Hello everyone,
I would like to hear your opinions about our current planning. The plot is approximately 460 sqm (5,000 sq ft) but trapezoidal in shape. Therefore, we are placing the house along the southern boundary of the plot and putting the garage above it. The plot has already been purchased and paid for. There is no zoning plan, so the following values should be considered as guidelines.
Zoning/Restrictions
Size of building plot: approx. 460 sqm (5,000 sq ft)
Size of garden plot: approx. 600 sqm (6,460 sq ft)
Slope: None
Floor space index: 0.4
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: Hessian regulation, three-meter (about 10 feet) setback
Edge development: Garage only
Number of parking spaces: Two
Number of floors: Two
Roof style: Hipped roof
Design style: Modern
Orientation: ?
Homeowners’ Requirements
House without a basement, but with a large attic
Two adults, one child
The current plan is quite large at about 190 sqm (2,045 sq ft). We are considering reducing the southern side a bit to end up with around 170-180 sqm (1,830-1,940 sq ft).
Office: Family use and home office
Open kitchen, wife wants a breakfast bar
Wood stove (desired but not yet planned)
What was important to us:
- Hallway not too narrow
- Easy to clean (few corners and preferably square rooms)
- An open staircase (even though it is not the best solution energetically)
- Ground floor office should be able to serve as a bedroom in old age
- Lots of garden views on the south side
House Design
Designer: Do-it-yourself
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: 310,000 (without garage, windows, shutters, shutter boxes, or flooring)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 350,000 + additional building costs
Preferred heating system: Air-to-water heat pump + wood stove
If you had to give up something, which features/extensions could you do without or not do without? Basically doesn’t matter as long as the reasoning is plausible
Why does the design look like it does now?
The basic design is from the Danwood website (House Park 181W), but there the staircase is in the middle of the living room and kitchen. Because we want an open staircase but a central stair takes up too much space, we moved the staircase and redesigned the upper floor accordingly. Previously, we had considered bungalow plans, but those were discarded due to floor space ratio and plot shape.
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
- General opinions welcome
- Do you see potential improvements in the layout?
- What do you think about the open design (hallway, staircase, living-kitchen area)?
- What do you think about the south-facing windows? I’m concerned the house might overheat in summer with so many windows.
Thanks in advance for your opinions!
I would like to hear your opinions about our current planning. The plot is approximately 460 sqm (5,000 sq ft) but trapezoidal in shape. Therefore, we are placing the house along the southern boundary of the plot and putting the garage above it. The plot has already been purchased and paid for. There is no zoning plan, so the following values should be considered as guidelines.
Zoning/Restrictions
Size of building plot: approx. 460 sqm (5,000 sq ft)
Size of garden plot: approx. 600 sqm (6,460 sq ft)
Slope: None
Floor space index: 0.4
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: Hessian regulation, three-meter (about 10 feet) setback
Edge development: Garage only
Number of parking spaces: Two
Number of floors: Two
Roof style: Hipped roof
Design style: Modern
Orientation: ?
Homeowners’ Requirements
House without a basement, but with a large attic
Two adults, one child
The current plan is quite large at about 190 sqm (2,045 sq ft). We are considering reducing the southern side a bit to end up with around 170-180 sqm (1,830-1,940 sq ft).
Office: Family use and home office
Open kitchen, wife wants a breakfast bar
Wood stove (desired but not yet planned)
What was important to us:
- Hallway not too narrow
- Easy to clean (few corners and preferably square rooms)
- An open staircase (even though it is not the best solution energetically)
- Ground floor office should be able to serve as a bedroom in old age
- Lots of garden views on the south side
House Design
Designer: Do-it-yourself
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: 310,000 (without garage, windows, shutters, shutter boxes, or flooring)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 350,000 + additional building costs
Preferred heating system: Air-to-water heat pump + wood stove
If you had to give up something, which features/extensions could you do without or not do without? Basically doesn’t matter as long as the reasoning is plausible
Why does the design look like it does now?
The basic design is from the Danwood website (House Park 181W), but there the staircase is in the middle of the living room and kitchen. Because we want an open staircase but a central stair takes up too much space, we moved the staircase and redesigned the upper floor accordingly. Previously, we had considered bungalow plans, but those were discarded due to floor space ratio and plot shape.
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
- General opinions welcome
- Do you see potential improvements in the layout?
- What do you think about the open design (hallway, staircase, living-kitchen area)?
- What do you think about the south-facing windows? I’m concerned the house might overheat in summer with so many windows.
Thanks in advance for your opinions!
To be honest, those walls around the bathtub are room height:
Who’s supposed to find the space in the bathtub comfortable? And yes, the bathtub will get wet when in use, but normally it doesn’t get sprayed with water every time someone takes a shower... Depending on the water hardness, you usually have to dry the bathtub after showering anyway. Well, I’m not the one who has to do that.
And the washbasin is again drawn as a small, cramped basin just to show size.
Is 370 cm (12 feet) of closet space enough for you?
The window in the storage room should at least be moved 25 cm (10 inches) away from the left wall so that you can put a shelf with reduced depth on the left side.
On the bed side, I would rather install two narrow windows that possibly extend a bit into the sleeping area but are positioned more to the right and left of the bed. Definitely not the window placement as it is now.
Who’s supposed to find the space in the bathtub comfortable? And yes, the bathtub will get wet when in use, but normally it doesn’t get sprayed with water every time someone takes a shower... Depending on the water hardness, you usually have to dry the bathtub after showering anyway. Well, I’m not the one who has to do that.
And the washbasin is again drawn as a small, cramped basin just to show size.
Is 370 cm (12 feet) of closet space enough for you?
The window in the storage room should at least be moved 25 cm (10 inches) away from the left wall so that you can put a shelf with reduced depth on the left side.
On the bed side, I would rather install two narrow windows that possibly extend a bit into the sleeping area but are positioned more to the right and left of the bed. Definitely not the window placement as it is now.
The forum members offer valuable and helpful advice along with their perspectives. Whether you take their suggestions is entirely up to you.
For example, my tip is to design the floor plan with correctly scaled furniture and proper window placement and size, rather than proceeding "provisionally."
For example, my tip is to design the floor plan with correctly scaled furniture and proper window placement and size, rather than proceeding "provisionally."
Jenpa schrieb:
Forum members provide you with valuable and helpful advice and their perspectives. Whether you accept them is up to you. "But who is supposed to find the space in the bathtub comfortable?" is not really advice.
Jenpa schrieb:
My tip is, for example, to plan the layout with to-scale furniture and properly arranged and sized windows instead of working “provisionally.” We are working on the windows. The rest is already correct.
Hello Ben-man,
I’m definitely not an expert in floor plans—other users here know much more about that than I do. A lot of what is pointed out by others, I personally don’t even notice, and I’m always surprised by what forum members pick up on. Honestly, many of the criticisms wouldn’t bother me at all.
However, I do have to comment on the planned layout of your bathroom—I find it very cramped and impractical. Especially once you start showering in the bathtub because you don’t want to dry both the tub and the shower after every use, you’ll regret it, I’m sure. The alternative would be living with tiled or glass walls, which after a few years look terrible due to hard water and lime scale stains that can only be removed with acid, which damages the grout.
The shape of the room is actually quite nice, and I’m sure with a bit of creativity you can find a much more practical and spacious solution that still meets your needs.
By the way, we have a bathtub with an integrated shower, but I don’t use it to shower (we have a separate shower as well) because cleaning and drying the bathtub, especially when you’re in a rush in the morning, is just a hassle.
That said, as you mentioned, you need to feel comfortable in your home, and eventually, you or your cleaner will have to clean it. It’s your decision in the end, but I strongly suggest you reconsider your bathroom design carefully.
I’m definitely not an expert in floor plans—other users here know much more about that than I do. A lot of what is pointed out by others, I personally don’t even notice, and I’m always surprised by what forum members pick up on. Honestly, many of the criticisms wouldn’t bother me at all.
However, I do have to comment on the planned layout of your bathroom—I find it very cramped and impractical. Especially once you start showering in the bathtub because you don’t want to dry both the tub and the shower after every use, you’ll regret it, I’m sure. The alternative would be living with tiled or glass walls, which after a few years look terrible due to hard water and lime scale stains that can only be removed with acid, which damages the grout.
The shape of the room is actually quite nice, and I’m sure with a bit of creativity you can find a much more practical and spacious solution that still meets your needs.
By the way, we have a bathtub with an integrated shower, but I don’t use it to shower (we have a separate shower as well) because cleaning and drying the bathtub, especially when you’re in a rush in the morning, is just a hassle.
That said, as you mentioned, you need to feel comfortable in your home, and eventually, you or your cleaner will have to clean it. It’s your decision in the end, but I strongly suggest you reconsider your bathroom design carefully.
Hi Asuni,
this is a great basis for a conversation. We have the big advantage that our water is practically free of limescale. Just as an example: we’ve had a kettle for 8 years that we use several times daily and only had to descale it four times in total, most recently a few weeks ago. Nothing more is necessary. From my own experience, I can say that I would never install a bath/shower combination like this in a city like Frankfurt. After just two weeks there, the kettle looked worse than ours after two years. So, I don’t worry about that at all.
We want to avoid tiles and glass walls. As you said, they look terrible after just a few years. That’s why we want to separate the wet area from the dry area and use vinyl flooring. In our current layout, the area behind the wall is "always" wet, while in front of the wall it never is. For me, nothing is worse than stepping into wet flooring in the bathroom in the morning with fresh socks. The walls of the bathtub area won’t extend up to the ceiling either, but will leave sufficient space above so the room doesn’t feel cramped and light can reach all corners.
Regarding the space, it might seem large at first, but the window has to be positioned on that side, and the laundry chute has to run through that corner. We have tested many combinations. The only alternative we still like would be to move the entire bathtub block, including the sink and shower, down against the wall. That would eliminate a fully open shower area but would provide more space near the window.
this is a great basis for a conversation. We have the big advantage that our water is practically free of limescale. Just as an example: we’ve had a kettle for 8 years that we use several times daily and only had to descale it four times in total, most recently a few weeks ago. Nothing more is necessary. From my own experience, I can say that I would never install a bath/shower combination like this in a city like Frankfurt. After just two weeks there, the kettle looked worse than ours after two years. So, I don’t worry about that at all.
We want to avoid tiles and glass walls. As you said, they look terrible after just a few years. That’s why we want to separate the wet area from the dry area and use vinyl flooring. In our current layout, the area behind the wall is "always" wet, while in front of the wall it never is. For me, nothing is worse than stepping into wet flooring in the bathroom in the morning with fresh socks. The walls of the bathtub area won’t extend up to the ceiling either, but will leave sufficient space above so the room doesn’t feel cramped and light can reach all corners.
Regarding the space, it might seem large at first, but the window has to be positioned on that side, and the laundry chute has to run through that corner. We have tested many combinations. The only alternative we still like would be to move the entire bathtub block, including the sink and shower, down against the wall. That would eliminate a fully open shower area but would provide more space near the window.
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