Hello everyone,
At our developer, a customer who had reserved a plot of land dropped out. Since the other plot faces south / southwest, we didn’t hesitate long and switched to that plot. The new plot is smaller, so we gave up on our bungalow dream. The plot number is 5.
To remind you: The plot is tied to the developer.
I have been thinking over the past few days about the arrangement and design of the rooms and the plot, and I would first like to know if the concept is okay. I am not concerned with details inside the rooms such as windows, doors, or bathroom design. That’s not possible anyway since I created the floor plan myself based on Gussek Haus floor plans. However, I tried to design it as well as possible. For this reason, I want to share the floor plan here for discussion. I’m mainly looking for feedback on the layout and room arrangement, as well as ideas, suggestions, or tips. Maybe you’ll also spot things that “just don’t work” or are not practical for everyday living.
I created the floor plan with RoomSketcher, but only used the free version, so many features are limited. Please ignore the room dimensions on the upper floor. There is a dormer in the area of the home office.
A few more details about the house.
Roof pitch 38°
Knee wall (Drempel) 100cm (39 inches)
External dimensions 12.85 x 9.60 m (42.2 x 31.5 feet) (enlarged, original dimensions of Gussek Haus models are smaller)
Unfortunately, I cannot show internal room dimensions because RoomSketcher does not allow it.
Attached again is the completed questionnaire.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 676m²
Slope: NO
Site coverage ratio: 0.4 (allowed exceedance 25 out of 100)
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: On the north side / south side approx. 20.5 m (67 feet) wide, west and east sides approx. 33 m (108 feet) wide, 3 m (10 feet) building setback on each side, rectangular plot, clearly visible in the pictures
Edge construction setback: 3 m (10 feet)
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of stories: maximum 2 full stories
Roof style: Gable roof, hipped roof
Other requirements: Garage must be 5 m (16 feet) from the property boundary. Garage on the west side because the curb is lowered there.
Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Doesn’t matter, initially considered a house with a gable roof, there is a dormer in the home office area
Basement, number of floors: No basement due to high groundwater level
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people aged 36 (female), 37 (male), 3 (child), 1 (child)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor: Living/dining/kitchen area, utility room, guest WC with shower, hallway with coat area and stairs to upper floor, guest room / playroom
Upper floor: Master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, bathroom, storage room, office
Office use: Family use or home office? Home office combined with family use
Guests per year: 1–2 times
Open or closed architecture: Closed architecture?
Conservative or modern style: A mix of both
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Closed kitchen with island would be nice but not a must; open kitchen is also an option
Number of dining seats: 4, with the option for 6
Fireplace: No
Music / stereo wall: Sound system in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Space for 2 cars is required, preferably 3 to 4. Currently considering a garage (3 x 6 m / 9.8 x 19.7 feet) with a carport (3.6 m / 12 feet) in front, not sure if that works. Plus 2 parking spaces in front of the house.
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or shouldn’t be:
House Design
Who created the design:
- DIY - copy and combination of Gussek Haus models Lindenallee, Kiefernallee variant 1, and Buchenallee variant 2
What do you especially like? Why?
- Large closed kitchen with island and direct / short access to the terrace
- Living room close to the terrace
- Guest / playroom on the ground floor
- Storage room on the upper floor with washing machine and dryer
- Utility room with washing machine and dryer (yes, twice)
- 6 rooms
- Layout of rooms on the upper floor
What do you not like? Why?
- Location of the home office on the upper floor is not ideal in my view, but I could live with it
Price estimate from architect/planner: No new estimate so far
Personal price limit for house including features: 400,000
Preferred heating system: Heat pump
Why does the design look like it does now? For example:
Copy-paste of Gussek Haus models Lindenallee, Kiefernallee variant 1, and Buchenallee variant 2
What is the most important fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Is the room layout okay?
At our developer, a customer who had reserved a plot of land dropped out. Since the other plot faces south / southwest, we didn’t hesitate long and switched to that plot. The new plot is smaller, so we gave up on our bungalow dream. The plot number is 5.
To remind you: The plot is tied to the developer.
I have been thinking over the past few days about the arrangement and design of the rooms and the plot, and I would first like to know if the concept is okay. I am not concerned with details inside the rooms such as windows, doors, or bathroom design. That’s not possible anyway since I created the floor plan myself based on Gussek Haus floor plans. However, I tried to design it as well as possible. For this reason, I want to share the floor plan here for discussion. I’m mainly looking for feedback on the layout and room arrangement, as well as ideas, suggestions, or tips. Maybe you’ll also spot things that “just don’t work” or are not practical for everyday living.
I created the floor plan with RoomSketcher, but only used the free version, so many features are limited. Please ignore the room dimensions on the upper floor. There is a dormer in the area of the home office.
A few more details about the house.
Roof pitch 38°
Knee wall (Drempel) 100cm (39 inches)
External dimensions 12.85 x 9.60 m (42.2 x 31.5 feet) (enlarged, original dimensions of Gussek Haus models are smaller)
Unfortunately, I cannot show internal room dimensions because RoomSketcher does not allow it.
Attached again is the completed questionnaire.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 676m²
Slope: NO
Site coverage ratio: 0.4 (allowed exceedance 25 out of 100)
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: On the north side / south side approx. 20.5 m (67 feet) wide, west and east sides approx. 33 m (108 feet) wide, 3 m (10 feet) building setback on each side, rectangular plot, clearly visible in the pictures
Edge construction setback: 3 m (10 feet)
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of stories: maximum 2 full stories
Roof style: Gable roof, hipped roof
Other requirements: Garage must be 5 m (16 feet) from the property boundary. Garage on the west side because the curb is lowered there.
Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Doesn’t matter, initially considered a house with a gable roof, there is a dormer in the home office area
Basement, number of floors: No basement due to high groundwater level
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people aged 36 (female), 37 (male), 3 (child), 1 (child)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor: Living/dining/kitchen area, utility room, guest WC with shower, hallway with coat area and stairs to upper floor, guest room / playroom
Upper floor: Master bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, bathroom, storage room, office
Office use: Family use or home office? Home office combined with family use
Guests per year: 1–2 times
Open or closed architecture: Closed architecture?
Conservative or modern style: A mix of both
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Closed kitchen with island would be nice but not a must; open kitchen is also an option
Number of dining seats: 4, with the option for 6
Fireplace: No
Music / stereo wall: Sound system in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Space for 2 cars is required, preferably 3 to 4. Currently considering a garage (3 x 6 m / 9.8 x 19.7 feet) with a carport (3.6 m / 12 feet) in front, not sure if that works. Plus 2 parking spaces in front of the house.
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or shouldn’t be:
House Design
Who created the design:
- DIY - copy and combination of Gussek Haus models Lindenallee, Kiefernallee variant 1, and Buchenallee variant 2
What do you especially like? Why?
- Large closed kitchen with island and direct / short access to the terrace
- Living room close to the terrace
- Guest / playroom on the ground floor
- Storage room on the upper floor with washing machine and dryer
- Utility room with washing machine and dryer (yes, twice)
- 6 rooms
- Layout of rooms on the upper floor
What do you not like? Why?
- Location of the home office on the upper floor is not ideal in my view, but I could live with it
Price estimate from architect/planner: No new estimate so far
Personal price limit for house including features: 400,000
Preferred heating system: Heat pump
Why does the design look like it does now? For example:
Copy-paste of Gussek Haus models Lindenallee, Kiefernallee variant 1, and Buchenallee variant 2
What is the most important fundamental question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Is the room layout okay?
C
Chrisi190624 Apr 2020 11:45Curly schrieb:
But it’s not very practical to have to turn on the light every time because you can’t see your jacket in the cloakroom due to the darkness. Where will the light come from in your cloakroom? The same applies upstairs—a large hallway that stays dark.
Best regards,
SabineYou’re right. The cloakroom is dark, and currently the hallway upstairs too. My wife would prefer to have the utility room entrance in the hallway, and honestly, so would I. A dormer window upstairs could help with that. For downstairs, only a double door would help.
The alternative is to place the entrance to the utility room from the kitchen. Then we have more options because the hallway becomes wider.
Würfel* schrieb:
Why have a guest room then?
You could also skip the door and just have a fixed window.
I would have this planned now so that windows, doors, etc. are coordinated with the kitchen.We might use the guest room later as our bedroom when we’re no longer able to manage the stairs.
Würfel* schrieb:
I also meant that there should be a sliding door there.
Ask people who have a pantry—water and beer crates, milk, bulky kitchen appliances, recycling bags, etc.
So if you don’t do laundry in the utility room, the opposite is true, I think. You mostly spend time in the open-plan living area and not in the hallway, so having the shortest route there makes sense.
That’s perfectly legitimate. You’re building the house for yourself, not for resale. Still, I would consider whether it’s worth spending so much money on space if only 50% of the ground floor is planned as the main living area = living room + kitchen. The living-dining room will be a pretty dark, dull room—exaggerating a bit. At least consider adding a west-facing window.Good points. Because of the dark hallway/cloakroom, I might reconsider the layout. Then, with a different staircase, you could also do without a dormer window at the stairs upstairs. When I have time, I’ll sketch different versions and post them here for feedback.
ypg schrieb:
You need to get things from the utility room several times a day—whether shopping bags, hammer, or toilet paper. It makes sense to have a separate door to the utility room that is easily accessible directly from the hallway. Constantly going through the kitchen (even though you’re already standing in the hallway), dealing with appliance noise in the open-plan area, disturbing the person cooking, i.e., being in the way in a kitchen where the utility room door is even behind the island, is not practical. Everyday items are needed not only from the open-plan area but from everywhere, so it’s more practical if the utility room door is in the hallway. Otherwise, you turn the open-plan living area or kitchen into just a passageway.Even better arguments. But I’m still considering moving the utility room entrance again. As mentioned before, I’ll make some sketches based on the ideas here and my own thoughts. I’ll post a selection in the forum, but that won’t be until this evening.
Würfel* schrieb:
A single-family house where the living room has windows on only one (!) side, and one of them is blocked by the sofa—that feels dark and boring to me. In that case, a mid-terrace house would have been just as suitable. It would be less dull with larger windows on two sides, complemented by nice landscaping in front or a terrace with stylish garden furniture. I found an example like this with windows on only one side and don’t find it boring at all—if the wall is nicely designed, it can even feel more lively than having a window, in my opinion.
It really looks great, I agree with you. But I bet there are windows on the side where the photographer is standing, because it’s so bright there. And maybe a third wall with shelves or a collage of pictures. Fully covering all the walls might be a bit too much.
I also like this one; it’s quite similar. However, the living room in both pictures is much larger, meaning deeper!
I also like this one; it’s quite similar. However, the living room in both pictures is much larger, meaning deeper!
chrisw81 schrieb:
I found an example with only one side having windows, and I don’t find it boring at all – if the wall is nicely designed, it can actually feel more lively than with an additional window, in my opinion.
[ATTACH alt="Living room house interior.jpg"]45885[/ATTACH] Würfel* schrieb:
It really looks great, I agree with you. But I bet there are windows on the side where the photographer is standing, because it’s so bright there. And maybe a third wall with shelves or picture collages.
Completely covering that wall might be a bit too much. That may well be the case, but the question is whether that window would really add much to the living room. According to the original floor plan, the kitchen is located there, so the distance is already quite large. I think if the central window — as shown partially on the right in my example — is large enough and present, it would add more than another window on the outer walls.
chrisw81 schrieb:
If you design the wall nicely, it can even appear more lively than with a window, in my opinion.You are so right: I actually miss image links here, so the builder could have been inspired by your zigzag wall.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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