Hello everyone,
my girlfriend and I are about to start building our house and have been working on the floor plan for some time. We created the drawings ourselves so far, without involving an architect, and we are currently at version 2.6. We have already requested almost all the quotes for this floor plan, and once we decide to build, we plan to consult an architect. Regarding structural engineering, we will probably need a steel beam for the large open-plan living and dining area, but that will be decided by the architect.
Right now, we are mainly interested in getting opinions from others who might see things from a different perspective than we do. It’s possible that we are overlooking some aspects while focusing so much on the floor plans.
What we mainly want is a large area for the kitchen (bottom left) and a spacious living and dining area. On the ground floor, there should be a guest room and a bathroom with a shower. In the basement, a separate apartment will be created, and on the upper floor, we want two children’s rooms (not yet existing) and need a large office. My girlfriend definitely wanted a walk-in closet with direct access to the bathroom. We will probably skip a laundry chute since it would end up in the separate apartment.
We would be very grateful for constructive feedback. In the picture showing the plot, a few meters are still missing in front of the garage.
Thank you very much and best regards,
Martin
PS: There is still a door missing between the garage and the entrance, and the windows are not yet in their final positions (for now, they are included just to count their number for the quotes).
my girlfriend and I are about to start building our house and have been working on the floor plan for some time. We created the drawings ourselves so far, without involving an architect, and we are currently at version 2.6. We have already requested almost all the quotes for this floor plan, and once we decide to build, we plan to consult an architect. Regarding structural engineering, we will probably need a steel beam for the large open-plan living and dining area, but that will be decided by the architect.
Right now, we are mainly interested in getting opinions from others who might see things from a different perspective than we do. It’s possible that we are overlooking some aspects while focusing so much on the floor plans.
What we mainly want is a large area for the kitchen (bottom left) and a spacious living and dining area. On the ground floor, there should be a guest room and a bathroom with a shower. In the basement, a separate apartment will be created, and on the upper floor, we want two children’s rooms (not yet existing) and need a large office. My girlfriend definitely wanted a walk-in closet with direct access to the bathroom. We will probably skip a laundry chute since it would end up in the separate apartment.
We would be very grateful for constructive feedback. In the picture showing the plot, a few meters are still missing in front of the garage.
Thank you very much and best regards,
Martin
PS: There is still a door missing between the garage and the entrance, and the windows are not yet in their final positions (for now, they are included just to count their number for the quotes).
I’m not really happy with the floor plan. The hallway seems too long to me. The living room and kitchen are very large—wouldn’t a freestanding kitchen island be much nicer than an L-shaped layout? The access to the living room is only through a standard narrow door. First, this door opens right into the middle of the room, and second, I find a double door more attractive for such a large living area.
The walk-in closet upstairs looks more like a storage room, especially compared to the otherwise spacious rooms. I can’t imagine having two doors to the bathroom. My two children would both close both doors every time they go to the toilet and only open one door again. Then I’d always be standing in front of a closed door when coming from the bedroom. It’s also a bit annoying to have to close and open two doors all the time; I’d rather have an additional bathroom for the children.
Best regards,
Sabine
The walk-in closet upstairs looks more like a storage room, especially compared to the otherwise spacious rooms. I can’t imagine having two doors to the bathroom. My two children would both close both doors every time they go to the toilet and only open one door again. Then I’d always be standing in front of a closed door when coming from the bedroom. It’s also a bit annoying to have to close and open two doors all the time; I’d rather have an additional bathroom for the children.
Best regards,
Sabine
M
Martin-8327 Mar 2017 11:59Hi Sabine,
thank you for your suggestions. We have already had a kitchen planned for this floor plan, which I have attached.
We can also make the walk-in closet larger by taking space from either the bedroom or the bathroom. We wanted the two doors so that there is only one door from the bedroom. How our children will handle this is still unknown.
The hallway is long, yes, we agree with you on that, but with the entrance on the right side, I don’t think it can be done much differently unless the kitchen is moved there. However, then every guest would have to pass through the kitchen to reach the bathroom or guest room. Also, we would lose the morning sunlight in the kitchen and the evening sun in the living room. We designed the room orientation according to these recommendations.
You are right about the door to the living area; we have also considered a double glass sliding door.
Best regards
Martin
thank you for your suggestions. We have already had a kitchen planned for this floor plan, which I have attached.
We can also make the walk-in closet larger by taking space from either the bedroom or the bathroom. We wanted the two doors so that there is only one door from the bedroom. How our children will handle this is still unknown.
The hallway is long, yes, we agree with you on that, but with the entrance on the right side, I don’t think it can be done much differently unless the kitchen is moved there. However, then every guest would have to pass through the kitchen to reach the bathroom or guest room. Also, we would lose the morning sunlight in the kitchen and the evening sun in the living room. We designed the room orientation according to these recommendations.
You are right about the door to the living area; we have also considered a double glass sliding door.
Best regards
Martin
J
j.bautsch27 Mar 2017 12:02I find this kitchen design far from successful. Many corner cabinets (impractical), few pull-outs (impractical), layout (impractical), and so on.
M
Martin-8327 Mar 2017 13:36Yes, you’re right. The planning wasn’t finalized yet. At that point, it was mainly about whether the size fits for the kitchen and approximately what the price range would be. But when the time comes, I will also inquire about that there.
Best regards
Martin
Best regards
Martin
My husband had the same plan: to restore a car once again. Until he realized that with business trips, 60+X working hours per week, and a child, there is no time for car restoration. The garage will have a normal height, and there will be no mobile lifting platform for now.
What stands out to me:
Apartment with separate entrance:
Where is a wardrobe supposed to fit in the bedroom?
I find the bathroom very small, especially considering age, walking aids, and assistance with washing and dressing.
I don’t like the living/dining room with kitchen at all and find it difficult to arrange furniture there.
Ground floor:
I don’t like the hallway. The storage room is tiny. Once you put in a broom and vacuum cleaner, it will feel very cramped.
Maybe use the guest room as a combination guest and office room.
Upper floor:
Huge bedroom, small children’s rooms, and one of them is not even nicely located.
In my opinion, the best room layout is in the office.
Make the bedroom smaller, the walk-in closet larger.
Bathroom with only one door.
Swap the locations of the children’s rooms and the office.
Make the office smaller since one person already has a workspace on the ground floor.
Move the utility room upstairs if you are already considering placing the washing machine in the bathroom.
What stands out to me:
Apartment with separate entrance:
Where is a wardrobe supposed to fit in the bedroom?
I find the bathroom very small, especially considering age, walking aids, and assistance with washing and dressing.
I don’t like the living/dining room with kitchen at all and find it difficult to arrange furniture there.
Ground floor:
I don’t like the hallway. The storage room is tiny. Once you put in a broom and vacuum cleaner, it will feel very cramped.
Maybe use the guest room as a combination guest and office room.
Upper floor:
Huge bedroom, small children’s rooms, and one of them is not even nicely located.
In my opinion, the best room layout is in the office.
Make the bedroom smaller, the walk-in closet larger.
Bathroom with only one door.
Swap the locations of the children’s rooms and the office.
Make the office smaller since one person already has a workspace on the ground floor.
Move the utility room upstairs if you are already considering placing the washing machine in the bathroom.
Martin-83 schrieb:
Regarding the garages, we want everything to be accessible on one level, meaning you can drive the car into the garage and then enter the house on the same floor. There is 8 meters (26 feet) of space in front of the garage lengthwise, so parking in front is no problem,…but only perpendicular to the garage. In terms of depth, I estimate there is only about 4 meters (13 feet) in front. This means a car can’t be parked directly in front of its own spot without the bumper hanging over the sidewalk or without being fully on private property. You wouldn’t just open the garage door in the evening and roll it straight in; instead, the car would be parked sideways in front of its own spot and partially blocking another vehicle.
Martin-83 schrieb:
That’s why I’m posting this here. [...] It’s not like we put the floor plan together in an hour and now ask for improvements. This took us HOURS of work…If you don’t have a sense of scale, that doesn’t change even after a hundred design considerations. This is exactly what bothers me about this design:
Martin-83 schrieb:
We are obviously not architects and, by the way, we don’t want to build a 120 m² (1,292 sq ft) house....which is exactly what you ended up doing: you built a 120 m² (1,292 sq ft) house—only much larger. In some areas, there are disproportionate spaciousnesses that are not consistent throughout the design. The result is a 19 m² (205 sq ft) bathroom, while @Curly rightly points out that it’s a no-go (especially in a house of this size and with four garage spaces) that there is no dedicated children’s bathroom. By the way: in case of resale, this alone can easily lower the property value by around twenty thousand.
The fact that these flaws exist on such a fundamental conceptual level (not to say that the local building official or kitchen planner wouldn’t notice) is my main reason for not commenting on the detailed aspects of this design until now.
But maybe detailed criticism will open your eyes to the conceptual shortcomings, so I’ll give it a try:
The changes in elevation—particularly with the road running around the property—would make me seriously consider stacking the two double garages one above the other. As mentioned, the short route between car and front door is absolutely sufficient if it only applies to daily-use vehicles. What I would definitely consider is spreading the building volume by separating it into two double garages, for example, one on each side of the main house.
The ground-level exit can realistically only apply to the window door on the left side of the dining room or to the guest apartment bedroom.
I would never design a guest apartment intended for elderly family members on the ground floor if the bathroom is far from the bedroom and if there is no access to the young family’s stairwell.
I would reverse the direction of the staircase. I would not place the study room flanked by children’s bedrooms but rather include it as part of the master suite.
The chimney penetrates the main ridge beam, requiring support beams for at least two ceiling panels.
I hope it’s now clear why I didn’t even address issues like the unacceptably small walk-in closet for a house like this, the guest room, the guest bathroom, or the storage room.
By the way, windows should correspond in number and size to what is actually going to be ordered if they are to be used as a basis for the quote. That is not the case here at all.
Four cars are the only unusual factor in your situation. The combination of “two adults (who partly work from home), two children, grandparents, no dog, and creditworthiness for a villa” is common enough that you can include real buildings of similar families as references in your planning.
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