ᐅ Floor plan of a 160 sqm urban villa, without a basement – what are your thoughts?
Created on: 10 May 2018 02:46
P
Patkia
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 626 sqm (6730 sq ft)
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio: 0.35 + 50% for ancillary structures
Floor area ratio:
Building window, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft), no special requirements
Edge development: permitted
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of floors: 3
Roof type: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: 12 m (39 ft)
Additional requirements: 1 tree per every 300 sqm (3200 sq ft) started
Homeowners’ Requirements
City villa style, hip / pyramid roof
2 full stories
Residents: 2 adults, around 30 years old, 1-2 children planned
Room requirements:
Ground floor: kitchen / dining / living / pantry / guest room (office) / utility room / guest WC
Upper floor: 3 bedrooms / walk-in closet / storage / bathroom
Office: on ground floor, also to be used as guest room
Occasional overnight guests
Open or closed layout: partly open / partly closed
Traditional or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island, possibly a small pantry
Minimum seating at dining table: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: home cinema area
Roof terrace: possibly planned later on garage
Garage: yes, double garage with workshop / storage area: 9 m × 6.5 m (30 ft × 21 ft) with access to the house, planned as self-built, driveway large enough for 2 cars
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things are preferred or avoided:
Primarily for aesthetic reasons, a small bay window should be included. Not deeper than 50 cm (20 inches) due to roof overhang. There will be a canopy over the front door as a visual relief, so the bay window should face the garden.
Ground Floor (GF):
Bright hallway,
Large kitchen with island (including seating, e.g., stools) and preferably a small pantry (possibly accessible via a "fake" kitchen cabinet), plus a small “bench” made from low cabinets by the window, double-leaf sliding door guided inside the wall to separate dining / living area,
Bright dining area,
Spacious living area, preferably with a panoramic fireplace as a room divider (not next to the TV),
Guest room / office,
Generous utility room with space for possibly two electrical panels, softener system, ground source heat pump, washing machine (possibly dryer), and drying rack,
Guest WC with shower.
Upper Floor (UF): at least 2 children’s rooms, 1 storage room, bedroom can be fairly small. Instead, a spacious bathroom with 2 washbasins (or 1 long basin with 2 faucets), bathtub up to 2 m (6.5 ft), and shower. WC with privacy screen, e.g., with door T-shaped.
Walk-through dressing room between bedroom and bathroom. Sliding door on the wall between bedroom and dressing room and regular door between dressing room and bathroom. Bathroom should also be accessible from the hallway.
General:
Many windows (included in house price without limitation on number or size), some floor-to-ceiling. Possibly preparation in the bedroom for access to the (planned) roof terrace on the garage,
Lifting sliding door system between living / dining area and terrace,
Doors at least 1 m (39 inches) wide on the ground floor,
Terrace on the left side of the house, i.e., facing south. Depending on kitchen location, possibly also a narrower terrace around the corner at the top.
Ultimately, we think it would almost be nicer if the kitchen were on the left so you can look into the garden from there and have direct access to the large terrace. But this criterion changes with every revision of the floor plan :|
House Design
Who designed the plan:
The house plans mainly come from us with some inspiration from the internet.
So far, there has been no truly professional involvement. The upper floor plan was found directly online. However, there the house width is only 10 m (33 ft) instead of 10.5 m (34 ft). Also, the bay window on the left is obviously not included. It would be great to add a small storage room here.
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
The two above points are not fully answered yet. We have often moved the kitchen from right to left and back without finding an ideal solution.
Similarly, we are not sure whether the garage should be placed far forward with some space behind for storage out of garden view, or moved about 2 m (6.5 ft) further back (3 m / 10 ft from boundary) to gain some visual privacy from the diagonal neighbor. We are open to innovative ideas about garage placement. It must definitely have access to the house.
Estimated cost according to architect / planner: 230,000
Personal budget limit for house including features: 240,000 (excluding garage, but including foundation slab)
Preferred heating technology: ground source heat pump
If you have to give up some features / extensions:
- What can you do without: hard to say, maybe the pantry? Though supplies would then have to be stored in expensive kitchen cabinets that offer less space.
- What can’t you do without: guest room on the ground floor, space for drying rack in the utility room (never want one of those racks visible in a living area again!).
Why is the design the way it is now?
The design came about through lots of freehand drawing on paper and tinkering on computer to get the best results. Unfortunately, we are stuck now.
Which of your wishes have been implemented by the architect?
A mixture of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think works well or poorly?
Poor: the downstairs and upstairs layouts are hard to coordinate, especially because of the staircase.
Pretty good: the upper floor layout, except that fitting a second door into the bathroom will be difficult.
Downstairs we have been constantly swapping kitchen front left and guest room top right or vice versa. We haven’t agreed on what would be easier to furnish.
What is your key fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can we fit all our wishes in the best mix of space, appearance, and usability in the floor plan?
Note: The plan might receive harsh criticism from forum users. Feedback is usually unfiltered—please be prepared. Nobody means to offend; it’s their perspective to help or open your eyes.
Thanks in advance for your help
Plot size: 626 sqm (6730 sq ft)
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio: 0.35 + 50% for ancillary structures
Floor area ratio:
Building window, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft), no special requirements
Edge development: permitted
Number of parking spaces: no requirement
Number of floors: 3
Roof type: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: 12 m (39 ft)
Additional requirements: 1 tree per every 300 sqm (3200 sq ft) started
Homeowners’ Requirements
City villa style, hip / pyramid roof
2 full stories
Residents: 2 adults, around 30 years old, 1-2 children planned
Room requirements:
Ground floor: kitchen / dining / living / pantry / guest room (office) / utility room / guest WC
Upper floor: 3 bedrooms / walk-in closet / storage / bathroom
Office: on ground floor, also to be used as guest room
Occasional overnight guests
Open or closed layout: partly open / partly closed
Traditional or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island, possibly a small pantry
Minimum seating at dining table: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music / stereo wall: home cinema area
Roof terrace: possibly planned later on garage
Garage: yes, double garage with workshop / storage area: 9 m × 6.5 m (30 ft × 21 ft) with access to the house, planned as self-built, driveway large enough for 2 cars
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things are preferred or avoided:
Primarily for aesthetic reasons, a small bay window should be included. Not deeper than 50 cm (20 inches) due to roof overhang. There will be a canopy over the front door as a visual relief, so the bay window should face the garden.
Ground Floor (GF):
Bright hallway,
Large kitchen with island (including seating, e.g., stools) and preferably a small pantry (possibly accessible via a "fake" kitchen cabinet), plus a small “bench” made from low cabinets by the window, double-leaf sliding door guided inside the wall to separate dining / living area,
Bright dining area,
Spacious living area, preferably with a panoramic fireplace as a room divider (not next to the TV),
Guest room / office,
Generous utility room with space for possibly two electrical panels, softener system, ground source heat pump, washing machine (possibly dryer), and drying rack,
Guest WC with shower.
Upper Floor (UF): at least 2 children’s rooms, 1 storage room, bedroom can be fairly small. Instead, a spacious bathroom with 2 washbasins (or 1 long basin with 2 faucets), bathtub up to 2 m (6.5 ft), and shower. WC with privacy screen, e.g., with door T-shaped.
Walk-through dressing room between bedroom and bathroom. Sliding door on the wall between bedroom and dressing room and regular door between dressing room and bathroom. Bathroom should also be accessible from the hallway.
General:
Many windows (included in house price without limitation on number or size), some floor-to-ceiling. Possibly preparation in the bedroom for access to the (planned) roof terrace on the garage,
Lifting sliding door system between living / dining area and terrace,
Doors at least 1 m (39 inches) wide on the ground floor,
Terrace on the left side of the house, i.e., facing south. Depending on kitchen location, possibly also a narrower terrace around the corner at the top.
Ultimately, we think it would almost be nicer if the kitchen were on the left so you can look into the garden from there and have direct access to the large terrace. But this criterion changes with every revision of the floor plan :|
House Design
Who designed the plan:
The house plans mainly come from us with some inspiration from the internet.
So far, there has been no truly professional involvement. The upper floor plan was found directly online. However, there the house width is only 10 m (33 ft) instead of 10.5 m (34 ft). Also, the bay window on the left is obviously not included. It would be great to add a small storage room here.
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
The two above points are not fully answered yet. We have often moved the kitchen from right to left and back without finding an ideal solution.
Similarly, we are not sure whether the garage should be placed far forward with some space behind for storage out of garden view, or moved about 2 m (6.5 ft) further back (3 m / 10 ft from boundary) to gain some visual privacy from the diagonal neighbor. We are open to innovative ideas about garage placement. It must definitely have access to the house.
Estimated cost according to architect / planner: 230,000
Personal budget limit for house including features: 240,000 (excluding garage, but including foundation slab)
Preferred heating technology: ground source heat pump
If you have to give up some features / extensions:
- What can you do without: hard to say, maybe the pantry? Though supplies would then have to be stored in expensive kitchen cabinets that offer less space.
- What can’t you do without: guest room on the ground floor, space for drying rack in the utility room (never want one of those racks visible in a living area again!).
Why is the design the way it is now?
The design came about through lots of freehand drawing on paper and tinkering on computer to get the best results. Unfortunately, we are stuck now.
Which of your wishes have been implemented by the architect?
A mixture of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think works well or poorly?
Poor: the downstairs and upstairs layouts are hard to coordinate, especially because of the staircase.
Pretty good: the upper floor layout, except that fitting a second door into the bathroom will be difficult.
Downstairs we have been constantly swapping kitchen front left and guest room top right or vice versa. We haven’t agreed on what would be easier to furnish.
What is your key fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
How can we fit all our wishes in the best mix of space, appearance, and usability in the floor plan?
Note: The plan might receive harsh criticism from forum users. Feedback is usually unfiltered—please be prepared. Nobody means to offend; it’s their perspective to help or open your eyes.
Thanks in advance for your help
There is still that fake door to the small storage room next to the side-by-side refrigerator (I would much rather have a space-tower from Blum instead of the fake door and the wasted space there, and include the small pantry as part of the office). Also, the side-by-side refrigerator sticks out at least 10cm (4 inches) in front of the other kitchen cabinets, which won’t look good with the fake door.
And sorry... I just don’t like it at all. I’m not a fan of having two rows of chairs one behind the other (counter/table), winding paths around counters, pulled-out chairs, tables, etc. leading to the terrace. I also don’t like beds, bathtubs, or similar placed directly under windows. Nor do I like walk-in closets that can only be accessed through the bedroom if more than one person sleeps there.
And sorry... I just don’t like it at all. I’m not a fan of having two rows of chairs one behind the other (counter/table), winding paths around counters, pulled-out chairs, tables, etc. leading to the terrace. I also don’t like beds, bathtubs, or similar placed directly under windows. Nor do I like walk-in closets that can only be accessed through the bedroom if more than one person sleeps there.
@ypg
No time to read doesn’t mean no longer wanting to read it at all just because you’re on your way to work...
@Grantlhaua
The bathroom idea was an attempt to visually enlarge the hallway area when entering.
@kbt09
We’re planning a kitchen depth of 70cm (28 inches), so the side-by-side fridge won’t stick out as much. We’ve already had advice at the kitchen showroom—it looks great what’s being built. This tower system is probably great, but the chaotic stacking all the way up to the ceiling still makes it impractical. Basically, though, you’re right that this solution could become problematic. I’m quite skilled with DIY and confident I’ll find a nice solution there.
And of course, I respect your opinion. We currently have a window above the bed and we like it. A window above the bathtub, and we like that too. A walk-in closet, accessible from the bedroom, which we like (except for the glass door because of the light glare on the bed, but that’s experience we’re taking into account). That’s why we’re planning these features now—they are familiar and liked by us.
Also, the furniture, as I’ve mentioned several times, is all planned in XXL size to make sure it will still fit if we ever decide to expand.
The kitchen counter is planned at 1 meter (39 inches) deep but will probably be about 80cm (31 inches). The dining table is 2 by 1 meter (79 by 39 inches). Hardly any standard dining table has those dimensions. We have a 1.6 by 80cm (63 by 31 inches) table now, and we find it (still) completely sufficient, especially since it is not free-standing now or in the near future, but rather placed against the wall (like in our current open-plan kitchen), except when we have guests. Then there’s plenty of room to walk around.
What might actually get tight is the 1.2m (47 inches) hallway width, that’s true. Our only thought there is that the open staircase will make it look much wider.
Our current hallway is 1.15m (45 inches) wide with 40cm (16 inches) cabinets along the wall. That leaves a 75cm (30 inches) passageway, and I walk through it comfortably.
So we have our own ideas and requirements. We gladly supplemented them with tips and experiences from you. I’m grateful for that, because without this thread, I wouldn’t have incorporated some of your ideas. Still, I don’t want to have to constantly justify myself here because I don’t implement every single idea and opinion shared.
No time to read doesn’t mean no longer wanting to read it at all just because you’re on your way to work...
@Grantlhaua
The bathroom idea was an attempt to visually enlarge the hallway area when entering.
@kbt09
We’re planning a kitchen depth of 70cm (28 inches), so the side-by-side fridge won’t stick out as much. We’ve already had advice at the kitchen showroom—it looks great what’s being built. This tower system is probably great, but the chaotic stacking all the way up to the ceiling still makes it impractical. Basically, though, you’re right that this solution could become problematic. I’m quite skilled with DIY and confident I’ll find a nice solution there.
And of course, I respect your opinion. We currently have a window above the bed and we like it. A window above the bathtub, and we like that too. A walk-in closet, accessible from the bedroom, which we like (except for the glass door because of the light glare on the bed, but that’s experience we’re taking into account). That’s why we’re planning these features now—they are familiar and liked by us.
Also, the furniture, as I’ve mentioned several times, is all planned in XXL size to make sure it will still fit if we ever decide to expand.
The kitchen counter is planned at 1 meter (39 inches) deep but will probably be about 80cm (31 inches). The dining table is 2 by 1 meter (79 by 39 inches). Hardly any standard dining table has those dimensions. We have a 1.6 by 80cm (63 by 31 inches) table now, and we find it (still) completely sufficient, especially since it is not free-standing now or in the near future, but rather placed against the wall (like in our current open-plan kitchen), except when we have guests. Then there’s plenty of room to walk around.
What might actually get tight is the 1.2m (47 inches) hallway width, that’s true. Our only thought there is that the open staircase will make it look much wider.
Our current hallway is 1.15m (45 inches) wide with 40cm (16 inches) cabinets along the wall. That leaves a 75cm (30 inches) passageway, and I walk through it comfortably.
So we have our own ideas and requirements. We gladly supplemented them with tips and experiences from you. I’m grateful for that, because without this thread, I wouldn’t have incorporated some of your ideas. Still, I don’t want to have to constantly justify myself here because I don’t implement every single idea and opinion shared.
The shower downstairs is hardly usable. Just imagine stepping out and wanting to dry yourself off. You’d probably head to the hallway with your towel. But there’s no space there either.
Add the awkward corner of the utility room so there’s enough room to turn around.
I hope the architect will come up with some additional ideas instead of just copying your design. Ideally, don’t even show them your draft—just let them work freely.
Add the awkward corner of the utility room so there’s enough room to turn around.
I hope the architect will come up with some additional ideas instead of just copying your design. Ideally, don’t even show them your draft—just let them work freely.
Yes, the toilet should probably be straight again. The few centimeters don’t make much difference in the hallway, but for comfort after showering, it’s definitely better.
The recess in the utility room was intended for the heating system. Hopefully, it fits there and is therefore somewhat out of the way.
The recess in the utility room was intended for the heating system. Hopefully, it fits there and is therefore somewhat out of the way.
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