K
Karl Toffel8 Jun 2015 10:55Hello everyone,
after reading here for a while, I would now like to share our building plans for discussion.
Overall, we are quite happy with them, but there are a few points where we are not entirely sure.
Is the size of the utility room sufficient if it might later need to serve as a bathroom?
On the upper floor, the toilet might be moved into the bathroom – how could this be arranged in a practical way? A walk-in, masonry shower is a wish.
The area at the transition from the hallway to the living/dining room may not be ideal?
The living room should definitely be separable with a sliding door.
Maybe someone here has ideas about this or other points?
Here are the requested details; I hope they are sufficient:
Development plan not available
Location: south side = street side & driveway
west side = 1 neighbor
east side = existing own building
north side = undevelopable farmland
The plot slopes slightly from south to north
Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: shallow pitched gable roof
Basement, floors: 2 full floors without roof slope, basement possibly with a separate apartment
Number of people, ages: currently 28, 30; later 2-3 children planned
Space requirements on ground and upper floor
Office: family use, possibly later as a bedroom
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, no island
Number of dining seats: 10
Fireplace: wood-burning stove in the kitchen, Swedish stove in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: no balcony, yes to terrace
Garage, carport: garage
Other wishes/special features/daily routine
Floors should possibly be usable later as separate apartments
Living room should be separable by sliding door
House design
Who designed the plan:
Licensed building technician
What do you particularly like?
Utility room accessible from the garage as a mudroom
Bedroom layout
What do you not like?
Toilet on the upper floor will probably be integrated into the bathroom
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: €350,000 with a lot of self-work “should be feasible”
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: about €400,000 with a lot of self-work (land already owned)
Preferred heating technology:
Heat pump, probably air source heat pump for cost reasons
after reading here for a while, I would now like to share our building plans for discussion.
Overall, we are quite happy with them, but there are a few points where we are not entirely sure.
Is the size of the utility room sufficient if it might later need to serve as a bathroom?
On the upper floor, the toilet might be moved into the bathroom – how could this be arranged in a practical way? A walk-in, masonry shower is a wish.
The area at the transition from the hallway to the living/dining room may not be ideal?
The living room should definitely be separable with a sliding door.
Maybe someone here has ideas about this or other points?
Here are the requested details; I hope they are sufficient:
Development plan not available
Location: south side = street side & driveway
west side = 1 neighbor
east side = existing own building
north side = undevelopable farmland
The plot slopes slightly from south to north
Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: shallow pitched gable roof
Basement, floors: 2 full floors without roof slope, basement possibly with a separate apartment
Number of people, ages: currently 28, 30; later 2-3 children planned
Space requirements on ground and upper floor
Office: family use, possibly later as a bedroom
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, no island
Number of dining seats: 10
Fireplace: wood-burning stove in the kitchen, Swedish stove in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: no balcony, yes to terrace
Garage, carport: garage
Other wishes/special features/daily routine
Floors should possibly be usable later as separate apartments
Living room should be separable by sliding door
House design
Who designed the plan:
Licensed building technician
What do you particularly like?
Utility room accessible from the garage as a mudroom
Bedroom layout
What do you not like?
Toilet on the upper floor will probably be integrated into the bathroom
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: €350,000 with a lot of self-work “should be feasible”
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: about €400,000 with a lot of self-work (land already owned)
Preferred heating technology:
Heat pump, probably air source heat pump for cost reasons
K
Karl Toffel9 Jun 2015 12:58Does anyone have an opinion or idea? :-(
What I forgot to mention:
I find the kitchen layout in the granny flat very unfortunate. We still need an idea for how to place a "basic, cost-effective kitchen," as this will likely become a critical point when trying to find a tenant later on...
I would really appreciate any tips!
What I forgot to mention:
I find the kitchen layout in the granny flat very unfortunate. We still need an idea for how to place a "basic, cost-effective kitchen," as this will likely become a critical point when trying to find a tenant later on...
I would really appreciate any tips!
D
Doc.Schnaggls9 Jun 2015 13:20Hello,
overall, a nice floor plan.
However, with standard doors, the hallways on the ground floor and the upper floor might become quite dark – perhaps adding one or two skylights could help?
I don’t have another suggestion – if it weren’t for the desire to divide the property into two apartments, I would remove the wall between the hallway and the staircase on both floors and also rotate the staircase by 90° to avoid having the dirt zone near the front door right at the stair landing.
Regarding the idea of converting the utility room into a bathroom for the two-apartment layout, the door from the bathroom into the garage would bother me...
In the bedroom on the attic floor, I would also reconsider the partition wall to the dressing area. We decided to omit this wall in our house and created spatial separation with a built-in wardrobe instead. This saved us costs and gave us more space.
Best regards,
Dirk
overall, a nice floor plan.
However, with standard doors, the hallways on the ground floor and the upper floor might become quite dark – perhaps adding one or two skylights could help?
I don’t have another suggestion – if it weren’t for the desire to divide the property into two apartments, I would remove the wall between the hallway and the staircase on both floors and also rotate the staircase by 90° to avoid having the dirt zone near the front door right at the stair landing.
Regarding the idea of converting the utility room into a bathroom for the two-apartment layout, the door from the bathroom into the garage would bother me...
In the bedroom on the attic floor, I would also reconsider the partition wall to the dressing area. We decided to omit this wall in our house and created spatial separation with a built-in wardrobe instead. This saved us costs and gave us more space.
Best regards,
Dirk
Karl Toffel schrieb:
No one has an opinion/idea? :-( The amount of data is difficult to manage not only on iPads, tablets, and smartphones.
There are too many measurements that are not relevant to us right now, which draw focus away.
Also, having to turn your head is bothersome.
Therefore, it's very hard for us to evaluate, and among the many floor plan questions, yours gets overlooked.
What stands out to me is the 270-degree turn you have to make to get to the pantry.
I would place the entrance to it farther forward.
Also, the access to the living area through the living room is not ideal. Maybe consider briefly whether it would be possible to swap the pantry/kitchen units with the living area.
Whether I would like the house or not I can’t say—also due to the points mentioned above.
Regards, Yvonne
P.S. Definitely integrate the toilet into the bathroom!
K
Karl Toffel10 Jun 2015 08:20First of all, thank you very much for the responses!
@Doc.Schnaggls
We have already noticed this issue as well. We also had the idea of installing a glass panel or fixed glazing between the stairwell and hallway on the upper floor. However, we need to first check the costs. Without fire protection requirements, it shouldn’t be too problematic.
Since dividing the property into two apartments would probably only be considered later in life or in a worst-case scenario (such as divorce or similar), it would certainly be possible to think about “sealing off” this door at that time.
I really like the tip about the built-in closet, but how exactly should I imagine it? Would I then see an unattractive closet back wall from the bedroom side?
@ypg
The issue with the long way to the pantry is also causing me some trouble. Unfortunately, we haven’t found the “ultimate solution” yet.
I would be hesitant to swap the living room and kitchen for several reasons (no view from the kitchen to the driveway, worse access to the garden, etc.).
At the moment, my idea is to move the pantry door to the end wall of the room. But I’m not sure if that will work with the fireplace.
Cheers
@Doc.Schnaggls
We have already noticed this issue as well. We also had the idea of installing a glass panel or fixed glazing between the stairwell and hallway on the upper floor. However, we need to first check the costs. Without fire protection requirements, it shouldn’t be too problematic.
Since dividing the property into two apartments would probably only be considered later in life or in a worst-case scenario (such as divorce or similar), it would certainly be possible to think about “sealing off” this door at that time.
I really like the tip about the built-in closet, but how exactly should I imagine it? Would I then see an unattractive closet back wall from the bedroom side?
@ypg
The issue with the long way to the pantry is also causing me some trouble. Unfortunately, we haven’t found the “ultimate solution” yet.
I would be hesitant to swap the living room and kitchen for several reasons (no view from the kitchen to the driveway, worse access to the garden, etc.).
At the moment, my idea is to move the pantry door to the end wall of the room. But I’m not sure if that will work with the fireplace.
Cheers
D
Doc.Schnaggls10 Jun 2015 08:51Karl Toffel schrieb:
@Doc.Schnaggls
We have already noticed this problem as well. We were thinking about installing a fixed glass panel between the staircase and the hallway on the upper floor. However, we first need to check the costs. Without fire protection requirements, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Since dividing the house into two separate apartments would only come into play later in life or in worst-case scenarios (divorce or similar), it could be considered at that time to “seal off” this door if needed.Yes, the problem with aging...
For example, we also considered including a built-in, tiled bench in each of our showers, to have the option of sitting down while showering in later years. After careful consideration, we decided: “Hey, we’re building our house for now—what might happen in forty (+ x) years doesn’t concern us yet. We can always renovate or move later without restricting ourselves for the next decades…”
So, we built it the way we like it today.
Karl Toffel schrieb:
I think the idea of a built-in wardrobe is great, but how exactly should I imagine that? Would I see an unattractive back panel of the wardrobe from the bedroom side? No, definitely not.
Our built-in wardrobe has the same fronts on the back as on the front and the visible side.
The fronts on the back are larger than those on the front because there are no doors on that side. If you’re interested, I can send you a couple of photos this evening.
Best regards,
Dirk
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