Hello,
our house building plans are gradually becoming more concrete, and I have been moving walls around in the Sweet Home program for weeks. Now we have a first draft that we are quite satisfied with (probably the 3000th version), and I would appreciate your feedback...
We plan to build a two-story urban villa with a hip roof in a §34 designated area.
Size approximately 11.30 x 10.60 m (37.1 x 34.8 ft), living area about 200 sqm (2,153 sq ft)
No basement
West-East orientation
4 persons
Offices: 2 needed, one for family use, one for a home office
Overnight guests per year: 20
Open architecture
Modern construction method
Open kitchen with an island – still undecided
Number of permanent dining seats: 4, expandable to 12
Fireplace – yes
Music/stereo wall – no
Balcony, roof terrace – no
Garage, carport – yes
House design
Planner: DIY
Preferred heating system: still unclear, probably underfloor heating with a heat pump (air source)
It would be great to have a pantry accessible from the kitchen, but it seems too small at the moment, right?
Requested: wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the ground floor
We are still open regarding the staircase design. This draft shows a two-angle staircase, but maybe someone has a better idea.
Do you notice anything that might not work well? Looking forward to further suggestions...
our house building plans are gradually becoming more concrete, and I have been moving walls around in the Sweet Home program for weeks. Now we have a first draft that we are quite satisfied with (probably the 3000th version), and I would appreciate your feedback...
We plan to build a two-story urban villa with a hip roof in a §34 designated area.
Size approximately 11.30 x 10.60 m (37.1 x 34.8 ft), living area about 200 sqm (2,153 sq ft)
No basement
West-East orientation
4 persons
Offices: 2 needed, one for family use, one for a home office
Overnight guests per year: 20
Open architecture
Modern construction method
Open kitchen with an island – still undecided
Number of permanent dining seats: 4, expandable to 12
Fireplace – yes
Music/stereo wall – no
Balcony, roof terrace – no
Garage, carport – yes
House design
Planner: DIY
Preferred heating system: still unclear, probably underfloor heating with a heat pump (air source)
It would be great to have a pantry accessible from the kitchen, but it seems too small at the moment, right?
Requested: wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the ground floor
We are still open regarding the staircase design. This draft shows a two-angle staircase, but maybe someone has a better idea.
Do you notice anything that might not work well? Looking forward to further suggestions...
D
Doc.Schnaggls9 Nov 2016 13:00Hello,
the floor plan is quite difficult to assess since no measurements are provided.
Should the kitchen be open to the hallway / dining and living areas? The black lines look somewhat confusing. Has the structural engineering been considered?
How wide are the doors?
The bathroom on the ground floor seems very narrow – it probably wouldn’t meet accessibility standards like that. Is the window actually planned inside the shower?
What is the brown area between the hallway and kitchen supposed to be? The staircase?
I also don’t find the lack of a window directly in the kitchen area ideal.
The corner windows in the children’s rooms cannot be opened at the same time because they block each other.
The entire floor plan seems very convoluted to me – with the intended size of 200 square meters (2150 square feet), you could achieve much more spaciousness and functionality.
Don’t take it the wrong way, but someone with experience in space planning and structural engineering should take a look – it can definitely be done better...
Best regards,
Dirk
the floor plan is quite difficult to assess since no measurements are provided.
Should the kitchen be open to the hallway / dining and living areas? The black lines look somewhat confusing. Has the structural engineering been considered?
How wide are the doors?
The bathroom on the ground floor seems very narrow – it probably wouldn’t meet accessibility standards like that. Is the window actually planned inside the shower?
What is the brown area between the hallway and kitchen supposed to be? The staircase?
I also don’t find the lack of a window directly in the kitchen area ideal.
The corner windows in the children’s rooms cannot be opened at the same time because they block each other.
The entire floor plan seems very convoluted to me – with the intended size of 200 square meters (2150 square feet), you could achieve much more spaciousness and functionality.
Don’t take it the wrong way, but someone with experience in space planning and structural engineering should take a look – it can definitely be done better...
Best regards,
Dirk
Hello,
what I notice:
- without a basement, I would find a straight staircase much nicer and easier to implement
- the toilet/bathroom on the ground floor takes up a lot of space but is still not very practical
- the children's rooms are very awkwardly shaped, at least the one downstairs; I find the sloped wall disturbing
- really two toilets side by side in the master bathroom, or what does that represent? People don’t usually sit next to each other like that? 🙂
Regards
what I notice:
- without a basement, I would find a straight staircase much nicer and easier to implement
- the toilet/bathroom on the ground floor takes up a lot of space but is still not very practical
- the children's rooms are very awkwardly shaped, at least the one downstairs; I find the sloped wall disturbing
- really two toilets side by side in the master bathroom, or what does that represent? People don’t usually sit next to each other like that? 🙂
Regards
Maybe the second toilet is meant to be a bidet?
Anyway, nothing fits there. A kitchen without a window is just not acceptable! Do you really want such a dark, windowless space?
The garage also seems very narrow. A site plan would be helpful here: it’s generally practical not to place the garage directly against the house but leave a corridor in between (depending on the design).
Up to 12 people in the dining area? That would only work in shifts...
All three bathrooms are problematic. There’s no other way to put it. None of them are truly spacious or comfortable, and none are accessible for people with disabilities. A wheelchair won’t fit into such a narrow corridor.
I guess the furniture shown in the staircase area is meant to indicate that the stairs are either above or below and the furniture is placed on the slope. But at least in the kitchen, this doesn’t really work.
Before you start working on the computer, I still think it makes much more sense to use old-fashioned paper and pencil first and roughly arrange the individual living areas on the floor plan in a MEANINGFUL way. This helps to get a feeling for the space before fine-tuning.
With 200 sqm (2,150 sq ft), you can do a lot more and much better. Take a look at standard floor plans from major providers (all available online) and reconsider your own design based on them.
Even better: make a list of all must-haves, nice-to-haves, maybe, and absolutely avoidable features, then consult a good architect.
Anyway, nothing fits there. A kitchen without a window is just not acceptable! Do you really want such a dark, windowless space?
The garage also seems very narrow. A site plan would be helpful here: it’s generally practical not to place the garage directly against the house but leave a corridor in between (depending on the design).
Up to 12 people in the dining area? That would only work in shifts...
All three bathrooms are problematic. There’s no other way to put it. None of them are truly spacious or comfortable, and none are accessible for people with disabilities. A wheelchair won’t fit into such a narrow corridor.
I guess the furniture shown in the staircase area is meant to indicate that the stairs are either above or below and the furniture is placed on the slope. But at least in the kitchen, this doesn’t really work.
Before you start working on the computer, I still think it makes much more sense to use old-fashioned paper and pencil first and roughly arrange the individual living areas on the floor plan in a MEANINGFUL way. This helps to get a feeling for the space before fine-tuning.
With 200 sqm (2,150 sq ft), you can do a lot more and much better. Take a look at standard floor plans from major providers (all available online) and reconsider your own design based on them.
Even better: make a list of all must-haves, nice-to-haves, maybe, and absolutely avoidable features, then consult a good architect.
Thanks for the initial responses.
Here is the floor plan again with dimensions.
We have reviewed plenty of standard floor plans and model homes, but they didn’t help much 😉
Now for the first comments:
– All doors are 90cm (35 inches) wide
– I’m not really satisfied with the bathrooms yet, but haven’t made much progress. The guest bathroom on the ground floor is rarely used for showers, so it doesn’t have a shower enclosure, just a walk-in tiled shower with a curtain if needed. Therefore, it is just about wheelchair accessible...
– Bathroom on the upper floor: the second toilet is of course a bidet
– The bathtub is only in the kids’ bathroom intentionally, since we hardly bathe, but the kids do
– The wall in the kids’ room is angled so that otherwise a lot of storage space in the kids’ room would be lost and gained unnecessarily in the hallway to fit the door
I’m aware that there is still a lot that can and must be optimized, which is why I’m asking you 😉
Here is the floor plan again with dimensions.
We have reviewed plenty of standard floor plans and model homes, but they didn’t help much 😉
Now for the first comments:
– All doors are 90cm (35 inches) wide
– I’m not really satisfied with the bathrooms yet, but haven’t made much progress. The guest bathroom on the ground floor is rarely used for showers, so it doesn’t have a shower enclosure, just a walk-in tiled shower with a curtain if needed. Therefore, it is just about wheelchair accessible...
– Bathroom on the upper floor: the second toilet is of course a bidet
– The bathtub is only in the kids’ bathroom intentionally, since we hardly bathe, but the kids do
– The wall in the kids’ room is angled so that otherwise a lot of storage space in the kids’ room would be lost and gained unnecessarily in the hallway to fit the door
I’m aware that there is still a lot that can and must be optimized, which is why I’m asking you 😉
komet schrieb:
A first draft is now ready, and we are quite satisfied with it komet schrieb:
But there is still a lot that can and must be optimized So, what is it now?
There is plenty to optimize. The bathroom on the ground floor will never be considered accessible for people with disabilities.
What have you planned for the unusable area behind the sofa?
Is that supposed to be a fireplace on the exterior wall? Then having 12 people sit there in that narrow corner probably won’t really work.
I don’t understand why standard floor plans aren’t helpful. After all, they provide ideas for a reasonably functional room layout.
For example, the issue with a “trapped” walk-in closet — that eliminates any advantage.
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