Good evening,
we plan to build our bungalow this year, and the final floor plan is almost complete. Since I only discovered this forum a few days ago and understand that constructive feedback on floor plans is available here, I would like to hear your thoughts on ours. Of course, here are some key details:
There are currently three of us, and a second child is planned. The garage will be roofed over, providing about 60 m² (645 sq ft) of expansion space in the attic, with all electrical wiring pre-installed accordingly. We know the children's rooms are relatively small, but no closets or similar furniture need to be included there. Later on, one child can move upstairs, and the two rooms can be merged into one. Some changes are already planned but not yet reflected here: the doors between Hall 1 and Hall 2 will shift to the right, and the two walk-in closets will be combined into one large closet.
North is to the right on the drawing.
Now I am curious to hear your opinions. Many thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Martin84
we plan to build our bungalow this year, and the final floor plan is almost complete. Since I only discovered this forum a few days ago and understand that constructive feedback on floor plans is available here, I would like to hear your thoughts on ours. Of course, here are some key details:
There are currently three of us, and a second child is planned. The garage will be roofed over, providing about 60 m² (645 sq ft) of expansion space in the attic, with all electrical wiring pre-installed accordingly. We know the children's rooms are relatively small, but no closets or similar furniture need to be included there. Later on, one child can move upstairs, and the two rooms can be merged into one. Some changes are already planned but not yet reflected here: the doors between Hall 1 and Hall 2 will shift to the right, and the two walk-in closets will be combined into one large closet.
North is to the right on the drawing.
Now I am curious to hear your opinions. Many thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Martin84
Wow, honestly, I’m not sure what else to say about this floor plan. Everything has already been covered. I just don’t understand your argument about the poor soil conditions. Usually, houses with more than two floors have a smaller footprint, which means less groundwork and lower costs. I’ve never heard of someone switching from a two-story house to a bungalow because of bad soil – it’s usually the other way around.
Your child is 15 months old? I think you’re not quite aware of what lies ahead in the near future. Putting a child alone in an attic bedroom will be a challenge for at least another 10 years. During this time, children will have visitors. And toys – oh my, my youngest is 2.5 years old and still only has a 9m² (97 sq ft) room for now. Space for toys? No way. Baby crib, one wardrobe, one dresser, and one small shelf for toys. There’s simply no more room. Ride-on toys, doll prams, bigger toys like play shops, workbenches, dollhouses, and so on have absolutely no place there. Where will the wooden or LEGO train set be set up? And my youngest doesn’t even have many toys. When kids get older (starting school age), it makes sense for each child to have their own room. Then come school backpacks, sports bags, musical instruments, etc. Bookshelves, eventually maybe a laptop, a radio, and so on. If you have or plan to have a daughter, eventually she will want a “make-up corner,” and not only when she’s already 15. With us, this wish came up as early as age 4.
You will curse that awkward corner in the living room eventually. Especially when you realize that having more space is a big advantage at children’s birthday parties. Or after bumping into the fireplace there for the hundredth time because the passage has become too narrow. What about birthday parties? You can’t just move the table – it doesn’t work – I’m just saying, children’s parties.
The access to the master bedroom will also become tight and dark. You’ll have to turn on the light every time you change clothes.
I’m not a fan of having the terrace and living room on the south side either, but your layout is really disastrous in this regard, especially the reasoning with the bathroom and terrace. How do you plan to open the bathroom from the outside when you’re comfortably sitting on the terrace? Or do you really go to the bathroom every time, unlock the terrace door just in case, and then go outside? I highly doubt that. That said, I understand your idea: I’d rather make the storage room by the garage bigger and add a small guest toilet there.
Your child is 15 months old? I think you’re not quite aware of what lies ahead in the near future. Putting a child alone in an attic bedroom will be a challenge for at least another 10 years. During this time, children will have visitors. And toys – oh my, my youngest is 2.5 years old and still only has a 9m² (97 sq ft) room for now. Space for toys? No way. Baby crib, one wardrobe, one dresser, and one small shelf for toys. There’s simply no more room. Ride-on toys, doll prams, bigger toys like play shops, workbenches, dollhouses, and so on have absolutely no place there. Where will the wooden or LEGO train set be set up? And my youngest doesn’t even have many toys. When kids get older (starting school age), it makes sense for each child to have their own room. Then come school backpacks, sports bags, musical instruments, etc. Bookshelves, eventually maybe a laptop, a radio, and so on. If you have or plan to have a daughter, eventually she will want a “make-up corner,” and not only when she’s already 15. With us, this wish came up as early as age 4.
You will curse that awkward corner in the living room eventually. Especially when you realize that having more space is a big advantage at children’s birthday parties. Or after bumping into the fireplace there for the hundredth time because the passage has become too narrow. What about birthday parties? You can’t just move the table – it doesn’t work – I’m just saying, children’s parties.
The access to the master bedroom will also become tight and dark. You’ll have to turn on the light every time you change clothes.
I’m not a fan of having the terrace and living room on the south side either, but your layout is really disastrous in this regard, especially the reasoning with the bathroom and terrace. How do you plan to open the bathroom from the outside when you’re comfortably sitting on the terrace? Or do you really go to the bathroom every time, unlock the terrace door just in case, and then go outside? I highly doubt that. That said, I understand your idea: I’d rather make the storage room by the garage bigger and add a small guest toilet there.
Regarding the garage issue: you could also position the garage crosswise in the northeast corner, with the entrance then on the east side next to the gate – this wouldn’t require too much courtyard area to be cleared of snow, would leave the entire south side free, and you would only have to give up a bit of the east side. Alternatively, the garage could be moved slightly forward or backward on the south side.
You could also place an L-shaped bungalow so that one end of the L extends over the garage on the south side.
About a toilet located within direct view and hearing range of other guests on the terrace, I’ll just say nothing – it leaves me speechless. Some distance is always part of respecting others’ privacy, and honestly, I don’t understand basing a house plan on just a few moments a year (shoveling snow, party guests on the terrace). It’s nice to have, but first, everyday functionality should work.
Regarding the size of a children’s bedroom, I found this:
A children’s room (formerly also called children’s chamber) is a room within an apartment specially adapted to the needs of children within family life.
Functionally, a children’s room serves both as a bedroom and a living room. Equally important is its role as a playroom and a social retreat, which is why it should be sufficiently sized (approximately 14–18 m² [150–190 ft²] per child). In real floor plans, however, children’s rooms are often smaller.
There are no legal building regulations regarding the size of children’s rooms in Germany. Only in the former East Germany (DDR) was there a regulation that in new buildings, children’s rooms must not be smaller than 8 m² (86 ft²). Austria has a similar standard. However, in some federal states, minimum sizes are sometimes set for public funding of building projects as a criterion for eligibility. Often (but not everywhere), a children’s room for one person must be at least 10 m² (108 ft²) and for double occupancy at least 12 m² (130 ft²). Generally, with the increase in living room size, the space available for kitchens and children’s rooms has decreased. There are also regulations regarding the type and size of windows, which vary regionally. Source: Wiki.
I like the idea of planning one room as a bedroom and another as a playroom. However, you have to expect that at some point a child won’t want to share anymore. When the oldest child starts school and the younger one is possibly still a toddler, the older child should have their own (private) space for personal development – in other words, their own room! Children today tend to want their own space earlier than they did 30 years ago.
The two children will already be at least 2 ½ years apart now... You can, of course, build just one (large) children’s room and then, when the second child arrives, work on the attic expansion. (The first six months, the baby is probably going to be placed next to the mother anyway?!). In that case, I would fundamentally recommend installing the staircase right from the start.
For a later staircase, generous space should be planned: you don’t want to end up with only a steep stair and a corridor that isn’t wide enough. In my opinion, that would always be a makeshift solution (like in the neighboring thread where the bungalow turned out too small, just take a look https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/wohin-mit-der-Treppe-Dachausbau-walmdachbungalow.11397/).
I don’t understand how all builders/general contractors ended up agreeing on this floor plan. Isn’t it more likely that they rejected your designs because they simply didn’t want to do proper planning? Or did you defend the ideas with the square meter loss caused by the two walk-in closets too strongly, so that they gave up??
I hope you’ll still get a good design,
Regards,
Yvonne
You could also place an L-shaped bungalow so that one end of the L extends over the garage on the south side.
About a toilet located within direct view and hearing range of other guests on the terrace, I’ll just say nothing – it leaves me speechless. Some distance is always part of respecting others’ privacy, and honestly, I don’t understand basing a house plan on just a few moments a year (shoveling snow, party guests on the terrace). It’s nice to have, but first, everyday functionality should work.
Regarding the size of a children’s bedroom, I found this:
A children’s room (formerly also called children’s chamber) is a room within an apartment specially adapted to the needs of children within family life.
Functionally, a children’s room serves both as a bedroom and a living room. Equally important is its role as a playroom and a social retreat, which is why it should be sufficiently sized (approximately 14–18 m² [150–190 ft²] per child). In real floor plans, however, children’s rooms are often smaller.
There are no legal building regulations regarding the size of children’s rooms in Germany. Only in the former East Germany (DDR) was there a regulation that in new buildings, children’s rooms must not be smaller than 8 m² (86 ft²). Austria has a similar standard. However, in some federal states, minimum sizes are sometimes set for public funding of building projects as a criterion for eligibility. Often (but not everywhere), a children’s room for one person must be at least 10 m² (108 ft²) and for double occupancy at least 12 m² (130 ft²). Generally, with the increase in living room size, the space available for kitchens and children’s rooms has decreased. There are also regulations regarding the type and size of windows, which vary regionally. Source: Wiki.
I like the idea of planning one room as a bedroom and another as a playroom. However, you have to expect that at some point a child won’t want to share anymore. When the oldest child starts school and the younger one is possibly still a toddler, the older child should have their own (private) space for personal development – in other words, their own room! Children today tend to want their own space earlier than they did 30 years ago.
The two children will already be at least 2 ½ years apart now... You can, of course, build just one (large) children’s room and then, when the second child arrives, work on the attic expansion. (The first six months, the baby is probably going to be placed next to the mother anyway?!). In that case, I would fundamentally recommend installing the staircase right from the start.
For a later staircase, generous space should be planned: you don’t want to end up with only a steep stair and a corridor that isn’t wide enough. In my opinion, that would always be a makeshift solution (like in the neighboring thread where the bungalow turned out too small, just take a look https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/wohin-mit-der-Treppe-Dachausbau-walmdachbungalow.11397/).
I don’t understand how all builders/general contractors ended up agreeing on this floor plan. Isn’t it more likely that they rejected your designs because they simply didn’t want to do proper planning? Or did you defend the ideas with the square meter loss caused by the two walk-in closets too strongly, so that they gave up??
I hope you’ll still get a good design,
Regards,
Yvonne
We have given it some thought and taken some of your advice into account.
We have now added the children's dressing room to the children's bedroom, resulting in a 14m² (150ft²) bedroom. The wall between the office and child 1 will be a drywall partition, which can be easily removed later to create a second large bedroom of 15.5m² (167ft²). With this option, we believe we remain quite flexible, depending on when the second child actually arrives and how the children will need their space. This way, we can definitely adapt to their needs.
The garage has been built over with the roof, so moving it forward or backward will likely incur additional costs.
We still have no solution for how to position the bathroom door on the west side.
The builders suggested the layout of the house and garage—the floor plan evolved gradually based on their proposals and ours.
The first option was cheaper regarding ground replacement than the current one, but the house itself was very expensive. Therefore, we could not afford both in this combination. We didn’t want a “normal” one-and-a-half-story house from an aesthetic point of view. We find the bungalow option itself very comfortable.
We have now added the children's dressing room to the children's bedroom, resulting in a 14m² (150ft²) bedroom. The wall between the office and child 1 will be a drywall partition, which can be easily removed later to create a second large bedroom of 15.5m² (167ft²). With this option, we believe we remain quite flexible, depending on when the second child actually arrives and how the children will need their space. This way, we can definitely adapt to their needs.
The garage has been built over with the roof, so moving it forward or backward will likely incur additional costs.
We still have no solution for how to position the bathroom door on the west side.
The builders suggested the layout of the house and garage—the floor plan evolved gradually based on their proposals and ours.
The first option was cheaper regarding ground replacement than the current one, but the house itself was very expensive. Therefore, we could not afford both in this combination. We didn’t want a “normal” one-and-a-half-story house from an aesthetic point of view. We find the bungalow option itself very comfortable.
B
Bauherren20146 Jan 2015 11:56Martin84 schrieb:
The first option was more cost-effective regarding soil replacement than the current one. However, the house itself was very expensive. So, we were unable to afford both in that combination. From an aesthetic standpoint, it shouldn’t look like a typical one-and-a-half-story house. We actually find the bungalow version very comfortable.When the budget is limited, compromises have to be made, and sometimes you have to give up some of the "nice" details. Whether the changes you are planning now are really sensible and will sustainably increase the living quality is something I doubt. Nevertheless, in the end, you have to live in the house and be happy with it. There have actually been enough helpful suggestions in the responses.
@Manu1976 That was exactly our initial idea. Unfortunately, with a hip roof, you need a lot of floor space to fit three rooms properly. You also need a bathroom on the same floor. As long as the children are young, we wanted to sleep on that floor as well. Unfortunately, the house then became too expensive.
We also spoke with an independent architect. He designed a townhouse for us. The garage was also on the south side there.
We were very disappointed with the architect. We explained our wishes and ideas to him, but none of them were implemented. We also discussed a different layout option on the plot with him, which he wanted to show more precisely in his proposal... but it no longer resembled the details we had discussed.
That’s why so far we have had better experience with the homebuilder.
We also spoke with an independent architect. He designed a townhouse for us. The garage was also on the south side there.
We were very disappointed with the architect. We explained our wishes and ideas to him, but none of them were implemented. We also discussed a different layout option on the plot with him, which he wanted to show more precisely in his proposal... but it no longer resembled the details we had discussed.
That’s why so far we have had better experience with the homebuilder.
Similar topics