Hello, I have been following this forum for a long time and find it always interesting. I thought I might share our planning here. We started planning at the end of 2018, began construction in 03/2019, and moved in by 12/2019.
We planned the floor plans, dimensions, materials, etc., ourselves and then hired a retired architect to create the construction drawings and structural engineering, as well as to submit the building permit / planning permission application. He also handled the approvals and insurance.
Since we live in a historic preservation area with classical architecture, we wanted to reflect this style in our house and I did a lot of research. I know nothing is perfect and it is a series of compromises (size, budget, historic style). We wanted about 120sqm (1292 sqft) of living space, aimed not to exceed a certain budget, and wanted to choose and plan all the trades ourselves (this really saves a lot of money!). I have almost no craftsmanship skills, yet we still did or helped with many tasks ourselves (preparations for the electrician, applying window and facade plaster molding ourselves, ceiling molding, wooden baseboards, cladding the carport, assembling the garden shed, distributing 55t (60 US tons) of soil, planting, manually drilling a garden well, etc.). Ok, my father-in-law helped a lot because he is handy.
We wanted to keep as much symmetry as possible and had a rough idea inspired by a Georgian house. Wooden sash windows and front door made by the local carpenter, facade plaster molding, ceiling height of 2.75m (9 ft) on the ground floor, and a hipped roof with clay tiles.
The staircase was a bit challenging because the hallway is central and the dimensions we set (somewhat arbitrarily) limited a straight staircase. The stair builder managed it nevertheless using some tricks (a bit steeper and with a longer tread or something like that).
Since I talked a lot with energy consultants and wanted a reasonable price-performance/use balance, we made the following decisions:
* Energy standard just enough to meet requirements (saves construction costs)
* Therefore, deliberately only double-glazed windows
* Gas condensing boiler with underfloor heating and gas fireplace
* Solar thermal system for hot water (I would have preferred to skip this as a cost driver; in summer you don’t need 270l (71 gallons) of hot water and in winter the sun usually isn’t sufficient despite the south-facing side)
* No electric window openers (but conduits were installed)
* 36.5cm (14.4 inches) aerated concrete walls on the outside and 17.5/11.5cm (6.9/4.5 inches) limestone interior walls
* Interior walls plastered with cement plaster to Q3 level (relatively smooth)
* Plumbing and heating company installed everything. Toilets, sinks, faucets were bought by us (all Villeroy & Boch and GROHE, mostly via eBay)
* Floor tiles and parquet also bought by us and then installed by professionals
The total cost excluding the land was €297,000 (about USD 320,000) including connections and exterior works, garden planting (partly €500 (about USD 540) per tree), double carport, 12sqm (129 sqft) garden shed, 150sqm (1615 sqft) paving, 24sqm (258 sqft) travertine terrace, insurance, surveying, 55t (60 US tons) of topsoil (we added about 20-30cm (8-12 inches) of soil), kitchen and appliances, electric garden gate, and masonry gate pillars (including historically accurate pillar caps) etc.
Land size: 680sqm (7320 sqft)
Living space: 122sqm (1313 sqft)
* 29sqm (312 sqft) living room
* 11.5sqm (124 sqft) kitchen
* 7.5sqm (81 sqft) utility room (laundry hangs from the ceiling with Foxydry)
* approx. 9.5sqm (102 sqft) hallway downstairs
* 11.5sqm (124 sqft) children’s room
* 9sqm (97 sqft) guest room/library/study
* approx. 9.3sqm (100 sqft) bathroom with shower, freestanding bathtub, toilet, bidet, washbasin
* approx. 20sqm (215 sqft) bedroom with walk-in closet/wardrobe
* The attic is currently an unheated storage room but could still be developed.
The space is sufficient, sometimes missing 0.5-1m (1.6-3.3 ft) here and there, but more space would have come at significantly higher construction costs.
What do you think of the floor plan? Any questions?
I’ve attached some pictures to give you a rough idea.
We planned the floor plans, dimensions, materials, etc., ourselves and then hired a retired architect to create the construction drawings and structural engineering, as well as to submit the building permit / planning permission application. He also handled the approvals and insurance.
Since we live in a historic preservation area with classical architecture, we wanted to reflect this style in our house and I did a lot of research. I know nothing is perfect and it is a series of compromises (size, budget, historic style). We wanted about 120sqm (1292 sqft) of living space, aimed not to exceed a certain budget, and wanted to choose and plan all the trades ourselves (this really saves a lot of money!). I have almost no craftsmanship skills, yet we still did or helped with many tasks ourselves (preparations for the electrician, applying window and facade plaster molding ourselves, ceiling molding, wooden baseboards, cladding the carport, assembling the garden shed, distributing 55t (60 US tons) of soil, planting, manually drilling a garden well, etc.). Ok, my father-in-law helped a lot because he is handy.
We wanted to keep as much symmetry as possible and had a rough idea inspired by a Georgian house. Wooden sash windows and front door made by the local carpenter, facade plaster molding, ceiling height of 2.75m (9 ft) on the ground floor, and a hipped roof with clay tiles.
The staircase was a bit challenging because the hallway is central and the dimensions we set (somewhat arbitrarily) limited a straight staircase. The stair builder managed it nevertheless using some tricks (a bit steeper and with a longer tread or something like that).
Since I talked a lot with energy consultants and wanted a reasonable price-performance/use balance, we made the following decisions:
* Energy standard just enough to meet requirements (saves construction costs)
* Therefore, deliberately only double-glazed windows
* Gas condensing boiler with underfloor heating and gas fireplace
* Solar thermal system for hot water (I would have preferred to skip this as a cost driver; in summer you don’t need 270l (71 gallons) of hot water and in winter the sun usually isn’t sufficient despite the south-facing side)
* No electric window openers (but conduits were installed)
* 36.5cm (14.4 inches) aerated concrete walls on the outside and 17.5/11.5cm (6.9/4.5 inches) limestone interior walls
* Interior walls plastered with cement plaster to Q3 level (relatively smooth)
* Plumbing and heating company installed everything. Toilets, sinks, faucets were bought by us (all Villeroy & Boch and GROHE, mostly via eBay)
* Floor tiles and parquet also bought by us and then installed by professionals
The total cost excluding the land was €297,000 (about USD 320,000) including connections and exterior works, garden planting (partly €500 (about USD 540) per tree), double carport, 12sqm (129 sqft) garden shed, 150sqm (1615 sqft) paving, 24sqm (258 sqft) travertine terrace, insurance, surveying, 55t (60 US tons) of topsoil (we added about 20-30cm (8-12 inches) of soil), kitchen and appliances, electric garden gate, and masonry gate pillars (including historically accurate pillar caps) etc.
Land size: 680sqm (7320 sqft)
Living space: 122sqm (1313 sqft)
* 29sqm (312 sqft) living room
* 11.5sqm (124 sqft) kitchen
* 7.5sqm (81 sqft) utility room (laundry hangs from the ceiling with Foxydry)
* approx. 9.5sqm (102 sqft) hallway downstairs
* 11.5sqm (124 sqft) children’s room
* 9sqm (97 sqft) guest room/library/study
* approx. 9.3sqm (100 sqft) bathroom with shower, freestanding bathtub, toilet, bidet, washbasin
* approx. 20sqm (215 sqft) bedroom with walk-in closet/wardrobe
* The attic is currently an unheated storage room but could still be developed.
The space is sufficient, sometimes missing 0.5-1m (1.6-3.3 ft) here and there, but more space would have come at significantly higher construction costs.
What do you think of the floor plan? Any questions?
I’ve attached some pictures to give you a rough idea.
J
JuliaMünchen24 Sep 2021 15:28Congratulations on your beautiful home! We are building a very similar style house in Munich, and your façade really warms my heart—finally, not another (night)mare in anthracite black with huge windows 🙂 Here, it would be unrealistic to build a house with your final budget, but it’s amazing that it works so well in your region, even with traditional clay roof tiles (I would have loved those here too, but my husband brought me back to reality because of the cost). Truly impressive, it makes one a bit envious 🙂
By the way, I also really like your driveway; it’s not overdone at all and fits perfectly with the rest. The wall colors on the ground floor appeal to me a lot as well; we plan something very similar. The only thing I find a bit off is the bathroom, but of course, that’s just a matter of personal taste.
Enjoy your time in your gem of a house, and compliments on what you have accomplished with so many of your own ideas and efforts!
By the way, I also really like your driveway; it’s not overdone at all and fits perfectly with the rest. The wall colors on the ground floor appeal to me a lot as well; we plan something very similar. The only thing I find a bit off is the bathroom, but of course, that’s just a matter of personal taste.
Enjoy your time in your gem of a house, and compliments on what you have accomplished with so many of your own ideas and efforts!
Bertram100 schrieb:
An invention of the (interior design) devil. 😀 It reliably ruins almost every room, except for the furniture showroom.Well, I like our corner sofa that isn’t actually placed in a corner 😉 Because when I watch TV or do other things on the sofa, I like to put my feet up.
On the topic:
I like the front, the color and layout (even though I miss a canopy over the front door), I find the hallway with the staircase very nice, I like the flower beds and the gate also appeals to me.
Does the garden shed belong to you as well? Very nice!
G
Georgian201924 Sep 2021 16:28JuliaMünchen schrieb:
Congratulations on your beautiful house! We are building a very similar style home in Munich, and your facade truly warms my heart—finally, no dark anthracite or black nightmare with huge windows 🙂 Around here, it’s already unrealistic to build a house within your final budget, but the fact that it works so well in your area, even with the traditional clay tile roofing (I would have loved that here too, but my husband talked me into being practical because of the cost), is amazing. You can really make us a bit envious 🙂
I also really like your driveway; it’s not over the top at all and fits perfectly with the rest. The wall colors on the ground floor are also very much to my taste and will be quite similar in our house. The only thing that doesn’t quite work for me is the bathroom, but that’s really a matter of personal preference.
Enjoy your time in your little gem of a house, and compliments on everything you’ve accomplished with so many of your own ideas and your own work! Our budget from 2018/19 wouldn’t cover that anymore either. I only managed to stretch our budget because I negotiated separately with all the local tradespeople and took on some of the overpriced work myself (for example, the stucco around the windows—our shell builder wanted a fortune for it, so I only had the cornice and door stucco installed) and because a lot was done through “neighborly help.”
I’m really curious to know what your project looks like.
G
Georgian201924 Sep 2021 16:32Müllerin schrieb:
Well, I like our corner sofa, even though it’s not actually placed in a corner 😉 Because when I watch TV or relax on the sofa, I like to put my feet up.
On the topic:
I like the front of the house, both the color and the layout (even though I do miss a canopy over the front door). I think the hallway with the staircase is very nice, I like the flower beds, and I also like the gate.
Does the garden shed belong to you as well? Very nice! Yes, the garden shed belongs to us.
In this area, roof overhangs are uncommon, especially on the gable ends. Traditionally, the roof tiles meet the masonry flush at the gable and are plastered over. Because of that, new houses with roof overhangs here immediately stand out and are reminiscent of southern Germany... sort of like a Tuscan villa with Mediterranean roof tiles in northern Germany.
Oh, the canopy over the front door! That was quite a headache. I hoped the pediment would offer some protection. A proper portico with columns and a triangular roof was prohibited by the heritage preservation office because porticos are only found on princely buildings in this town. Also, a door pediment was never covered, as adding a roof afterward would ruin the appearance. As I wrote elsewhere: the house is a collection of compromises because design took priority over functionality, and we accepted adopting historically impractical features.
M
Myrna_Loy24 Sep 2021 16:53But there are actually many good canopies in the UK.
G
Georgian201924 Sep 2021 17:14Myrna_Loy schrieb:
But there are quite a few good roof coverings in the UK. Sorry, but that’s exactly what I wanted to avoid. The decorative door molding would no longer be visible. Historically and architecturally, stucco portals or tympana cannot be covered. The only option would have been to design the tympanum deeper, essentially as a small canopy. However, the plasterer could only offer a maximum depth matching ours. Beyond that, it would have become unaffordable.
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