Hello everyone,
We are starting to plan an alternative to the costly renovation of our house. So far, we have had our first discussions and collaboration with a general contractor of our choice.
I would appreciate honest feedback so that we can identify any overlooked issues now, rather than during construction.
Summary:
Development plan exists, few restrictions, maximum eaves height of 8m (26 ft) might cause some issues for us.
Plot size: 710m² (7,645 ft²)
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Hip roof
Style: Townhouse / Urban villa
Orientation: Plot faces northwest, see attachment
Maximum height/limits: 8m (26 ft) eaves height, 5m (16 ft) setback from northern and western property boundaries for the building, due to requested landscaping
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Flexible; overall package must be appealing
No basement, two full stories
Number of occupants: 6 persons (ages 38, 37, 8, 6, 2, 2)
Space needs: 5 bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 offices on the ground floor, at least 2 showers
Offices: Both offices necessary, 1 fully dedicated home office (regardless of pandemic), 1 study for a teacher
Overnight guests per year: 6; can sleep elsewhere or in one of the offices
Open or closed layout: Flexible
Conservative or modern construction: Flexible
Kitchen: Preferably open with an island (for food prep, not for cooking at)
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Provision for a wood stove, thus chimney required
2 carports, no garage
Special features: A cleaning area/utility room “mudroom” is desired because our children tend to be messy. Children’s bedrooms to be approximately the same size (+/-).
House design
Designed by: Planner from a construction company
What we like:
- Simple floor plan
- 2 offices
- 5 bedrooms on one level
- Bedrooms roughly the same size
- Kitchen easily furnishable
- Not larger than 200m² (2,153 ft²) (cleaning, construction costs)
- Fits the plot well
- Short access for groceries (directly into kitchen)
What we don’t like:
- The path to the living room goes through the kitchen
- Relatively large circulation areas
- No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approximately €440,000 (about $490,000) excluding painting and floor coverings (except tiles, which are included for kitchen, entrance, hallway on ground floor, and bathrooms)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: €540,000 (about $600,000), including fittings and additional construction costs, land extra. Can be increased if needed up to €640,000 (about $710,000)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump or gas
What can you do without? Which details or extras can you skip?
- Can omit 1 office if the corresponding bedroom is 3m² (32 ft²) bigger (a desk corner instead)
Why does the design look like this now?
We found a standard design that we were able to adapt to our needs with relatively few changes.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
What daily challenges do you see with 4 children that we might have missed? What haven’t we considered?
The house is planned for the top left corner plot (circled) on the site map.
The floor plans have unfortunately been manually altered, so my revisions regarding room names are included. The guest room is actually office 2... The revised room sizes are approximate.
Thank you very much and best regards,
SoL
We are starting to plan an alternative to the costly renovation of our house. So far, we have had our first discussions and collaboration with a general contractor of our choice.
I would appreciate honest feedback so that we can identify any overlooked issues now, rather than during construction.
Summary:
Development plan exists, few restrictions, maximum eaves height of 8m (26 ft) might cause some issues for us.
Plot size: 710m² (7,645 ft²)
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Hip roof
Style: Townhouse / Urban villa
Orientation: Plot faces northwest, see attachment
Maximum height/limits: 8m (26 ft) eaves height, 5m (16 ft) setback from northern and western property boundaries for the building, due to requested landscaping
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Flexible; overall package must be appealing
No basement, two full stories
Number of occupants: 6 persons (ages 38, 37, 8, 6, 2, 2)
Space needs: 5 bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 offices on the ground floor, at least 2 showers
Offices: Both offices necessary, 1 fully dedicated home office (regardless of pandemic), 1 study for a teacher
Overnight guests per year: 6; can sleep elsewhere or in one of the offices
Open or closed layout: Flexible
Conservative or modern construction: Flexible
Kitchen: Preferably open with an island (for food prep, not for cooking at)
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Provision for a wood stove, thus chimney required
2 carports, no garage
Special features: A cleaning area/utility room “mudroom” is desired because our children tend to be messy. Children’s bedrooms to be approximately the same size (+/-).
House design
Designed by: Planner from a construction company
What we like:
- Simple floor plan
- 2 offices
- 5 bedrooms on one level
- Bedrooms roughly the same size
- Kitchen easily furnishable
- Not larger than 200m² (2,153 ft²) (cleaning, construction costs)
- Fits the plot well
- Short access for groceries (directly into kitchen)
What we don’t like:
- The path to the living room goes through the kitchen
- Relatively large circulation areas
- No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approximately €440,000 (about $490,000) excluding painting and floor coverings (except tiles, which are included for kitchen, entrance, hallway on ground floor, and bathrooms)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: €540,000 (about $600,000), including fittings and additional construction costs, land extra. Can be increased if needed up to €640,000 (about $710,000)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump or gas
What can you do without? Which details or extras can you skip?
- Can omit 1 office if the corresponding bedroom is 3m² (32 ft²) bigger (a desk corner instead)
Why does the design look like this now?
We found a standard design that we were able to adapt to our needs with relatively few changes.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
What daily challenges do you see with 4 children that we might have missed? What haven’t we considered?
The house is planned for the top left corner plot (circled) on the site map.
The floor plans have unfortunately been manually altered, so my revisions regarding room names are included. The guest room is actually office 2... The revised room sizes are approximate.
Thank you very much and best regards,
SoL
I generally like the floor plan; perhaps adding a bay window to the kitchen could create more space for a better connection to the living area and a pantry. This would also benefit the upper floor area, as I personally find a 9m² (97 sq ft) bathroom for six people quite tight, especially as the children grow older. 😉
Hello,
where is north on the site plan?
I find the bathroom size problematic for 6 people.
I would remove the gallery and create a large bathroom for the children with a bathtub, plus a small ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom.
Another option to consider would be to place the utility room (possibly including technical equipment?) on the upper floor. Then the laundry is done where most of it originates. This saves walking distances.
However, that will be quite challenging in terms of space.
I like the large entrance area; you will need that space, but you probably already know that... 😉
Unfortunately, I’m not really happy with the layout. I have a feeling that a different staircase design could save a lot of circulation space on the upper floor...
Also, you have the unwanted access to the living room through the kitchen.
I don’t see the missing pantry as a big issue.
I prefer a large built-in refrigerator in the kitchen and a storage cabinet, which holds plenty of supplies. Rarely used items can go into the utility room.
I’m always surprised how much stock we can fit into our pantry cabinet.
I’ve attached a picture; ours isn’t even head height.
€: And a skylight above the staircase would probably be a good idea for the ground floor as well. I imagine the hallway might otherwise be rather dark.
where is north on the site plan?
I find the bathroom size problematic for 6 people.
I would remove the gallery and create a large bathroom for the children with a bathtub, plus a small ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom.
Another option to consider would be to place the utility room (possibly including technical equipment?) on the upper floor. Then the laundry is done where most of it originates. This saves walking distances.
However, that will be quite challenging in terms of space.
I like the large entrance area; you will need that space, but you probably already know that... 😉
Unfortunately, I’m not really happy with the layout. I have a feeling that a different staircase design could save a lot of circulation space on the upper floor...
Also, you have the unwanted access to the living room through the kitchen.
I don’t see the missing pantry as a big issue.
I prefer a large built-in refrigerator in the kitchen and a storage cabinet, which holds plenty of supplies. Rarely used items can go into the utility room.
I’m always surprised how much stock we can fit into our pantry cabinet.
I’ve attached a picture; ours isn’t even head height.
€: And a skylight above the staircase would probably be a good idea for the ground floor as well. I imagine the hallway might otherwise be rather dark.
First of all, thank you for your assessments.
I share the concerns regarding the bathroom size; possibly Child Room 3 can be redesigned to utilize the unnecessary empty space, which would benefit the bathroom.
Thanks also for the picture, it eases my concerns about the pantry, and we also have the kitchen island for additional storage.
Regarding the north orientation: in the upper part of the plan, you can find the plot number of the adjacent field (132/4), which is oriented to true north. So north is to the upper right.
I share the concerns regarding the bathroom size; possibly Child Room 3 can be redesigned to utilize the unnecessary empty space, which would benefit the bathroom.
Thanks also for the picture, it eases my concerns about the pantry, and we also have the kitchen island for additional storage.
Regarding the north orientation: in the upper part of the plan, you can find the plot number of the adjacent field (132/4), which is oriented to true north. So north is to the upper right.
N
NoSchnitzers25 Jan 2022 21:50A few suggestions from my side, as we had six people ourselves:
- I understand your concerns about having to walk through the kitchen to get to the living room; I would feel the same. We had an entrance to the kitchen (more like the dining area) and a separate entrance to the living room. Like the next point, I believe this brought calm to our house, as anyone going in or out of the living room didn’t have to pass through the dining and kitchen area.
- We were able to separate the kitchen/dining room from the living room with a sliding door. That was something we really enjoyed. There was always a lot of activity in our house, so this helped to reduce the noise and disruption a bit.
- We had two showers; the one on the ground floor (main floor) was never used. From that perspective, I think one bathroom would be enough for six people, but we were all girls, so maybe teenagers are more tolerant than in “mixed-gender” households. As mentioned, a slightly larger bathroom probably wouldn’t hurt.
- What I really like is that all the bedrooms are on one level (speaking as someone with a childhood fear of stairs 😀).
- I understand your concerns about having to walk through the kitchen to get to the living room; I would feel the same. We had an entrance to the kitchen (more like the dining area) and a separate entrance to the living room. Like the next point, I believe this brought calm to our house, as anyone going in or out of the living room didn’t have to pass through the dining and kitchen area.
- We were able to separate the kitchen/dining room from the living room with a sliding door. That was something we really enjoyed. There was always a lot of activity in our house, so this helped to reduce the noise and disruption a bit.
- We had two showers; the one on the ground floor (main floor) was never used. From that perspective, I think one bathroom would be enough for six people, but we were all girls, so maybe teenagers are more tolerant than in “mixed-gender” households. As mentioned, a slightly larger bathroom probably wouldn’t hurt.
- What I really like is that all the bedrooms are on one level (speaking as someone with a childhood fear of stairs 😀).
I don’t see a practical kitchen there yet... what is shown is not suitably furnished or dimensioned. However, if I assume an exterior dimension of 10.66 m (35 ft), the kitchen only has about 3 m (10 ft) width and also serves as a passageway.
It would generally make sense to measure the site plan accurately, add a true north arrow, and then also include a north arrow on the floor plans.
The advantage of having the staircase in the center of the house is that you can arrange the rooms all around it on the upper floor. Since there should be 5 bedrooms and at least 1 bathroom, each room should preferably have an exterior wall and be accessible from the hallway. I would also omit the open void/cutout space above the staircase.
It would generally make sense to measure the site plan accurately, add a true north arrow, and then also include a north arrow on the floor plans.
The advantage of having the staircase in the center of the house is that you can arrange the rooms all around it on the upper floor. Since there should be 5 bedrooms and at least 1 bathroom, each room should preferably have an exterior wall and be accessible from the hallway. I would also omit the open void/cutout space above the staircase.