M Is For Mama 8: She Really Is Awful

[danvillebelle]

3 minutes ago, TuringMachine said:

I live rent free minus my rent.

My house is pet-free minus the dog, four cats and the rabbit.  

Edited October 28, 2020 by danvillebelle

[theotherelise]

I did the upstairs using my downstairs footprint (where possible plumbing was above plumbing). Red is the current footprint.

First floor from previous post in spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by theotherelise
added first floor

[JermajestyDuggar]

41 minutes ago, danvillebelle said:

My house is pet-free minus the dog, four cats and the rabbit.  

My house is clean.

Minus the dust, crumbs, dishes, and toys on the floor.

[catlady]

I've just been scribbling on a screen shot with a pencil, and I already lopped off half the workshop and the "bedroom" above it, turned the full bath into a library, kept the half-bath and office (presumably Shaun's; he might genuinely need it), and turned that interior room into more school space.  this whole wing is dedicated to school and work.  Abbie should (but probably doesn't) have a big bunch of books for free reading and research, so a small library is useful for the half-dozen kids that will be schooling in any given year.   I walled off the end of the big study to turn it into a more traditional-style classroom (straight hallway leading beck to Shaun's office), with individual desks and a teacher desk.  That fake bedroom is a project area, with a table for science/art projects, research planning, and in case any one kid needs quiet time away from the group. the workshop can also be used for lessons.

I'm trying to keep in mind that 12 people do live here, they homeschool (in theory), and will still need some space to get away from each other now and then.

I'm ok with the big garage, because otherwise they'd need a rather large outbuilding to store tools and mower and such.  and in 4 to 5 years, it won't be unreasonable to have another car as the oldest boys start driving.  I don't know it that's a fire pit between the garage and the deck, but that has to go.   Smart people don't place fire that close to the structure (yes, Abbie; I'm calling you stupid, because you are).  the deck can extend over that area. 

I'd also flip the kitchen/dining area and move the pantry into where the dining table currently is.  the pantry and laundry will get out to the garage, because eventually they might want to put a third car in there, and a future buyer wanting a house that big will probably want more than two bays.  that laundry room is in the dumbest possible place, because it can't be any farther from the areas where they change clothes unless it was outside.  This is more of Abbie being stupid, because even if they have a chute from the second floor, they still have to carry clean laundry across the main floor to get it upstairs to the closet space.  All laundry will be upstairs, but a small stackable unit in the mudroom might be a good idea for a regular family who let their kids play outside and get dirty (I don't see Abbie doing this).  A second powder room at this side of the main floor would also be practical.

I agree that they need a mudroom, but I haven't figured out where to put it yet. 

they also need another set of stairs; that second floor is way too big to have only one egress point that isn't a window (hello, firetrap). 

I haven't started on the upstairs yet, but I will keep a scaled-back version of the family area, and do smaller bedrooms with hall access.  Abbie's master suite is about the size of my last apartment, so she's going to lose some square footage.

ETA: @theotherelise, I like yours!!

.........aaaaand back to work.

Edited October 28, 2020 by catlady

[JermajestyDuggar]

24 minutes ago, catlady said:

I've just been scribbling on a screen shot with a pencil, and I already lopped off half the workshop and the "bedroom" above it, turned the full bath into a library, kept the half-bath and office (presumably Shaun's; he might genuinely need it), and turned that interior room into more school space.  this whole wing is dedicated to school and work.  Abbie should (but probably doesn't) have a big bunch of books for free reading and research, so a small library is useful for the half-dozen kids that will be schooling in any given year.   I walled off the end of the big study to turn it into a more traditional-style classroom (straight hallway leading beck to Shaun's office), with individual desks and a teacher desk.  That fake bedroom is a project area, with a table for science/art projects, research planning, and in case any one kid needs quiet time away from the group. the workshop can also be used for lessons.

I'm trying to keep in mind that 12 people do live here, they homeschool (in theory), and will still need some space to get away from each other now and then.

I'm ok with the big garage, because otherwise they'd need a rather large outbuilding to store tools and mower and such.  and in 4 to 5 years, it won't be unreasonable to have another car as the oldest boys start driving.  I don't know it that's a fire pit between the garage and the deck, but that has to go.   Smart people don't place fire that close to the structure (yes, Abbie; I'm calling you stupid, because you are).  the deck can extend over that area. 

I'd also flip the kitchen/dining area and move the pantry into where the dining table currently is.  the pantry and laundry will get out to the garage, because eventually they might want to put a third car in there, and a future buyer wanting a house that big will probably want more than two bays.  that laundry room is in the dumbest possible place, because it can't be any farther from the areas where they change clothes unless it was outside.  This is more of Abbie being stupid, because even if they have a chute from the second floor, they still have to carry clean laundry across the main floor to get it upstairs to the closet space.  All laundry will be upstairs, but a small stackable unit in the mudroom might be a good idea for a regular family who let their kids play outside and get dirty (I don't see Abbie doing this).  A second powder room at this side of the main floor would also be practical.

I agree that they need a mudroom, but I haven't figured out where to put it yet. 

they also need another set of stairs; that second floor is way too big to have only one egress point that isn't a window (hello, firetrap). 

I haven't started on the upstairs yet, but I will keep a scaled-back version of the family area, and do smaller bedrooms with hall access.  Abbie's master suite is about the size of my last apartment, so she's going to lose some square footage.

ETA: @theotherelise, I like yours!!

.........aaaaand back to work.

A slide would be a fun way to get a second escape route in case of fire. The Duggars put one in from the boys’ room down to the play room. That was probably smart in case of a fire. I’m sure Braggie could find a place for one somewhere in that huge firetrap. 

Actually the sunroom on the second floor could be a good place to put a tube slide down to the patio below. That way they could all get out of the house fast in the middle of the night. 

Edited October 28, 2020 by JermajestyDuggar

[theotherelise]

Second stairwell is a good point. I could take out on of my upstairs walk in closets and put in a spiral staircase that goes down to the mud room. That would help with flow, but probably still isn’t a great fire plan. 

[Wifey4Lifey]

4 hours ago, catlady said:

In her case, I would guess that it’s some kind of in-law apartment, a tiny one-bedroom unit over a garage or built onto the back if the main house.  I never heard that word used in this context before either, but then Braggie is super-special and super-smart and way better than us heathen peons.  
And I’m debt-free too!  If you don’t count my mortgage and credit card.  But I must be as special as Braggie because I don’t owe any money on my 2008 car.?

She actually mentioned this in one of her Q&A Wednesdays a while back. Someone asked what the smallest space they had ever lived in with kids was, and she answered that it was the top floor of her parents house, which was either 1200 or 1500 square feet. So not tiny by any means, even with two kids!

[FilleMondaine]

36 minutes ago, theotherelise said:

Second stairwell is a good point. I could take out on of my upstairs walk in closets and put in a spiral staircase that goes down to the mud room. That would help with flow, but probably still isn’t a great fire plan. 

The problem with removing the closet is that...you are removing a closet! Where would she store all of her cloooooooooothes! 

I love your plans and @JermajestyDuggar plans. We're currently beginning our first home search, so all of this is way super interesting to me.

[Ozlsn]

I initially thought the nursery was next to the master bedroom which made sense... And then I realised it wasn't. That is seriously a design that says "I value my sleep, one of the older kids will get up".

[SuperNova]

Abbie is so unique and not like other women because she likes Christmas season the best. Its hard to believe that she is writing a book when I read such dumbass phrases like "life giving groove". Not to mention the "toe curling" orgasm she gets just thinking about holiday activities. Sure, Jan.

Raise your hand if you think Abbie is able to stay relaxed during craft time with the kids.

Spoiler

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by SuperNova

[Giraffe]

The bedroom through a bedroom is such a weird style to me. Was it common at one point? I’ve known aa couple houses where that was the style and I thought it was strange even as a kid. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Giraffe said:

The bedroom through a bedroom is such a weird style to me. Was it common at one point? I’ve known aa couple houses where that was the style and I thought it was strange even as a kid. 

Only very old houses. I’ve never seen it in a home built after 1950. I think it happens sometimes because of additions being added many years after the House was originally built. Additions can be really wonky when it comes to layout. My parents put on an addition to our house when I was 2 or 3. There was a window above the kitchen sink to look out in the back yard. When they added a room behind the kitchen, they just took the actual window out and kept it as a pass through. Plus you could watch tv pretty easily while doing dishes because there was a TV in the room addition. So it worked out.

[So-Virgin-It-Hurts]

I've only seen the bedroom through a bedroom in some older Victorians. Sometimes this happened when someone enclosed a "sleeping porch" common in Victorians.

[G33kywife]

Years ago while house hunting, we toured an old home that had a study. The room had a spiral staircase leading up to a bonus room of sorts. It was an odd layout! 

[danvillebelle]

Braggie, in her stories yesterday:  "Visual chaos is not my fave."

Me, looking at her house inside and out:

 

[Gobsmacked]

12 hours ago, Giraffe said:

The bedroom through a bedroom is such a weird style to me. Was it common at one point? I’ve known aa couple houses where that was the style and I thought it was strange even as a kid. 

Old terraced houses in Lancashire and Yorkshire sometimes had these. The houses were built with 2 bedrooms and no bathroom in the late 1800s. The large longish bedroom was for putting umpteen kids in. Now they are divided into small bathroom and a single bedroom or two bedrooms - one off the other with the bathroom added downstairs off the kitchen. These days loft conversions are added creating a master suite upstairs, bathroom and two bedrooms on the second floor. The added on bathrooms are demolished giving more garden/yard space. 

[danvillebelle]

30 minutes ago, Gobsmacked said:

The bedroom through a bedroom is such a weird style to me. Was it common at one point? I’ve known aa couple houses where that was the style and I thought it was strange even as a kid. 

The place I've seen that phenomenon most often is American shotgun houses, where the rooms are just lined up like a boxcar and you have to go through all of them to get to the back of the house.

[anachronistic]

I love touring historic houses and I remember standing in one and a guide explaining that originally hallways were seen as a sign of wealth because a person had the extra space to devote to a hallway. Very old houses just had a big ‘hall’ in the ground floor with rooms coming off of it. Knowing me though I could be totally wrong about this.

Her house is very weird. It definitely belongs in McMansion hell. My new apartment is a federal Housing and Urban Development (ie, government) housing project built, I think, in the 1980s, and it is much better designed than Braggies house because it was made for people to live in. And despite the fact that my whole place could probably fit into her bedroom, I think I’m happier. I   truly love living here, living alone. 

[danvillebelle]

11 minutes ago, anachronistic said:

and it is much better designed than Braggies house because it was made for people to live in.

Exactly.  I think a great deal of Braggie's motivation in her home plans and decor was "what will look good on the blog/instagram/possibly get me hits on a decorating website/magazine".  It's like 768 Pinterest ideas all smashed into one house.

Our house (which we have now been in for nearly a year, hard to believe) is a classic ranch built in 1970.  It's brick, solid as a rock and efficiently designed with tons of storage and not a lot of wasted space.  I feel safe and secure in it.  Braggie's house gives me the impression that it is already rickety and would blow over in a strong wind.  It's so poorly designed and looks so slap-dashed together.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

My house would probably look pretty bad on instagram. But it functions better for us when it isn’t instagram perfect. I wonder how Braggie’s house functions. I think it probably doesn’t function well. 

[SassyPants]

She wants the gram perfect house. What she has is both shoddy and over stimulating at the same time. Sometimes you get what you pay for. The quality of her decor is so poor, and the quantity does not make up for that.  Also, visibly chipped cabinets, cracked concrete countertops and unfinished roomS in a fairly new home is a shame. They either need to use better quality products or be better stewards of their home.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, SassyPants said:

She wants the gram perfect house. What she has is both shoddy and over stimulating at the same time. Sometimes you get what you pay for. The quality of her decor is so poor, and the quantity does not make up for that.  Also, visibly chipped cabinets, cracked concrete countertops and unfinished roomS in a fairly new home is a shame. They either need to use better quality products or be better stewards of their home.

Will the claw foot bath tub ever actually get hooked up? Probably not. Because it LOOKS good in pictures. It doesn’t actually have to function. What a perfect way to describe Braggie. 

Edited October 29, 2020 by JermajestyDuggar

[SuperNova]

8 hours ago, danvillebelle said:

Braggie, in her stories yesterday:  "Visual chaos is not my fave."

Me, looking at her house inside and out:

 

This almost makes me want to sign up for Insta. I really wish I could see her stories.

I don't like visual chaos in my living areas either but Abbie's house is like a Hobby Lobby 50% off sale. The rooms may be large but they're packed with trinkets, rugs on top of rugs, pillows, and mis-matched (not in a good way) furniture. Add that "look" to a warren of badly designed rooms with terrible flow and I'm starting to understand why she pulls her eyebrows out.

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Will the claw foot bath tub ever actually get hooked up? Probably not. Because it LOOKS good in pictures. It doesn’t actually have to function. What a perfect way to describe Braggie. 

Beauty is subjective and all that but I don't think Abbie is very attractive. She's skinny, yes, but she looks like Alfred E. Neuman in a wig.

[Zommom]

21 hours ago, SuperNova said:

Abbie is so unique and not like other women because she likes Christmas season the best. Its hard to believe that she is writing a book when I read such dumbass phrases like "life giving groove". Not to mention the "toe curling" orgasm she gets just thinking about holiday activities. Sure, Jan.

Raise your hand if you think Abbie is able to stay relaxed during craft time with the kids.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

So she used to dread Christmas, but somehow, in the past 5 years her little kids grew up and can now take over the festivities. Duh.  I’m sure the other appeal, besides older kids that bake and craft in their own is how she gets to decorate and spend less time with the kids, and then leave the home for weeks on end to shop? Sit on her ass and listen to Christmas music next to a fire while eating the treats her kids make? Abbie will groove to that, for sure. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

9 minutes ago, Zommom said:

So she used to dread Christmas, but somehow, in the past 5 years her little kids grew up and can now take over the festivities. Duh.  I’m sure the other appeal, besides older kids that bake and craft in their own is how she gets to decorate and spend less time with the kids, and then leave the home for weeks on end to shop? Sit on her ass and listen to Christmas music next to a fire while eating the treats her kids make? Abbie will groove to that, for sure. 

She has twins this year so she might not like it as much as last year. Why keep having kids you obviously don’t want?