ᐅ Hillside House in the Southwest Palatinate – Our Home Construction 2.0
Created on: 9 Sep 2022 18:13
K
kati1337
Good evening everyone
I’m starting a small collection thread here for photos and progress updates on our second building project.
We’ve already moved to the Palatinate region to be closer to the construction site. Now we’re watching eagerly and happily as our (hopefully final) dream home takes shape near family.
One big challenge still ahead of us is the facade design. I really love the Nordic style with brickwork and mullioned windows. That won’t be possible here for two reasons: firstly, no one here can do bricklaying, and secondly, it would stand out too much. We will be going with a rendered facade. How to design the colors of the facade and windows to still create some country house / cottage charm is currently still a work in progress mentally.
Otherwise, I’m sharing our plans here and how it will eventually be built.
The support pillar marked near the kitchen island could be removed for a small extra cost, so that will be gone.
The room for “garden equipment” under the garage will get a partition wall for structural reasons.
It won’t be fully finished living space like in the house, but underfloor heating will be installed, along with a lockable door and a window. It’s meant to store garden tools but also some of the building services equipment, since the utility room (HAR) is quite small, and maybe be used as a party room.
We had three construction companies in the final selection. In the end, we chose the “doer” – a builder recommended to us here by friends and family. No website, no smartphone, but he is on site every day himself working in overalls. He has a very good reputation in this area and now rarely builds single-family homes. We were a bit lucky through personal connections and a very friendly initial phone call to get our foot in the door. So far we are very satisfied with this choice.
I’m starting a small collection thread here for photos and progress updates on our second building project.
We’ve already moved to the Palatinate region to be closer to the construction site. Now we’re watching eagerly and happily as our (hopefully final) dream home takes shape near family.
One big challenge still ahead of us is the facade design. I really love the Nordic style with brickwork and mullioned windows. That won’t be possible here for two reasons: firstly, no one here can do bricklaying, and secondly, it would stand out too much. We will be going with a rendered facade. How to design the colors of the facade and windows to still create some country house / cottage charm is currently still a work in progress mentally.
Otherwise, I’m sharing our plans here and how it will eventually be built.
The support pillar marked near the kitchen island could be removed for a small extra cost, so that will be gone.
The room for “garden equipment” under the garage will get a partition wall for structural reasons.
It won’t be fully finished living space like in the house, but underfloor heating will be installed, along with a lockable door and a window. It’s meant to store garden tools but also some of the building services equipment, since the utility room (HAR) is quite small, and maybe be used as a party room.
We had three construction companies in the final selection. In the end, we chose the “doer” – a builder recommended to us here by friends and family. No website, no smartphone, but he is on site every day himself working in overalls. He has a very good reputation in this area and now rarely builds single-family homes. We were a bit lucky through personal connections and a very friendly initial phone call to get our foot in the door. So far we are very satisfied with this choice.
I really like the small tiles and the patterned tiles for the hallway!
For the tiles in the rest of the house, you mentioned a pronounced surface texture. Personally, I would consider how easy they are to clean. Especially in utility rooms, it can get quite dirty, and if you end up having to scrub everything with a toothbrush because a cloth mop can’t reach into the grooves, you might soon lose your enthusiasm for the color or pattern...
For the tiles in the rest of the house, you mentioned a pronounced surface texture. Personally, I would consider how easy they are to clean. Especially in utility rooms, it can get quite dirty, and if you end up having to scrub everything with a toothbrush because a cloth mop can’t reach into the grooves, you might soon lose your enthusiasm for the color or pattern...
kati1337 schrieb:
On the other hand, that’s also the case on the upper floor where the bathroom is. Difficult question.This is indeed a difficult question in this case, and unfortunately only you can decide what is “right.” If it were up to me, I would have chosen the same parquet flooring for the office, but probably would have avoided wood tones in the bathroom. Firstly, the wood tones can actually clash (parquet versus wood-look tiles). Secondly, you might get tired of seeing “wood” everywhere more quickly, and thirdly, from my point of view, it’s easier to create contrast in the bathroom using more neutral or darker colors. But ultimately, it all depends on personal taste and the overall design with furniture and so on.
I just wanted to express that your choice seems coherent on its own, but you will probably prefer the bathroom tiles over those in the office… 😉
Yes, we are considering having the office tiles included, but it’s more of a temporary solution. We have an appointment with the interior specialist today. I hope they have a good idea.
I’m hesitant to install hardwood flooring in the office since we’re heavy and constantly rolling chairs across it all day. My concern is that no matter what kind of caster wheels we use, it will only get damaged over time. But I’ll ask the expert about it.
Bringing in a third type of flooring with vinyl feels a bit strange to me.
Otherwise, I think the wood-look tiles are the right choice for us. I really liked them in the old house. The only issue with the sharp transitions was at the stairs, where the wood tones were quite similar. In the bathroom back then, we had very dark wood-look tiles, and in the hallway a much warmer, lighter shade, which I didn’t find disruptive at all—actually quite harmonious.
I’m generally not a fan of tiles that look like tiles. To me, that feels a bit uninviting; I associate it with basements or doctors’ offices. The ones we chose for the entrance hall are attractive to me, and it’s only a relatively small area. Tiles make the most sense in the storage room under the garage, and I think they look fine there as well, though I’m emotionally neutral about that space and we made a more budget-conscious choice there than in the rooms that matter most to us.
In the old house, I was influenced by the consultant during the sample selection not to use wood-look tiles for the hallway or utility room because he said wood-look tiles versus other wood flooring in the living room wouldn’t work well together. Looking back, I regret not choosing wood-look flooring because the anthracite-colored tiles started to feel a bit too dark for me over time. Whether wood-on-wood would have looked better, I can’t say.
In terms of comfort and my fondness for country-style or cottage-style homes, I would have preferred wood everywhere. Or maybe I should browse Pinterest for "cottage flooring" ideas. 😀
I’m hesitant to install hardwood flooring in the office since we’re heavy and constantly rolling chairs across it all day. My concern is that no matter what kind of caster wheels we use, it will only get damaged over time. But I’ll ask the expert about it.
Bringing in a third type of flooring with vinyl feels a bit strange to me.
Otherwise, I think the wood-look tiles are the right choice for us. I really liked them in the old house. The only issue with the sharp transitions was at the stairs, where the wood tones were quite similar. In the bathroom back then, we had very dark wood-look tiles, and in the hallway a much warmer, lighter shade, which I didn’t find disruptive at all—actually quite harmonious.
I’m generally not a fan of tiles that look like tiles. To me, that feels a bit uninviting; I associate it with basements or doctors’ offices. The ones we chose for the entrance hall are attractive to me, and it’s only a relatively small area. Tiles make the most sense in the storage room under the garage, and I think they look fine there as well, though I’m emotionally neutral about that space and we made a more budget-conscious choice there than in the rooms that matter most to us.
In the old house, I was influenced by the consultant during the sample selection not to use wood-look tiles for the hallway or utility room because he said wood-look tiles versus other wood flooring in the living room wouldn’t work well together. Looking back, I regret not choosing wood-look flooring because the anthracite-colored tiles started to feel a bit too dark for me over time. Whether wood-on-wood would have looked better, I can’t say.
In terms of comfort and my fondness for country-style or cottage-style homes, I would have preferred wood everywhere. Or maybe I should browse Pinterest for "cottage flooring" ideas. 😀
kati1337 schrieb:
In the bathroom, we had very dark wood-look tiles back then, and in the hallway a much warmer, lighter shade, which I didn’t find disturbing at all but rather very harmonious. As long as there is contrast, everything’s fine!
However, I had assumed that the bathroom or office wood-look tiles shown couldn’t be that far off from real parquet flooring? In that case, it would probably clash and become annoying.
netuser schrieb:
As long as there is enough contrast, everything is fine!
However, I had assumed that the bathroom or office tiles shown in wood look wouldn’t be that close to real parquet? In that case, it would rather clash and get annoying. Yesterday, we went to look at the other floors for the first time, and the parquet we had in mind is actually only available in one color tone. So it’s basically a value-for-money option. We could get it for just a slightly higher price.
Other types of parquet they offer are mostly much more expensive.
The good thing: We really like the color tone and the parquet itself very much. We were allowed to take three leftover planks with us to have a closer look. That’s also where the photo comes from (Me and my wood – in the car 😀).
The bad thing: The color tone is actually much closer to the bathroom floor tile than I had expected. I had imagined the parquet to be darker (like you usually picture it when it’s described over the phone).
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