Hello everyone,
After almost a year’s break, we have resumed our building project and are planning a new floor plan.
We’re stuck when it comes to the open-plan living area, so I would like to hear your opinions!
Our garden faces west, and to the south, the neighboring property begins after three meters (10 feet).
Option 1:
Overall, we like this option best. BUT: Is it possibly too tight? About one meter (3 feet) between the sofa and table—is that too cramped? It’s enough for walking through, but maybe it compromises comfort on the couch? Currently, we have much more space between the couch and table, but not as much room depth as in the planned layout. We are thinking of trying to place the table this close to the sofa in our current apartment to get a feel for it.
Pros: Great window view to the west, a skylight to the south (brings in plenty of light but prevents the neighbor from looking into our house), from the couch you can see the room, the garden, and the TV.
Cons: Is it too narrow in width?
Option 2:
Same setup, only the table is rotated. Basically, a table with a footprint of 1.00 x 2.00 meters (3 x 6.5 feet) requires a total space of 2.00 x 2.00 meters (6.5 x 6.5 feet) to accommodate chairs. In this arrangement, all guests could look out to the garden. In option 1, both the sofa and the kitchen island have visual contact with all guests.
Option 3:
The sofa and the entertainment wall are swapped. The skylight to the south changes to a floor-to-ceiling window, but the window to the west is removed.
Pros: More freedom of movement in the room, sofa hidden behind the fireplace, more coziness.
Cons: No view of the garden from the sofa, loss of a west window, view of the fireplace only from the side.
We have gotten so lost in the planning that we can’t see the forest for the trees right now.
What do you think?
Thanks and best regards,
Ypsi
After almost a year’s break, we have resumed our building project and are planning a new floor plan.
We’re stuck when it comes to the open-plan living area, so I would like to hear your opinions!
Our garden faces west, and to the south, the neighboring property begins after three meters (10 feet).
Option 1:
Overall, we like this option best. BUT: Is it possibly too tight? About one meter (3 feet) between the sofa and table—is that too cramped? It’s enough for walking through, but maybe it compromises comfort on the couch? Currently, we have much more space between the couch and table, but not as much room depth as in the planned layout. We are thinking of trying to place the table this close to the sofa in our current apartment to get a feel for it.
Pros: Great window view to the west, a skylight to the south (brings in plenty of light but prevents the neighbor from looking into our house), from the couch you can see the room, the garden, and the TV.
Cons: Is it too narrow in width?
Option 2:
Same setup, only the table is rotated. Basically, a table with a footprint of 1.00 x 2.00 meters (3 x 6.5 feet) requires a total space of 2.00 x 2.00 meters (6.5 x 6.5 feet) to accommodate chairs. In this arrangement, all guests could look out to the garden. In option 1, both the sofa and the kitchen island have visual contact with all guests.
Option 3:
The sofa and the entertainment wall are swapped. The skylight to the south changes to a floor-to-ceiling window, but the window to the west is removed.
Pros: More freedom of movement in the room, sofa hidden behind the fireplace, more coziness.
Cons: No view of the garden from the sofa, loss of a west window, view of the fireplace only from the side.
We have gotten so lost in the planning that we can’t see the forest for the trees right now.
What do you think?
Thanks and best regards,
Ypsi
Y
Ypsi aus NI25 May 2021 11:42Hey everyone, I’m interested in discussing parts of the floor plan.
For example, in the upper floor, we have the option to use a really large hallway as a flexible space.
My thoughts: you could put a couch there to read with or for the kids. It could be used as a shared play area. Later on, maybe a small kitchenette with a coffee machine, fridge, or something similar could be set up there.
What do you think about something like this?
Is it worth having a large, generally accessible room, or would you rather assign it permanently to the children’s rooms or home offices?
I’m curious who has made it this far in the thread and what your thoughts are!
For example, in the upper floor, we have the option to use a really large hallway as a flexible space.
My thoughts: you could put a couch there to read with or for the kids. It could be used as a shared play area. Later on, maybe a small kitchenette with a coffee machine, fridge, or something similar could be set up there.
What do you think about something like this?
Is it worth having a large, generally accessible room, or would you rather assign it permanently to the children’s rooms or home offices?
I’m curious who has made it this far in the thread and what your thoughts are!
Yaso2.0 schrieb:
You really shouldn’t take me as a reference in this regard..For that, I have a low-maintenance one during the day. Tantrums? What are those?Y
Ypsi aus NI25 May 2021 11:48haydee schrieb:
How do you manage with the floor area? Isn’t your ground floor too crowded while the upper floor has a lot of empty space?That is the main issue with this design. Upstairs, we would have knee walls about 95cm (37 inches) high, which significantly affects the usable floor area versus the living space.
The plan for the upper floor includes:
3 nearly equal-sized rooms (2 children’s rooms, 1 home office optionally used as a 3rd children’s room) of 17-18 m² (183-194 sq ft)
a smaller home office of 12 m² (129 sq ft)
bathroom of 12 m² (129 sq ft)
storage room of 7 m² (75 sq ft)
second utility room of 7 m² (75 sq ft)
the rest is hallway, stairs, and open space for a gallery area
Ypsi aus NI schrieb:
Guys, I would actually be interested in discussing parts of the floor plan.
For example, upstairs we have the option to use a huge hallway as a flexible space.
My thoughts on that: you could put a couch there to read with or for the kids. It could be used as a shared play area.
Later on, maybe a small kitchenette with a coffee machine, fridge, or something similar could be installed there.
What do you think about something like this?
Is it worth having a large common room available, or would you rather assign it permanently to the kids’ rooms or a study?
I’m curious who made it this far into the post and what your opinions are! I’d assign it permanently to the other rooms.
In the first years, kids usually play in the same room where the parents are, and later everyone wants to close their door and have some peace. If you want to finally have a quiet phone call with your partner, better to have the sofa in the study, close the door, and have some peace.
I find a small kitchenette practical—for bottles, coffee, hot water bottle, etc.
B
BauFamily25 May 2021 11:57askforafriend schrieb:
I keep wondering why people who defend and like their floor plan even post it here in the first place. Personally, I would never put my individual wishes (which are reflected in the floor plan) up for discussion in a forum among strangers of all ages with very different needs.
It has to be clear that people look at the floor plan, compare it to their own needs, and then give their opinion accordingly. Whether this really helps the original poster (OP) is unclear to me. You can also ask very specific questions that clarify truly objective matters, but such intimate things as floor plans? I’m not sure if that is productive. I suspect that the OP will drift further and further away from their original goals until ending up with a “great” generic floor plan crafted by the 5-6 most active commenters here.
Sometimes floor plans are posted that, from my point of view, are neither ergonomic nor smart in terms of workflow and actually a disaster. The people commenting and criticizing often have built their own floor plans and justify them nicely — but when I see someone giving advice or opinions who has, in my opinion, built the ugliest house or kitchen ever, I wonder how that fits together. I’ve been here for a few weeks now and honestly, when it comes to floor plans, not much useful has come out for people — just the same discussions over and over. In the end, this forum tends to create a generic “this is unacceptable and only works with a $1 million budget” opinion. Not helpful. What’s most annoying: People never answer the actual questions but immediately question the entire house (even though they themselves probably live in a house that the OP would never want to move into). From my point of view, the problem is not that individual wishes are challenged. Through those, some new ideas may emerge for adapting the floor plan. The problem arises when these fundamental discussions completely overshadow the actual question. Because of unhelpful criticism, the OP ends up unsure whether their floor plan is on the right track or completely off (technical feasibility too expensive/not possible, etc.). This also means that other forum members don’t benefit from the thread, since in the end it’s unclear what was actually changed or why a specific floor plan failed. On the other hand, if detailed questions are asked in advance to avoid going down the wrong path, one is met with counterquestions that again don’t serve the purpose. Some even take it a step further and demand the entire floor plan immediately because these questions supposedly cannot be answered otherwise. This “culture” creates the impression that from an objective standpoint, a “perfect” floor plan without compromises can be created. If not, it must be an absolute planning failure. I believe the reality is different, since factors such as budget, plot proportions, etc. will always cause compromises in one area or another. The question is to what extent the forum’s support can help reduce these problem spots.
Ypsi aus NI schrieb:
This is the main issue with this concept. Upstairs, we would have a knee wall height of about 95cm (37 inches), which already has a significant impact on usable floor area versus living space.
Upstairs is planned:
3 roughly equal-sized rooms (2 children's rooms, 1 office optionally as a 3rd children's room) 17–18 sqm (183–194 sq ft)
1 smaller office 12 sqm (129 sq ft)
Bathroom 12 sqm (129 sq ft)
Storage room 7 sqm (75 sq ft)
Second utility room 7 sqm (75 sq ft)
The rest is hallway, stairs, or open space for the gallery Putting the discussion about children aside for now.
I would distribute the rooms evenly. Space is lacking upstairs. Even if the idea is maybe to have parents upstairs.
Similar topics