ᐅ Floor Plan for a 150 m² Corner Bungalow with Expansion Options
Created on: 5 Feb 2022 01:31
R
Ramona13
Hello 🙂
After what felt like hundreds of crumpled drafts in the recycle bin, we finally have a floor plan that we like and that fits our size requirements. Initially, we planned way too large, sometimes over 250m² (2700 sq ft) of living space... oops... Now we have settled on a nice 150m² (1600 sq ft) 🙂
We mainly reduced the number of rooms. Originally, we planned 2 offices and 2 future children’s rooms, but now only 2 offices remain, with at least one definitely convertible into a children’s room. This makes more sense since we don’t want to seriously consider having children before at least 5 years from now. We also initially planned a small wellness area with a sauna, loungers, and a hot tub inside the house, but this will now be a separate building in the garden.
More generally, I have already written here https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/vereinigung-zweier-Grundstücke-baufenster-neu-legen.42280/ about our plots. The request for merging them is still in progress, so we don’t have a definitive location for the house yet. Ideally, we’d like it centered on the current boundary line or, alternatively, on the rear building plot with border development facing the neighboring property.
Fortunately, regarding the development plan/planning restrictions, we will have quite a bit of flexibility. We can submit a preliminary building inquiry to check if everything is acceptable. The last house built here in the village about 4 years ago had 2 full floors, a different roof pitch, and presumably got some exceptions approved without problems. The community is generally happy that we want to fill a building gap 😉
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1500m² (0.37 acres)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio & plot ratio... very confusing 🤨
Building window, building line and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of floors: 1
Roof shape: gable roof, half-hip roof
Style
Ridge orientation parallel to street
Maximum heights/limits
Additional requirements: knee wall 0-50cm (0-20 inches)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Corner bungalow with gable roof, modern with Japanese elements
Timber construction by local carpentry with the possibility of contributing a lot of own work.
Basement, floors
No basement, 1 floor
Number of people, age
25 (female) and 28 (male) + 2 cats
Children not planned initially, earliest in 5 years
Space needs ground floor / upper floor
Office: family use or home office?
Separate offices for home office
Guest bedrooms per year
Very few
Open or closed layout
Open living area
Conservative or modern design
Modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island
Kitchen island facing the garden, pantry as a separate room behind the kitchen
Number of dining seats
4-6
Fireplace
No
Music / stereo wall
No
Balcony, roof terrace
No
Garage, carport
Probably carport, but not decided yet
Utility garden, greenhouse
Vegetable garden with large greenhouse definitely planned on the property
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why some things are or are not desired
- A gallery in the roof, open to the living area, would be a big dream of mine, but only if financially feasible. Otherwise, this part of the roof will be storage space or intended for later expansion.
- Smart home with KNX installed by ourselves (all electrical work will be DIY in cooperation with a certified electrician who will inspect and approve)
- Controlled mechanical ventilation and a separate split air conditioning system
- Photovoltaic system on the roof facing south and east
- Garden must be cat-proof fenced since our cats are not outdoor cats (currently strictly indoor cats)
- Exposed beam ceiling in the open living area
House Design
Designer:
- Do-it-Yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
The open living area with the possibility to use both the south and north terraces.
Small “reading nook” at the end of the hallway with a large seat window (-> if there is a gallery, the staircase will lead upstairs here and the reading nook will be located there)
What don’t you like? Why?
Maybe the hallway is too long...
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: none yet, appointment with architect next week.
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: we hope to stay under €500,000 (approx. $540,000)
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump with underfloor heating
If you had to give up, which details / expansions
- could you do without:
- Gallery would be nice but is not essential
- Wellness area in the garden can be built later
- Reading nook
- could you not do without:
- Air conditioning
- KNX system
- Separate offices
- Cat-proof garden
Why did the design turn out this way? e.g.
Standard draft from planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Our design developed step by step from many sketches, floor plans, and photos found online.
The interior furnishing in the 3D images is only a placeholder; the detailed interior design is still being planned.
Finally, this design gives us a satisfied feeling in terms of size and room layout 🙂
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
In your opinion, is our project achievable for a maximum of €500,000 (approx. $540,000), and is it sensible to plan smaller first and then expand by adding a loft conversion?
I am very grateful for your opinions, ideas, and suggestions for improvement! 🙂
After what felt like hundreds of crumpled drafts in the recycle bin, we finally have a floor plan that we like and that fits our size requirements. Initially, we planned way too large, sometimes over 250m² (2700 sq ft) of living space... oops... Now we have settled on a nice 150m² (1600 sq ft) 🙂
We mainly reduced the number of rooms. Originally, we planned 2 offices and 2 future children’s rooms, but now only 2 offices remain, with at least one definitely convertible into a children’s room. This makes more sense since we don’t want to seriously consider having children before at least 5 years from now. We also initially planned a small wellness area with a sauna, loungers, and a hot tub inside the house, but this will now be a separate building in the garden.
More generally, I have already written here https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/vereinigung-zweier-Grundstücke-baufenster-neu-legen.42280/ about our plots. The request for merging them is still in progress, so we don’t have a definitive location for the house yet. Ideally, we’d like it centered on the current boundary line or, alternatively, on the rear building plot with border development facing the neighboring property.
Fortunately, regarding the development plan/planning restrictions, we will have quite a bit of flexibility. We can submit a preliminary building inquiry to check if everything is acceptable. The last house built here in the village about 4 years ago had 2 full floors, a different roof pitch, and presumably got some exceptions approved without problems. The community is generally happy that we want to fill a building gap 😉
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1500m² (0.37 acres)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio & plot ratio... very confusing 🤨
Building window, building line and boundary
Edge development
Number of parking spaces
Number of floors: 1
Roof shape: gable roof, half-hip roof
Style
Ridge orientation parallel to street
Maximum heights/limits
Additional requirements: knee wall 0-50cm (0-20 inches)
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Corner bungalow with gable roof, modern with Japanese elements
Timber construction by local carpentry with the possibility of contributing a lot of own work.
Basement, floors
No basement, 1 floor
Number of people, age
25 (female) and 28 (male) + 2 cats
Children not planned initially, earliest in 5 years
Space needs ground floor / upper floor
Office: family use or home office?
Separate offices for home office
Guest bedrooms per year
Very few
Open or closed layout
Open living area
Conservative or modern design
Modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island
Kitchen island facing the garden, pantry as a separate room behind the kitchen
Number of dining seats
4-6
Fireplace
No
Music / stereo wall
No
Balcony, roof terrace
No
Garage, carport
Probably carport, but not decided yet
Utility garden, greenhouse
Vegetable garden with large greenhouse definitely planned on the property
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why some things are or are not desired
- A gallery in the roof, open to the living area, would be a big dream of mine, but only if financially feasible. Otherwise, this part of the roof will be storage space or intended for later expansion.
- Smart home with KNX installed by ourselves (all electrical work will be DIY in cooperation with a certified electrician who will inspect and approve)
- Controlled mechanical ventilation and a separate split air conditioning system
- Photovoltaic system on the roof facing south and east
- Garden must be cat-proof fenced since our cats are not outdoor cats (currently strictly indoor cats)
- Exposed beam ceiling in the open living area
House Design
Designer:
- Do-it-Yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
The open living area with the possibility to use both the south and north terraces.
Small “reading nook” at the end of the hallway with a large seat window (-> if there is a gallery, the staircase will lead upstairs here and the reading nook will be located there)
What don’t you like? Why?
Maybe the hallway is too long...
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: none yet, appointment with architect next week.
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: we hope to stay under €500,000 (approx. $540,000)
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump with underfloor heating
If you had to give up, which details / expansions
- could you do without:
- Gallery would be nice but is not essential
- Wellness area in the garden can be built later
- Reading nook
- could you not do without:
- Air conditioning
- KNX system
- Separate offices
- Cat-proof garden
Why did the design turn out this way? e.g.
Standard draft from planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Our design developed step by step from many sketches, floor plans, and photos found online.
The interior furnishing in the 3D images is only a placeholder; the detailed interior design is still being planned.
Finally, this design gives us a satisfied feeling in terms of size and room layout 🙂
What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
In your opinion, is our project achievable for a maximum of €500,000 (approx. $540,000), and is it sensible to plan smaller first and then expand by adding a loft conversion?
I am very grateful for your opinions, ideas, and suggestions for improvement! 🙂
Basically, I agree that you should put your draft aside and simply write down your wishes for the architect. This way, you enter the discussion, and a design will be created based on your input. I wish you good luck finding a good architect. Many people here suggest that the “design genius” just does everything perfectly and that the result is fantastic. As in most fields, there are many good professionals, but unfortunately also many unmotivated or less skilled ones. My experience over the past two years shows a significant proportion of the latter.
The comparison with a car is misleading! This is about living space, which each person defines for themselves. It’s about walking routes, habits, wishes, and preferences. It’s not about how to assemble an engine, tweaking it for more horsepower or efficiency, but about usability. A layperson doesn’t need to know (although it would be better if they did) the exact structural details of a house. What homeowners can and should know is what they want and why. Most probably don’t, but the generalization that the design genius will just fix everything is simply not fair. Period! To narrow down the comparison: a homeowner can very well plan a kitchen if they know exactly how they function, what the workflows are, and why they perform particular tasks. In some cases, this planning might be better than that of a professional—but not necessarily.
In short: write it down, at least put aside your own sketch, and go to the architect. Carefully review the result and visualize for yourself whether it is a good solution.
The comparison with a car is misleading! This is about living space, which each person defines for themselves. It’s about walking routes, habits, wishes, and preferences. It’s not about how to assemble an engine, tweaking it for more horsepower or efficiency, but about usability. A layperson doesn’t need to know (although it would be better if they did) the exact structural details of a house. What homeowners can and should know is what they want and why. Most probably don’t, but the generalization that the design genius will just fix everything is simply not fair. Period! To narrow down the comparison: a homeowner can very well plan a kitchen if they know exactly how they function, what the workflows are, and why they perform particular tasks. In some cases, this planning might be better than that of a professional—but not necessarily.
In short: write it down, at least put aside your own sketch, and go to the architect. Carefully review the result and visualize for yourself whether it is a good solution.
minimini schrieb:
Maybe something to consider before your meeting: right now you want two offices (which could also be separated acoustically with reinforced walls), possibly children in the future. Then one office space would be repurposed, but you would need new office space elsewhere? That scenario isn’t entirely clear to me yet.
If that’s the case, I would
- either build a standard mid-terrace house and reconsider/plan once the children arrive and space needs are clearer,
- or build it from the start so that an extension or addition is planned, perhaps as a setback floor or similar. I can imagine some nice options there.
In any case, I would invest energy in the spatial planning, but not in the construction itself. The plan is to build the house so it can be expanded later. For example, to add new children’s rooms in the attic and turn the office back into one as soon as that is done. I’m also factoring in parental leave, during which I won’t need a private office because I won’t be working. But these are all just ideas; we’re not really sure about the children situation yet, but we don’t want to rule it out either.
We’re also open to an extension on the ground floor, as we basically have the space for that.
haydee schrieb:
Then you surely know which architects, planners, etc. the carpentry company works with or if they have in-house draftsmen.
Never present this plan with the maze-like hallway. Write down your requirements. The car comparison fits. I don’t know the architects or draftsmen the carpentry company works with, as we haven’t dealt with house building yet. However, the company installed the roof windows in our current apartment and made my wooden window sills and desk surface. Otherwise, we just know each other from everyday life, local festivals, and such.
cryptoki schrieb:
Basically, I agree that you should put your design aside and simply write down your wishes for the architect. That way, you enter the conversation, and a design will be created based on those specifications. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you find a good architect. Many here suggest that the “drawing genius” will do everything and the result will be amazing. But like in any industry, there are many good professionals, but unfortunately also many unmotivated or not-so-great ones. My experience over the last two years shows a significant percentage in the latter category.
The comparison with a car doesn’t really fit! This is about living space, which each person defines for themselves. It’s about walking routes, habits, wishes, and preferences. It’s not about how to assemble an engine to get more horsepower or efficiency, but about usage. A layperson does not need to know (though it would be better if they did) the detailed construction of a house. What homeowners can and should know very well is what they want and why. Most probably don’t, but the generalization that the drawing genius will just fix everything is, frankly, not nice. Period. To make the comparison more concrete: A homeowner can definitely plan a kitchen if they know exactly how they work, the routes they take, and why they perform certain tasks. Then the planning can be better, but doesn’t have to be, than a professional’s.
In short: Write it down, at least put your own sketch aside, and go to the architect. Carefully check the result and visualize for yourself if it’s a good solution.I am increasingly convinced that it makes sense to get proper planning and that doing everything yourself isn’t always possible. The kitchen is a good example—I know exactly how I need it and where everything should be, which drawers and compartments should be where. In the end, the kitchen designer just needs to optimize this and hopefully offer a fair price 😉 Drawing it myself was definitely helpful to clarify our wishes and requirements. My husband can’t imagine it without a nice 3D image, so I have to incorporate every idea and suggestion because a simple paper sketch isn’t enough :pSimilar topics