ᐅ Single-Family House Floor Plan 147 m² – Opinions, Feedback, and Suggestions for Improvement?
Created on: 8 Jul 2022 12:14
I
Ilski30
Hello fellow home builders,
We have been working on the planning of our single-family home for a while now and believe we have found a solution that suits us quite well. The structural engineer/architect from our general contractor has implemented everything strictly according to our wishes and ideas, offering little to no suggestions or improvements from their side. As laypersons, it is difficult for us to assess whether we have really made the best choices. Therefore, we would like to benefit from your experience and expertise and are looking forward to your honest opinions and possible improvement suggestions.
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 327 m2
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: none (§34 based on neighboring buildings)
Building window, building line, and boundary: The current design fully occupies the building window (except for the terrace area) at 10.15m*8.9 m (33.3 ft * 29.2 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 1
Number of floors: 1.5 (knee wall height 1.5m (5 ft)) + basement
Roof type: gable roof 40-45° (currently planned at 40°), a hipped roof would have been nice but is probably not possible due to the nature of the neighboring buildings
Style: no specific preference. Should be visually appealing. Rather modern.
Orientation: Terrace faces west
Maximum height/limits: Eaves height 4.85 m (15.9 ft), ridge height 8.57 m (28.1 ft) (these are the data from a preliminary building permit. The current design is 14 cm (5.5 inches) and 18 cm (7 inches) taller respectively)
Additional requirements: Heat pump + possibly central ventilation system
Homeowners’ requirements
Style: somewhat modern/appealing
Roof type: gable roof (hipped roof apparently not possible. We could submit the building application with a hipped roof on a whim, but it seems too risky. It would likely cause significant delays)
Building type: single-family house
Basement: yes
Floors: 3 or effectively 2.5
Number of occupants, ages: 2 small children + 2 adults
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: normal – 2 children’s rooms + master bedroom + office
Office: family use or home office? Office is absolutely necessary (two people working from home a lot)
Overnight guests per year: few and rare (can be accommodated in the office if needed)
Open or closed architecture: open living/dining area with kitchen. Kitchen should ideally not be too visible.
Conservative or modern construction: as long as it is functional, both are fine
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes to both
Number of dining seats: mostly 4, with option to expand to 8–10 people
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: possibly a feature wall planned
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport + bicycle/tool shed at the back planned, but placement is not yet final. Open to ideas here.
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine, including reasons for preferences or rejections:
House design
Planning by:
-architect/structural engineer of our general contractor.
Heating technology: heat pump and possibly a central ventilation system (still undecided. What is your opinion on this?), conduit installed for future photovoltaic system installation
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you not like? Why?
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
We are interested in your opinion on the floor plan. What is good? What is not so good and should be changed? What worked well for you?
We appreciate any hint or suggestion, no matter how small.
Thanks in advance and best regards!
We have been working on the planning of our single-family home for a while now and believe we have found a solution that suits us quite well. The structural engineer/architect from our general contractor has implemented everything strictly according to our wishes and ideas, offering little to no suggestions or improvements from their side. As laypersons, it is difficult for us to assess whether we have really made the best choices. Therefore, we would like to benefit from your experience and expertise and are looking forward to your honest opinions and possible improvement suggestions.
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 327 m2
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: none (§34 based on neighboring buildings)
Building window, building line, and boundary: The current design fully occupies the building window (except for the terrace area) at 10.15m*8.9 m (33.3 ft * 29.2 ft)
Number of parking spaces: 1
Number of floors: 1.5 (knee wall height 1.5m (5 ft)) + basement
Roof type: gable roof 40-45° (currently planned at 40°), a hipped roof would have been nice but is probably not possible due to the nature of the neighboring buildings
Style: no specific preference. Should be visually appealing. Rather modern.
Orientation: Terrace faces west
Maximum height/limits: Eaves height 4.85 m (15.9 ft), ridge height 8.57 m (28.1 ft) (these are the data from a preliminary building permit. The current design is 14 cm (5.5 inches) and 18 cm (7 inches) taller respectively)
Additional requirements: Heat pump + possibly central ventilation system
Homeowners’ requirements
Style: somewhat modern/appealing
Roof type: gable roof (hipped roof apparently not possible. We could submit the building application with a hipped roof on a whim, but it seems too risky. It would likely cause significant delays)
Building type: single-family house
Basement: yes
Floors: 3 or effectively 2.5
Number of occupants, ages: 2 small children + 2 adults
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: normal – 2 children’s rooms + master bedroom + office
Office: family use or home office? Office is absolutely necessary (two people working from home a lot)
Overnight guests per year: few and rare (can be accommodated in the office if needed)
Open or closed architecture: open living/dining area with kitchen. Kitchen should ideally not be too visible.
Conservative or modern construction: as long as it is functional, both are fine
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes to both
Number of dining seats: mostly 4, with option to expand to 8–10 people
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: possibly a feature wall planned
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport + bicycle/tool shed at the back planned, but placement is not yet final. Open to ideas here.
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine, including reasons for preferences or rejections:
House design
Planning by:
-architect/structural engineer of our general contractor.
Heating technology: heat pump and possibly a central ventilation system (still undecided. What is your opinion on this?), conduit installed for future photovoltaic system installation
What do you particularly like? Why?
- Good layout and room distribution. Easy to furnish.
What do you not like? Why?
- Exterior dimensions of the house are unfortunately not flexible because spacing rules must be followed. It might only be possible to make it longer, which would reduce garden space.
- Kitchen and dining area could be a bit larger. However, this would likely come at the expense of the cloakroom and guest WC. The guest WC could probably be made about 25cm (10 inches) narrower if the positions of the toilet and washbasin were swapped.
- No natural light in the stairwell or hallway. Possibly install a window here?
- Would a different staircase design create more space? Probably, but it would also cause major changes to the floor plan.
- Cloakroom may be very small. We also have difficulty imagining how this will feel later. The planned pipe routing for wastewater and ventilation in the cloakroom currently takes up quite a lot of space. Maybe swapping cloakroom and guest WC could help?
- The architect has included some very large windows. For example, the office has a 1.76m (5.8 ft) wide window. We wonder if this is necessary, especially given the view is just the driveway and neighbor’s house. What do you think about window sizes?
- The shower has two solid side walls, which may make it quite dark. Currently, daylight only comes from the front. How do you handle shower width? What did you choose?
- The carport location is not ideal. We would have to reverse along a 15m (49 ft) long driveway. Perhaps better to place it on the south side and keep the bike shed in the current position?
- Room layout and window positioning in the basement. Would you keep it this way?
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
We are interested in your opinion on the floor plan. What is good? What is not so good and should be changed? What worked well for you?
We appreciate any hint or suggestion, no matter how small.
Thanks in advance and best regards!
kbt09 schrieb:
With only 3 meters (10 feet) distance to the property line, I would seriously reconsider the front door location in the carport area. It could become very tight. Yes, you should definitely include the outdoor facilities in your planning. This also applies to the waste bins and the bike shed.
Ilski30 schrieb:
Well, column or no column? Difficult... 🙁Do you mean the wall panel? If you leave it out and place the island against the exterior wall, the space opens up directly in front of you, offering an unobstructed view. If you include the wall panel, in my opinion, it creates more curiosity about what’s behind it. Both options have advantages. If the island is not placed against the exterior wall, the wall panel could serve as a space for a chalkboard, pictures, a calendar, or hanging shelves.ypg schrieb:
Do you mean the partition wall? If you leave it out and place the island against the exterior wall, the space opens up right in front of you, giving a full view. If you use the partition wall, in my opinion it creates more curiosity about what’s behind it. Both options have advantages. If you don’t put the island against the exterior wall, the partition wall can serve as a board for notes, pictures, a calendar, or a hanging shelf. We will probably leave out that partition wall. As @K a t j a already mentioned, you can always put a shelf or something similar there later on.
K a t j a schrieb:
A toilet needs about 90cm (35 inches) — rather 1m (39 inches) if it’s centrally placed. So if it’s 35cm (14 inches) wide, then 30cm (12 inches) on each side is okay. Great, then that works out.
K a t j a schrieb:
You should definitely plan the outdoor areas as well. Including bins and the bike shed. Yes, absolutely. There are still many uncertainties. The current plan is to forgo a carport. The car doesn’t necessarily have to be parked under cover or permanently in front of the house. Parking on the street nearby is possible. This keeps the entrance area nice and open and bright. Instead, we are considering moving the bike shed slightly forward into the driveway and enlarging it. The only place left for the bins would be the right corner of the house on the south side. The bins would only get in the way if you decide to park the car in front of the bike shed. So, that’s the plan for now 😉
K a t j a schrieb:
Those who have one never want to be without it, as far as I’ve heard. We don’t have one and don’t miss it at all. I found a thread on this topic here on the forum. The content matches your statement very well 🙂
I have another question about the kitchen. What is the minimum recommended distance between the kitchen counter and the cooking island? I’ve always seen 1.20m (47 inches) quoted. Has anyone done it like this and can confirm it’s practical and comfortable? At the moment, we are planning with 1.20m (47 inches).
Ilski30 schrieb:
We will probably leave out this partition wall. As @K a t j a already mentioned, you can always add a shelf or something similar there later. Go ahead with that. But shelves usually create visual clutter (due to the shelves and openings, not to mention the stuff that ends up there), while a partition wall with just one picture, a chalkboard paint finish, or a small cabinet attached tends to have a calming effect. These are two completely different things, and the “you can also do it with a shelf” is definitely not the same.
In that case, I would rather recommend a drywall partition.
Overall, I really like the floor plan by @K a t j a. However, I’m not a fan of looking from the sofa toward the hallway/staircase to the basement and kitchen. So here are two alternatives. I would probably extend the hallway over to and beyond the basement stairs to create a longer wall for the living room. I think this makes the space feel cozier. I moved the right-side wall of the kitchen and office slightly to the right, then placed a built-in closet on the left as an opening from the office. I find this arrangement more appealing. In option 1, I would put a large mirror at the end of the hallway. We have done that as well ;-) Both options have larger or additional windows on the west side. I find your living room too dark.
I just noticed, in option 2 you could change the door swing of the living room door.
I would simplify the basement layout because of the space-saving spiral staircase and reduce the hallway area even further:
I just noticed, in option 2 you could change the door swing of the living room door.
I would simplify the basement layout because of the space-saving spiral staircase and reduce the hallway area even further:
Thank you very much for the additional suggestions, @Würfel*. I really like option 1 regarding the living area. It definitely makes sitting on the sofa much more comfortable. What still feels a bit unusual to me is the fact that you enter the living room through the kitchen. But I don’t think there’s an easy alternative. Or you could place the door as in option 2 and arrange the sofa accordingly. We’ll need to think about that some more.
Würfel* schrieb:That’s a very good suggestion. Thank you for that. We will consider it in our next planning meeting.
Due to the slightly more space-saving spiral staircase, I would probably design the basement simpler and with even less hallway area
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