher. We do not have one and no room for one in my galley sized, not even enough room for 2, kitchen. I don't know if you have one or not but that would be the first thing that I put in.
Another consideration is the size of the kids rooms. Our boys are in a tiny room and that is very hard as it limits the amount of beds that we can put in there. I wish that we were able to put a set of bunk beds and another bed or bunk beds. Our girls are really having a hard time with their bunk beds but we simply do not have space in their room for another free standing bed (we tried the trundle thing and that was even worse.)
Oh I just thought of something else we do not have...closets. We have 2 closets in the whole house!!!! It is horrible so I would want a ton of closet space.
BTW: We are living in my grandparents old house that we moved into with them when they both got ill. Since then my grandmother has passed away and my grandfather is in hospice care so this season in our life is almost over but I would not have traded it for the world, with or without closets
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Mimip
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Jodie, you and I were posting at the same time but I LOVE that tub 
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Mimi
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Erin
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Sara
We are in the midst of having plans drawn up now for a very large extension; house will be three times the size of current when finished.
Lets see, the kitchen will be central, right next to the learning rooms. I think that essential.Nor a separate dining room, it runs into the kitchen. I am insisting on a library, I'm fed up with book messes. We are actually having a large area (2) set aside for learning areas. I want mess contained. Also a games room, keeping in mind growing teenagers, however it is not just for teenagers.
A lounge room for dh and I to retreat too, or anone seeking quiet. I'm in the midst of explaining to dh just why it is essential to have a door on the lounge room. I want to be able to close it so that the older children can watch a DVD without little ones hearing. So lots of living areas,
There be five bedrooms, I'm quite comfortable with children sharing. We are trying to fit an ensuite in.
We have lived in large houses and small houses and know what works best and what does not. So this plan is keeping that all in mind, because we are on a rural property we are not bound by space this time.
As we are building on to an existing dwelling there are a couple of features I'm comprising on. I would love to have the study with computers more central but it just can't work. But then it won't really be too far from the kitchen. The kitchen ties the old and new together. I'm hoping to do some blog posts soon with pics, of our current small house and the plans, so if you are interested they should be up in the next couple of days.
Oh I forgot, a big pantry, and large linen press and storage space make life very easy. And decent sized built ins in the bedroom. I'm currently dreaming about how to set up a real laundry, dd and I are talking folding table etc
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SaraP
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Bedrooms and lack of private spaces are my biggest concerns. We have 4 bedrooms, but one is VERY small and one is on the daylight side of our finished, walk-out basement.
Last spring/summer we had 8 kids and 4 adults living here and it really didn't feel cramped, but all of the kids were 6 and under and I wonder whether the openness of the floor plan and having multiple kids in each bedroom will become a bigger issue as kids get older.
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Erin
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When we had five kids under eight we had four of them in one room. We then went to five bedrooms for seven children and now there are three bedrooms for ten of us. After a big adjustment period when we moved here I think the children are closer.
Smaller bodies do make smaller spaces easier it is true. Having said that alot depends on personalities; dd16 shares with her two sisters 7 and 5, but she can escape in her head or outside. Four of our boys share and it has actually drawn them closer, in fact we are planning on the three boys; 14,12 and 10, still sharing when we build.
I pick living spaces over bedrooms always, but I guess it is an individual family preference.
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mom2mpr
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Oh, Jodie. That is a nice tub.
I agree a second fridge is key to a successful house!!
Anne
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SaraP
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Erin wrote:
| I'm hoping to do some blog posts soon with pics, of our current small house and the plans, so if you are interested they should be up in the next couple of days. |
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I'd love to see what you are doing and will check your blog later in the week!
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Marcia
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put in a drinking fountain.
:)
A friend who has 7 has found it wonderful and no worries about the zillions of cups lying around!
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Marcia
Mom to six and wife to one
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Tell me about your house, please.
