ᐅ Ground floor approximately 100 sqm, upper floor adaptable for expansion (planned bathroom, 2 children's bedrooms, 1 storage room)
Created on: 28 Mar 2018 10:32
P
pffreestyler
Hello,
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 879 sqm (9,458 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site occupancy index: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 5 m (16 ft) to the street, 3 m (10 ft) each to the orchard area and neighbors
Edge development /
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable roof
Construction style: solid / masonry
Maximum heights / limits: ridge height 9.0 m (30 ft), eaves height 6.0 m (20 ft)
Other requirements
Homeowners’ requirements: living room facing south, small office (initially used as a nursery), walk-in shower on ground floor, utility room on the driveway side
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: no basement, 1.5 stories
Number of residents, age: 2 – under 30
Office use: family use rather than home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 2-3
Open or closed architecture: closed
Traditional or modern style: rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport planned later on the east side
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: no
House design
Designer: general contractor
What do you like most? Why? living room facing south, the number of rooms as desired
What do you dislike? Why? the office window 1 should be moved from south to west (otherwise the wall looks too bare); driveway and access to be on the east, not the west
Price estimate by architect/planner: available after Easter; currently mainly focused on the floor plan
Personal price limit including fixtures: expected around €1,700 per sqm (sq ft conversion not added per instruction)
Preferred heating: gas
If you have to give up, which details/features?
-can give up: bathtub
-cannot give up:
Why is the design as it is now?
The floor plan is based on a very similar layout seen during a house viewing and is our favorite among all viewings and catalog research. We only adapted it slightly to our needs (removed guest WC and enlarged living room, rotated office).
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
The floor plan basically fits us, but I would appreciate your opinion to see if any improvements are possible. Note: as mentioned, we want to move the office window to the west so the wall doesn’t look so bare. Driveway on the east, not west. Therefore, the bare wall on the west is where the carport will go up to the utility room door. Alternatively, a window could be added to the living room there and the carport start behind the house. The plot allows this.
My main concern is that we’re not 100% happy with the roof’s east-west orientation; I would prefer a north-south alignment. Do you have ideas on rotating the floor plan 90 degrees while keeping the layout mostly unchanged? Only the kitchen and office could be swapped.
PS: The square meter figures for the hallway may be incorrect; the contractor will finalize after Easter. Correct figures will be approximately: living room 31.79 sqm (342 sq ft), kitchen 15.19 sqm (163 sq ft), utility room 9.87 sqm (106 sq ft), hallway about 19.5 sqm (210 sq ft), office/child room 1 about 8 sqm (86 sq ft), bedroom about 11.8 sqm (127 sq ft), bathroom about 8.5 sqm (91 sq ft)
Plot details: length west: 40 m (131 ft), east: 42 m (138 ft), width: 21.5 m (71 ft)
Best regards
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 879 sqm (9,458 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site occupancy index: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 5 m (16 ft) to the street, 3 m (10 ft) each to the orchard area and neighbors
Edge development /
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable roof
Construction style: solid / masonry
Maximum heights / limits: ridge height 9.0 m (30 ft), eaves height 6.0 m (20 ft)
Other requirements
Homeowners’ requirements: living room facing south, small office (initially used as a nursery), walk-in shower on ground floor, utility room on the driveway side
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: no basement, 1.5 stories
Number of residents, age: 2 – under 30
Office use: family use rather than home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 2-3
Open or closed architecture: closed
Traditional or modern style: rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport planned later on the east side
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: no
House design
Designer: general contractor
What do you like most? Why? living room facing south, the number of rooms as desired
What do you dislike? Why? the office window 1 should be moved from south to west (otherwise the wall looks too bare); driveway and access to be on the east, not the west
Price estimate by architect/planner: available after Easter; currently mainly focused on the floor plan
Personal price limit including fixtures: expected around €1,700 per sqm (sq ft conversion not added per instruction)
Preferred heating: gas
If you have to give up, which details/features?
-can give up: bathtub
-cannot give up:
Why is the design as it is now?
The floor plan is based on a very similar layout seen during a house viewing and is our favorite among all viewings and catalog research. We only adapted it slightly to our needs (removed guest WC and enlarged living room, rotated office).
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
The floor plan basically fits us, but I would appreciate your opinion to see if any improvements are possible. Note: as mentioned, we want to move the office window to the west so the wall doesn’t look so bare. Driveway on the east, not west. Therefore, the bare wall on the west is where the carport will go up to the utility room door. Alternatively, a window could be added to the living room there and the carport start behind the house. The plot allows this.
My main concern is that we’re not 100% happy with the roof’s east-west orientation; I would prefer a north-south alignment. Do you have ideas on rotating the floor plan 90 degrees while keeping the layout mostly unchanged? Only the kitchen and office could be swapped.
PS: The square meter figures for the hallway may be incorrect; the contractor will finalize after Easter. Correct figures will be approximately: living room 31.79 sqm (342 sq ft), kitchen 15.19 sqm (163 sq ft), utility room 9.87 sqm (106 sq ft), hallway about 19.5 sqm (210 sq ft), office/child room 1 about 8 sqm (86 sq ft), bedroom about 11.8 sqm (127 sq ft), bathroom about 8.5 sqm (91 sq ft)
Plot details: length west: 40 m (131 ft), east: 42 m (138 ft), width: 21.5 m (71 ft)
Best regards
pffreestyler schrieb:
I had posted this here. Oh, I see. I missed that.
My nephews and niece managed by not sleeping in their parents’ bedroom, but on a different floor. A baby monitor is helpful, and at first, the baby can even sleep in the parents’ bed or one parent can move to a mattress in the child’s room if the child is sick (although, if I remember correctly, this wasn’t necessary for my brother).
As I said: I would take the small room behind the living room and convert it into a bedroom, and in an emergency, you could initially skip the wardrobe and place the cradle there if needed.
You are trying to fit a desired room plan into too few square meters. In my opinion, the ground floor is already fully planned (I still don’t understand the huge utility room with two doors in that location, especially when the space is insufficient, but that has already been discussed extensively), and now you continue with the same complicated approach on the upper floor, which is not exactly ideal for a full, functional layout.
You have to let go of your grand wishes; there simply isn’t enough space or smart planning here. You need to work with what you have and make the best of it. You will have to accept some compromises. It won’t cost you any extra seconds, and the child will survive. The parents will, too.
I can understand the wishes, of course, it would be nice, but what’s the point of rooms that barely deserve that name just to fulfill those wishes? It’s better to have rooms you can actually use—rooms that provide space for wardrobes and address the somewhat awkward situation with the knee wall/dormer—rather than trying to fit villa-sized expectations into a small house.
As I said: I would take the small room behind the living room and convert it into a bedroom, and in an emergency, you could initially skip the wardrobe and place the cradle there if needed.
You are trying to fit a desired room plan into too few square meters. In my opinion, the ground floor is already fully planned (I still don’t understand the huge utility room with two doors in that location, especially when the space is insufficient, but that has already been discussed extensively), and now you continue with the same complicated approach on the upper floor, which is not exactly ideal for a full, functional layout.
You have to let go of your grand wishes; there simply isn’t enough space or smart planning here. You need to work with what you have and make the best of it. You will have to accept some compromises. It won’t cost you any extra seconds, and the child will survive. The parents will, too.
I can understand the wishes, of course, it would be nice, but what’s the point of rooms that barely deserve that name just to fulfill those wishes? It’s better to have rooms you can actually use—rooms that provide space for wardrobes and address the somewhat awkward situation with the knee wall/dormer—rather than trying to fit villa-sized expectations into a small house.
Climbee, I am having a hard time with your comment.
On one hand: how the two will raise their children should not be criticized here. Whether you can or want to leave the children alone in a room will become clear when the time comes, and what worked or was possible for other children does not necessarily have to suit this family.
What is true, however, is that you have to accept that you cannot keep all possible options open or fit them into this property! There is always a limit to what is practically achievable.
If in doubt, you can also consider having the children sleep in the same room at first and use the other bedroom as the sleeping room. Everything will work out with the options you have at that time. But as I said, in my opinion, unfortunately, it is not possible to keep all potential options open.
On one hand: how the two will raise their children should not be criticized here. Whether you can or want to leave the children alone in a room will become clear when the time comes, and what worked or was possible for other children does not necessarily have to suit this family.
What is true, however, is that you have to accept that you cannot keep all possible options open or fit them into this property! There is always a limit to what is practically achievable.
If in doubt, you can also consider having the children sleep in the same room at first and use the other bedroom as the sleeping room. Everything will work out with the options you have at that time. But as I said, in my opinion, unfortunately, it is not possible to keep all potential options open.
Maria, that’s exactly what I meant: plan wisely and then adjust living conditions if necessary. But wishful thinking is not an option. Either I put a mattress in a children’s room, use the children’s room as a bedroom, or something similar... but accepting a permanently poor layout just for the first few years of the children’s lives doesn’t make sense.
So: make the best out of the already somewhat awkward situation, and in my opinion, that does not mean planning tiny cubicles just to meet the desired room program. Because the desired room program simply cannot be implemented sensibly here.
I choose the compromise that is easiest to accept, and it’s clear that you have to accept at least one compromise. So I’m okay with a less than ideal situation during the couple of toddler years, but after that, I have a room layout that doesn’t give me claustrophobia.
I consider three equivalent rooms (2 children’s rooms and 1 bedroom) plus a bathroom AND (!!!) a storage room on this upper floor to be poor planning.
So: make the best out of the already somewhat awkward situation, and in my opinion, that does not mean planning tiny cubicles just to meet the desired room program. Because the desired room program simply cannot be implemented sensibly here.
I choose the compromise that is easiest to accept, and it’s clear that you have to accept at least one compromise. So I’m okay with a less than ideal situation during the couple of toddler years, but after that, I have a room layout that doesn’t give me claustrophobia.
I consider three equivalent rooms (2 children’s rooms and 1 bedroom) plus a bathroom AND (!!!) a storage room on this upper floor to be poor planning.
If one child is already older, you can put one child in the lower room and stay upstairs with the toddler, or other variations... You just have to repurpose the rooms more often. That works too. But please plan rooms that truly deserve that designation.
My brother owns an old farmhouse from the 17th century. The room layout there doesn’t always match what you would do today (for example, no bathroom/WC on the upper floors where the bedrooms are). Size isn’t the problem, but rather the layout in an old house and the structural limitations that come with it. My brother and his wife love their old house as it is, and are willing to accept some compromises. And here there is a limit with the square meters, which must simply be accepted.
It’s really frustrating to watch how people try to force a room layout that works well in a larger house, no matter what.
The fact is: space is limited, made worse by the roof situation. Rooms should be practical → you just can’t get as many rooms as you want.
So I have to find a solution.
My brother owns an old farmhouse from the 17th century. The room layout there doesn’t always match what you would do today (for example, no bathroom/WC on the upper floors where the bedrooms are). Size isn’t the problem, but rather the layout in an old house and the structural limitations that come with it. My brother and his wife love their old house as it is, and are willing to accept some compromises. And here there is a limit with the square meters, which must simply be accepted.
It’s really frustrating to watch how people try to force a room layout that works well in a larger house, no matter what.
The fact is: space is limited, made worse by the roof situation. Rooms should be practical → you just can’t get as many rooms as you want.
So I have to find a solution.
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