This post is for Jon and Tim

Hi Guys -

I think this may be the easiest way to get drawings to you, at least for now... no attachments to deal with, and I can insert comments more easily

Reminder: click on the picture to enlarge.


This is the basic shell for the new diningrooom/kitchen section:

(livingroom side)

(garden side)

The dotted lines represent the approximate position of axes that need supporting. It could be evenly spaced posts, as shown here, but it could also be walls or sections of walls, or posts disguised by fireplace as in Ariadne's... whatever. Just so long as there's no gap, along one of those lines, that's longer then 8 feet or so.

The first line from the left could move a bit - it hasn't been built yet - I just placed the same distit where it is for symmetrical to the oppositely from the door, for symmetry.

The 2nd line from the left absolutely has to be where it is (it's the exterior wall right now).

The third-from-the-left doesn't really need to be there at all, but it balances the 2nd line, so things don't look totally lopsided when you walk in the door.

The right-most line is where the bedrooms' back walls are right now, and I'm 98% sure it's load-bearing.


We need to decide where to put the stairs, and how big we want them, etc. Figure about 8' x 8' for stairs that come to a landing & switch back, or 12 x 3' for stairs that just go straight up.

Ideally, I think these stairs should be enclosed, to better control sound travellin upstairs, and to prevent warm/cold air drafts. If we put them in the top-right corner somewhere, then the stairwell can continue down to the lower bedroom (current laundry-room area).

Bear in mind that it's easy to wind up outdoors at the top of the stairs, something we want to avoid... The measurements for that are as follows (Sorry for the clutter, I just pasted the existing floorplan of Rob's room onto the drawing).

(livingroom)

(garden)

Now the fun part:

For the sake of comparisions, the existing diningroom is about 20' 6" by 11' 1"; the existing kitchen is 10' 4" by 11' 1"; and the laundry room is 6'8" x 10'1". Total area: about 409 square feet.

The new location is 41'7" by 22'11" ...total area 952 square feet.

Or, to put it more graphically (oh, bad pun):


It's a fair bit bigger than I'd realised, even with 40 to 80 square feet set aside for a staircase... I think we can fit a billiard table.



Slightly off-topic: the last few days, I've been thinking that this wing wants a fireplace as well. Or maybe, with the open-floor design, a freestanding woodstove? There's some pretty slick ones out there...

from wittus design (http://www.wittus.com/) :



The above also comes in a slightly different version - wider platform, looks almost like a coffe-table - I can't download the picture, it's in this PDF: http://www.wittus.com/Specs/shaker%20spec.pdf



... And then therte's these, from Morsoe (http://www.morsoe.com/us/stoves.htm):




And finally, there's SCAN stoves (http://kiconf.krog-iversen.dk/us/), which website I can't download pictures from (flash animation).


Okay, that's it for now. Talk to you later,

Francois