ᐅ Final floor plan design – everything finalized except the windows
Created on: 2 Feb 2016 13:31
S
sirhc
Hello everyone,
I would like to share our nearly finished design here.
Feel free to share any thoughts, what you like or don’t like.
Primarily, I want to discuss the window arrangement on the ground floor. I have slightly adjusted the drawing and added our current furniture. Specifically, the position of the rear east-facing window and the dining table placement bother me. I would especially appreciate feedback on these points.
A few notes:
North is always at the top (so some drawings appear upside down).
1_Location:
- Neighbor to the west is far from the boundary (8m (26 feet))
- Small forest area to the east
- Railway track directly behind our property to the south (6 regional trains per hour)
- Gardens of houses on a northern street to the north
- The street is a dead end and ends just behind our plot (red marking)
- Driveway (3x6m (10x20 feet)), house access (1x5m (3x16 feet)), terrace (4x5m (13x16 feet)) not shown
2_Basement: no changes planned
K1 = Party/hobby/fitness room
K2 = Storage
K3 = Guest room (sloped ceiling/daylight window)
HA = House utilities, gas heating unit, controlled ventilation with heat recovery, washer & dryer
3_Ground floor: potential changes in green
- Front door recessed by 50cm (20 inches)
- Cloakroom and storage shifted from side by side to front to back (not precisely drawn)
- Chimney projection extended slightly so the refrigerator doesn’t stick out
- Window by the sofa will be a fixed, 2.00m (6 feet 7 inches) wide element
- Next to it a lift-and-slide door / PSKT, 2.00m (6 feet 7 inches) wide
- East side at the dining table we want a 1.50m (5 feet) fixed window element; we’re unsure where to place it best, maybe more to the north?
- Dining table shown as 1.00x1.70m (3x5 feet 7 inches) - uncertain about the optimal position
4_Upper floor: no changes planned
- Special feature: separate kids’ bathroom
- We know the wardrobes in the children’s rooms are incorrectly shown
5_Section: no comments
6_Front to rear (vo_hi): windows revised
Front view: window heights in the office and guest WC aligned
Rear view: enlarged window surfaces on ground floor
7_Side to side (re_li): windows revised
Left: floor-to-ceiling element, which is still a concern; kitchen window height adjusted
Right: no comments
That’s the main things on our mind.
Lastly, here is the info list:
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 372 sqm (4,000 sq ft)
Slope: plot slopes down 50cm (20 inches) to the south overall
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.5
Building envelope: mandatory 5m (16 feet) setback from the street at the front, then 15m (49 feet) depth of building possible; plus usual 3m (10 feet) to neighboring plots
Edge building: no
Number of parking spaces: 1 in front of garage
Number of floors: 1
Roof type: gable/half-hipped roof, 43 - 47 degrees, flat roof
Architectural style: ?
Orientation: ?
Maximum height/limits: none
Other requirements: no shiny roofing material allowed
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: classic, gable roof, detached single-family house
Basement, floors: yes, ground floor, converted attic (not full floor)
Number of residents, age: 2 adults (33 and 30 years old), 2 children planned
Space needs on ground and upper floor: as per drawings
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Annual guest stays: 10
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern design: light plaster facade, dark roofing, windows, doors, gates
Open kitchen with island: open kitchen without island
Number of dining seats: 4
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall combined with TV
Balcony, roof terrace: none, none
Garage, carport: garage, no carport (carport possibly later on east side)
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: possibly small vegetable garden, no greenhouse
Other wishes/special features/daily routine: none
House design
Who designed it: relatives with relevant professional background
What do you especially like? open ground floor; minimal hallway space in attic
What don’t you like? can’t think of anything
Price estimate by architect/planner: €300,000 (without landscaping, painting, flooring, tiling)
Personal price limit including fittings: not fixed
Preferred heating system: gas without solar (15% below old energy savings requirements; application submitted 2015)
If you had to give up something, which details/features
-can you do without: nothing
-can’t do without: everything
-------------------------------
I took the liberty to straighten the uploaded images 😉
Regards, Bauexperte
Bauexperte
I would like to share our nearly finished design here.
Feel free to share any thoughts, what you like or don’t like.
Primarily, I want to discuss the window arrangement on the ground floor. I have slightly adjusted the drawing and added our current furniture. Specifically, the position of the rear east-facing window and the dining table placement bother me. I would especially appreciate feedback on these points.
A few notes:
North is always at the top (so some drawings appear upside down).
1_Location:
- Neighbor to the west is far from the boundary (8m (26 feet))
- Small forest area to the east
- Railway track directly behind our property to the south (6 regional trains per hour)
- Gardens of houses on a northern street to the north
- The street is a dead end and ends just behind our plot (red marking)
- Driveway (3x6m (10x20 feet)), house access (1x5m (3x16 feet)), terrace (4x5m (13x16 feet)) not shown
2_Basement: no changes planned
K1 = Party/hobby/fitness room
K2 = Storage
K3 = Guest room (sloped ceiling/daylight window)
HA = House utilities, gas heating unit, controlled ventilation with heat recovery, washer & dryer
3_Ground floor: potential changes in green
- Front door recessed by 50cm (20 inches)
- Cloakroom and storage shifted from side by side to front to back (not precisely drawn)
- Chimney projection extended slightly so the refrigerator doesn’t stick out
- Window by the sofa will be a fixed, 2.00m (6 feet 7 inches) wide element
- Next to it a lift-and-slide door / PSKT, 2.00m (6 feet 7 inches) wide
- East side at the dining table we want a 1.50m (5 feet) fixed window element; we’re unsure where to place it best, maybe more to the north?
- Dining table shown as 1.00x1.70m (3x5 feet 7 inches) - uncertain about the optimal position
4_Upper floor: no changes planned
- Special feature: separate kids’ bathroom
- We know the wardrobes in the children’s rooms are incorrectly shown
5_Section: no comments
6_Front to rear (vo_hi): windows revised
Front view: window heights in the office and guest WC aligned
Rear view: enlarged window surfaces on ground floor
7_Side to side (re_li): windows revised
Left: floor-to-ceiling element, which is still a concern; kitchen window height adjusted
Right: no comments
That’s the main things on our mind.
Lastly, here is the info list:
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 372 sqm (4,000 sq ft)
Slope: plot slopes down 50cm (20 inches) to the south overall
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.5
Building envelope: mandatory 5m (16 feet) setback from the street at the front, then 15m (49 feet) depth of building possible; plus usual 3m (10 feet) to neighboring plots
Edge building: no
Number of parking spaces: 1 in front of garage
Number of floors: 1
Roof type: gable/half-hipped roof, 43 - 47 degrees, flat roof
Architectural style: ?
Orientation: ?
Maximum height/limits: none
Other requirements: no shiny roofing material allowed
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: classic, gable roof, detached single-family house
Basement, floors: yes, ground floor, converted attic (not full floor)
Number of residents, age: 2 adults (33 and 30 years old), 2 children planned
Space needs on ground and upper floor: as per drawings
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Annual guest stays: 10
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern design: light plaster facade, dark roofing, windows, doors, gates
Open kitchen with island: open kitchen without island
Number of dining seats: 4
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall combined with TV
Balcony, roof terrace: none, none
Garage, carport: garage, no carport (carport possibly later on east side)
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: possibly small vegetable garden, no greenhouse
Other wishes/special features/daily routine: none
House design
Who designed it: relatives with relevant professional background
What do you especially like? open ground floor; minimal hallway space in attic
What don’t you like? can’t think of anything
Price estimate by architect/planner: €300,000 (without landscaping, painting, flooring, tiling)
Personal price limit including fittings: not fixed
Preferred heating system: gas without solar (15% below old energy savings requirements; application submitted 2015)
If you had to give up something, which details/features
-can you do without: nothing
-can’t do without: everything
-------------------------------
I took the liberty to straighten the uploaded images 😉
Regards, Bauexperte
Bauexperte
sirhc schrieb:
@maximax
With all due respect, my point was about the arrangement of the windows in the living room, not to turn my design into a completely different house. I had a few suggestions regarding this specific floor plan. How you eventually use your 90cm (35 inch) wide storage hose is thankfully not my concern.
I already mentioned that the kitchen door should be hinged the other way around. That doesn’t change the fact that the space behind the door is only partially usable. This is generally not a problem and frequently seen; one just needs to be aware of it.
The sloping is shown as an example. Maybe it will even be angular instead of rounded, who knows... the main goal is simply to bring some light into the room, I don’t really care what the regulations say. The lighting of basement rooms is important in the long term. On one hand, those rooms will most likely be used differently later on; on the other hand, the house might be sold someday. Then the question arises how many square meters (square feet) of living space are being sold. As soon as a room in the basement is classified as living space, the entire basement can be counted as living area. Building codes and regulations exist for good reason: a basement window with a 45° slope is very different from one with a 70° slope.
Why have a master bathroom if I access it through the hallway? There are many reasons for a second bathroom. Some find it simply practical that two people can shower simultaneously, others want extra privacy for the parents compared to the children.
Why a children’s bathroom without a shower? I wrote that the children’s bathroom could be extended at the expense of the master bathroom, thereby implicitly creating space for a shower again.
Our approach is an open floor plan; a sliding door between the kitchen and dining area doesn’t fit that. That’s why I wrote sliding or folding door. There are partition walls that take up hardly any space in the open position but still don’t look cheap like the folding walls from the hardware store of ages past. This could be perfectly implemented in this floor plan. You would have the open kitchen as normal, but for holiday meals or when cooking strong-smelling dishes like braised Brussels sprouts, you can close off the kitchen. This is just a suggestion to consider, not a requirement.
Regarding the windows: It’s actually simple—there should be wall space left for furniture. So if a side window is desired, it would be practical to place it by the table. If there is no dining area planned in the kitchen, I would place the table directly next to the kitchen. This way, the dining area and the seating area are located in opposite corners, relieving their competition for space. The fireplace would need to be relocated elsewhere. Of course, the almost square room with these two functional zones is not optimally used. It might help to have a sofa plus an armchair instead of the seating group, positioned with their backs to the wall and the TV facing into the room roughly between the two windows.
S
Sebastian794 Feb 2016 19:48maximax schrieb:
As soon as a room in the basement is considered a living space, the entire basement can be counted as living area.That is - at least in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) - incorrect. Only the room that is actually designed and used as living space can be counted as such.
And why do you assume as a given that the house will be sold later? This reminds me of our first banker, who kept insisting on changes to the house just to make sure it could be sold easily in the future. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing...
Sebastian79 schrieb:
That is incorrect—at least in NRW. Only the rooms that are officially counted as living space qualify as such. I read it differently in another source, though only secondary literature, but in any case, it's best to consult an expert. I was somewhat surprised. The Living Space Ordinance is uniform nationwide but does not provide any information on this.And why do you take it for granted that the house will be sold later? Reminds me of our first banker, who insisted on all the things that must be different in the house to ensure it could be sold well later. I thought I wasn’t hearing correctly... The idea behind building a house is, of course, to create a home that suits the individual. But considering how many marriages end in divorce nowadays, the uncertainty of jobs, and how people tend to reorient themselves throughout life, it is almost certain that the house will be sold during the owner’s lifetime. Anything else seems naive to me. Therefore, you have to consider how to design the house as future-proof and flexible as possible without making too many compromises for yourself. On the one hand, there is a significant amount of money invested in the house, and you want to get as much of it back as possible, especially if the mortgage is still being paid off. On the other hand, it does make a difference whether you get $10,000 more or less when you sell your paid-off house at age 70 to finance a care home.Furthermore, thinking about a potential sale also supports the idea of adapting the house for your own changing needs in the future.
S
Sebastian794 Feb 2016 20:24Then we must be naive 🙂
We won't even come close to getting the money back... and we only built for ourselves.
I have living space in the basement, and other rooms are designated differently accordingly.
We won't even come close to getting the money back... and we only built for ourselves.
I have living space in the basement, and other rooms are designated differently accordingly.
@maximax
Thanks, some things are clearer now after reading your detailed post. I do see a few points differently (folding door, basement as living space, possible house sale), but your explanations about windows have been helpful and even sparked an idea, thanks. I will draw again based on that.
Thanks, some things are clearer now after reading your detailed post. I do see a few points differently (folding door, basement as living space, possible house sale), but your explanations about windows have been helpful and even sparked an idea, thanks. I will draw again based on that.
Simply wonderful. I was searching for the house photo thread using the search function and happened to come across my old topic in the results, so I reread it completely.
I was just standing in the house, walking through all the rooms, and thought again to myself: for us, everything is perfect, just as it should be.
The floor plans I posted back then have only undergone a few changes:
- the floor-to-ceiling window facing east is now 1.75 meters (5 ft 9 in) wide instead of 1.50 meters (4 ft 11 in)
- the storage room has become even narrower, now 85 cm (33 inches) instead of 90 cm (35 inches)
- the walls between the cloakroom/storage room and guest WC/storage room were built 6 cm (2.4 inches) thick instead of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) to gain a bit more space; the doors now open into the hallway
- the kitchen took some space from the study (wall moved 50 cm (20 inches)); the kitchen is now 3.00 x 3.40 meters (9 ft 10 in x 11 ft 2 in) plus a freestanding refrigerator; the "dead corner" in the L-shaped layout was adapted to an extended L for better use; the kitchen door is designed as a sliding door on the hallway wall, so it never gets in the way
- in the basement utility room, we separated a shower bathroom as a separate room
Rest assured, the stairs, children’s bathroom, and everything else also work perfectly. 🙂
Best regards!
I was just standing in the house, walking through all the rooms, and thought again to myself: for us, everything is perfect, just as it should be.
The floor plans I posted back then have only undergone a few changes:
- the floor-to-ceiling window facing east is now 1.75 meters (5 ft 9 in) wide instead of 1.50 meters (4 ft 11 in)
- the storage room has become even narrower, now 85 cm (33 inches) instead of 90 cm (35 inches)
- the walls between the cloakroom/storage room and guest WC/storage room were built 6 cm (2.4 inches) thick instead of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) to gain a bit more space; the doors now open into the hallway
- the kitchen took some space from the study (wall moved 50 cm (20 inches)); the kitchen is now 3.00 x 3.40 meters (9 ft 10 in x 11 ft 2 in) plus a freestanding refrigerator; the "dead corner" in the L-shaped layout was adapted to an extended L for better use; the kitchen door is designed as a sliding door on the hallway wall, so it never gets in the way
- in the basement utility room, we separated a shower bathroom as a separate room
Rest assured, the stairs, children’s bathroom, and everything else also work perfectly. 🙂
Best regards!
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