Hello everyone,
I have been following the discussions for some time now, and now it’s our turn. I would like to share our floor plan for discussion:
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 434 m² (4670 sq ft), 14.16 m (46.5 ft) wide on the north side, 14.28 m (46.9 ft) wide on the south side, approximately 30 m (98.4 ft) long
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: According to the development plan, 2 are required. We would prefer 2 garages, but probably only one will be possible?…
Number of floors: Up to 2 full stories
Special conditions: The access on the north side is not very wide because a small fence separates the adjacent bike path. The location is quiet in a cul-de-sac, with the pedestrian/bike path continuing via a small staircase.
Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: simple single-family house with a gable roof
Basement, stories: basement, ground floor, upper floor
Number of people, age: 2 people, 41 and 46 years old, no children planned
Room needs on ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor: kitchen, living room, dining area, guest bathroom, storage space (for beverage crates, coat rack, etc.)
Upper floor: bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, guest room/office, and a study/library
Office: family use or home office? A “study” plus an office/guest room, no home office
Open or closed layout: rather open
Open kitchen with island: yes, please!
Number of dining seats: 2 to many, as I like to invite people over…
Fireplace: yes
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage (preferably 2)
Utility garden, greenhouse: we enjoy gardening on a very small scale; a greenhouse might come later if there is enough space/time, but it doesn’t have to be planned now…
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be included
In the study, at least my two bookshelves need to fit (HWD 98 x 233 x 54 cm (39 x 92 x 21 in) and 300 x 41 x 247 cm (118 x 16 x 97 in), with one side only 32 cm (12.6 in) deep over 88 cm (34.6 in) length; currently placed behind the door J). The kitchen is especially important to us because we enjoy cooking and have A LOT of accessories, devices, etc. Therefore, we need a lot of storage space.
House Design
Who designed it: planner from a construction company, together with us
What do you particularly like and why? The spacious kitchen, the separate wardrobe area
What do you not like and why? The entrance to the dining room from the east side because of the garage, the long hallway on the ground floor / the entire entrance situation
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with controlled residential ventilation and photovoltaic system
If you had to give up something,
- what details/expansions could you do without: double washbasin, recessed front door
- what you cannot do without: fireplace, basement, walk-in closet!
Why is the design the way it is?
Design by the planner together with us
Unfortunately, we only have 8.16 m (26.8 ft) available for the house width, but we can extend further in length…
I am happy to receive any criticism! If you have questions, please ask here anytime!
I have been following the discussions for some time now, and now it’s our turn. I would like to share our floor plan for discussion:
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 434 m² (4670 sq ft), 14.16 m (46.5 ft) wide on the north side, 14.28 m (46.9 ft) wide on the south side, approximately 30 m (98.4 ft) long
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: According to the development plan, 2 are required. We would prefer 2 garages, but probably only one will be possible?…
Number of floors: Up to 2 full stories
Special conditions: The access on the north side is not very wide because a small fence separates the adjacent bike path. The location is quiet in a cul-de-sac, with the pedestrian/bike path continuing via a small staircase.
Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: simple single-family house with a gable roof
Basement, stories: basement, ground floor, upper floor
Number of people, age: 2 people, 41 and 46 years old, no children planned
Room needs on ground floor and upper floor:
Ground floor: kitchen, living room, dining area, guest bathroom, storage space (for beverage crates, coat rack, etc.)
Upper floor: bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, guest room/office, and a study/library
Office: family use or home office? A “study” plus an office/guest room, no home office
Open or closed layout: rather open
Open kitchen with island: yes, please!
Number of dining seats: 2 to many, as I like to invite people over…
Fireplace: yes
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage (preferably 2)
Utility garden, greenhouse: we enjoy gardening on a very small scale; a greenhouse might come later if there is enough space/time, but it doesn’t have to be planned now…
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be included
In the study, at least my two bookshelves need to fit (HWD 98 x 233 x 54 cm (39 x 92 x 21 in) and 300 x 41 x 247 cm (118 x 16 x 97 in), with one side only 32 cm (12.6 in) deep over 88 cm (34.6 in) length; currently placed behind the door J). The kitchen is especially important to us because we enjoy cooking and have A LOT of accessories, devices, etc. Therefore, we need a lot of storage space.
House Design
Who designed it: planner from a construction company, together with us
What do you particularly like and why? The spacious kitchen, the separate wardrobe area
What do you not like and why? The entrance to the dining room from the east side because of the garage, the long hallway on the ground floor / the entire entrance situation
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with controlled residential ventilation and photovoltaic system
If you had to give up something,
- what details/expansions could you do without: double washbasin, recessed front door
- what you cannot do without: fireplace, basement, walk-in closet!
Why is the design the way it is?
Design by the planner together with us
Unfortunately, we only have 8.16 m (26.8 ft) available for the house width, but we can extend further in length…
I am happy to receive any criticism! If you have questions, please ask here anytime!
J
j.bautsch15 Dec 2016 14:11The rooms are definitely large enough to comfortably fit a bed.
The house would not suit just two people at all. Somehow, everything there feels more like a compromise and not well thought out.
The fact that j.b. now has to suggest placing the bedroom to the north and having the dressing room separately shows that you haven’t really considered what the optimum layout is and the reasoning behind why it should be one way or another.
I see a typical standard house for four people, where a lot is accepted as given. Then you remove bedrooms K1 and K2 and turn those into a guest room and an office, and that’s supposed to be a home for two people in their mid-forties...
Why wasn’t it planned like that from the start?
The only thing that might work well in reality is the line of the stairs, double door, and double window. And now that’s going to be abandoned, too?
With a kitchen width of 2.70 meters (8 feet 10 inches) and a walkway of only 1.10 meters (3 feet 7 inches), you’re left with a kitchen island just one (1) meter (3 feet 3 inches) wide, which is right up against the wall. From there, you have to walk 4 meters (13 feet) just to reach the sink. That won’t work. Also, the room proportions are too elongated—a kind of tube shape (I don’t even want to mention the word “hallway”).
Unfortunately, the site plan doesn’t provide any information about the building zone (building permit / planning permission area) or the location of the street. That would be useful here to get an idea of how best to adapt the room layout.
Have you ever considered relocating the bedroom to the ground floor next to an open-plan kitchen/dining area and planning a large TV room in the attic?
Or opening up the stairs down to the living area?
What is happening with the basement? Have I already asked that?
Edit:
The kitchen is not spacious, and it’s not really suitable for extensive cooking because, as mentioned before, the walking distance of about 4 meters (13 feet) is too long.
You currently don’t have a separate cloakroom, as that room is used as storage where you probably keep boxes of drinks and all kinds of stuff because it’s inconvenient to go down to the basement just for dusters and brooms.
The fact that j.b. now has to suggest placing the bedroom to the north and having the dressing room separately shows that you haven’t really considered what the optimum layout is and the reasoning behind why it should be one way or another.
I see a typical standard house for four people, where a lot is accepted as given. Then you remove bedrooms K1 and K2 and turn those into a guest room and an office, and that’s supposed to be a home for two people in their mid-forties...
Tanita schrieb:
I actually prefer the bedroom facing north, and then I can look out into the garden from “my” room!
Why wasn’t it planned like that from the start?
The only thing that might work well in reality is the line of the stairs, double door, and double window. And now that’s going to be abandoned, too?
With a kitchen width of 2.70 meters (8 feet 10 inches) and a walkway of only 1.10 meters (3 feet 7 inches), you’re left with a kitchen island just one (1) meter (3 feet 3 inches) wide, which is right up against the wall. From there, you have to walk 4 meters (13 feet) just to reach the sink. That won’t work. Also, the room proportions are too elongated—a kind of tube shape (I don’t even want to mention the word “hallway”).
Unfortunately, the site plan doesn’t provide any information about the building zone (building permit / planning permission area) or the location of the street. That would be useful here to get an idea of how best to adapt the room layout.
Have you ever considered relocating the bedroom to the ground floor next to an open-plan kitchen/dining area and planning a large TV room in the attic?
Or opening up the stairs down to the living area?
What is happening with the basement? Have I already asked that?
Edit:
Tanita schrieb:
What do you like most? Why? The spacious kitchen, the separate cloakroom
The kitchen is not spacious, and it’s not really suitable for extensive cooking because, as mentioned before, the walking distance of about 4 meters (13 feet) is too long.
You currently don’t have a separate cloakroom, as that room is used as storage where you probably keep boxes of drinks and all kinds of stuff because it’s inconvenient to go down to the basement just for dusters and brooms.
We have already put a lot of thought into this, including the walk-in closet. My partner is still not convinced that having an external entrance here offers any benefits. "You always have to go through the hallway" (no, you definitely won’t have to walk 100 meters...!). He also used your argument, ypg, that the upper hallway looks a bit “door-heavy”... (okay, I’ll accept that).
At first, I planned the north room for the books because it is larger than the bedroom, and I really don’t want to waste much space in the bedroom. The kitchen also has its purpose: the space between the two counters isn’t too wide, so the distance from, for example, the fridge to the stove is short. The island is the second, larger workspace, for example, for cutting out cookies, arranging a buffet, or tasks that are not daily. The daily workspace is probably the slightly smaller one next to the sink for washing fruit and light prep work. On the north side, we have the key functions at a very convenient distance. Since there are two of us, it’s perfectly fine that the work areas are separated here. I find a wider kitchen impractical, as that would leave either a dancefloor or an island in the middle that you always have to walk around. The peninsula will also be wider than 1 meter (about 3 feet), because on the inside wall the counter will not go all the way to the front to lessen the narrow feel.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a building permit or planning permission window (the plans are from the 1970s and were typed on a typewriter...), but we are initially assuming a setback of 5 meters (16 feet) to the street (north side) and 3 meters (10 feet) on each side due to the neighboring buildings. Where the thick blue line is on the plan, you can see that the driveway on the north side is not very wide. Next to the house will be the garage and diagonally in front of the house the second garage or parking space (depending on how the financial situation turns out in the end).
We’re not really keen on having the TV room under the roof because we don’t always want to host guests only in the dining room; we want to keep a “public” and a “private” area separate, with the exception of overnight guests.
We’re not particularly fond of an open staircase; however, I will discuss it further since it could make the space feel more open. But then the stairway to the basement would also be visible, and we would need a railing there as well. Or did I misunderstand you?
The basement is a real basement! It will include the laundry room, storage and pantry, and a workshop or activity room for tasks that get a bit messy (sawing, painting, etc.). Unfortunately, due to the open floor plan, there is not much wall space for cabinets. When two full households come together, even after sorting, a lot of storage is still needed!
It’s true that the coatroom won’t be just a coatroom, but we have planned a large closed cabinet aligned to the right (or a sliding door in front of shelving), and on the left side the coat rack, including space for winter jackets.
We thought it was appropriate to change the children's rooms for us, so that each of us has a “personal” room for special purposes. It was very important to me that there is no PC or TV in my room with the books, so we will combine guest and office. This can work comfortably in terms of living.
We are not very creative; we lack the imagination of what might be possible here and usually just think in terms of what we know... This has turned into another long message, and much of it sounds like justification. Please don’t take it that way—I really appreciate your feedback and we will definitely have a long discussion about it tonight!
If you have any more points, feel free to share!
At first, I planned the north room for the books because it is larger than the bedroom, and I really don’t want to waste much space in the bedroom. The kitchen also has its purpose: the space between the two counters isn’t too wide, so the distance from, for example, the fridge to the stove is short. The island is the second, larger workspace, for example, for cutting out cookies, arranging a buffet, or tasks that are not daily. The daily workspace is probably the slightly smaller one next to the sink for washing fruit and light prep work. On the north side, we have the key functions at a very convenient distance. Since there are two of us, it’s perfectly fine that the work areas are separated here. I find a wider kitchen impractical, as that would leave either a dancefloor or an island in the middle that you always have to walk around. The peninsula will also be wider than 1 meter (about 3 feet), because on the inside wall the counter will not go all the way to the front to lessen the narrow feel.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a building permit or planning permission window (the plans are from the 1970s and were typed on a typewriter...), but we are initially assuming a setback of 5 meters (16 feet) to the street (north side) and 3 meters (10 feet) on each side due to the neighboring buildings. Where the thick blue line is on the plan, you can see that the driveway on the north side is not very wide. Next to the house will be the garage and diagonally in front of the house the second garage or parking space (depending on how the financial situation turns out in the end).
We’re not really keen on having the TV room under the roof because we don’t always want to host guests only in the dining room; we want to keep a “public” and a “private” area separate, with the exception of overnight guests.
We’re not particularly fond of an open staircase; however, I will discuss it further since it could make the space feel more open. But then the stairway to the basement would also be visible, and we would need a railing there as well. Or did I misunderstand you?
The basement is a real basement! It will include the laundry room, storage and pantry, and a workshop or activity room for tasks that get a bit messy (sawing, painting, etc.). Unfortunately, due to the open floor plan, there is not much wall space for cabinets. When two full households come together, even after sorting, a lot of storage is still needed!
It’s true that the coatroom won’t be just a coatroom, but we have planned a large closed cabinet aligned to the right (or a sliding door in front of shelving), and on the left side the coat rack, including space for winter jackets.
We thought it was appropriate to change the children's rooms for us, so that each of us has a “personal” room for special purposes. It was very important to me that there is no PC or TV in my room with the books, so we will combine guest and office. This can work comfortably in terms of living.
We are not very creative; we lack the imagination of what might be possible here and usually just think in terms of what we know... This has turned into another long message, and much of it sounds like justification. Please don’t take it that way—I really appreciate your feedback and we will definitely have a long discussion about it tonight!
If you have any more points, feel free to share!
J
j.bautsch16 Dec 2016 07:26Regarding the corridor with the "through door." Here is the definition of corridor:
"Corridor1
[Noun] [[the]]
Source: Google
That’s just how corridors are :P
I suggested the walk-in closet access through the corridor because if you have different waking times, you don’t have to go through the bedroom twice, opening and closing doors, turning on lights, and so on. If you always get up at the same time or your partner doesn’t mind, you can leave the access there instead.
"Corridor1
[Noun] [[the]]
- a (long) passageway with several doors.
Source: Google
That’s just how corridors are :P
I suggested the walk-in closet access through the corridor because if you have different waking times, you don’t have to go through the bedroom twice, opening and closing doors, turning on lights, and so on. If you always get up at the same time or your partner doesn’t mind, you can leave the access there instead.
Even in the typewriter era, building envelopes existed.
If the blue line is supposed to represent a street, why is the house accessed from the short side? This automatically causes problems with narrow houses. It is better to position the entrance in the upper third on the west side. This also improves the kitchen layout.
The other arguments about bedroom/office size are completely incomprehensible since this is not an existing property but everything is still flexible. A walk-in closet can also be planned, as well as an ergonomically well-designed kitchen.
Room sizes can be adjusted upstairs and downstairs, stairs can be relocated, and so on.
If you want to spend 300,000 to 350,000 (dollars/pounds/etc.), even if it’s going to be a standard house, you should rearrange a few walls here and there.
There is plenty of space anyway.
Best regards
If the blue line is supposed to represent a street, why is the house accessed from the short side? This automatically causes problems with narrow houses. It is better to position the entrance in the upper third on the west side. This also improves the kitchen layout.
The other arguments about bedroom/office size are completely incomprehensible since this is not an existing property but everything is still flexible. A walk-in closet can also be planned, as well as an ergonomically well-designed kitchen.
Room sizes can be adjusted upstairs and downstairs, stairs can be relocated, and so on.
If you want to spend 300,000 to 350,000 (dollars/pounds/etc.), even if it’s going to be a standard house, you should rearrange a few walls here and there.
There is plenty of space anyway.
Best regards
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