ᐅ Planning / Floor Plan for a Single-Family Home (approx. 140 sqm, Basement, Ground Floor, Top Floor)
Created on: 11 Aug 2016 10:49
S
Schorsch584
Hello everyone,
Last fall, we (my wife, 28; our son, 9 months; and I, 32) bought a plot of land and have since been brainstorming, sketching, and exploring how to plan and design our house.
The more you look, the more you see, and sometimes it gets more confusing.
In principle, we are satisfied with the layout and room distribution, but the upstairs (attic floor) still has some issues. We would appreciate opinions from experienced homeowners and builders on whether our ideas and the floor plans we sketched are really practical and livable.
Here are the basic details:
Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 497 sqm (see location plan)
Slope: no
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: anything allowed
Architectural style: anything allowed except bungalow
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type => Single-family home with bay window, gable roof, 25 – 28 degrees (relatively shallow)
Basement, floors => basement, ground floor + attic floor (knee wall 1.80 – 2.00 m (6.0 – 6.5 ft))
Number of people, ages => currently 3 (he 32, she 28, son 9 months); a second child is desired
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor:
[I]Ground floor => living, dining, kitchen, guest WC/shower, storage/pantry
Attic floor => 2 children’s rooms, bathroom, master bedroom with walk-in closet
Office => for family use
Open or closed layout => open living/dining area
Conservative or modern style => modern but cozy
Open kitchen, kitchen island => open; kitchen layout not fixed yet, depending on what fits best
Number of dining seats => at least 4 but ideally space for 6 to 8
Fireplace => no
Music/sound wall => no
Balcony, roof terrace => no
Garage, carport => double garage with direct access to the house
Utility garden, greenhouse => regular garden, nothing special planned
Other wishes/features => we like the half-turned staircase with landing, though it takes quite a bit of space; we have a rather large sofa (3.50 m x 2.00 m (11.5 ft x 6.5 ft)); I manually inserted this sofa on the ground floor plan, as the one included by the builder does not fit the proportions at all.
House Design
Who planned it:
=> Designer from a building company based on our specifications (hand drawing)
What do we like?
=> We really like the ground floor layout and the open, bright feel (maybe kitchen a bit small with little countertop space)
What do we dislike?
=> The attic floor! Children’s rooms a bit too big, should be around 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each; master bedroom and walk-in closet too small; bathroom layout is not ideal; due to the staircase location, the room arrangement upstairs is tricky.
Price estimate by architect/planner: about 330,000 EUR (turnkey excluding flooring and painting)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 350,000 EUR
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler or air-to-water heat pump
If you had to give up something, which details/upgrades
Could you do without? => actually nothing, it’s not really special already; maybe a different staircase design
Could you not do without? => direct access to the garage; open living/dining area
[/I]
Unfortunately, the builder did not include dimensions on the plans, only area sizes, but I hope you can get an idea from that.
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Best regards,
Schorsch584
Last fall, we (my wife, 28; our son, 9 months; and I, 32) bought a plot of land and have since been brainstorming, sketching, and exploring how to plan and design our house.
The more you look, the more you see, and sometimes it gets more confusing.
In principle, we are satisfied with the layout and room distribution, but the upstairs (attic floor) still has some issues. We would appreciate opinions from experienced homeowners and builders on whether our ideas and the floor plans we sketched are really practical and livable.
Here are the basic details:
Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 497 sqm (see location plan)
Slope: no
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: anything allowed
Architectural style: anything allowed except bungalow
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type => Single-family home with bay window, gable roof, 25 – 28 degrees (relatively shallow)
Basement, floors => basement, ground floor + attic floor (knee wall 1.80 – 2.00 m (6.0 – 6.5 ft))
Number of people, ages => currently 3 (he 32, she 28, son 9 months); a second child is desired
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor:
[I]Ground floor => living, dining, kitchen, guest WC/shower, storage/pantry
Attic floor => 2 children’s rooms, bathroom, master bedroom with walk-in closet
Office => for family use
Open or closed layout => open living/dining area
Conservative or modern style => modern but cozy
Open kitchen, kitchen island => open; kitchen layout not fixed yet, depending on what fits best
Number of dining seats => at least 4 but ideally space for 6 to 8
Fireplace => no
Music/sound wall => no
Balcony, roof terrace => no
Garage, carport => double garage with direct access to the house
Utility garden, greenhouse => regular garden, nothing special planned
Other wishes/features => we like the half-turned staircase with landing, though it takes quite a bit of space; we have a rather large sofa (3.50 m x 2.00 m (11.5 ft x 6.5 ft)); I manually inserted this sofa on the ground floor plan, as the one included by the builder does not fit the proportions at all.
House Design
Who planned it:
=> Designer from a building company based on our specifications (hand drawing)
What do we like?
=> We really like the ground floor layout and the open, bright feel (maybe kitchen a bit small with little countertop space)
What do we dislike?
=> The attic floor! Children’s rooms a bit too big, should be around 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each; master bedroom and walk-in closet too small; bathroom layout is not ideal; due to the staircase location, the room arrangement upstairs is tricky.
Price estimate by architect/planner: about 330,000 EUR (turnkey excluding flooring and painting)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 350,000 EUR
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler or air-to-water heat pump
If you had to give up something, which details/upgrades
Could you do without? => actually nothing, it’s not really special already; maybe a different staircase design
Could you not do without? => direct access to the garage; open living/dining area
[/I]
Unfortunately, the builder did not include dimensions on the plans, only area sizes, but I hope you can get an idea from that.
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Best regards,
Schorsch584
1st question: What are your plans for the basement?
I’m a fan of basements, but you seem to have some space issues upstairs, while you have a free room in the basement plus separate technical and utility rooms. There you have 25m² (270 sq ft), whereas others often have less than 10m² (108 sq ft). If the large room isn’t already allocated, you should consider using it effectively or perhaps use the basement space to increase the living area upstairs.
Regarding the ground floor:
- The kitchen is located too far from the garage and, in my opinion, it is a bit too small.
- The living room is very narrow and the bay window is pointless because you can neither place furniture there nor use the space effectively for other purposes.
- The storage room is too small.
- A lot has already been said about the hallway.
Regarding the upper floor:
Nothing really fits here.
- The children’s rooms are disrupted by the bay windows.
- Depending on the roof layout, there will be hardly any usable wall space in the children’s rooms.
- The bedroom is too small, the walk-in closet is pointless, and due to the sloping roof, the person sleeping along the outer wall will probably have to squeeze in awkwardly.
- The bathroom is a disaster not only in terms of layout but also in terms of design.
Because of the staircase and the bay window, you lose a lot of usable living space on the upper floor.
I’m a fan of basements, but you seem to have some space issues upstairs, while you have a free room in the basement plus separate technical and utility rooms. There you have 25m² (270 sq ft), whereas others often have less than 10m² (108 sq ft). If the large room isn’t already allocated, you should consider using it effectively or perhaps use the basement space to increase the living area upstairs.
Regarding the ground floor:
- The kitchen is located too far from the garage and, in my opinion, it is a bit too small.
- The living room is very narrow and the bay window is pointless because you can neither place furniture there nor use the space effectively for other purposes.
- The storage room is too small.
- A lot has already been said about the hallway.
Regarding the upper floor:
Nothing really fits here.
- The children’s rooms are disrupted by the bay windows.
- Depending on the roof layout, there will be hardly any usable wall space in the children’s rooms.
- The bedroom is too small, the walk-in closet is pointless, and due to the sloping roof, the person sleeping along the outer wall will probably have to squeeze in awkwardly.
- The bathroom is a disaster not only in terms of layout but also in terms of design.
Because of the staircase and the bay window, you lose a lot of usable living space on the upper floor.
Schorsch58411 Aug 2016 13:35Wow, thanks so much for all the feedback so far.
There are already some great suggestions that really make us think.
The floor plan is 99% our design. The builder just copied it and correctly added the wall thicknesses and such (which is not so easy to do by hand on paper).
Site Plan
Unfortunately, I don’t have another site plan at the moment, but north is to the right side of the plan. The house is positioned on the plan as intended. The garage is on the north side. The terrace is planned on the west side (the garden side), and the street runs along the south and east sides.
We planned the exterior dimensions of the house at about 10.50 m x 8.50 m (34.5 ft x 28 ft).
Ground Floor:
- The suggestion to swap the kitchen and living room as well as the storage room and WC to shorten the routes from the garage is a good one. I’ll try to sketch something out on paper.
- The kitchen feels a bit too small for us. Since we like to cook and sometimes cook together (even three of us), it needs to be bigger.
- Our comfortable but very large sofa, measuring 3.50 m x 2.00 m (11.5 ft x 6.5 ft), is a challenge. Fitting it nicely into the room while still leaving enough space to walk around and access the TV wall is difficult if we don’t want the house to be too big.
First Floor:
- On the first floor, we are not happy at all yet. The bathroom as currently drawn is really a disaster.
Stairs:
- The room layout on both the ground floor and first floor depends heavily on the staircase. We really like the half-turn staircase with a landing, but unfortunately it takes up a lot of space. It is a bit too long when entering the house, which would reduce space in the living/dining area, so we have positioned the staircase as shown. This complicates the room layout, especially on the first floor.
- Do you have any suggestions for a staircase design that might fit the house better?
Bay Window:
- We included the bay window because we like the style of the house. We haven’t received any elevations yet, but I attached a picture showing our idea for the west elevation (with a garage instead of a carport).
- Can you roughly estimate how much extra a bay window like this would cost?
Thanks so much for your ideas and advice!
There are already some great suggestions that really make us think.
The floor plan is 99% our design. The builder just copied it and correctly added the wall thicknesses and such (which is not so easy to do by hand on paper).
Site Plan
Unfortunately, I don’t have another site plan at the moment, but north is to the right side of the plan. The house is positioned on the plan as intended. The garage is on the north side. The terrace is planned on the west side (the garden side), and the street runs along the south and east sides.
We planned the exterior dimensions of the house at about 10.50 m x 8.50 m (34.5 ft x 28 ft).
Ground Floor:
- The suggestion to swap the kitchen and living room as well as the storage room and WC to shorten the routes from the garage is a good one. I’ll try to sketch something out on paper.
- The kitchen feels a bit too small for us. Since we like to cook and sometimes cook together (even three of us), it needs to be bigger.
- Our comfortable but very large sofa, measuring 3.50 m x 2.00 m (11.5 ft x 6.5 ft), is a challenge. Fitting it nicely into the room while still leaving enough space to walk around and access the TV wall is difficult if we don’t want the house to be too big.
First Floor:
- On the first floor, we are not happy at all yet. The bathroom as currently drawn is really a disaster.
Stairs:
- The room layout on both the ground floor and first floor depends heavily on the staircase. We really like the half-turn staircase with a landing, but unfortunately it takes up a lot of space. It is a bit too long when entering the house, which would reduce space in the living/dining area, so we have positioned the staircase as shown. This complicates the room layout, especially on the first floor.
- Do you have any suggestions for a staircase design that might fit the house better?
Bay Window:
- We included the bay window because we like the style of the house. We haven’t received any elevations yet, but I attached a picture showing our idea for the west elevation (with a garage instead of a carport).
- Can you roughly estimate how much extra a bay window like this would cost?
Thanks so much for your ideas and advice!
Always these annoying protrusions in the living/dining area.
If you extend the house fully in width, you’ll have a proper storage and changing room.
You could also plan a bay window like the one in the picture at the front. Arrange it nicely with natural light and rotate the staircase by 90°. The only issue then is that the staircase exit leads directly into the ground floor. The landing (at half height) would be at the front side. This would require some adjustments to the layout.
If you extend the house fully in width, you’ll have a proper storage and changing room.
You could also plan a bay window like the one in the picture at the front. Arrange it nicely with natural light and rotate the staircase by 90°. The only issue then is that the staircase exit leads directly into the ground floor. The landing (at half height) would be at the front side. This would require some adjustments to the layout.
One should be aware that knee wall heights of 180 to 200 cm (70 to 79 inches) typically allow window openings up to about 165 to 185 cm (65 to 73 inches) in height, with the glass itself reaching a maximum height of around 155 to 175 cm (61 to 69 inches). However, if roller shutters are added, the top edges of these windows will be reduced by approximately 20 cm (8 inches) or more. So, standing and looking out of the window would then be unlikely.
With a maximum knee wall height of 200 cm (79 inches), it is also not possible to install a shower against the exterior wall. A shower head needs some clearance above the user’s head, and there should be additional space between the shower head and the ceiling to prevent water splashes from hitting the ceiling.
Why not consider a second full story instead?
With a maximum knee wall height of 200 cm (79 inches), it is also not possible to install a shower against the exterior wall. A shower head needs some clearance above the user’s head, and there should be additional space between the shower head and the ceiling to prevent water splashes from hitting the ceiling.
Why not consider a second full story instead?
D
develloper11 Aug 2016 17:34If the basement doesn’t need to serve an important purpose, such as a hobby room, home office, etc., I personally tend to lean towards leaving it out and using the money saved to make the house larger instead... A basic utility basement mainly just provides storage space.
I’m not sure if that would be an option for you?!
Best regards
I’m not sure if that would be an option for you?!
Best regards
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