Hello fellow homebuilders,
My developer, in my opinion, has done a pretty good job of implementing our ideas and wishes, and I would appreciate your opinions and suggestions for improvement, as I’m not a natural architect.
First, some details and wishes we have so far:
- Detached house with a granny flat (for the parents, and later for renting out). Main unit approximately 160 sqm (1720 sq ft), granny flat 55 sqm (590 sq ft)
- No basement, but storage space under the stairs on the ground floor, under the roof, a larger garage, and a garden shed
- The development plan allows for 2 full floors (roof pitch probably up to 28 degrees), so it’s a hipped roof
- Built solidly with 36 cm (14 inches) T9 bricks
- KfW 70 energy standard
- Heating: gas condensing boiler
- Underfloor heating
- Orientation of the house: not shown on the floor plan, but north is at the top, south at the bottom 🙂 so the conservatory faces west
- We definitely wanted a walk-in closet and a master bathroom in the bedroom
We struggled a bit with the layout of the living room/kitchen on the ground floor of the main unit. We think the arrangement is okay overall, but I feel the living room is a bit small? What do you think?
Note: On the north wall of the living room, we removed the window from the floor plan. The photo still shows it included—please don’t be confused!
We tried to plan the window sizes considering the north/south orientation (it’s often recommended to have fewer windows facing north and more facing south to reduce heat and energy loss).
The bathroom in the granny flat is a bit out of place compared to the other bathrooms; ideally, all bathrooms would be more or less stacked vertically, right? Is that a problem? The developer says no, but I suspect that might increase costs accordingly.
What do you think about the current plan? Any suggestions for improvements?
Oh, and the total cost for the whole house will be around 320,000 EUR.
Thanks in advance for your active feedback 🙂
Karismasen
My developer, in my opinion, has done a pretty good job of implementing our ideas and wishes, and I would appreciate your opinions and suggestions for improvement, as I’m not a natural architect.
First, some details and wishes we have so far:
- Detached house with a granny flat (for the parents, and later for renting out). Main unit approximately 160 sqm (1720 sq ft), granny flat 55 sqm (590 sq ft)
- No basement, but storage space under the stairs on the ground floor, under the roof, a larger garage, and a garden shed
- The development plan allows for 2 full floors (roof pitch probably up to 28 degrees), so it’s a hipped roof
- Built solidly with 36 cm (14 inches) T9 bricks
- KfW 70 energy standard
- Heating: gas condensing boiler
- Underfloor heating
- Orientation of the house: not shown on the floor plan, but north is at the top, south at the bottom 🙂 so the conservatory faces west
- We definitely wanted a walk-in closet and a master bathroom in the bedroom
We struggled a bit with the layout of the living room/kitchen on the ground floor of the main unit. We think the arrangement is okay overall, but I feel the living room is a bit small? What do you think?
Note: On the north wall of the living room, we removed the window from the floor plan. The photo still shows it included—please don’t be confused!
We tried to plan the window sizes considering the north/south orientation (it’s often recommended to have fewer windows facing north and more facing south to reduce heat and energy loss).
The bathroom in the granny flat is a bit out of place compared to the other bathrooms; ideally, all bathrooms would be more or less stacked vertically, right? Is that a problem? The developer says no, but I suspect that might increase costs accordingly.
What do you think about the current plan? Any suggestions for improvements?
Oh, and the total cost for the whole house will be around 320,000 EUR.
Thanks in advance for your active feedback 🙂
Karismasen
karismasen schrieb:
I don’t understand the concern about the entrance area being too dark? There are windows near the staircase, so there should be enough light coming in, right? The staircase won’t allow the window’s light to reach the hallway. Besides, you will have a closed staircase, so nothing really passes through there. Take your children’s Lego bricks and build a 3D model of the hallway — then you’ll see what we mean.
I also think that the losses on the ground floor are too significant to fix with just small changes in the layout. What might be acceptable in an old apartment isn’t necessarily what you want in a newly built single-family house. The entrance area, both outside and inside, is the house’s business card. If this area is already makeshift, would you really want that...? By the way, this also applies to a granny flat or secondary unit — its entrance is often just awkwardly pushed behind the garage.
Basically, the ground floor for you consists only of the living area... assuming changes are made here, you probably don’t want to walk through the hallway towards the staircase.
I also wonder whether anyone wants to climb the attic ladder three times a day just to get items normally stored in a utility room — that can be frustrating.
K
karismasen10 Sep 2014 17:27Ok, I’m now at the point where I will completely discard this plan and start over. The building envelope remains unchanged.
karismasen schrieb:
I don’t quite understand the entrance area being too dark? We have windows by the staircase, so there should be enough light coming in, right?We also have a window by the stairs, similar to yours. But your hallway is almost 6 meters (20 feet) long, while ours is only 3.80 meters (12.5 feet). We also get light through the glass door opposite and the front door with glass inserts. However, we have an open wooden staircase.
As you can see, most of the light comes through the door (the sun is shining here at the moment, the entrance faces east). If you have a closed staircase, it will be darker. Also, your hallway is longer and the light simply doesn’t reach as far into the space.
Jaydee schrieb:
Great staircase! It really shows how nice it can look when you don’t always have to plan the wardrobe under the stairs just because there’s no other space 🙂
Thank you! We are especially proud of this chest! It is the dowry chest of my great-great-grandmother.
The restorer who refurbished it told us that it is probably much older, around 300 years old, and must be an antique strongbox. Ordinary citizens at that time wouldn’t have been able to afford such decorative metal fittings.
From my father, I know that my great-great-grandmother worked on an estate in the Netherlands before World War I and likely brought the chest from there.
After the restoration, it has truly become a treasure!
The restorer who refurbished it told us that it is probably much older, around 300 years old, and must be an antique strongbox. Ordinary citizens at that time wouldn’t have been able to afford such decorative metal fittings.
From my father, I know that my great-great-grandmother worked on an estate in the Netherlands before World War I and likely brought the chest from there.
After the restoration, it has truly become a treasure!
Similar topics