ᐅ Advice and Tips for House Floor Plans (1.5-Story Single-Family Homes)
Created on: 28 Jun 2015 18:57
C
Cinderella77
Hello fellow homeowners and experts,
After some time of quietly reading and learning, I have now registered and would like to discuss our floor plan design for our dream house.
It has been about six months since we bought our plot, and we have looked at what feels like thousands of floor plans and discarded them, ultimately designing one ourselves because none of the standard plans from homebuilders fit our needs. We have already sent the floor plan to various homebuilders to check and price it. The offers surprisingly didn’t differ much in price, but none gave constructive feedback on whether everything is feasible or practical in the end. As I have read before, every company praised the plan without any criticism, saying what a nice floor plan it is.
Before we sign a homebuilding contract, we would like to hear honest criticism and would be very grateful for advice, tips, ideas, and suggestions for improvement.
About the location of the plot: It is parcel 9 in a small new residential development with 11 plots, at the end of a private dead-end street (which still has to be built).
Unfortunately, the north arrow got lost on the attached graphics; north is at the top, east on the right, south at the bottom, and west on the left. Due to the drinking water protection zone, no further development is allowed to the east. Behind our garden is a northern neighbor’s garden, a stream, and then an open green area with a small path where dogs are walked.
The house elevations still need to be revised carefully in terms of window symmetry.
Now to the list of questions:
Zoning plan/restrictions: Yes
Plot size: 796 sqm (8570 sq ft)
Slope: No
Building coverage ratio: No (only 1 full storey permitted)
Floor area ratio: 0.25
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see below
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 1 full storey
Roof type: All permitted
Architectural style: All permitted
Orientation: East-West
Maximum height/limits: Ridge height max. 75.5 m above sea level, which for us is about 9 m (30 ft)
Other landscaping requirements: Shrubs along the northern plot boundary, 4 trees
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof form, building type: Classic single-family house, gable and half-hip roof
Basement/storeys: 1½ storeys without basement (high groundwater and drinking water protection zone), instead a converted attic
Number of residents, ages: 3 (39, 38, 2) + 3 cats
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: approx. 140 - 150 sqm (1506 - 1615 sq ft). Ground floor: entrance hall, guest WC, utility/laundry room, kitchen, living room. Upper floor: bedroom, 1 child’s room, 1 study, bathroom
Office: Family use, not home office
Overnight guests per year: few, usually only for celebrations and so far accommodated in hotels
Open or closed architecture: Closed
Conservative or modern building style: Classic-conservative
Open kitchen with island: No
Number of dining places: Small prep and quick snack area in the kitchen, plus a separate dining area
Fireplace: Yes
Music/sound system wall: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony
Garage, carport: Carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/features/daily routine: Entrance hall as a barrier for dirt and cats, a well-accessible staircase, pantry in the kitchen
House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- DIY by us
What do you especially like? Everything we wished for is included, bay window and balcony, large utility room
What do you dislike? Upper floor layout not yet optimal,
Bathroom layout (large bathroom but difficult to furnish),
House elevations need improvement,
We are debating the position of the window on the north side in the living room (whether it is necessary at all and if so, where best),
Possibly swapping the guest WC and entrance hall?
Possibly better without pantry in the kitchen?
Price estimate by architect/planner: 230,000 - 240,000
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 250,000
Preferred heating system: Gas boiler and solar, geothermal not possible because of drinking water protection zone 3
If you had to give up certain details/extensions
- What could you do without: Basically nothing, maybe the pantry the most
- What could you not do without: Entrance hall
After some time of quietly reading and learning, I have now registered and would like to discuss our floor plan design for our dream house.
It has been about six months since we bought our plot, and we have looked at what feels like thousands of floor plans and discarded them, ultimately designing one ourselves because none of the standard plans from homebuilders fit our needs. We have already sent the floor plan to various homebuilders to check and price it. The offers surprisingly didn’t differ much in price, but none gave constructive feedback on whether everything is feasible or practical in the end. As I have read before, every company praised the plan without any criticism, saying what a nice floor plan it is.
Before we sign a homebuilding contract, we would like to hear honest criticism and would be very grateful for advice, tips, ideas, and suggestions for improvement.
About the location of the plot: It is parcel 9 in a small new residential development with 11 plots, at the end of a private dead-end street (which still has to be built).
Unfortunately, the north arrow got lost on the attached graphics; north is at the top, east on the right, south at the bottom, and west on the left. Due to the drinking water protection zone, no further development is allowed to the east. Behind our garden is a northern neighbor’s garden, a stream, and then an open green area with a small path where dogs are walked.
The house elevations still need to be revised carefully in terms of window symmetry.
Now to the list of questions:
Zoning plan/restrictions: Yes
Plot size: 796 sqm (8570 sq ft)
Slope: No
Building coverage ratio: No (only 1 full storey permitted)
Floor area ratio: 0.25
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see below
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 1 full storey
Roof type: All permitted
Architectural style: All permitted
Orientation: East-West
Maximum height/limits: Ridge height max. 75.5 m above sea level, which for us is about 9 m (30 ft)
Other landscaping requirements: Shrubs along the northern plot boundary, 4 trees
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof form, building type: Classic single-family house, gable and half-hip roof
Basement/storeys: 1½ storeys without basement (high groundwater and drinking water protection zone), instead a converted attic
Number of residents, ages: 3 (39, 38, 2) + 3 cats
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: approx. 140 - 150 sqm (1506 - 1615 sq ft). Ground floor: entrance hall, guest WC, utility/laundry room, kitchen, living room. Upper floor: bedroom, 1 child’s room, 1 study, bathroom
Office: Family use, not home office
Overnight guests per year: few, usually only for celebrations and so far accommodated in hotels
Open or closed architecture: Closed
Conservative or modern building style: Classic-conservative
Open kitchen with island: No
Number of dining places: Small prep and quick snack area in the kitchen, plus a separate dining area
Fireplace: Yes
Music/sound system wall: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony
Garage, carport: Carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/features/daily routine: Entrance hall as a barrier for dirt and cats, a well-accessible staircase, pantry in the kitchen
House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- DIY by us
What do you especially like? Everything we wished for is included, bay window and balcony, large utility room
What do you dislike? Upper floor layout not yet optimal,
Bathroom layout (large bathroom but difficult to furnish),
House elevations need improvement,
We are debating the position of the window on the north side in the living room (whether it is necessary at all and if so, where best),
Possibly swapping the guest WC and entrance hall?
Possibly better without pantry in the kitchen?
Price estimate by architect/planner: 230,000 - 240,000
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 250,000
Preferred heating system: Gas boiler and solar, geothermal not possible because of drinking water protection zone 3
If you had to give up certain details/extensions
- What could you do without: Basically nothing, maybe the pantry the most
- What could you not do without: Entrance hall
Oh, and a window on the south side in the dining area is an absolute must!!! You need natural light from the south to reach the living room!!! And I don’t think it actually causes much visibility from outside. Bright rooms definitely add to living comfort... Honestly, I can never have enough window space. My husband said we would be living in a greenhouse, but in practice, that is not the case at all.
Cinderella774 Oct 2015 11:55Hello @all,
In the meantime, we have just completed our second-to-last extensive house planning meeting and are now close to finalizing the plans. I would really appreciate it if you could take another look at the floor plan and give us feedback on whether and what changes might still make sense. Or if you have any ideas for the bathroom layout on the upper floor, please feel free to share.
Regarding our recent changes:
Ground floor
- Door to technical/storage room (HAR) now 88.5cm (35 inches) wide
- Stair landing with a 25cm (10 inches) stair tread width, which made the guest toilet narrower
- Window in living/dining area with a lower and higher sill height, now 145cm (57 inches)
- Terrace door now wider at 176cm (69 inches)
- Kitchen window in the bay now wider and double-leaf, 151cm (59 inches) wide
Upper floor
- Every room except the bathroom now has a roof window
- Staircase to the attic without a door; the room behind it will be added to the bathroom (it’s still marked as Child 2’s room on the floor plan, but we urgently need storage space for towels etc. in the bathroom)
The strip window above the stair landing did not make sense because it would be directly under the roof overhang and no sunlight would come in. However, we have a roof window above it.
We are still debating the muntin bar distribution in the windows and terrace doors. Should they all be as uniform as possible, or would it be simpler to differentiate the terrace doors from the start?
Where to best place the unfortunately necessary and decorative heated towel rail in the bathroom is also still a topic. Likewise, increasing the knee wall height to 110cm (43 inches) to gain more headroom in the attic is under consideration. Unfortunately, this would exceed the permitted ridge height, and we would have to apply for a special exemption.
So, for now, here are the pictures.
Hmm, unfortunately, all the files are too large.
In the meantime, we have just completed our second-to-last extensive house planning meeting and are now close to finalizing the plans. I would really appreciate it if you could take another look at the floor plan and give us feedback on whether and what changes might still make sense. Or if you have any ideas for the bathroom layout on the upper floor, please feel free to share.
Regarding our recent changes:
Ground floor
- Door to technical/storage room (HAR) now 88.5cm (35 inches) wide
- Stair landing with a 25cm (10 inches) stair tread width, which made the guest toilet narrower
- Window in living/dining area with a lower and higher sill height, now 145cm (57 inches)
- Terrace door now wider at 176cm (69 inches)
- Kitchen window in the bay now wider and double-leaf, 151cm (59 inches) wide
Upper floor
- Every room except the bathroom now has a roof window
- Staircase to the attic without a door; the room behind it will be added to the bathroom (it’s still marked as Child 2’s room on the floor plan, but we urgently need storage space for towels etc. in the bathroom)
The strip window above the stair landing did not make sense because it would be directly under the roof overhang and no sunlight would come in. However, we have a roof window above it.
We are still debating the muntin bar distribution in the windows and terrace doors. Should they all be as uniform as possible, or would it be simpler to differentiate the terrace doors from the start?
Where to best place the unfortunately necessary and decorative heated towel rail in the bathroom is also still a topic. Likewise, increasing the knee wall height to 110cm (43 inches) to gain more headroom in the attic is under consideration. Unfortunately, this would exceed the permitted ridge height, and we would have to apply for a special exemption.
So, for now, here are the pictures.
Hmm, unfortunately, all the files are too large.
Cinderella774 Oct 2015 13:57I managed to reduce the cross-section enough so that the ground floor and first floor are now shown without dimensions. Including dimensions on both floors makes the file size exceed 1 MB.
Hello
A significant improvement compared to the original version.
However, a few points I noticed:
What is the large area in the kitchen for?
With the half-hipped roof, access via the attic stairs becomes critical.
If the washing machine is moved in the bathroom to provide access under the stairs,
a cupboard would fit just as well there, and the storage room could remain in the children's room.
Olli
A significant improvement compared to the original version.
However, a few points I noticed:
What is the large area in the kitchen for?
With the half-hipped roof, access via the attic stairs becomes critical.
If the washing machine is moved in the bathroom to provide access under the stairs,
a cupboard would fit just as well there, and the storage room could remain in the children's room.
Olli
In my opinion, roof windows in bedrooms are not a good idea at all. They are very noisy... Have you ever slept in a room with a roof window when it’s raining? I would definitely leave them out and instead make the regular windows larger.
I would swap Child II and the parents’ rooms, making both children’s rooms about the same size, and then make the parents’ bedroom a bit larger to allow more space for wardrobes. With this swap, at least the children’s room windows should be made significantly larger. Ideally, I would mirror the entire upper floor both vertically and horizontally... Then both children’s rooms would face west, the bedroom would be in the northeast, and the bathroom in the southeast. I’m just not sure how the bathroom drainage would work then, but maybe it could run down between the living room and kitchen and be connected to the kitchen drain. I do think the bathroom layout itself is very well done. Or what don’t you like about it?
On the ground floor, I still feel there should be a window in the dining area on the south side. And the kitchen is really poorly planned. I would redesign it more like in my picture, with the tall cabinets on the top side of the plan and the U-shaped kitchen rotated.
I hope I was able to help.
I would swap Child II and the parents’ rooms, making both children’s rooms about the same size, and then make the parents’ bedroom a bit larger to allow more space for wardrobes. With this swap, at least the children’s room windows should be made significantly larger. Ideally, I would mirror the entire upper floor both vertically and horizontally... Then both children’s rooms would face west, the bedroom would be in the northeast, and the bathroom in the southeast. I’m just not sure how the bathroom drainage would work then, but maybe it could run down between the living room and kitchen and be connected to the kitchen drain. I do think the bathroom layout itself is very well done. Or what don’t you like about it?
On the ground floor, I still feel there should be a window in the dining area on the south side. And the kitchen is really poorly planned. I would redesign it more like in my picture, with the tall cabinets on the top side of the plan and the U-shaped kitchen rotated.
I hope I was able to help.
Cinderella777 Oct 2015 20:11Thank you @wrobel and @Kisska86 for your feedback.
Regarding the kitchen: what is drawn in is just a placeholder. The actual kitchen layout will look different. Kerstin’s plan is quite similar to yours, Kisska, but instead of a U-shape, it’s a simple two-row layout. This design is really optimal, but my husband doesn’t like it. As a compromise, I’ve now proposed an L-shape with an island, which he can accept.
Access to the attic and the half-hipped roof is really tight. Due to the steeper roof pitch and a custom staircase with the last upper step designed as a small landing, we hope to make it work. The architect and staircase builder are still working on the plans.
I don’t understand the mirrored layout of the upper floor — in our plan, the bedroom is already in the northeast. Bottom left is southwest, top left northwest. That’s why we thought it made sense to give the kids’ rooms the sunny sides with plenty of light. Placing the bathroom at the bottom right would also be difficult because of the drainage.
The skylights are the only way to meet the applicable 1/8 daylighting rule in our area. Otherwise, the gable windows would have to extend across the entire width and be even taller. For now, we’re already living under the roof with skylights in the bedroom and have gotten used to it.
I advocated for a window on the south side in the dining area, but we are now foregoing it in favor of more usable wall space.
What bothers me about the bathroom is that we have relatively little storage, even though it is quite large. And wrobel is right about using a proper cabinet instead of a built-in unit under the stairs.
Regarding the kitchen: what is drawn in is just a placeholder. The actual kitchen layout will look different. Kerstin’s plan is quite similar to yours, Kisska, but instead of a U-shape, it’s a simple two-row layout. This design is really optimal, but my husband doesn’t like it. As a compromise, I’ve now proposed an L-shape with an island, which he can accept.
Access to the attic and the half-hipped roof is really tight. Due to the steeper roof pitch and a custom staircase with the last upper step designed as a small landing, we hope to make it work. The architect and staircase builder are still working on the plans.
I don’t understand the mirrored layout of the upper floor — in our plan, the bedroom is already in the northeast. Bottom left is southwest, top left northwest. That’s why we thought it made sense to give the kids’ rooms the sunny sides with plenty of light. Placing the bathroom at the bottom right would also be difficult because of the drainage.
The skylights are the only way to meet the applicable 1/8 daylighting rule in our area. Otherwise, the gable windows would have to extend across the entire width and be even taller. For now, we’re already living under the roof with skylights in the bedroom and have gotten used to it.
I advocated for a window on the south side in the dining area, but we are now foregoing it in favor of more usable wall space.
What bothers me about the bathroom is that we have relatively little storage, even though it is quite large. And wrobel is right about using a proper cabinet instead of a built-in unit under the stairs.
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