Hello,
My wife and I visited a model home park for prefabricated houses yesterday, and we noticed that each house offered various features and floor plans whose practical benefits I don’t quite understand. That’s why I’m starting this thread, hoping you can explain the advantages of these choices or point out what I might be missing and why it still makes sense to design a house that way:
1. Almost every house had floor-to-ceiling windows installed. What’s the purpose of these? I imagine they would be terrible both in summer and winter. Wouldn’t it get extremely hot in summer? And in winter, don’t you constantly have to lower the blinds so that anyone passing by can’t look directly into the living room or inside the house? Also, isn’t the effort to clean those windows huge? Am I missing something? Do they have advantages that I don’t see?
2. There wasn’t a single house where the kitchen and dining area were separated from the living space; at best, the kitchen was separated from the dining area. I understand that having everything open makes the space appear larger and is better for hosting many people, but isn’t it very impractical? If I’m frying or cooking something in the kitchen, doesn’t the whole living room end up smelling like food? It would also bother me that as soon as my wife or I have guests over, the other person couldn’t sit in the living room and watch TV quietly, for example. This might sound a bit picky, but for me, it’s important that everyone can invite their friends without the other person always being within earshot or needing to get out of the way somehow. Why are open-plan ground floors so common? What are the real advantages?
3. The balconies on the upper floor are always accessible from one of the children’s bedrooms and the parents’ bedroom. Doesn’t that significantly affect privacy? I can’t imagine it’s great if my child can constantly knock on our bedroom door via the balcony, for example. Also, if you have two children, wouldn’t the one without a balcony be at a disadvantage?
I don’t want to bias you with my opinions here—I’m completely open to your views because I’d like to be convinced of the benefits. So I would like to know your reasons for including such features in your plans. Alternatively, has anyone built in a more “traditional” way and can speak to the practicality of these layout choices?
Best regards
My wife and I visited a model home park for prefabricated houses yesterday, and we noticed that each house offered various features and floor plans whose practical benefits I don’t quite understand. That’s why I’m starting this thread, hoping you can explain the advantages of these choices or point out what I might be missing and why it still makes sense to design a house that way:
1. Almost every house had floor-to-ceiling windows installed. What’s the purpose of these? I imagine they would be terrible both in summer and winter. Wouldn’t it get extremely hot in summer? And in winter, don’t you constantly have to lower the blinds so that anyone passing by can’t look directly into the living room or inside the house? Also, isn’t the effort to clean those windows huge? Am I missing something? Do they have advantages that I don’t see?
2. There wasn’t a single house where the kitchen and dining area were separated from the living space; at best, the kitchen was separated from the dining area. I understand that having everything open makes the space appear larger and is better for hosting many people, but isn’t it very impractical? If I’m frying or cooking something in the kitchen, doesn’t the whole living room end up smelling like food? It would also bother me that as soon as my wife or I have guests over, the other person couldn’t sit in the living room and watch TV quietly, for example. This might sound a bit picky, but for me, it’s important that everyone can invite their friends without the other person always being within earshot or needing to get out of the way somehow. Why are open-plan ground floors so common? What are the real advantages?
3. The balconies on the upper floor are always accessible from one of the children’s bedrooms and the parents’ bedroom. Doesn’t that significantly affect privacy? I can’t imagine it’s great if my child can constantly knock on our bedroom door via the balcony, for example. Also, if you have two children, wouldn’t the one without a balcony be at a disadvantage?
I don’t want to bias you with my opinions here—I’m completely open to your views because I’d like to be convinced of the benefits. So I would like to know your reasons for including such features in your plans. Alternatively, has anyone built in a more “traditional” way and can speak to the practicality of these layout choices?
Best regards
W
winnetou7821 Oct 2017 20:04Last Sunday, there were spaghetti in a pumpkin-caper tomato sauce with roasted pumpkin from the oven, served with veal fillet.
W
winnetou7821 Oct 2017 20:13One more tip: briefly fry the capers and add them to the sauce just before serving [emoji6]
Since both only happen once a year, it doesn’t bother me at all. Especially cleaning the buffer tanks sprays and smells really bad. That’s why I’d rather eat them for you at the Christmas market.
The best schnitzels are also available just around the corner from us. So, yeah...
The best schnitzels are also available just around the corner from us. So, yeah...
W
winnetou7821 Oct 2017 21:12I don’t think it smells bad; on the contrary, it actually smells pleasant.
We will also have floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, of course, and in the bedroom and children’s room on the gable side it’s not really possible otherwise, as there isn’t enough space for wide windows there.
I have never liked open kitchens, and luckily my husband doesn’t either.
We don’t need a balcony either since there is a garden, and we could always use the green roof on the garage instead.
Separate living and dining areas — my parents had that back then, and the living room even had its own door. But I don’t think it’s necessary — and if we have guests my husband doesn’t want to see, he can just go upstairs to his PC/hobby room, and vice versa, I can retreat to my sewing room.
If we want to watch TV, we can always do that on the PC.
What I always noticed in show homes: they all had higher than standard ceiling heights, wider and taller doors than usual, and a lot of space in the hallway/entrance area. I would like that too, but it’s just not feasible on such a scale. Unfortunately, that means we also have to give up the 180° staircase with landings, since it would take up too much space that we need for more important things.
I have never liked open kitchens, and luckily my husband doesn’t either.
We don’t need a balcony either since there is a garden, and we could always use the green roof on the garage instead.
Separate living and dining areas — my parents had that back then, and the living room even had its own door. But I don’t think it’s necessary — and if we have guests my husband doesn’t want to see, he can just go upstairs to his PC/hobby room, and vice versa, I can retreat to my sewing room.
If we want to watch TV, we can always do that on the PC.
What I always noticed in show homes: they all had higher than standard ceiling heights, wider and taller doors than usual, and a lot of space in the hallway/entrance area. I would like that too, but it’s just not feasible on such a scale. Unfortunately, that means we also have to give up the 180° staircase with landings, since it would take up too much space that we need for more important things.
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