Vrumfondel
2022-03-28 13:38:12
- #1
Hello everyone,
this thread is intended to be a collection of experiences from those of us who have built a [Town & Country] model house and made one or two changes to the (floor plan) design and can now report on the results and previously unconsidered side effects. This can serve as a hint for future builders in the specific case, as well as perhaps provide inspiration to run one or two rounds in your head about your own change requests to see if they are completely thought through. Clearly, hindsight is always 20/20 and one might then make "different" mistakes – but this list could still be helpful for some.
I’ll start:
We built a [Town & Country] Flair 125, in the variant "guest WC with shower and additional office room." (no external links allowed, but easily found on the Town & Country homepage).
We discussed the following changes during the architect meeting:
1. Front door extended by a fixed window panel in front of the stairs
2. Storage room eliminated, utility room enlarged by extending the dividing wall to the hallway from the exterior wall to the kitchen partition wall
3. Door to the all-purpose room with glass panel and relocated in the wall so that it aligns flush with the front door
4. Relocation of the pull-down attic ladder by one meter and rotation of the staircase direction so that the stair runs toward the bathroom door and one can almost walk continuously through the ground floor/upper floor/attic.
Here are the "side effects":
1. The light switches in the stairwell are now located about at the fourth/fifth step rather than above the first step. Since they were installed in the "normal" installation zone, they now seem a bit low. It takes some getting used to, meaning at first it’s unusual, but by now you don’t even notice it anymore.
2. Good decision, the square meters of hallway space in front of the utility room and utility area would otherwise have been unused space.
3. Two side effects: the space originally intended for the wardrobe (however small) was lost. We now have a wall wardrobe at the spot where, in the typical model house, the door to the all-purpose room was, which works for three people. The wall panel that separates the kitchen area stayed in its original position. This isn’t necessarily 100% sensible; perhaps we should have relocated or removed it entirely. Now there will be a buffet cabinet there to make it look somewhat harmonious. This was a decision we would probably make differently in hindsight.
4. No disadvantages
Additionally, here are a few suggestions about the Flair 125 in general (no changes, but still experiential insights):
- The sill height of the office window is 1.27 meters. This probably comes from the floor plan variant with an L-shaped all-purpose room, where this would be a kitchen window and the height fits that purpose, I believe. In the office, this means that when sitting you look at a wall instead of out the window. Definitely something worth checking! A small consolation: in times of increasingly large screens, you can open the window above your desk without major modifications ;-)
- We initially wanted to leave open whether to retrofit a stove with an exterior chimney pipe. In hindsight, I’m very glad we did not and never will. In that exact spot (in the pictures on the Town & Country page where the couch and TV furniture stand), I would definitely provide a window in the next planning. That wall is the west side for us, and getting a bit more daylight there would definitely be worth the loss of wall space for decoration.
- For detail enthusiasts: we originally thought to place the light switch in the upper floor hallway (on the small wall in the guest room) in the center, easily accessible from both the guest room and the bedroom (or in our case the children’s room). In reality, there is naturally a CW profile right in that wall. We were stingy there, so the guest just has to stretch their hand a bit more before the light comes on ;-)
- On each side of the house where there is an external fitting for an outdoor light (due to our plot/street lamp this is only two sides for us; elsewhere it might be all four sides), we also had an outdoor socket installed. With a 25-meter extension cord you can manage without, but usually shorter cable lengths would be nicer.
Those were my experiences – I’m curious whether this topic finds interest here.
this thread is intended to be a collection of experiences from those of us who have built a [Town & Country] model house and made one or two changes to the (floor plan) design and can now report on the results and previously unconsidered side effects. This can serve as a hint for future builders in the specific case, as well as perhaps provide inspiration to run one or two rounds in your head about your own change requests to see if they are completely thought through. Clearly, hindsight is always 20/20 and one might then make "different" mistakes – but this list could still be helpful for some.
I’ll start:
We built a [Town & Country] Flair 125, in the variant "guest WC with shower and additional office room." (no external links allowed, but easily found on the Town & Country homepage).
We discussed the following changes during the architect meeting:
1. Front door extended by a fixed window panel in front of the stairs
2. Storage room eliminated, utility room enlarged by extending the dividing wall to the hallway from the exterior wall to the kitchen partition wall
3. Door to the all-purpose room with glass panel and relocated in the wall so that it aligns flush with the front door
4. Relocation of the pull-down attic ladder by one meter and rotation of the staircase direction so that the stair runs toward the bathroom door and one can almost walk continuously through the ground floor/upper floor/attic.
Here are the "side effects":
1. The light switches in the stairwell are now located about at the fourth/fifth step rather than above the first step. Since they were installed in the "normal" installation zone, they now seem a bit low. It takes some getting used to, meaning at first it’s unusual, but by now you don’t even notice it anymore.
2. Good decision, the square meters of hallway space in front of the utility room and utility area would otherwise have been unused space.
3. Two side effects: the space originally intended for the wardrobe (however small) was lost. We now have a wall wardrobe at the spot where, in the typical model house, the door to the all-purpose room was, which works for three people. The wall panel that separates the kitchen area stayed in its original position. This isn’t necessarily 100% sensible; perhaps we should have relocated or removed it entirely. Now there will be a buffet cabinet there to make it look somewhat harmonious. This was a decision we would probably make differently in hindsight.
4. No disadvantages
Additionally, here are a few suggestions about the Flair 125 in general (no changes, but still experiential insights):
- The sill height of the office window is 1.27 meters. This probably comes from the floor plan variant with an L-shaped all-purpose room, where this would be a kitchen window and the height fits that purpose, I believe. In the office, this means that when sitting you look at a wall instead of out the window. Definitely something worth checking! A small consolation: in times of increasingly large screens, you can open the window above your desk without major modifications ;-)
- We initially wanted to leave open whether to retrofit a stove with an exterior chimney pipe. In hindsight, I’m very glad we did not and never will. In that exact spot (in the pictures on the Town & Country page where the couch and TV furniture stand), I would definitely provide a window in the next planning. That wall is the west side for us, and getting a bit more daylight there would definitely be worth the loss of wall space for decoration.
- For detail enthusiasts: we originally thought to place the light switch in the upper floor hallway (on the small wall in the guest room) in the center, easily accessible from both the guest room and the bedroom (or in our case the children’s room). In reality, there is naturally a CW profile right in that wall. We were stingy there, so the guest just has to stretch their hand a bit more before the light comes on ;-)
- On each side of the house where there is an external fitting for an outdoor light (due to our plot/street lamp this is only two sides for us; elsewhere it might be all four sides), we also had an outdoor socket installed. With a 25-meter extension cord you can manage without, but usually shorter cable lengths would be nicer.
Those were my experiences – I’m curious whether this topic finds interest here.