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
Climbee schrieb:
But it does have its charm not having to carry the beverage crates all through the house into the utility room, but just opening one door and – voilà – from the trunk straight to where they belong. The crates belong in the pantry, so...
besides that, I’m not going to clutter up my house with all that mess and the problem of finding space just because I want to bring drinks directly from the car into the house once a month. That’s what men are made for, after all!
The main issue with floor-to-ceiling windows in relatively small rooms is the loss of usable space.
If a living room of 16 or 20 square meters (172 or 215 square feet) is filled with furniture, it only works in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, which looks very limited and does not feel spacious at all.
In rooms of 30 square meters (323 square feet) or more, the situation looks different.
I often pass a house where a serving cabinet with a birdcage is placed in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, so you see two cables, bird food, and other clutter.
Next door is a house where you look at the back of a desk, with cables hanging there as well—it’s not very pleasant to look at.
If a living room of 16 or 20 square meters (172 or 215 square feet) is filled with furniture, it only works in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, which looks very limited and does not feel spacious at all.
In rooms of 30 square meters (323 square feet) or more, the situation looks different.
I often pass a house where a serving cabinet with a birdcage is placed in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, so you see two cables, bird food, and other clutter.
Next door is a house where you look at the back of a desk, with cables hanging there as well—it’s not very pleasant to look at.
I actually don’t like floor-to-ceiling windows at all. Tastes really differ... we have window sills under the windows (where it makes sense) about 40 cm (16 inches) high (also for seating windows) and don’t use any curtains or anything in front of them.
Even worse are true floor-to-ceiling windows with pleated blinds—I find those things so awful that I’m not even sure if I’m spelling it right...
But for some people, it seems mandatory: everything floor-to-ceiling, and then suddenly people can look inside—so we better put some fabric in front. Horrible.
But: tastes...
Even worse are true floor-to-ceiling windows with pleated blinds—I find those things so awful that I’m not even sure if I’m spelling it right...
But for some people, it seems mandatory: everything floor-to-ceiling, and then suddenly people can look inside—so we better put some fabric in front. Horrible.
But: tastes...
Well, have some sympathy for pleated blind fans [emoji6]. I agree that floor-to-ceiling windows only make sense in appropriately sized rooms, as you won’t risk blocking them, but even pleated blinds (which I personally dislike) have the advantage over solid walls in that they let more light into the room. More light creates a more open, spacious feeling compared to the darkness of solid walls. Naturally, opponents of pleated blinds will see this differently, but that’s just how it is—just try shining a flashlight behind a pleated blind and then behind a wall. [emoji6][emoji4]
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