ᐅ Where should the terrace or living rooms be located if the street is on the west side?
Created on: 23 Apr 2017 12:45
I
infors
Hello.
I have tried to accurately draw the surroundings of our plot to scale because we are having a hard time deciding where we would like to place the terrace and our living spaces.
The plot has a street with a 30 km/h (about 20 mph) speed limit zone on the west side. This is a street in a new development area that will consist of 40 single-family homes, so all the corresponding cars will be passing by our property. Our car parking spaces must also be located in the northwest.
I have often read that the terrace is preferably oriented to the west if you enjoy the sun. We do. However, for us, west would mean having the terrace facing the street side. We are somewhat unsure about the noise from the cars. It is hard to assess that with a 30 km/h (about 20 mph) zone.
There is also a maximum 80 cm (about 31 inches) high fence allowed, so people would be able to see directly onto our plates if the terrace faced west. The same would apply if we placed the dining room on the west side. And ideally, we would not want to be watched so much in the living room either...
I know the perfect solution (sun from morning until evening plus total privacy) does not exist...
Still, we would be interested in where you would place the garden terrace if you were in our position and which rooms you would locate on the west side of the house.
Looking forward to your ideas and suggestions.
Peter
I have tried to accurately draw the surroundings of our plot to scale because we are having a hard time deciding where we would like to place the terrace and our living spaces.
The plot has a street with a 30 km/h (about 20 mph) speed limit zone on the west side. This is a street in a new development area that will consist of 40 single-family homes, so all the corresponding cars will be passing by our property. Our car parking spaces must also be located in the northwest.
I have often read that the terrace is preferably oriented to the west if you enjoy the sun. We do. However, for us, west would mean having the terrace facing the street side. We are somewhat unsure about the noise from the cars. It is hard to assess that with a 30 km/h (about 20 mph) zone.
There is also a maximum 80 cm (about 31 inches) high fence allowed, so people would be able to see directly onto our plates if the terrace faced west. The same would apply if we placed the dining room on the west side. And ideally, we would not want to be watched so much in the living room either...
I know the perfect solution (sun from morning until evening plus total privacy) does not exist...
Still, we would be interested in where you would place the garden terrace if you were in our position and which rooms you would locate on the west side of the house.
Looking forward to your ideas and suggestions.
Peter
I have uploaded updated floor plans with windows, doors, and some minor changes.
We initially wanted to avoid having a children’s bathroom because of the expensive sanitary equipment and the additional space required. We would rather see it as a luxury. We hope to manage with two children sharing one bathroom upstairs and one downstairs (with a shower). That way, there is also less cleaning effort compared to having three bathrooms. In old age, the children’s bathroom would likely remain unused as well. But that’s just our opinion.
We will also use the guest/office room as a storage room (replacement for a basement). We originally planned the room for only 15 m² (160 sq ft). The current 20 m² (215 sq ft) resulted from the ground floor being larger due to our wishes, giving the upper floor about 5 m² (54 sq ft) more space than absolutely necessary. Instead of making another storage room out of the 5 m², we simply included it in the guest/office room.
On the ground floor, we will also use the heating room (about 10 m² (108 sq ft)) as storage. I assume that maybe only 5 m² (54 sq ft) of that heating room is usable for storage, since the rest is taken by heating, technical equipment, and ventilation system – but I’m not sure. So, we also thought to use the garage (about 23 m² (248 sq ft)) for garden tools, bicycles, etc., which might still leave an estimated 10 m² (108 sq ft) as basement replacement space after subtracting the space for bicycles, etc. In total, we would have about 5 m² (54 sq ft) in the heating room + 10 m² (108 sq ft) in the garage + roughly 10 m² (108 sq ft) in the guest/office, i.e. around 25 m² (270 sq ft) of basement replacement space.
Would you see it differently, or do you think this basement replacement space might be insufficient?
Curly schrieb:Hello Sabine. The lower bathroom is also meant to have an open shower. Additionally, there should be a 1.50 m (5 feet) clearance in front of the sanitary fixtures for accessibility reasons. That’s why the lower bathroom will naturally be somewhat larger, in my view. I have now also indicated the showers with dashed lines.
the bathroom on the ground floor is too large for my taste
Curly schrieb:
and personally, I would miss a children’s bathroom upstairs, which would be very important to me.
We initially wanted to avoid having a children’s bathroom because of the expensive sanitary equipment and the additional space required. We would rather see it as a luxury. We hope to manage with two children sharing one bathroom upstairs and one downstairs (with a shower). That way, there is also less cleaning effort compared to having three bathrooms. In old age, the children’s bathroom would likely remain unused as well. But that’s just our opinion.
Curly schrieb:I will discuss the access from the dressing room to the bedroom with my wife later. I think it’s a good idea. Also, you could simply rotate the bed 180 degrees so that there isn’t such a narrow space between the bed and the door. That might be another option.
The distance from the dressing room to the bathroom is definitely too far for me, and also (because I find the door next to the bed too tight) I would plan the access from the dressing room to the bedroom.
montessalet schrieb:Hello montessalet. We have already pushed the house as far north as possible. To the east, we could still move it 0.7 m (2 feet) according to the building boundary. That’s not much more, and it would just make the lower hallway longer, resulting in even larger areas due to the rough floor plan.
From my point of view, the house should be positioned as far east and north as possible. That would be ideal. Seating area in the south (so there is also evening sun) – so the latest design is by far the best so far.
montessalet schrieb:We did not want balconies either. In our opinion, they just cost money and require maintenance. We can see how the second seating area works out after we move in.
Also, from my experience, two seating areas (except in special cases) are usually not really used (just like balconies on the upper floor if there is a terrace on the ground floor). One well-placed seating area (here: south) is enough.
montessalet schrieb:The ground floor bathroom has a shower and is planned to be accessible, hence the size. A children’s bathroom is a luxury for us and not strictly necessary.
About the rooms: I also find the ground floor bathroom too large, and a “children’s bathroom” upstairs would certainly be useful. Guest/office room: does it have to be that big? And I would miss a pantry: I would put it between the kitchen and living room, and omit the kitchen’s cross row and the double doors to the living room. With such a measure, you can cut down on part of the (expensive) kitchen cabinets and have a great (small!) storage room. The wide corridor between the living room/entrance/dining area looks nice but is less practical.
We will also use the guest/office room as a storage room (replacement for a basement). We originally planned the room for only 15 m² (160 sq ft). The current 20 m² (215 sq ft) resulted from the ground floor being larger due to our wishes, giving the upper floor about 5 m² (54 sq ft) more space than absolutely necessary. Instead of making another storage room out of the 5 m², we simply included it in the guest/office room.
On the ground floor, we will also use the heating room (about 10 m² (108 sq ft)) as storage. I assume that maybe only 5 m² (54 sq ft) of that heating room is usable for storage, since the rest is taken by heating, technical equipment, and ventilation system – but I’m not sure. So, we also thought to use the garage (about 23 m² (248 sq ft)) for garden tools, bicycles, etc., which might still leave an estimated 10 m² (108 sq ft) as basement replacement space after subtracting the space for bicycles, etc. In total, we would have about 5 m² (54 sq ft) in the heating room + 10 m² (108 sq ft) in the garage + roughly 10 m² (108 sq ft) in the guest/office, i.e. around 25 m² (270 sq ft) of basement replacement space.
Would you see it differently, or do you think this basement replacement space might be insufficient?
Nice bedroom window. Do you want to give sex education lessons (I don’t see a 5m (16 ft) tall hedge in front of it)?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
I will never understand why the master bedroom and the guest room face south, while the children are placed in the dark north or east. They only get sunlight in the morning in their rooms; otherwise, they’re left in near darkness.
The guest gets more space than the children. Why? Is the guest room/office used daily and intensively? More than the children’s rooms?
Bedrooms and dressing rooms oriented northeast would allow for direct access to the bathroom (although since there’s no children’s bathroom, that would require an additional door, which isn’t ideal), but even without that, the routes would be shorter. Both children’s rooms should face south with the guest room in between.
I wouldn’t combine the storage room with the guest room but keep it separate.
The guest gets more space than the children. Why? Is the guest room/office used daily and intensively? More than the children’s rooms?
Bedrooms and dressing rooms oriented northeast would allow for direct access to the bathroom (although since there’s no children’s bathroom, that would require an additional door, which isn’t ideal), but even without that, the routes would be shorter. Both children’s rooms should face south with the guest room in between.
I wouldn’t combine the storage room with the guest room but keep it separate.
Climbee schrieb:
They only get morning sun in their room; otherwise, you might as well give them the olm. As teenage goths, they love that
Climbee schrieb:
I wouldn’t include the storage room as part of the guest room, but keep it separate. Yes, otherwise it feels like the storage room was made extra large just so the guest bed can stay there permanently, even when unfolded. A laptop bag lying around doesn’t change that.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
Nice bedroom window. Are you planning to give sex education (I don’t see a 5m (16 ft) high hedge in front)? That was a good one. Maybe we’ll plant a palm tree. We will reconsider the windows in the master bedroom area. The house on the east side is only one story, and the house in front of us faces north, where the opposite house has no windows. So we thought it might be possible to have large windows there. But we will keep an eye on it.
Climbee schrieb:
I will never understand: why put the master bedroom and guest room facing south, but hide the children away in the dark north or east. They only get morning sun in their rooms; otherwise, it’s like they live in a cave.
The guest gets more space than the children. Why? Is the guest room/office used daily and intensively? More than the children’s rooms? The children’s rooms are located in the southwest and west, not the east. We thought that would be very nice for the kids. In summer, the kid in the west room would have sunlight for a long time, since the sun sets quite late in the west or northwest at midsummer. Or is that wrong?
The guest/office/storage room is larger because we believe we will still need some cellar substitute space somewhere. Or do you think the substitute cellar space in the garage and heating cellar is enough? That is very hard for us to judge...
Climbee schrieb:
Master bedroom and dressing room facing northeast would allow direct access to the bathroom (but since there is no children’s bathroom, that would mean an additional door and is therefore not ideal), yet even without that, the distances would be shorter. Both children’s rooms facing south, and the guest room in between.
I would not include the storage room as part of the guest room, but keep it separate. We originally wanted to avoid the master bedroom facing northeast because we like to spend time in the bedroom and enjoy a very nice view to the east and southeast. There’s little development in that direction and the view is far-reaching. It would also be more energy efficient, as my wife needs around 23°C (73°F) to sleep well. I will discuss your idea of placing the master bedroom in the northeast with my wife again. However, it will be tight with her dressing room and the staircase, which so far seems best located there.
11ant schrieb:
Yes, otherwise it looks like the storage room was deliberately made larger so the guest bed can stay there permanently, even unfolded. A laptop bag lying around won’t fix that. I have adjusted the floor plan again due to the separate storage room. I think your points are valid.
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