Layout of the Duggar house

[Lillybee]

The floorplan link no longer works. I wonder why.

[FaeT]

The half circle thing outside JB&M's room is a spiral staircase.

So they have three floors then? How does that work? Thanks for pointing that out.

The floorplan link no longer works. I wonder why.

Are you serious?! Wow. They really do lurk here don't they?

ETA: The link just worked for me. I'll save it just in case they take it down. I also have a picture saved of one of the release forms they signed for sky diving where their full address and phone number is clearly visible.

[She Who Laughs]

Finding an address these days, especially for someone who is well-known, is not difficult at all and phone numbers are easily changed, so I don't get why saying you have something with their "full address and phone number" is any big thing.

[Witsec7]

...

ETA: The link just worked for me. I'll save it just in case they take it down. I also have a picture saved of one of the release forms they signed for sky diving where their full address and phone number is clearly visible.

There is a lot more information about them on public records from the state of AR. That's how the trust was discovered. IIRC there is also a more current plan of the house available on the property tax records. As far as phone numbers go, they pretty much run through them, the one on the RE licenses was different than the numbers to the trust. The original incorporation of their first shell corp is different than the ones on LardLads house...and the beat goes on.

[FaeT]

Finding an address these days, especially for someone who is well-known, is not difficult at all and phone numbers are easily changed, so I don't get why saying you have something with their "full address and phone number" is any big thing.

It's a screenshot from the show. I just find it odd/strange/semi dangerous that TLC would film that so clearly and visibly. That's all.

[Witsec7]

It's a screenshot from the show. I just find it odd/strange/semi dangerous that TLC would film that so clearly and visibly. That's all.

:lol: They filmed Anna giving birth on a toilet. Hell if they can't consider what kind of an impact that would have on a kid once he was old enough to google the mere action of revealing phone numbers is small beans, esp. when you consider how many the Duggars have or potentially have.

[Kitty]

Every time I see the floor plan I think "egads, what a waste of space."

Seriously, why bother with a catwalk? Why didn't they just make an entire second level, or at least a loft? Why is the playroom so freaking big, and why does the bathroom right off it have a tub and shower? Why not section part of it off and make another bedroom?

Same could be done with the sewing room, offices (Okay, JB can have his own office, but if Michelle's the quintessential SAHM she claims to be, why does she need her own office? Can't she just borrow JB's whenever she's spouting her bullshit to the interwebs, or set up a desk and computer in her own room? Making the cat walk a loft and dividing it up would create more bedrooms, as well as dividing the kids' bedrooms up. They'd be small, but you wouldn't have 9 siblings ages 2-22 in one room and 10 ages 8-22 in another. That's fucking bullshit, don't those poor kids ever have 2 minutes to themselves that don't involve them sitting on a toilet?!

[Witsec7]

Every time I see the floor plan I think "egads, what a waste of space."

Seriously, why bother with a catwalk? Why didn't they just make an entire second level, or at least a loft? Why is the playroom so freaking big, and why does the bathroom right off it have a tub and shower? Why not section part of it off and make another bedroom?

Same could be done with the sewing room, offices (Okay, JB can have his own office, but if Michelle's the quintessential SAHM she claims to be, why does she need her own office? Can't she just borrow JB's whenever she's spouting her bullshit to the interwebs, or set up a desk and computer in her own room? Making the cat walk a loft and dividing it up would create more bedrooms, as well as dividing the kids' bedrooms up. They'd be small, but you wouldn't have 9 siblings ages 2-22 in one room and 10 ages 8-22 in another. That's fucking bullshit, don't those poor kids ever have 2 minutes to themselves that don't involve them sitting on a toilet?!

They could have still had 12-16 foot ceilings while doing full second level, heck if they did that they could have had three girls bedrooms and three for the boys. It must cost a fortune to heat that place even if they installed floor radiant heating below the tiles.

riffle

[SisiL78]

The double story living room is a waste of space AND a waste of energy. Heating and cooling double story spaces is incredibly wasteful.

You can put in special ceiling fans and whatever and it doesn't do much. They would indeed have been best off with 10-12 foot ceilings on the first floor and 8 foot ceilings on the second floor. That way in the summer there would be some heat going to the ceiling and in the winter they could use the special ceiling fans to re-direct heat downwards (those fans would be much more useful wtih a more normal ceiling height).

I bet JimBob whines about their electric bills too. They really chose a screwed up floorplan when a more square and normal plan would have made more sense. I don't understand why they don't have a dedicated class room... Maybe one where they could put the kids at seperate desks or tables so that they would be more apt to study and learn rather than distract each other (oh wait, the Duggars are too good for real edumication!)

[Maude]

The double story living room is a waste of space AND a waste of energy. Heating and cooling double story spaces is incredibly wasteful.

You can put in special ceiling fans and whatever and it doesn't do much. They would indeed have been best off with 10-12 foot ceilings on the first floor and 8 foot ceilings on the second floor. That way in the summer there would be some heat going to the ceiling and in the winter they could use the special ceiling fans to re-direct heat downwards (those fans would be much more useful wtih a more normal ceiling height).

I bet JimBob whines about their electric bills too. They really chose a screwed up floorplan when a more square and normal plan would have made more sense. I don't understand why they don't have a dedicated class room... Maybe one where they could put the kids at seperate desks or tables so that they would be more apt to study and learn rather than distract each other (oh wait, the Duggars are too good for real edumication!)

I honestly believe the layout was purposely done as a measure of control. The openness and the two dormitory-style bedrooms for the offspring limits privacy. In any case, I think we've already established that 'sense' isn't exactly abundant in the Duggar household.

[Witsec7]

As previously discussed on another thread, with a steel structure and roof, the Duggars really had the opportunity to minimize their power costs by installing solar.

[DarkAnts]

The double story living room is a waste of space AND a waste of energy. Heating and cooling double story spaces is incredibly wasteful.

You can put in special ceiling fans and whatever and it doesn't do much. They would indeed have been best off with 10-12 foot ceilings on the first floor and 8 foot ceilings on the second floor. That way in the summer there would be some heat going to the ceiling and in the winter they could use the special ceiling fans to re-direct heat downwards (those fans would be much more useful wtih a more normal ceiling height).

I bet JimBob whines about their electric bills too. They really chose a screwed up floorplan when a more square and normal plan would have made more sense. I don't understand why they don't have a dedicated class room... Maybe one where they could put the kids at seperate desks or tables so that they would be more apt to study and learn rather than distract each other (oh wait, the Duggars are too good for real edumication!)

One of my friends built a house with a double story living room. There is a loft upstairs with two guest rooms and a bathroom. There is also a nice reading area up there. The rest of the house is not that open.

They put windows on the ceiling that open by a remote (they also have shades for them that are open and closed with a remote). They open them up at night along with all of the windows in the house. The ceiling windows do help remove the hot air that accumulates near the roof during the day. They live in NM so at night, it tends to cool down to the high 60's. In the morning, all of the windows are closed and the shades are drawn. The house stays fairly cool for most of the day. They did design the house with energy consumption in mind (but did not build it themselves) They do use ceiling fans during the day along with a AC. The house is built out of insulated concrete foam (http://www.rastra.com/) so that helps to keep the place comfortable and quiet. The rastra walls are covered by fake adobe and did survive a major hail storm with stones the size of grapefruit. Some of their windows were broken and like everyone else in town, they needed a new roof. But, the walls survived and needed no repair.

I do love their living room. They have large windows that face north and have a good view. The openness also feels nice when you are there for a party. So excuse my rambeling, I just wanted to say that a two story living room can be quite nice.

[Gil]

Seriously, why bother with a catwalk?

My guess? Filming purposes. I've seen a lot of clips for promos and things like that with the family all together, shot from above.

[BlondeAgent007]

I think it was for filming too. Especially with the boom mics and lighting, that the ceiling needed to be gone. It was kind of a win win for the building crew and TLC when they struggled to finish building. The Duggars were losing their rental home, and they needed a bigger house for filming. In the original house it was hard for them to even shoot the Duggars indoors. Less rooms and a catwalk meant the building crew could finish the house faster. The Duggars admitted that building was taking them a whole lot longer than they expected.

I think the high catwalk layout is a really dangerous, stupid idea for people who have 19 kids. My two siblings and I have all gotten our heads stuck in railings on our stairs before. We broke one too, and didn't roughhouse nearly as much as I see going on in the Duggar's house. Theirs are so high up, too....

[bananacat]

The commercial kitchen is a waste of space mainly because it doesn't take much room to open cans. They don't need much room for chopping and preparing. They only need an oven to heat the cans of casserole ingredients that they open, a freezer to store tater tots, and a microwave for everything else. They use disposable everything so they don't need that commercial dishwasher either.

The catwalk seems dangerous with so many little kids around. Yes, there's a railing but it really seems like an accident waiting to happen. It's also poor planning to put the computers/workstations in an open loft area. I'm sure they did that so they can easily see the screens and make sure there's no porn, but it must be really hard to concentrate on any schoolwork with all that noise from the rest of the house.

Everyone has covered the waste of space and energy for the two-story living room so I'll just point out one more thing that bugs me. They should have planned better and not put a bathtub in the playroom bathroom. It's such a weird place to have a bathtub so far away from the bedrooms. When the kids get out of the bath, do they run naked all through the house to their bedroom? Of course they don't because it's the the Duggar house. So they either have to spend a lot of time drying off thoroughly in the bathroom and then get fully clothed, or just stay sort of wet and put on all their clothes. And if they're not allowed to wear pajamas downstairs, does that mean they put on their dirty dayclothes and then change again when they get to the bedroom? It just seems like since they had complete control over the design, they could have planned it better. If they just wanted more bathtub capacity, they could have added more upstairs.

[patsymae]

From what I've seen on the show, it seems like the kids just sleep wherever they happen to fall. Bedrooms are probably for "training"' purpose nap times, changing clothes in a same-sex environment, and preventing the adolescent and adult "children" from having personal privacy.

[FaeT]

The commercial kitchen is a waste of space mainly because it doesn't take much room to open cans. They don't need much room for chopping and preparing. They only need an oven to heat the cans of casserole ingredients that they open, a freezer to store tater tots, and a microwave for everything else. They use disposable everything so they don't need that commercial dishwasher either.

The catwalk seems dangerous with so many little kids around. Yes, there's a railing but it really seems like an accident waiting to happen. It's also poor planning to put the computers/workstations in an open loft area. I'm sure they did that so they can easily see the screens and make sure there's no porn, but it must be really hard to concentrate on any schoolwork with all that noise from the rest of the house.

Everyone has covered the waste of space and energy for the two-story living room so I'll just point out one more thing that bugs me. They should have planned better and not put a bathtub in the playroom bathroom. It's such a weird place to have a bathtub so far away from the bedrooms. When the kids get out of the bath, do they run naked all through the house to their bedroom? Of course they don't because it's the the Duggar house. So they either have to spend a lot of time drying off thoroughly in the bathroom and then get fully clothed, or just stay sort of wet and put on all their clothes. And if they're not allowed to wear pajamas downstairs, does that mean they put on their dirty dayclothes and then change again when they get to the bedroom? It just seems like since they had complete control over the design, they could have planned it better. If they just wanted more bathtub capacity, they could have added more upstairs.

I think the "pretty kitchen" is a waste of space. Have they ever used it outside of getting cereal? Ive seen them prepare something in there before but it was obviously just for show.

Did they say the kids can't wear pajamas downstairs?! Seriously?! That is insane.

[slickcat79]

So they have three floors then? How does that work? Thanks for pointing that out.

No, they only have 2 floors. The spiral staircase goes from the bedroom landing and ends downstairs beside the dining room. You can see part of it in the lower level plan as well. It's probably not the safest to have a tight spiral staircase in a house with that many little kids, but I'll give them credit for installing a second staircase in general. In case of fire or something it would help to have an additional exit from the second floor that doesn't include busting a window and jumping off the roof.

I think the "pretty kitchen" is a waste of space. Have they ever used it outside of getting cereal? Ive seen them prepare something in there before but it was obviously just for show.

Uhh...Michelle made a giant pot of ramen for the lost girls that one time :?

[Coconut Flan]

Jana making quesadillas apparently one at a time before a trip last season.

[bananacat]

I think the industrial kitchen is a much, much bigger waste than the pretty kitchen. The industrial kitchen is bigger, but they only need one the size of the pretty kitchen or smaller for the way they cook and don't have to clean. They should turn the industrial kitchen into the pantry and turn the pantry into a garage.

[Maude]

For the way they eat, the industrial kitchen is a waste, but I'd rather see them toss the 'pretty' kitchen simply because they really need to change their diet and take full advantage of the former.

[SisiL78]

I know a family with 12 kids who also host Shabbos about 40 times a year (or more) for upwards of 75 people. The family are semi-health nuts and cook everything from raw ingredients (including breaking down chickens). They have several freezers and refrigerators downstairs but upstairs they have 1 frig, 2 stoves, 3 ovens, and 2sinks/dishwashers. I think their kitchen is about 12x18 (and its an addition, it used to be much much smaller). THey manage to cook all their meals, bake bread, cook Shabbos dinner for a ton of people and still feed the family a nutritious meal. And if it wasn't apparent they also keep kosher so at any given time they can only really use half their kitchen. They do use the dining table for stuff like kneading bread and mis en place but overall its an extraordinary amount of cooking coming out of a relatively small kitchen with no frills. I am pretty sure that the "pretty" kitchen the Duggars have is bigger than these people's kitchen. I am sure they would really put an industrial kitchen to use, they wouldn't just let it sit idle and only use it to stage chinese take out containers and open a can casserole "cooking". Its all for show and a waste of space. I guess the kitchen is symbolic of the Duggar family too.

[itsnikki05]

Given that they have several huge industrial warehouses on the property, I don't think they really care about the eyesore factor. But I don't think a garage would be so important for them either. Given how many vehicles they have, including vans and small buses, as well as SUVs and other cars, it would have to be a MASSIVE building to hold them all. And they live in rural Arkansas. They've had a couple of winter storms that have caused problems, but they don't have horrible winters like in the northeast. Garages aren't amazingly common in areas where you don't have to protect your cars from weather or criminals.

I agree. My grandparents do have a garage, we don't. Our cars are just in the driveway. *shrug* We don't get much of a winter. (I live in MS)

[itsnikki05]

I think they actually ended up with three kits. One of the originals came with the holes drilled backwards, so they got sent a replacement but were allowed to keep the originals as well. That may have been what allowed them to have such a big open living area. I would imagine, since the kits are metal beams that have to be screwed together instead of wood, at some point you just wouldn't be able to change the layout anymore...especially when random builders are helping you finish it. I have a friend whose family hired a contractor to build them a custom house. They wanted to change the location of the bathrooms on his plans, but they forgot to take out the old ones when they added new one. By the time they realized what had happened, the bathrooms had already been plumbed, so they ended up with 7-8 bathrooms in a 5 bedroom house. Oops. Even with professionals involved, sometimes things don't come out quite like you planned.

The half circle thing outside JB&M's room is a spiral staircase.

I dig it! Everyone has their own bathroom! LOL!!

[itsnikki05]

I know a family with 12 kids who also host Shabbos about 40 times a year (or more) for upwards of 75 people. The family are semi-health nuts and cook everything from raw ingredients (including breaking down chickens). They have several freezers and refrigerators downstairs but upstairs they have 1 frig, 2 stoves, 3 ovens, and 2sinks/dishwashers. I think their kitchen is about 12x18 (and its an addition, it used to be much much smaller). THey manage to cook all their meals, bake bread, cook Shabbos dinner for a ton of people and still feed the family a nutritious meal. And if it wasn't apparent they also keep kosher so at any given time they can only really use half their kitchen. They do use the dining table for stuff like kneading bread and mis en place but overall its an extraordinary amount of cooking coming out of a relatively small kitchen with no frills. I am pretty sure that the "pretty" kitchen the Duggars have is bigger than these people's kitchen. I am sure they would really put an industrial kitchen to use, they wouldn't just let it sit idle and only use it to stage chinese take out containers and open a can casserole "cooking". Its all for show and a waste of space. I guess the kitchen is symbolic of the Duggar family too.

I have this itty bitty kitchen, have to use my table as prep area... it's glass so it's alright... but what I'd do with a big kitchen! *sigh* The baking I could do with a nice oven... That's pretty much my dream. To have a nice kitchen with new, nice appliances and a DISHWASHER that isn't spelled "M-A-M-A" ;)