Updated house model

Brent has been busy (he can't help himself - and I'm so glad) improving his 1/30th scale model of our new home. The weather has been awful - super cold and icy streets here in the KC area. So we were pretty much stuck inside for the weekend and this is how he spent the time.

Toward the end of the week it became apparent that the layout of the stairs in the new house might need adjusting because, in case it isn't obvious, Brent is pretty tall. I think it would be super unfair to make him duck to avoid hitting his head when going downstairs in a house we custom-built for ourselves.

So, using all his engineering skills as well as some newly acquired software knowledge, he modeled a new stair layout AND found a way to add a bunch of storage space both upstairs and down.

New layout for stairs showing pantry extending over the stairwell

Here is a photo of the new kitchen pantry. It has about twice as much space as the original plan because it now extends over the stairwell.

The white wall with the angle at the top is the west wall of the pantry. It goes all the way to the ceiling. In front of it you can  see the coat closet (without its west wall) which does not extend to the ceiling to maintain the airflow needed to pull heat from the sunspace.

Not shown in this photo is the step up that's inside the pantry. That step forms a shelf and creates the head room needed in the stairs for tall people.

The big change in the stair layout is the turn at the top that changes the direction of the entry to the stairs. People will now enter from the south and descend just a few steps to a landing.

In the process of working out the new stairway, Brent decided to build all of the walls for the rooms downstairs. And he and Rick (our builder) found a way to add another storage area under the stairs.

downstairs with walls

The old plan used the space under the stairs for the washer and dryer. There was also a plan to stub in an additional water line for a sink (allowing for remodeling plan in the future).

With the new stairs Rick suggested moving the washer and dryer into the mechanical room. That freed up that under-the-stairs area. So Brent added a wall and doorway that will create a cool storage area. And the water line for the future sink will go on that east wall of the downstairs bathroom (in that little space under the top turn in the stairs).

We are excited to see the layout. This process helped us confirm we have enough space for furniture, too, because Brent also made some flat, to-scale cutouts of our living room furniture. We had a lot of fun arranging those cut-outs in the living room - all without hurting our backs :-). I wouldn't be surprised if Brent finds a way to make 3-dimensional versions of our beds and sofas if the weather stays this cold. Who needs Legos when you have foam core and an X-acto knife? :-)