Hello everyone,
After almost a year’s break, we have resumed our building project and are planning a new floor plan.
We’re stuck when it comes to the open-plan living area, so I would like to hear your opinions!
Our garden faces west, and to the south, the neighboring property begins after three meters (10 feet).
Option 1:
Overall, we like this option best. BUT: Is it possibly too tight? About one meter (3 feet) between the sofa and table—is that too cramped? It’s enough for walking through, but maybe it compromises comfort on the couch? Currently, we have much more space between the couch and table, but not as much room depth as in the planned layout. We are thinking of trying to place the table this close to the sofa in our current apartment to get a feel for it.
Pros: Great window view to the west, a skylight to the south (brings in plenty of light but prevents the neighbor from looking into our house), from the couch you can see the room, the garden, and the TV.
Cons: Is it too narrow in width?
Option 2:
Same setup, only the table is rotated. Basically, a table with a footprint of 1.00 x 2.00 meters (3 x 6.5 feet) requires a total space of 2.00 x 2.00 meters (6.5 x 6.5 feet) to accommodate chairs. In this arrangement, all guests could look out to the garden. In option 1, both the sofa and the kitchen island have visual contact with all guests.
Option 3:
The sofa and the entertainment wall are swapped. The skylight to the south changes to a floor-to-ceiling window, but the window to the west is removed.
Pros: More freedom of movement in the room, sofa hidden behind the fireplace, more coziness.
Cons: No view of the garden from the sofa, loss of a west window, view of the fireplace only from the side.
We have gotten so lost in the planning that we can’t see the forest for the trees right now.
What do you think?
Thanks and best regards,
Ypsi
After almost a year’s break, we have resumed our building project and are planning a new floor plan.
We’re stuck when it comes to the open-plan living area, so I would like to hear your opinions!
Our garden faces west, and to the south, the neighboring property begins after three meters (10 feet).
Option 1:
Overall, we like this option best. BUT: Is it possibly too tight? About one meter (3 feet) between the sofa and table—is that too cramped? It’s enough for walking through, but maybe it compromises comfort on the couch? Currently, we have much more space between the couch and table, but not as much room depth as in the planned layout. We are thinking of trying to place the table this close to the sofa in our current apartment to get a feel for it.
Pros: Great window view to the west, a skylight to the south (brings in plenty of light but prevents the neighbor from looking into our house), from the couch you can see the room, the garden, and the TV.
Cons: Is it too narrow in width?
Option 2:
Same setup, only the table is rotated. Basically, a table with a footprint of 1.00 x 2.00 meters (3 x 6.5 feet) requires a total space of 2.00 x 2.00 meters (6.5 x 6.5 feet) to accommodate chairs. In this arrangement, all guests could look out to the garden. In option 1, both the sofa and the kitchen island have visual contact with all guests.
Option 3:
The sofa and the entertainment wall are swapped. The skylight to the south changes to a floor-to-ceiling window, but the window to the west is removed.
Pros: More freedom of movement in the room, sofa hidden behind the fireplace, more coziness.
Cons: No view of the garden from the sofa, loss of a west window, view of the fireplace only from the side.
We have gotten so lost in the planning that we can’t see the forest for the trees right now.
What do you think?
Thanks and best regards,
Ypsi
M
Myrna_Loy24 May 2021 22:54Ypsi aus NI schrieb:
Rooms with open doors – I consider it more likely that children feel secure in their rooms and enjoy playing there when their parents are nearby.Nope. Children can only manage that for short periods starting at around age 4. It’s related to attachment and brain development.Y
Ypsi aus NI24 May 2021 22:56askforafriend schrieb:
Well, perfect then, do as you think best ^^I would still like to know which option you meant? My comment was only regarding the fact that the bedroom width is 3.50m (11.5 feet) in both sketches.
I have to be honest: I think it’s the wrong approach to focus so intensely on just one room when it seems to be a matter of just a few centimeters, especially if the rest of the house is neglected.
Now you have fine-tuned every centimeter of the open-plan living area and the bedroom,
but what about the rest of the house?
I mean: you are concentrating on a rectangular room as if it were Berlin's airport.
Have you ever considered why the utility room is so enormous? Storage space is fine, but a utility room of this size just seems excessive. Its usefulness doesn’t increase proportionally with the floor area, since the wall surfaces don’t grow correspondingly. The same applies to the walk-in closet: it looks like leftover space where cabinets were just randomly pushed in and labeled as a walk-in closet.
Bedroom: we also only have a 160cm (63 inch) wide bed, but no children could come cuddle. I don’t know any parents who wouldn’t like to have more than their 2 meters (6.5 feet)...
Kitchen: the door opens and blocks the way into the kitchen. When I want to go from the kitchen to the terrace, the island gets in the way.
Stairs: dark. The void space doesn’t matter here. The stairs remain dark.
What I often notice when non-professionals design their house: guest toilets without windows, but wardrobe “closet/niche” next to it with a window. It’s obvious that these two positions should be swapped.
Bathroom: I don’t know what the front garden or street situation is, but maybe the window should be planned on the opposite side.
Void space: do you have so much area upstairs that you simply plan a 6-meter (20 feet) high entrance hall, but it ends with a small room door leading to the open living area? How wide is the hallway? 2 meters (6.5 feet)? Do you have an idea how that might look? Or is there a shallow pitched roof upstairs?
Now you have fine-tuned every centimeter of the open-plan living area and the bedroom,
but what about the rest of the house?
I mean: you are concentrating on a rectangular room as if it were Berlin's airport.
Have you ever considered why the utility room is so enormous? Storage space is fine, but a utility room of this size just seems excessive. Its usefulness doesn’t increase proportionally with the floor area, since the wall surfaces don’t grow correspondingly. The same applies to the walk-in closet: it looks like leftover space where cabinets were just randomly pushed in and labeled as a walk-in closet.
Bedroom: we also only have a 160cm (63 inch) wide bed, but no children could come cuddle. I don’t know any parents who wouldn’t like to have more than their 2 meters (6.5 feet)...
Kitchen: the door opens and blocks the way into the kitchen. When I want to go from the kitchen to the terrace, the island gets in the way.
Stairs: dark. The void space doesn’t matter here. The stairs remain dark.
What I often notice when non-professionals design their house: guest toilets without windows, but wardrobe “closet/niche” next to it with a window. It’s obvious that these two positions should be swapped.
Bathroom: I don’t know what the front garden or street situation is, but maybe the window should be planned on the opposite side.
Void space: do you have so much area upstairs that you simply plan a 6-meter (20 feet) high entrance hall, but it ends with a small room door leading to the open living area? How wide is the hallway? 2 meters (6.5 feet)? Do you have an idea how that might look? Or is there a shallow pitched roof upstairs?
Y
Ypsi aus NI24 May 2021 23:23ypg schrieb:
I have to be honest: I think it’s the wrong approach to focus so much on just one room when you’re only talking about a few centimeters, while neglecting the rest of the house.
Now you have meticulously planned every centimeter of the open living area and bedroom,
but what about the rest of the house?
I mean: you’re stuck on a rectangular room like it’s the Berlin city hall.
Have you ever thought about why the utility room is so huge? Storage space is fine, but a utility room that size just seems excessive. The usefulness doesn’t increase with square meters because the wall space doesn’t grow proportionally. It’s the same with the walk-in closet: it looks like a leftover piece, just crammed with wardrobes and labeled as a closet.
Bedroom: we also only have a 160cm (63 inch) bed, but there couldn’t be any kids snuggling. I don’t know any parents who wouldn’t want more than their 2 meters (6.5 feet)...
Kitchen: the door opens and blocks the way into the kitchen. If I want to get from the kitchen to the terrace, the island gets in the way.
Stairs: dark. The open space above doesn’t matter. The stairs remain dark.
And something I notice often when non-experts design their little house: guest toilet without a window, wardrobe “closet/niche” next to it but with a window. It’s obvious you should swap these two spots.
Bathroom: I don’t know what the front yard or street looks like, but maybe the window should be planned on the other side.
Open space: do you have so much area upstairs that you just put in a 6-meter (20 feet) high entrance hall, which then ends with a small door to the open living area? How wide is the hallway? 2 meters (6.5 feet)? Do you have an idea how that looks? Or is there a shallow pitched roof upstairs? Hi ypg,
Thanks for the feedback.
As I said, the planning is not finished yet.
Regarding your points:
Utility room: it is definitely not too big! With the L-shape around the stairs, the wall space is very usable. So many things need to fit in there. Besides all the usual technical equipment, we still need space for the washer, dryer, drying rack, freezer, drinks, ironing board, vacuum cleaner, and so on.
Walk-in closet: I understand the impression you get from the sketch. We have already planned the closet fully furnished with Pax wardrobes including a dresser in the middle. A place to put the laundry basket, fold clothes, etc.
Kitchen: a very valid point about the door and the island. If we implement the larger open living area, the island won’t block the path. In fact, the hallway’s walking route transitions into the path between the island and the table. Whether the door to the open living area stays one meter (3.3 feet) wide or possibly gets wider is still open.
Guest toilet / wardrobe: I actually laughed at this one. Do you know why? Of course, we also had it planned the other way around at one point. But: this way, the dirty area of the wardrobe is right at the front door, and you don’t have to walk through it to get from the open living area to the guest toilet.
Bed width: OK, I get it: be prepared for a larger bed. The wall between the bedroom and walk-in closet can be shifted downwards to make more room for the bed.
Open space / stairs: a pitched roof with a knee wall height of 95cm (37 inches) is planned. So the “entrance hall” wouldn’t look that huge. The hallway would be 2.5 meters (8 feet) wide. The stairway is a landing stair, very comfortable to walk on, only straight steps. There is a skylight planned in the gallery to illuminate both the stairway and hallway upstairs.
Best regards
Ypsi aus NI schrieb:
Bed width: OK, I get it—you’re preparing for a large bed.Be open to other furniture options as well. You are free to build your house however you want.
But again: in my opinion, there is still a lot that feels unsettled and everything is too tight—flexibility is needed!
Why are you planning to fit everything into one room? Technical equipment, linens, decorations, tools, and paint cans. Wouldn't it be smarter to spread these spaces out between the ground floor and the upper floor?
Take a look—if you search for @ypg in the forum… but you probably already know that.
Even if you’ve already lined the walls with PAX wardrobes: I don’t find the dressing area appealing. But anyway, just a suggestion!
Sometimes you want new furniture, so I would simply plan for about 4 meters (13 feet) width in the living room instead of 3 meters (10 feet) or so, like your sofa is now… you might want to place it sideways at some point as well.
Y
Ypsi aus NI25 May 2021 08:27ypg schrieb:
Technical equipment, laundry, decoration, tools, and paint buckets. Wouldn't it be smarter to distribute the space between the ground floor and the upper floor? There’s no more room for tools here; those will go in the garage :p
There is a second utility room area on the upper floor. A second meter cabinet will probably be installed there. Possibly the mechanical ventilation system can also be placed upstairs.
I still think: if you want to do your laundry in the utility room, then the current size is just about okay. You mention design flaws. Personally, I find nothing worse than having 20m² (215 sq ft) of empty dance space in the open-plan room, while the utility room can’t even fit a second refrigerator. To me, that kind of planning seems impractical for everyday living.
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