🙂Hello dear forum,
I have been reading along for some time now, and I have followed Kisska’s post with great interest. Our situation is quite similar. We have a sloped site and have planned the front door on the lower floor. Eventually, there will be four people living in the house. Currently, there are only two of us.
We have been planning with our architect since April, and by now we really like the interior layout as well as the positioning of the house and garage on the plot. We are not satisfied with the exterior views yet, but I included them for completeness so you can better imagine how the house will be situated on the property.
About the property:
There is no building permit/planning permission because it’s an old site. An old house and a shed are still going to be demolished. The street and only access are at the bottom, with a beautiful view of the river. At the top is a steep slope/hill, which is also a green oasis but blocks the sun from 6:00 p.m. on. There is flood risk up to the bottom edge of the old garage, so the house cannot be built too far down (in the southeast).
About the house:
It was important to us to have an unobstructed view while still having enough sunny garden and natural light. We really like the solution with the roof terrace on the garage because it means we don’t lose the garage roof space and also have direct access from the garage to the house.
We want two full stories because we have already lived twice in apartments with sloped ceilings and didn’t like the reduced living quality. However, this means the house looks very tall from below—you can almost see three full floors! 🙁 The planner made a suggestion on how to reduce the perceived height, but we don’t like this first draft. The corridor/courtyard in front of the door might feel oppressive, and the view from below/in front would become visually busy. Maybe you have some good ideas? I imagine a wood facade for the upper floor.
About the floor plans:
The lower floor layout is finished for us. Let’s see what you think 😀
The ground floor is almost done. The guest bathroom/pantry/kitchen arrangement is not ideal yet but better than before.
On the upper floor, we have switched the rooms quite freely. The bedroom was originally planned as Child 1’s room. We want two equally sized children’s rooms and possibly a dressing room connected to the bedroom—or at least the option to look out of the window instead of onto the wardrobe wall from the bed.
We don’t like the windows or elevations at all yet, especially the large corner window solution, which will definitely be removed.
Okay, that was a lot of text. I hope not too much, and I’m really curious to hear what you think about the designs 🙂 😎
Best regards
I have been reading along for some time now, and I have followed Kisska’s post with great interest. Our situation is quite similar. We have a sloped site and have planned the front door on the lower floor. Eventually, there will be four people living in the house. Currently, there are only two of us.
We have been planning with our architect since April, and by now we really like the interior layout as well as the positioning of the house and garage on the plot. We are not satisfied with the exterior views yet, but I included them for completeness so you can better imagine how the house will be situated on the property.
About the property:
There is no building permit/planning permission because it’s an old site. An old house and a shed are still going to be demolished. The street and only access are at the bottom, with a beautiful view of the river. At the top is a steep slope/hill, which is also a green oasis but blocks the sun from 6:00 p.m. on. There is flood risk up to the bottom edge of the old garage, so the house cannot be built too far down (in the southeast).
About the house:
It was important to us to have an unobstructed view while still having enough sunny garden and natural light. We really like the solution with the roof terrace on the garage because it means we don’t lose the garage roof space and also have direct access from the garage to the house.
We want two full stories because we have already lived twice in apartments with sloped ceilings and didn’t like the reduced living quality. However, this means the house looks very tall from below—you can almost see three full floors! 🙁 The planner made a suggestion on how to reduce the perceived height, but we don’t like this first draft. The corridor/courtyard in front of the door might feel oppressive, and the view from below/in front would become visually busy. Maybe you have some good ideas? I imagine a wood facade for the upper floor.
About the floor plans:
The lower floor layout is finished for us. Let’s see what you think 😀
The ground floor is almost done. The guest bathroom/pantry/kitchen arrangement is not ideal yet but better than before.
On the upper floor, we have switched the rooms quite freely. The bedroom was originally planned as Child 1’s room. We want two equally sized children’s rooms and possibly a dressing room connected to the bedroom—or at least the option to look out of the window instead of onto the wardrobe wall from the bed.
We don’t like the windows or elevations at all yet, especially the large corner window solution, which will definitely be removed.
Okay, that was a lot of text. I hope not too much, and I’m really curious to hear what you think about the designs 🙂 😎
Best regards
Why is the toilet area in the bathroom upstairs so huge while the shower is so small? I would try to move the window in the toilet closer to the stairs and find another location for the laundry chute. Otherwise, I really like the layout and use of space on the upper floor. I don't notice anything negative on the ground floor; I like it. However, the workshop in the basement seems far too small to me, especially compared to 4 square meters (43 square feet) allocated for shoes??? What kind of massive shoes do you have that you need that much space for them???
Thank you for the first quick responses! :-)
@One00 This is probably because we wanted to have a window in the bathroom so we don’t always have to turn on the light. That’s a good point. However, I don’t have a good idea where the laundry chute could go, since we also want to be able to throw laundry from the bathroom on the ground floor. Unless we swap the bathroom and the pantry on the ground floor...
The "shoe" room is actually intended to serve as a cloakroom. That means, as milkie correctly mentioned, it should store seasonal items (winter jackets), shoes, inline skates, etc. In the hallway, there will only be the jackets and shoes we use daily, as well as a coat rack for guests. (Later, there will also be space in the hallway for a stroller, etc. ;-) )
@One00 This is probably because we wanted to have a window in the bathroom so we don’t always have to turn on the light. That’s a good point. However, I don’t have a good idea where the laundry chute could go, since we also want to be able to throw laundry from the bathroom on the ground floor. Unless we swap the bathroom and the pantry on the ground floor...
The "shoe" room is actually intended to serve as a cloakroom. That means, as milkie correctly mentioned, it should store seasonal items (winter jackets), shoes, inline skates, etc. In the hallway, there will only be the jackets and shoes we use daily, as well as a coat rack for guests. (Later, there will also be space in the hallway for a stroller, etc. ;-) )
At first glance, it’s a nice floor plan... my initial thought was that I would probably swap the kitchen with the study. Also, the distance from the entrance to the stairs seems too long to me.
On a second look – and now I might confuse things a bit: on a second look, you are sitting on the beautiful roof terrace in full sun facing south. With natural tree growth providing some pleasant shade, there is not much there, maybe just a few flower pots, which of course don’t provide any shade. Possibly an umbrella.
But what does a person do? They look for a spot under the trees in the greenery, namely back there with you in the northwest. Then, I would again think about orienting the living areas toward the south, west, and northwest, so that from the kitchen I can visit cozy places.
Regarding the height of the building: yes, it’s very tall… I would also see that as a minor problem. I would spontaneously consider a staggered/displaced upper floor or setting the knee wall at about 1.60 meters (5 feet 3 inches) high. Then the roof slopes wouldn’t really matter as much.
On a second look – and now I might confuse things a bit: on a second look, you are sitting on the beautiful roof terrace in full sun facing south. With natural tree growth providing some pleasant shade, there is not much there, maybe just a few flower pots, which of course don’t provide any shade. Possibly an umbrella.
But what does a person do? They look for a spot under the trees in the greenery, namely back there with you in the northwest. Then, I would again think about orienting the living areas toward the south, west, and northwest, so that from the kitchen I can visit cozy places.
Regarding the height of the building: yes, it’s very tall… I would also see that as a minor problem. I would spontaneously consider a staggered/displaced upper floor or setting the knee wall at about 1.60 meters (5 feet 3 inches) high. Then the roof slopes wouldn’t really matter as much.
Hello, I hope you all had a nice sunny weekend! :-)
@ypg
Do you mean rotating the whole house to face south? Or are you suggesting swapping the home office and the kitchen?
By a shifted upper floor, do you mean a shed roof? Honestly, we don’t like that much and it probably wouldn't get approved since the entire neighborhood has only gable roofs. The idea of raising the knee wall is also a good one. We’ll have to think about it. But wouldn’t that be more expensive? Our architect currently says that having standard sloped ceilings with dormers or a full upper floor with a simple roof is roughly the same price. With the first option, I need fewer bricks but more labor to finish the dormers and sloped ceilings. With the second, I need more bricks and plaster, but the roof is very simple and goes up faster.
Any other ideas or potential improvements?
PS: Something like the picture in my profile is close to what I had in mind for the wood cladding on the upper floor.
@ypg
Do you mean rotating the whole house to face south? Or are you suggesting swapping the home office and the kitchen?
By a shifted upper floor, do you mean a shed roof? Honestly, we don’t like that much and it probably wouldn't get approved since the entire neighborhood has only gable roofs. The idea of raising the knee wall is also a good one. We’ll have to think about it. But wouldn’t that be more expensive? Our architect currently says that having standard sloped ceilings with dormers or a full upper floor with a simple roof is roughly the same price. With the first option, I need fewer bricks but more labor to finish the dormers and sloped ceilings. With the second, I need more bricks and plaster, but the roof is very simple and goes up faster.
Any other ideas or potential improvements?
PS: Something like the picture in my profile is close to what I had in mind for the wood cladding on the upper floor.
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