ᐅ Single-family house with a floor area of 156 m² (2 children's bedrooms plus a home office)
Created on: 5 Aug 2018 22:34
L
Linimi
Hello everyone,
after reading a bit here, I would now like to share our current floor plan. We are still quite early in the process... but since we now have a plot of land in sight, things might move faster than expected.
We had visited a show home that we absolutely loved. Unfortunately, at 180 m² (1,938 sq ft) it was too large or too expensive for us. The floor plan has since been modified and reduced to 157 m² (1,690 sq ft). Still, there are some difficulties, and I’m concerned it might feel cramped. Especially the upper floor is not ideal. Currently, the bathroom is located in the bay window area, and at 14 m² (150 sq ft) it is quite large. I feel the space could be better used, but how? Should one of the children's rooms be moved there? That might feel unfair... Also, the walk-in closet and storage room are not optimal since both rooms have sloped ceilings. The storage room is intended only for items not needed frequently (Christmas decorations, etc.). The attic can also be used for storage.
Downstairs, I am unsure if the utility room is large enough (it will include the heating system, washing machine/dryer, cleaning supplies, beverages, etc.).
Oh, and the furniture (and sanitary fixtures) shown are just examples from the advisor; we haven’t decided on those yet 😉
Regarding orientation, I’ve only just started researching. Unfortunately, the plot faces north… Tips on this are welcome! At first glance, I wonder if it makes sense to mirror the floor plan (at least on the ground floor) and position the house on the plot so that the entrance is not facing the street but to the right instead.
Here are the required details (as far as available):
Development Plan/Restrictions
No special restrictions known so far.
Plot size: approx. 900 m² (9,688 sq ft)
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Number of floors: 1
Roof type: Hip roof, half-hip roof (jerkinhead), gable roof
Orientation: North
Maximum heights/limits: 4.50 m (15 ft) eaves height
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: Single-family home (prefabricated) with gable roof and bay window (external dimensions 11.86 x 8.25 m (39 x 27 ft))
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors (knee wall 1.20 m (4 ft))
Number of people, ages: 2 adults (both 30 years old), 1 child (2 years), additional child uncertain
Room requirements on ground floor: Living/dining, kitchen, office/guest room, guest toilet, utility/technical room
Room requirements on upper floor: Bedroom with walk-in closet, 2 children's rooms, bathroom, storage room
Office use: family or home office? Home office
Number of overnight guests per year: approx. 6 times (1-2 persons each)
Open or closed architecture: rather closed, partly open
Traditional or modern construction: rather traditional, open to modern design
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Kitchen with double doors, likely no island due to size
Number of dining seats: 2-4 in kitchen (for quick breakfast), 6-8 in dining area
Fireplace: No
Music/Stereo wall: No
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Double carport with storage room
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/particulars/daily routines, with reasons if desired: Second children’s room upstairs to be used initially as a guest room; if there is a second child, a small sleeping space should be arranged in the office. Walk-in closet access from the bedroom; storage room does not have to be accessible from the corridor, can also be accessed via the walk-in closet.
House Design
Planned by: Designer from a construction company
What do you especially like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
Cost estimate according to architect/designer: approx. €300,000 (including painting/wallpaper and flooring)
Personal budget for house including features: €340,000
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-water heat pump
Why is the design as it is? Standard design from the planner with minor changes
What do you think is particularly good or bad about it?
Pros: The basic room sizes (except the upstairs bathroom) fit our needs; many rooms but thanks to the gallery and rather open bright hallway it doesn’t feel like an “apartment” (possibly an additional bay window in front near the stairs and stairs with a landing; bay window also brings more natural light).
Cons: Because of the gallery and bay window upstairs, there are only few options to arrange the rooms. Or are we just out of ideas?
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How can we rearrange the upper floor? (smaller bathroom, larger children’s rooms, different walk-in closet and storage layout)? General feedback welcome... 😉
Change: Additional details added.
after reading a bit here, I would now like to share our current floor plan. We are still quite early in the process... but since we now have a plot of land in sight, things might move faster than expected.
We had visited a show home that we absolutely loved. Unfortunately, at 180 m² (1,938 sq ft) it was too large or too expensive for us. The floor plan has since been modified and reduced to 157 m² (1,690 sq ft). Still, there are some difficulties, and I’m concerned it might feel cramped. Especially the upper floor is not ideal. Currently, the bathroom is located in the bay window area, and at 14 m² (150 sq ft) it is quite large. I feel the space could be better used, but how? Should one of the children's rooms be moved there? That might feel unfair... Also, the walk-in closet and storage room are not optimal since both rooms have sloped ceilings. The storage room is intended only for items not needed frequently (Christmas decorations, etc.). The attic can also be used for storage.
Downstairs, I am unsure if the utility room is large enough (it will include the heating system, washing machine/dryer, cleaning supplies, beverages, etc.).
Oh, and the furniture (and sanitary fixtures) shown are just examples from the advisor; we haven’t decided on those yet 😉
Regarding orientation, I’ve only just started researching. Unfortunately, the plot faces north… Tips on this are welcome! At first glance, I wonder if it makes sense to mirror the floor plan (at least on the ground floor) and position the house on the plot so that the entrance is not facing the street but to the right instead.
Here are the required details (as far as available):
Development Plan/Restrictions
No special restrictions known so far.
Plot size: approx. 900 m² (9,688 sq ft)
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Number of floors: 1
Roof type: Hip roof, half-hip roof (jerkinhead), gable roof
Orientation: North
Maximum heights/limits: 4.50 m (15 ft) eaves height
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: Single-family home (prefabricated) with gable roof and bay window (external dimensions 11.86 x 8.25 m (39 x 27 ft))
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors (knee wall 1.20 m (4 ft))
Number of people, ages: 2 adults (both 30 years old), 1 child (2 years), additional child uncertain
Room requirements on ground floor: Living/dining, kitchen, office/guest room, guest toilet, utility/technical room
Room requirements on upper floor: Bedroom with walk-in closet, 2 children's rooms, bathroom, storage room
Office use: family or home office? Home office
Number of overnight guests per year: approx. 6 times (1-2 persons each)
Open or closed architecture: rather closed, partly open
Traditional or modern construction: rather traditional, open to modern design
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Kitchen with double doors, likely no island due to size
Number of dining seats: 2-4 in kitchen (for quick breakfast), 6-8 in dining area
Fireplace: No
Music/Stereo wall: No
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Double carport with storage room
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/particulars/daily routines, with reasons if desired: Second children’s room upstairs to be used initially as a guest room; if there is a second child, a small sleeping space should be arranged in the office. Walk-in closet access from the bedroom; storage room does not have to be accessible from the corridor, can also be accessed via the walk-in closet.
House Design
Planned by: Designer from a construction company
What do you especially like? Why?
- Double doors to living/dining area and relatively open hallway (no narrow corridor = you don’t bump into each other quickly) feel inviting;
- Access from kitchen to utility/technical room
What do you dislike? Why?
- Only one possible arrangement for sofa and TV
- Is the utility room large enough?
- Large bathroom upstairs not necessary; how to better use the bay window?
- Second children’s room at 11 m² (118 sq ft) is very small
- Walk-in closet and storage room not optimal
Cost estimate according to architect/designer: approx. €300,000 (including painting/wallpaper and flooring)
Personal budget for house including features: €340,000
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-water heat pump
Why is the design as it is? Standard design from the planner with minor changes
What do you think is particularly good or bad about it?
Pros: The basic room sizes (except the upstairs bathroom) fit our needs; many rooms but thanks to the gallery and rather open bright hallway it doesn’t feel like an “apartment” (possibly an additional bay window in front near the stairs and stairs with a landing; bay window also brings more natural light).
Cons: Because of the gallery and bay window upstairs, there are only few options to arrange the rooms. Or are we just out of ideas?
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How can we rearrange the upper floor? (smaller bathroom, larger children’s rooms, different walk-in closet and storage layout)? General feedback welcome... 😉
Change: Additional details added.
Potemkin schrieb:
I agree with the participant that the strength of the posted design lies in the "balance of openness and enclosure." You could say that about any floor plan featuring a kitchen with a door and an open gallery :-)
Potemkin schrieb:
I would also be interested in the floor plan of the model home visited Yes, the original Brad could certainly be mentioned sometime :-)
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Here is the floor plan we reviewed and found quite good.
I want to emphasize again that we really liked this, but we are by no means saying, "It has to be exactly like this and nothing else." It seems that impression might have arisen... this was only our starting point. Now, with the apparently found plot of land, the planning needs to be reviewed in more detail anyway, which is precisely why we are posting here.
Nothing is set in stone (well, except the double doors leading off the hallway—I simply fell in love with those), and I continue to welcome constructive criticism. Discussions about Brad Pitt and co. unfortunately don’t help me much here. If we weren’t open to changes, we wouldn’t have reached out in the first place.
Thanks to everyone who contributed constructively, especially for the advice regarding orientation, which I found very helpful. We are already busy with the drawings...
I want to emphasize again that we really liked this, but we are by no means saying, "It has to be exactly like this and nothing else." It seems that impression might have arisen... this was only our starting point. Now, with the apparently found plot of land, the planning needs to be reviewed in more detail anyway, which is precisely why we are posting here.
Nothing is set in stone (well, except the double doors leading off the hallway—I simply fell in love with those), and I continue to welcome constructive criticism. Discussions about Brad Pitt and co. unfortunately don’t help me much here. If we weren’t open to changes, we wouldn’t have reached out in the first place.
Thanks to everyone who contributed constructively, especially for the advice regarding orientation, which I found very helpful. We are already busy with the drawings...
kaho674 schrieb:
That’s quite obvious. But it might be difficult if you fell in love with Brad Pitt and now want to suddenly switch to Leonardo DiCaprio. 😉But the result from cosmetic surgery can be monstrous.
Linimi schrieb:
Here is the floor plan I saw and found to be good.It’s quite nice, but you also have to consider the orientation – in that respect, this one might fit even better. I only glanced at it briefly though, and was thinking of a plot with a north-facing orientation?!
11ant schrieb:
That’s nonsense for three reasons: First, having such a high knee wall doesn’t help avoid a full story, since—assuming the maximum heights for ridge and wall/eaves are met—you might as well just build a full-height upper floor with straight walls. Second, raising the knee wall also pushes the angle between the wall and roof slope higher, which means you either have to duck to look out of facade windows or stretch to look out of skylights; the third option being to install dormers. Third, a house styled in a “northern German” way (with brickwork, a third gable, etc.) just doesn’t look right if the knee wall is significantly higher than about 1m (3 feet).Yes, that was a quick decision. You’re absolutely right that it doesn’t make sense. In Lower Saxony, a knee wall of 1.80m (6 feet) still apparently doesn’t count as a full story. Still, it would look odd, so it’s dismissed.
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