ᐅ Small single-family house of approximately 1,500 sq ft – any suggestions for improvements?

Created on: 2 Oct 2019 17:00

mambo1988

Hello everyone,

Our plans for our small house are already quite advanced, so we believe this is a good time to ask for your feedback.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 355m² (3,820 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: -
Floor-area ratio: -
Building envelope, building line and limits: -
Edge development: -
Number of stories: 2
Roof style: gable roof or hip roof
Orientation: southeast
Maximum heights / limitations: -
Other: -

Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: urban villa
Basement, floors: no basement, ground floor, upper floor, attic used as storage
Number of occupants: 4 (2 children)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors: ground floor – living room, kitchen, office, guest toilet, utility and storage room; upper floor – 2 children’s bedrooms, parents’ bedroom, bathroom
Office use: family use or home office: home office
Guest sleepers per year: 5 (living room)
Open or closed layout: relatively closed
Traditional or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes; kitchen island extends up to the wall under the window
Number of dining seats: minimum 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: yes, at the staircase
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage with storage, 3 x 9m (10 x 30 ft)
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no

House Design
Designed by: draftsman and us
What do you especially like? Why?: The open living room and hopefully very efficient use of space for such a relatively small house
What do you dislike? Why?: We are concerned that the utility/storage room, which will also house laundry facilities, may be too small
Cost estimate by architect/planner: €300,000 including garage
Personal budget limit for house including fittings: €310,000; all desired fittings are included in the house price
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump

If you have to compromise, on which details/features
- can you do without: walk-in closet
- can you not do without: office

Why did the design end up as it is now? e.g.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?: Parents’ bedroom in the north, living room in the south
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?:
Good: hopefully efficient use of space, including the masonry staircase
Bad: Actually nothing really bad; only concerned that the utility room may be a bit small and the living room sofa might be slightly narrow

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
What would you change or improve? Have we overlooked anything that could cause problems later?
Is the size of the utility room sufficient? Air-water heat pump combined with water heater, washing machine, dryer stacked above washing machine, drying rack

Explanation of the images:
One shows the floor plan with dimensions, the other shows the floor plan with furniture placement. Behind the sofa there should be some space so the children can leave things there occasionally (and to allow more room for surround speakers).
Then comes the house orientation and plot layout.
I hope everything is clear so far. Feel free to ask if not.
Thank you very much!

Ground floor plan: living/dining/kitchen, office, hallway, utility room, WC, stairs.

House floor plan: two children’s bedrooms, bedroom with walk-in closet, bathroom, hallway and stairs.

Open living and dining area with black corner sofa, dining table for 6, kitchen on the right.

House floor plan: two children’s bedrooms, bedroom, bathroom, hallway, utility room, stairwell.

Site plan with red buildings, dimension lines, street boundary, and north arrow; section F approx. 355m² (3,820 sq ft).

Garden plan: house brown, lawn green, terrace blue, flower beds orange, paving blue, garage grey.

Rosmarin3 Oct 2019 18:42

#25

I would definitely omit the window in the utility/technical room, as it takes up a lot of usable space. Unless it’s needed for connections and the air-to-water heat pump or mechanical ventilation system, you’ll appreciate every shelf or storage area you can get.

haydee3 Oct 2019 19:26

#26

danixf schrieb:

You must have invested in a substantial installation if you have a unit like that. For a standard setup, 55cm (22 inches) wide and 110cm (43 inches) high should be sufficient.
I really like the suggestion from @kaho674 about the small utility room upstairs. This way, you still have a storage room or junk room upstairs – which you currently completely lack. The utility room downstairs is too small for that, and I’m afraid the office would otherwise have to be sacrificed for such a purpose. I also find a walk-in closet unnecessary if the bedroom has enough space.

Actually, there’s nothing special about it. The space is due to the absence of arc fault circuit interrupters. Reducing it by half wasn’t possible. Still, even with your dimensions it will be tight.

mambo19883 Oct 2019 20:47

#27

Good evening everyone,

Thanks again to all of you! Especially to kaho674—the floor plan actually made us reconsider things.

So, we can keep the utility room on the ground floor as is, if the laundry is moved upstairs. That seems to be the general consensus.

Attached is a slightly adjusted floor plan from kaho674. What do you think?
- Are there any further improvements possible? We're still unsure about the bathroom. (The wall next to the toilet should only be half-height.)
- We will need water upstairs in the utility room as well. So, a pipe shaft would be needed from below, right? How much space does such a shaft take up? Where could it be positioned? Or can the wastewater also drain through the floor towards the bathroom?
- The window height in the ground-floor utility room is very narrow. That should leave enough room for the technical installations, correct?
- The positioning of the windows on the right side is probably not ideal. The windows upstairs should be full height. (I can’t quite figure out how to draw that yet, oops.)