Hello everyone,
My girlfriend and I are currently deep in planning our new build (urban villa, about 185 sqm (2000 sq ft), without a basement). We already have the plot (521 sqm (5600 sq ft)) and a builder (Heinz von Heiden) selected.
The actual architectural consultation for the detailed planning will take place next year. At the moment, we only have a draft that we created together with the sales representative.
We would appreciate any feedback from you regarding whether there are any major mistakes in our planning or if there might be smaller suggestions for improvement.
Our main considerations are as follows:
- Living/dining/kitchen area should be open and not too cramped (~53 sqm (570 sq ft))
- A gallery in the entrance area as a small visual highlight is important to us
- Master bedroom with a relatively large walk-in closet on the upper floor
- 2 children’s bedrooms
- Smaller office on the ground floor, which can also be used as a 3rd children’s room if needed
- Large bathroom for parents and children on the upper floor, as well as a shower/WC on the ground floor for guests and as an alternative when the children grow older
- Attic will not be developed (25° roof pitch) but used only as storage space (folding attic stairs are installed)
- Utility room with 11 sqm (120 sq ft) should be large enough to accommodate the air source heat pump, water tank, ventilation system, as well as washing machine, dryer, and water crates
However, we still have some open questions:
- Should we build a reinforced concrete staircase with storage space underneath?
- Should we place a pantry next to the kitchen (and thereby sacrifice part of the hallway)?
- Is the ground floor hallway too large at nearly 21 sqm (225 sq ft)? Where could space reasonably be gained?
Many thanks and best regards
Julian
My girlfriend and I are currently deep in planning our new build (urban villa, about 185 sqm (2000 sq ft), without a basement). We already have the plot (521 sqm (5600 sq ft)) and a builder (Heinz von Heiden) selected.
The actual architectural consultation for the detailed planning will take place next year. At the moment, we only have a draft that we created together with the sales representative.
We would appreciate any feedback from you regarding whether there are any major mistakes in our planning or if there might be smaller suggestions for improvement.
Our main considerations are as follows:
- Living/dining/kitchen area should be open and not too cramped (~53 sqm (570 sq ft))
- A gallery in the entrance area as a small visual highlight is important to us
- Master bedroom with a relatively large walk-in closet on the upper floor
- 2 children’s bedrooms
- Smaller office on the ground floor, which can also be used as a 3rd children’s room if needed
- Large bathroom for parents and children on the upper floor, as well as a shower/WC on the ground floor for guests and as an alternative when the children grow older
- Attic will not be developed (25° roof pitch) but used only as storage space (folding attic stairs are installed)
- Utility room with 11 sqm (120 sq ft) should be large enough to accommodate the air source heat pump, water tank, ventilation system, as well as washing machine, dryer, and water crates
However, we still have some open questions:
- Should we build a reinforced concrete staircase with storage space underneath?
- Should we place a pantry next to the kitchen (and thereby sacrifice part of the hallway)?
- Is the ground floor hallway too large at nearly 21 sqm (225 sq ft)? Where could space reasonably be gained?
Many thanks and best regards
Julian
vonBYnachSH schrieb:
It seems to me that you are still very much at the beginning and haven’t given enough thought to the floor plan. Here are a few obvious issues right away (does Heinz von Heiden actually offer such a floor plan?): + if the guest room on the ground floor is supposed to become a children’s room, it is far too small. At 8sqm (86 sq ft) it’s really not even suitable as a guest room + utility room only accessible through the kitchen – do you really want to carry laundry through the kitchen every time? The door also takes up a lot of space in the kitchen + staircase right at the entrance: consider whether you want that, especially carrying muddy shoes upstairs (this is especially relevant with children and their friends) + the same goes for the toilet on the ground floor: dirty shoes are taken off in the cloakroom and then you have to go through it every time to get to the toilet + bathroom upstairs is very, very large, but there is a lack of storage space + if you need to use the toilet at night, it’s quite a trek all this is just on the fly; my tip is to look at many more floor plans, there is a lot possible given the size! Thank you very much for your feedback. We actually already discussed several of your points this morning and have decided to a) enlarge the guest room on the ground floor, make the guest bathroom a bit narrower, and then have it align flush with the guest room/office in the hallway b) plan an entrance to the utility room under the stairs and eliminate the door from the kitchen to the utility room c) slightly reduce the bathroom upstairs and enlarge the master bedroom
The distance to the toilet upstairs is perfectly fine for us. Regarding the staircase, we still need to visit some show homes to form a clear opinion. Thanks for the advice.
Below is a rough sketch of our plot including the house footprint (still a bit smaller here) with garage. The orientation of the sketch corresponds to the cardinal directions (so top = north).
B
barfly66623 Dec 2021 10:09The door from the kitchen to the utility room (or pantry) could be designed as a hidden door during the kitchen planning process, so it looks like a kitchen cabinet door but actually leads to the utility room. Carrying laundry around could be solved with a laundry chute from the bathroom.
For the living and dining area, I would design the fireplace partly as a room divider; it makes the living room cozier without closing off the open space.
Moving the staircase because of dirty shoes? Hmm, in some households, people take off their dirty shoes. If the kids don’t want to take off their shoes, a clear reminder to them: there’s always the baby gate, so you can keep your shoes on.
For the living and dining area, I would design the fireplace partly as a room divider; it makes the living room cozier without closing off the open space.
Moving the staircase because of dirty shoes? Hmm, in some households, people take off their dirty shoes. If the kids don’t want to take off their shoes, a clear reminder to them: there’s always the baby gate, so you can keep your shoes on.
S
saralina8723 Dec 2021 10:16Bauenaberwie schrieb:
But I can hardly believe the house price. With 12x10 meters (39x33 feet), we’re talking about roughly 200 m² (2,150 sq ft) of living space. Even at an extremely “cheap” rate of 2000 €/m² (186 USD/sq ft), you’re already at 400,000 €. And for a house that size, 15,000 € (14,000 USD) for the final inspection costs is rarely enough. You can almost spend that just on the electrical installation alone :/Exactly! Basically, we’re discussing a pipe dream here.
vonBYnachSH23 Dec 2021 11:01Move the staircase because of dirty shoes? Hmm, in some households, people take off their dirty shoes at the door. If the kids don’t want to take their shoes off, a clear warning to them could be that there’s still the baby hatch, so they can keep their shoes on.
If you now tell me how you get into the house then? By flying? Asking people to take their shoes off before entering the house (which I find quite embarrassing)? When a group of boys comes in after playing soccer outside, you definitely don’t want to walk through that mess. And you certainly don’t want them to carry dirt upstairs into the rooms. I speak from experience.
If you now tell me how you get into the house then? By flying? Asking people to take their shoes off before entering the house (which I find quite embarrassing)? When a group of boys comes in after playing soccer outside, you definitely don’t want to walk through that mess. And you certainly don’t want them to carry dirt upstairs into the rooms. I speak from experience.
saralina87 schrieb:
Exactly!
Basically, what is being discussed here is a pipe dream.saralina87 schrieb:
Exactly!
Basically, what is being discussed here is a pipe dream.Thank you very much for the feedback. Heinz von Heiden is certainly one of the most affordable providers on the market. Accordingly, the features offered are not high-end, but rather budget to standard.So far, we are comfortable with the cost breakdown and the specifications.
Underfloor heating, electric roller shutters, air source heat pump, and central ventilation (without heat recovery) are included as standard. Electrical costs will definitely increase, since currently we have no charging station and only one outlet on the terrace. We have upgraded to 20 double sockets compared to the standard. We will also need to upgrade the bathrooms as the standard fittings do not appeal to us.
If we then have to invest the KfW subsidy of 26,000 euros into upgrades, so be it.
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