ᐅ Single-family Home – Captain’s House Style – 150 m² – New Construction – Requesting Advice
Created on: 9 Oct 2019 10:54
E
Erisa2010
Hello everyone,
we have purchased a plot in Lower Saxony and have already had the first planning meeting with the architect from our building company, so the initial preliminary design is done. We have three options to choose from. We received a 3D file, which allowed us to virtually “walk through” the house beforehand. However, not everything convinced us, so I hope to get some good tips here for improvements.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 595 m² (approximately 6400 sq ft)
Slope: rising along the north side from the driveway to the northeast corner, highest point about 1.30–1.50 m (approximately 4.3–4.9 ft) (retaining wall planned along boundary)
Building type: single-family house
Floor space index: 0.25
Number of floors: 1 full storey
Building setback: North 5 m (16 ft), South/West 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 as per development plan (1 carport, 1 parking space in front)
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: ridge height above finished floor level (FFL) 9 m (30 ft), eaves height above FFL 4.5 m (15 ft)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building form: solid captain’s house with gable facing south, pitched roof 45°
Basement, floors: 1 full storey, no basement
Number of people, age: 2 adults (30, 34), 2 children planned
Room requirements in basement, ground floor, upper floor:
Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living/dining room
Upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, storage room (washing machine/dryer raised)
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island solution (possibly without cooktop and maybe with seating) has not found a place yet; topic open: see below
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6–8 in living/dining area
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: no
Terrace: yes, in front of kitchen and living/dining area
Cistern: yes
Heating/electricity: ground source heat pump and photovoltaic system with battery storage
Garage, carport: carport
Additional wishes/particulars, including reasons why certain options are preferred or not:
- Kitchen: We want to be able to eat with four people in the kitchen, mainly for weekday breakfasts or hot meals where the pot can remain on the stove. With children and high chairs, I don’t think a breakfast bar or counter makes sense!?
- Upper floor bathroom: Other homeowners recommended not locating the shower (and possibly the toilet too) on the wall adjacent to the bedroom due to noise.
- Window sizes still variable
House Design
Who designed it: by us in coordination with the architect of the building company
What do we particularly like, and why?
- Size of the kitchen, access to the terrace
- Door from kitchen to utility room
- Utility room with space for our 2 shelves (1.67 m (5.5 ft) wall) for food and household items, and recycling bag just around the corner (next to ventilation)
- Radiator valve concealed in utility room, upstairs also hidden in thicker wall
- Storage room on upper floor with space for washing machine and dryer on a platform, plus room for drying rack (room is ventilated)
- Large children’s rooms
What would we change in the current plan for the second draft:
- Change the kitchen-utility room door to open toward the kitchen to avoid collisions? (no sliding door solution)
- Possibly a light strip window in the guest toilet, so you don’t look in directly when entering the house and to improve light on the mirror, instead of only having light behind you (north side is generally darker) > move current bathroom window to the hallway
- Windows in the living/dining area should be shifted leftwards from the inside perspective, currently too close to the wall
- Possibly roof windows in the stairwell as the upper floor hallway is otherwise too dark
- Shower shelf without seat, only a half wall as a shelf for shower items; use the dead space behind the shower from the storage room side as a niche
- Children’s rooms are designed for 1.40 m (55 inch) beds, but 90 cm (35 inch) beds would also fit of course
What don’t we like and why?
- Ground floor hallway is too narrow
- Door to living/dining area is “under” the stairs (that is, the right doorway from the hallway), otherwise you can’t get to the kitchen
- Closed stair treads that I would have preferred are not feasible in this floor plan
- Double-sided stair railing in upper hallway (visually), although the hallway seems more open and less narrow this way
- Utility room has “excessively much space” in the middle of the room
- Upper bathroom: overall layout, bathroom feels small and outdated
Why is the design the way it is now?
- Kitchen: Since during the week I don’t want to carry everything to the big dining table for breakfast, having a dining area in the kitchen is important to me. Visually, having a kitchen seating area “next to” a large dining table seemed odd, so we currently planned a half-height wall to separate the two, behind which the kitchen table could be placed, so it still feels somewhat open. I’m not sure whether the wall length is sufficient, though.
- At first, we liked a straight staircase, but it protrudes quite far through the house both downstairs and upstairs.
[U]What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?[/U]
How can the hallway be designed to feel less narrow? We’re open to other stair styles. There needs to be space for a wardrobe niche that isn’t too visible, ideally in front of the guest toilet. Maybe a new design will also improve the upstairs bathroom situation?
I look forward to your comments and ideas!
Best regards, Erisa
we have purchased a plot in Lower Saxony and have already had the first planning meeting with the architect from our building company, so the initial preliminary design is done. We have three options to choose from. We received a 3D file, which allowed us to virtually “walk through” the house beforehand. However, not everything convinced us, so I hope to get some good tips here for improvements.
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 595 m² (approximately 6400 sq ft)
Slope: rising along the north side from the driveway to the northeast corner, highest point about 1.30–1.50 m (approximately 4.3–4.9 ft) (retaining wall planned along boundary)
Building type: single-family house
Floor space index: 0.25
Number of floors: 1 full storey
Building setback: North 5 m (16 ft), South/West 3 m (10 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 2 as per development plan (1 carport, 1 parking space in front)
Orientation: south
Maximum heights/limits: ridge height above finished floor level (FFL) 9 m (30 ft), eaves height above FFL 4.5 m (15 ft)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building form: solid captain’s house with gable facing south, pitched roof 45°
Basement, floors: 1 full storey, no basement
Number of people, age: 2 adults (30, 34), 2 children planned
Room requirements in basement, ground floor, upper floor:
Ground floor: guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living/dining room
Upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, storage room (washing machine/dryer raised)
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island solution (possibly without cooktop and maybe with seating) has not found a place yet; topic open: see below
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6–8 in living/dining area
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony: no
Terrace: yes, in front of kitchen and living/dining area
Cistern: yes
Heating/electricity: ground source heat pump and photovoltaic system with battery storage
Garage, carport: carport
Additional wishes/particulars, including reasons why certain options are preferred or not:
- Kitchen: We want to be able to eat with four people in the kitchen, mainly for weekday breakfasts or hot meals where the pot can remain on the stove. With children and high chairs, I don’t think a breakfast bar or counter makes sense!?
- Upper floor bathroom: Other homeowners recommended not locating the shower (and possibly the toilet too) on the wall adjacent to the bedroom due to noise.
- Window sizes still variable
House Design
Who designed it: by us in coordination with the architect of the building company
What do we particularly like, and why?
- Size of the kitchen, access to the terrace
- Door from kitchen to utility room
- Utility room with space for our 2 shelves (1.67 m (5.5 ft) wall) for food and household items, and recycling bag just around the corner (next to ventilation)
- Radiator valve concealed in utility room, upstairs also hidden in thicker wall
- Storage room on upper floor with space for washing machine and dryer on a platform, plus room for drying rack (room is ventilated)
- Large children’s rooms
What would we change in the current plan for the second draft:
- Change the kitchen-utility room door to open toward the kitchen to avoid collisions? (no sliding door solution)
- Possibly a light strip window in the guest toilet, so you don’t look in directly when entering the house and to improve light on the mirror, instead of only having light behind you (north side is generally darker) > move current bathroom window to the hallway
- Windows in the living/dining area should be shifted leftwards from the inside perspective, currently too close to the wall
- Possibly roof windows in the stairwell as the upper floor hallway is otherwise too dark
- Shower shelf without seat, only a half wall as a shelf for shower items; use the dead space behind the shower from the storage room side as a niche
- Children’s rooms are designed for 1.40 m (55 inch) beds, but 90 cm (35 inch) beds would also fit of course
What don’t we like and why?
- Ground floor hallway is too narrow
- Door to living/dining area is “under” the stairs (that is, the right doorway from the hallway), otherwise you can’t get to the kitchen
- Closed stair treads that I would have preferred are not feasible in this floor plan
- Double-sided stair railing in upper hallway (visually), although the hallway seems more open and less narrow this way
- Utility room has “excessively much space” in the middle of the room
- Upper bathroom: overall layout, bathroom feels small and outdated
Why is the design the way it is now?
- Kitchen: Since during the week I don’t want to carry everything to the big dining table for breakfast, having a dining area in the kitchen is important to me. Visually, having a kitchen seating area “next to” a large dining table seemed odd, so we currently planned a half-height wall to separate the two, behind which the kitchen table could be placed, so it still feels somewhat open. I’m not sure whether the wall length is sufficient, though.
- At first, we liked a straight staircase, but it protrudes quite far through the house both downstairs and upstairs.
[U]What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?[/U]
How can the hallway be designed to feel less narrow? We’re open to other stair styles. There needs to be space for a wardrobe niche that isn’t too visible, ideally in front of the guest toilet. Maybe a new design will also improve the upstairs bathroom situation?
I look forward to your comments and ideas!
Best regards, Erisa
Erisa2010 schrieb:
Thank you, we tried to narrow it down more and concluded that basically the four of us can always eat at the large dining table (as long as the distance isn’t as far as in the first design!) and having a counter area for a quick breakfast would definitely be nice, so three seats would be enough. I’m actually referring to the concept without looking at this specific design. Only once you know what you want should you plan the kitchen, dining, and living areas accordingly. After all, there is also the option of an open-plan kitchen-living area versus a separate living room.
I would also consider moving the dining table slightly closer to the kitchen and/or designing the counter as an extension of the island, for example as an 80cm x 80cm (32in x 32in) high table or at about 72cm (28in) height. There are far more possibilities than just a bar-type counter.
Usually, the high stools are hardly used in everyday life.
Two utility room doors are unnecessary; it would be better to use the sloped ceiling space under the stairs more effectively for dressers and cupboards.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
Oh, we don’t spend long mornings sitting in bed anyway. Currently, there is 77cm (30 inches) between the bed and the wardrobe, and I find it perfect that I can get up in the morning… I’m actually talking about the knee wall height. I’m sitting in bed as I write this—comfortable bed at box spring height with a slightly curved back—and I feel about 15cm (6 inches) shorter than the knee wall, which is around 125cm (49 inches). With your knee wall, I would a) need a different bed and b) wouldn’t be able to sit up comfortably in the morning.
kaho674 schrieb:
Here, I’m treating myself to French balconies for my darlings. View for the knees under the desk?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
View for the knees under the desk? Desk?
Don’t you have any pictures in #12? There is no desk by the captain’s area. It’s not furnished yet. But of course, I wouldn’t place the desk in front of the French balcony.
kaho674 schrieb:
But of course, I don’t place the desk in front of the French balcony.With kids who are half-captains, it ends up there so often that I already suspect a special kind of magnetism behind it.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
E
Erisa201018 Oct 2019 09:53Hello,
sorry for not getting back to you for a few days, I’ve been on the phone with the architect every day this week working on the floor plan.
We need to finalize it by Wednesday.
Thanks very much for the suggestion! It looks very good. Unfortunately, the architect resists making the living room wider because she fears the ceiling would have to be considerably thickened due to structural reasons. Does anyone have expertise on this, especially regarding possible extra costs? We haven’t received any statements from the builder without the structural engineer reviewing it first.
If this was misunderstood, we do want to put shelves in the utility room that will also hold food. You can see that in the new floor plan (original dimensions). The adjacent “corridor” is wide enough for us; it’s about the same space as we have now in the apartment and it’s sufficient.
We would prefer to have the washing machine and dryer side by side upstairs on a pedestal.
We took the tip about sharing the roof dormer upstairs into account.
The architect mentioned that with a heat pump, the distribution manifold might need to be 1.10 m (3 ft 7 in) wide!?
Currently, we usually eat breakfast at our bar table. I will get advice from the kitchen studio tomorrow about what options are possible.
We thought about that too, but I want to keep the passage to the kitchen since the utility room is also acting as a pantry replacement. And if I imagine the utility room being used as a side entrance for dirty shoes etc., people usually still wear a jacket which needs to go to the cloakroom or they want to wash their hands in the bathroom.
I don’t quite understand the height issue, but maybe it’s already resolved in the new plan? I can’t remember ever sitting in bed with a laptop in my current apartment—I prefer the couch for that.
Regarding the new draft:
As mentioned, making the living room wider seems difficult because of structural reasons.
The furniture in the living/dining and kitchen areas doesn’t match.
I initially rearranged the storage/WC/cloakroom square to make the storage room (potentially a guest room) wider (WC in the corner, cloakroom in front, storage between living room and the WC/cloakroom corridor), but that doesn’t work with the pipes upstairs. Then the ventilation pipe would either be in the middle of the exterior wall of Child Room II, or if the waste pipe/WC is in the corner, a full duct would have to run along Child Room II’s wall because the washing machine still needs a drain going down. An extra drain pipe running down from the washing machine with the guest WC in the corner would run through the anteroom, making the corridor wider again and the storage smaller.
The upper floor looks okay to me so far. However, there is also a problem with the waste pipe in the bathroom. The pipe from the washbasin can only be routed—without an obvious casing—up to the window area, which would end up in the corner of the kitchen downstairs. Routing it to the toilet side would be too far and would result in a pipe casing along the window.
The furniture placement in Child I and Child II rooms isn’t optimal in the drawing. We don’t need to discuss this now; I’m sure it can be improved.
The problem is, we are running out of time because we are leaving for a 3.5-week vacation on Wednesday and would like to have the floor plan fixed before then to avoid losing too much time.
Thank you very much for your help!
sorry for not getting back to you for a few days, I’ve been on the phone with the architect every day this week working on the floor plan.
We need to finalize it by Wednesday.
kaho674 schrieb:
I find this house width somehow neither here nor there. It’s too narrow to align the living room properly but also too wide because there’s a lot of wasted space in the middle that’s missing for the living room. The layout of the children’s rooms upstairs is chaotic and that hallway just doesn’t work at all.
If it were mine, I would go for a wider design and bring all living spaces on the ground floor onto the terrace side (same floor area = cost-neutral). Plus a proper pantry, a bathroom with an extra shower for the dog or dad ( ), and a utility room.
Upstairs decent kids’ rooms sharing the roof dormer, bringing southern sunlight into the rooms. I’d treat myself to French balconies for my darlings.
Since there’s no room for the washing machine anymore, there is a laundry chute down to the utility room as compensation. From there, a door leads directly to the drying area.
Four meters (13 feet) of closet space in the bedroom provide enough room for suit and ball gown.
The narrower house also enlarges the garden at the same time.
Thanks very much for the suggestion! It looks very good. Unfortunately, the architect resists making the living room wider because she fears the ceiling would have to be considerably thickened due to structural reasons. Does anyone have expertise on this, especially regarding possible extra costs? We haven’t received any statements from the builder without the structural engineer reviewing it first.
If this was misunderstood, we do want to put shelves in the utility room that will also hold food. You can see that in the new floor plan (original dimensions). The adjacent “corridor” is wide enough for us; it’s about the same space as we have now in the apartment and it’s sufficient.
We would prefer to have the washing machine and dryer side by side upstairs on a pedestal.
We took the tip about sharing the roof dormer upstairs into account.
The architect mentioned that with a heat pump, the distribution manifold might need to be 1.10 m (3 ft 7 in) wide!?
ypg schrieb:
I would also suggest moving the dining table a bit towards the kitchen and/or extending the counter to the island, for example as an 80x80cm (31x31 inches) table in bar height or 72cm (28 inches) height. That offers many more possibilities than this bar variant.
Most of the time, the bar stool hardly gets used in everyday life.
Currently, we usually eat breakfast at our bar table. I will get advice from the kitchen studio tomorrow about what options are possible.
ypg schrieb:
Two utility room doors are unnecessary: you should look into better using the sloped area under the stairs for drawers and cupboards.
We thought about that too, but I want to keep the passage to the kitchen since the utility room is also acting as a pantry replacement. And if I imagine the utility room being used as a side entrance for dirty shoes etc., people usually still wear a jacket which needs to go to the cloakroom or they want to wash their hands in the bathroom.
ypg schrieb:
I’m actually talking about the refrigerator height. I’m writing this from bed right now: sitting in a comfortable bed with box spring height and a somewhat curved back. I feel about 15cm (6 inches) shorter than the refrigerator, which is about 125cm (49 inches). With your fridge, I would either need a different bed or I couldn’t sit comfortably in the morning.
I don’t quite understand the height issue, but maybe it’s already resolved in the new plan? I can’t remember ever sitting in bed with a laptop in my current apartment—I prefer the couch for that.
Regarding the new draft:
As mentioned, making the living room wider seems difficult because of structural reasons.
The furniture in the living/dining and kitchen areas doesn’t match.
I initially rearranged the storage/WC/cloakroom square to make the storage room (potentially a guest room) wider (WC in the corner, cloakroom in front, storage between living room and the WC/cloakroom corridor), but that doesn’t work with the pipes upstairs. Then the ventilation pipe would either be in the middle of the exterior wall of Child Room II, or if the waste pipe/WC is in the corner, a full duct would have to run along Child Room II’s wall because the washing machine still needs a drain going down. An extra drain pipe running down from the washing machine with the guest WC in the corner would run through the anteroom, making the corridor wider again and the storage smaller.
The upper floor looks okay to me so far. However, there is also a problem with the waste pipe in the bathroom. The pipe from the washbasin can only be routed—without an obvious casing—up to the window area, which would end up in the corner of the kitchen downstairs. Routing it to the toilet side would be too far and would result in a pipe casing along the window.
The furniture placement in Child I and Child II rooms isn’t optimal in the drawing. We don’t need to discuss this now; I’m sure it can be improved.
The problem is, we are running out of time because we are leaving for a 3.5-week vacation on Wednesday and would like to have the floor plan fixed before then to avoid losing too much time.
Thank you very much for your help!
Erisa2010 schrieb:
Thank you very much for the suggestion! That looks really good. Unfortunately, the architect is reluctant to make the living room wider because she fears that the ceiling would have to be made significantly thicker for structural reasons. Does anyone have experience with this, especially regarding additional costs? We haven’t received any feedback from the construction company yet, since the structural engineer hasn’t reviewed it. Our house is even wider (11.65m (38 feet 3 inches)) and we have a similar open space. Our ceiling thickness on the upper floor had to be increased from 18cm (7 inches) to 22cm (9 inches) due to structural requirements. The extra cost was around 1000€. I think that’s reasonable. Those who want more have to pay more.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
As I said, it seems difficult to make the living room wider because of the structural issues. As I mentioned, it shouldn’t be a problem with a slight increase in ceiling thickness.
Erisa2010 schrieb:
The furniture arrangement in the living/dining and kitchen areas is not correct. Could you draw that in? Where is the sofa supposed to be? In front of the floor-to-ceiling window?
Erisa2010 schrieb:
The upper floor looks fine to me so far. However, there is also the problem of the soil pipe in the bathroom. Apparently, the pipe from the washbasin can only run up to the window without an obvious pipe chase. That would end up in the corner of the kitchen below. Running it over to the toilet would be too far and would require a pipe chase along the window. Having a soil pipe in the kitchen is really unfortunate since it’s visible every day. Can it be extended a bit further? Yes, maybe a pipe chase is unavoidable, but you could check how well it can be concealed—perhaps by omitting some screed or something like that…
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