Hello everyone!
I think my partner and I have found our dream house!
Before we get too committed, I wanted to ask the community how you would position a house like this on the plot. A 7x9m (23x30 feet) double garage is planned next to the house.
The floor plan can still be mirrored or modified.
Our plot is number “83”.
The buildable area starts 10m (33 feet) from the existing road. One-sided boundary construction is allowed, otherwise there is a 3m (10 feet) setback from the property lines.
One big question we have is whether to orient the house with the front door facing the street or rotate it 90° so that the nicely offset shed roof is more visible?
I’m looking forward to your opinions. If anyone wants to share their thoughts on the floor plan or anything else, please feel free!
I think my partner and I have found our dream house!
Before we get too committed, I wanted to ask the community how you would position a house like this on the plot. A 7x9m (23x30 feet) double garage is planned next to the house.
The floor plan can still be mirrored or modified.
Our plot is number “83”.
The buildable area starts 10m (33 feet) from the existing road. One-sided boundary construction is allowed, otherwise there is a 3m (10 feet) setback from the property lines.
One big question we have is whether to orient the house with the front door facing the street or rotate it 90° so that the nicely offset shed roof is more visible?
I’m looking forward to your opinions. If anyone wants to share their thoughts on the floor plan or anything else, please feel free!
Papierturm16 Nov 2025 18:01Okay, I’ll give it a try.
Orientation of the front door: A lot depends on the front door regarding how the rest of the property is designed. From what I can see, the plot is about 26m (85 feet) deep and 21m (69 feet) wide. Assuming a building line of 10m (33 feet) from the street, this leads to two consequences:
1. The other buildings will essentially be built right next to it.
2. The property will be divided into a large front (or fore) garden (about 10 x 21m (33 x 69 feet), minus the driveway) and a small backyard (with the house dimensions roughly: 26 - 10 - 9.5 = 6.5m (21 feet)).
3. The front garden will face southeast, and the backyard northwest.
First decision: Where should the terrace go? Lighting-wise, the back would probably be better. However, due to the proximity to plot 80 and the shallow garden depth, I would personally lean towards the front. This would also mean planning the front door on the side rather than at the front. Considering the lighting in the rooms, I would place the front door to the northeast. But: This involves many implicit assumptions about the property, terrace planning, and lighting conditions. The decision should be made based on the specific property.
Placement of the double garage: This is a relatively small plot. I would strongly recommend checking the zoning regulations or building permit/planning permission details. If the garage is placed next to or slightly behind the house, not much space will remain. (This also depends on the regulations—building boundary vs. building line is an important distinction. For example, we had requirements to place parking spaces behind the building line.)
Another issue: If the garage is very close to or attached to the house, it can affect the light inside.
I personally would not build a garage on this plot.
If a garage is absolutely necessary, I would place it as close to the street as possible and not next to the house.
If that is not possible, set it back somewhat to the northeast if the entrance door is located there. The reason: This would only affect the windows of the utility room and guest bathroom, and the guest bathroom could then have a high windowsill window placed behind the toilet.
Personally, I would not focus on "where the offset shed roof is most visible," but rather on how to best harmonize the house and property. For example: Sure, having the main entrance at the front may look best visually for the house, but then there is very little garden left in the front. Based on my gut feeling, the house with its somewhat intricate facade will not fit very well into the plot because it isn’t well adapted to the actual site conditions.
I also don’t like some aspects of the floor plan (for example, no good coat storage close to the entrance area, but access to the toilet and stairs is through the dirty area). However, to change things like this in the planning, fundamental questions about the front door and property design need to be resolved first.
Orientation of the front door: A lot depends on the front door regarding how the rest of the property is designed. From what I can see, the plot is about 26m (85 feet) deep and 21m (69 feet) wide. Assuming a building line of 10m (33 feet) from the street, this leads to two consequences:
1. The other buildings will essentially be built right next to it.
2. The property will be divided into a large front (or fore) garden (about 10 x 21m (33 x 69 feet), minus the driveway) and a small backyard (with the house dimensions roughly: 26 - 10 - 9.5 = 6.5m (21 feet)).
3. The front garden will face southeast, and the backyard northwest.
First decision: Where should the terrace go? Lighting-wise, the back would probably be better. However, due to the proximity to plot 80 and the shallow garden depth, I would personally lean towards the front. This would also mean planning the front door on the side rather than at the front. Considering the lighting in the rooms, I would place the front door to the northeast. But: This involves many implicit assumptions about the property, terrace planning, and lighting conditions. The decision should be made based on the specific property.
Placement of the double garage: This is a relatively small plot. I would strongly recommend checking the zoning regulations or building permit/planning permission details. If the garage is placed next to or slightly behind the house, not much space will remain. (This also depends on the regulations—building boundary vs. building line is an important distinction. For example, we had requirements to place parking spaces behind the building line.)
Another issue: If the garage is very close to or attached to the house, it can affect the light inside.
I personally would not build a garage on this plot.
If a garage is absolutely necessary, I would place it as close to the street as possible and not next to the house.
If that is not possible, set it back somewhat to the northeast if the entrance door is located there. The reason: This would only affect the windows of the utility room and guest bathroom, and the guest bathroom could then have a high windowsill window placed behind the toilet.
Personally, I would not focus on "where the offset shed roof is most visible," but rather on how to best harmonize the house and property. For example: Sure, having the main entrance at the front may look best visually for the house, but then there is very little garden left in the front. Based on my gut feeling, the house with its somewhat intricate facade will not fit very well into the plot because it isn’t well adapted to the actual site conditions.
I also don’t like some aspects of the floor plan (for example, no good coat storage close to the entrance area, but access to the toilet and stairs is through the dirty area). However, to change things like this in the planning, fundamental questions about the front door and property design need to be resolved first.
Papierturm schrieb:
First decision: Where should the terrace be located? In terms of sunlight, the back would probably be better. Actually, this decision should be made BEFORE planning the house and floor layout. Considering the light, I would prefer the front left side, so southwest.
Papierturm schrieb:
There are also some things I don’t like about the floor plan. What exactly don’t you like about the house?
Buddy90 schrieb:
I think my partner and I have found our dream home! That sounds quite definite.
Any gable roof house can be modified with a staggered shed roof, and usually the third gable can be added to most gable roof houses as an upgrade.
Try drawing a line across the top of the floor plan from top left to top right and mirror the house along this line, so the utility room faces north, the dining bay faces southwest, and the entrance faces east.
Buddy90 schrieb:
The building zone starts 10 meters from the existing street. You can see if the house fits into the building zone by drawing it to scale and adding measurements to the plan for the forum, so no one here has to measure it on their screen with a ruler.
N
nordanney17 Nov 2025 09:58Buddy90 schrieb:
Next to the house, there will be a 7x9m (23x30 ft) double garage added.Why would anyone want to cover an already not very large plot of land with such a bulky structure? I wouldn’t want to sacrifice a garden for that—I’d rather have sunshine all around than have a wall like that blocking one side. Just my personal opinion.
Hello Buddy,
I’m not a professional, just to be clear. But your floor plan looks similar to ours (built in 2006, we bought the house).
The space at the entrance isn’t ideally sized for a coat rack. We’re still not fully satisfied with that either.
The staircase next to the front door works well in practice; kids like to sit on the steps to put on their shoes.
Your floor-to-ceiling window on the upper floor is directly in front of the planned wardrobe, so it’s where you’d probably be standing in your underwear sometimes. In practice, a pleated blind will likely be installed quickly, which would be a shame.
I actually don’t find this porch very appealing either, but it probably depends on the material and design. It’s definitely a decorative feature that you’ll also have to pay for.
I don’t know your family situation exactly, but often people prefer to eat in the kitchen or children do homework there while someone cooks. That’s why kitchen seating should be properly sized. In your case, the door opens inward and takes up a lot of space. I’d consider whether you could add a few square meters to the kitchen. We have a door between the kitchen and dining room and are very happy with it. In your case, you might consider a sliding door. That way, unpleasant smells stay out, and if you want to cook in peace, you can simply close it.
Just like in our house, your window is also located above the sink: with us, one side of the window can’t open properly because the faucet gets in the way.
If we were building, I would insist on having a shower on the ground floor as well. With three or four people, you’d definitely appreciate it when everyone isn’t fighting over the only shower.
I’m not a professional, just to be clear. But your floor plan looks similar to ours (built in 2006, we bought the house).
The space at the entrance isn’t ideally sized for a coat rack. We’re still not fully satisfied with that either.
The staircase next to the front door works well in practice; kids like to sit on the steps to put on their shoes.
Your floor-to-ceiling window on the upper floor is directly in front of the planned wardrobe, so it’s where you’d probably be standing in your underwear sometimes. In practice, a pleated blind will likely be installed quickly, which would be a shame.
I actually don’t find this porch very appealing either, but it probably depends on the material and design. It’s definitely a decorative feature that you’ll also have to pay for.
I don’t know your family situation exactly, but often people prefer to eat in the kitchen or children do homework there while someone cooks. That’s why kitchen seating should be properly sized. In your case, the door opens inward and takes up a lot of space. I’d consider whether you could add a few square meters to the kitchen. We have a door between the kitchen and dining room and are very happy with it. In your case, you might consider a sliding door. That way, unpleasant smells stay out, and if you want to cook in peace, you can simply close it.
Just like in our house, your window is also located above the sink: with us, one side of the window can’t open properly because the faucet gets in the way.
If we were building, I would insist on having a shower on the ground floor as well. With three or four people, you’d definitely appreciate it when everyone isn’t fighting over the only shower.
Attached is the mirrored floor plan.
I have drawn everything onto the plot.
The current preference would be to keep the same floor plan but with a knee wall height of 1.75m (5 ft 9 in) and a standard gable roof.
Compared to the previously shown house with a shed roof, we would save nearly €20,000, which I think could be better invested elsewhere...
We would likely separate Child 1 into a small office of about 6–7m² (65–75 sq ft) and a walk-in dressing room accessible from the bedroom. The window on the gable side would then be moved to the north to serve the office...
PS: The rendered image does not show the correct mirrored version of the house (bay window position) and is for illustration purposes only.
I have drawn everything onto the plot.
The current preference would be to keep the same floor plan but with a knee wall height of 1.75m (5 ft 9 in) and a standard gable roof.
Compared to the previously shown house with a shed roof, we would save nearly €20,000, which I think could be better invested elsewhere...
We would likely separate Child 1 into a small office of about 6–7m² (65–75 sq ft) and a walk-in dressing room accessible from the bedroom. The window on the gable side would then be moved to the north to serve the office...
PS: The rendered image does not show the correct mirrored version of the house (bay window position) and is for illustration purposes only.
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