Design your dream house!

[st_swithin]

Only if they're prebasted or marinated first. Otherwise they're just a big pain in the a55.

Did I mention the BBQ?

[mrmitchell]

In addition, my ideal house has The Button, just like Dubya's does.

[Boris Godunov]

Okay, this time it's my own layout, not one I've just pasted over the room names (thanks to Broderbund!)

[SpencerH]

I see two potential problems Boris. Unless you plan to have the servants 'bunk together', there's not enough quarters for them. Where are the secret passages? You've got to have secret passages in a gothic mansion.

[LTEC!]

Way old fashioned for these times. I don't think it really works. Kitchen is too small and hard to get to. Pantrys are used now for storage more than for dry goods, and you don't have a breakfast table.

Looks pulled out of a Jane Austen book.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by SpencerH
I see two potential problems Boris. Unless you plan to have the servants 'bunk together', there's not enough quarters for them. Where are the secret passages? You've got to have secret passages in a gothic mansion.

"Servant living" means a living room...their quarters would be upstairs.

Secret passages are very difficult to incorporate effectively into a house plan. They so break up the contours. I think I may have to settle for secret rooms in the cellar/attic and mere secret doors between adjoining rooms.

[LTEC!]

You can do it all. All it takes is grey matter and time and money.

[SpencerH]

The servants should not be sleeping upstairs Boris. It's the principle of the thing.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by LTEC!
Way old fashioned for these times. I don't think it really works. Kitchen is too small and hard to get to.

The kitchen is ample enough for the cook to work, and is convenient for servants, who will be getting there.

Pantrys are used now for storage more than for dry goods,

"Pantry" here means Butler's Pantry, or a servery where the servants prepare the meals to be taken into the dining room. Also where silver is stored.

and you don't have a breakfast table.

It would be in the "Morning Room," which is a more intimate dining room. Didn't finish furniture insertion.

Looks pulled out of a Jane Austen book.

Why do you think I want a library I can withdraw to whenever the familial henpecking starts?

[LTEC!]

They can sleep upstairs if there's no connection to the rest of the house.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by SpencerH
The servants should not be sleeping upstairs Boris. It's the principle of the thing.

Upstairs servant quarters in a servant wing were the norm in Victorian manor houses.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by LTEC!
They can sleep upstairs if there's no connection to the rest of the house.

There can be a connection, but there must be a clear delineation between servant space and that of guests and that of the family. After all, the servants need to be able to get quickly to the master's rooms should they be rung for in the middle of the night.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Put 'em in the basement, next to the coal bins for the furnaces.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Put 'em in the basement, next to the coal bins for the furnaces.

That's for certain guests.

[MichaeltheGreat]

The coal furnaces will dry out the air and walls, though.

You want your dungeon on the low point of the cellar, towards the north, so that the limited sun exposure of the surrounding ground on the surface keeps subsurface moisture in, to get that truly dank, unhealthy, dungeon atmosphere. Plus it makes nicer centipede habitat.