mayglow
2023-04-25 19:30:53
- #1
Hello everyone,
we are currently looking into whether we want to make changes to the standard floor plan from our developer for our end-of-terrace house. We have stricter requirements, and I am already certain that some forum members will be unhappy about them. In general, it was stated: exterior walls as well as facade are not adjustable (windows, exterior doors), and load-bearing walls cannot be moved. Mainly mentioned here was the staircase/stair wall. Most of the other interior walls are, to our knowledge, movable. In principle, we can also imagine moving in with the unchanged standard floor plan, but we see optimization potential in 1-2 points (but maybe in the end we are just feeding the post).
I will still fill out the questionnaire, even though most of it is unchangeable for us. (In particular, section 1 on the development plan is more the developer’s matter)
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size - 207sqm
Slope - slight incline, I do not have exact measurements, but we cannot change anything at house entrances.
Floor space index - 0.4
Plot ratio - 0.8
Building window, building line and boundary - not relevant, since we cannot change the exterior shell
Edge construction - not relevant, since we cannot change the exterior shell
Number of parking spaces (already included) Garage + parking space in front
Number of floors - 2
Roof shape - gabled roof
Style -
Orientation - North/South
Maximum heights/limits - not relevant
Other specifications: hornbeam hedge towards the cul-de-sac on our property (to the west, on the floor plans this is on the right since they are not oriented to the north)
Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: determined by developer
Basement, floors: utility basement + 2 full floors + converted attic (already given by developer)
Number of persons, age: currently 2 (31+32); planning 1-2 children
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor:
Office: family use or home office? Home office, both partly in home office. Some separated space for each would be great, but if that isn’t possible with potentially 2 children, that’s manageable
Overnight guests per year: about 3-4 times per year
Open or closed architecture: middle? Open connection between kitchen and living room is a must, but overall, walls are also allowed.
Conservative or modern construction: -
Open , kitchen island: tend to be “not completely closed” (see above), but we don’t necessarily need an island or similar if something else is more practical/affordable.
Number of dining seats: for 4 people
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage is included
Utility garden, greenhouse: no (possibly a small bed later self-made)
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why something should/should not be:
We both partly work from home. Currently we have an office and a desk in the living room. If possible, I would not want to continue working in the living room. Moving in as two people is absolutely no problem, with 1 child probably still no problem, with 2 children... well, by then the world might look different anyway. I have the feeling that then a solution will be found and if someone locks themselves in the 4sqm room on the 1st floor (the walls there are still adjustable) or gets a desk in the bedroom.
House design
[ATTACH alt="kg.png"]79658[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="eg.png"]79657[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="og.png"]79659[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="dg.png"]79656[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH alt="lage.png"]79662[/ATTACH]
About the surroundings: to the south there are the garages of the neighboring terraced houses, then a turning area (end of the cul-de-sac), after that some individual trees and other detached houses. To the east is, of course, our block first. Then a few small trees and a railway line (a few meters lower). To the west, on our plot, there is a city-mandated hornbeam hedge; we will try to negotiate a passage to the street (for bikes and co) (since the second emergency exit on the ground floor is via the terrace, I see chances here, but the city is not always easy)
Planning by:
- developer
What do you particularly like? Why?
- I see the plan working for us both if the family planning doesn’t work out (then very spacious) as well as with 1-2 children.
What don’t you like? Why?
- Ground floor: (main pain point) entrance relatively tight/little cloakroom. The peninsula in the kitchen seems too small to work well (and probably requires an expensive extractor in the island), the distance from sofa to TV is huge, the access to the basement is in the living room. We will probably manage some kind of furnishing for the ground floor, but right now there is no “yup, this is great” feeling.
- Upper floor: we were considering whether to make the 4sqm room slightly bigger to possibly have it as an alternative office later, but basically we think the current plan isn’t that bad (and initially more practical)
- Roof: the “landing” here would be another potential office space with kid(s), we were debating whether to partition it with a wall and door now or leave it as drawn at first.
So actually: except for the ground floor, we are quite satisfied, everything else is in the area of “if we want the jack-of-all-trades, maybe something could be changed – or we just leave it as is and see if the need actually arises.”
If you have to do without, which details/extensions
- you can do without: changes to upper floor and roof
- you cannot do without: at least 1 office
Why did the design turn out as it is? e.g.,
Standard design from the developer
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? I find it a solid floor plan for young families, but the ground floor gives me some concerns. I feel maybe a different stair shape would have helped, but as far as I have been told, that is unchangeable.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How to furnish the ground floor? Should we still change something here?
Drafts for potential changes to the ground floor
Maybe shrink the kitchen and straighten the wall in the hallway? (Idea we once considered in the forum for kitchens but haven’t presented to the planner yet) The plan is not well scaled here (I think my cabinets are too big). The raw measurement in the kitchen at the narrowest point is actually 248cm, so roughly ~240cm minus ~130cm for both kitchen sides would be 110cm row distance. Also, the window would be shifted to the corner. For that, there would be more cloakroom space in the hallway. Dumb idea? Opinions?
Another question is a bit... can we reduce the distance from the TV to the sofa somewhat? I just roughly inserted our current furniture, it would look something like this (sofa 275x220)
Ideas go towards putting a shelf behind the sofa (but that blocks the terrace door more), any other ideas?
Best regards
we are currently looking into whether we want to make changes to the standard floor plan from our developer for our end-of-terrace house. We have stricter requirements, and I am already certain that some forum members will be unhappy about them. In general, it was stated: exterior walls as well as facade are not adjustable (windows, exterior doors), and load-bearing walls cannot be moved. Mainly mentioned here was the staircase/stair wall. Most of the other interior walls are, to our knowledge, movable. In principle, we can also imagine moving in with the unchanged standard floor plan, but we see optimization potential in 1-2 points (but maybe in the end we are just feeding the post).
I will still fill out the questionnaire, even though most of it is unchangeable for us. (In particular, section 1 on the development plan is more the developer’s matter)
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size - 207sqm
Slope - slight incline, I do not have exact measurements, but we cannot change anything at house entrances.
Floor space index - 0.4
Plot ratio - 0.8
Building window, building line and boundary - not relevant, since we cannot change the exterior shell
Edge construction - not relevant, since we cannot change the exterior shell
Number of parking spaces (already included) Garage + parking space in front
Number of floors - 2
Roof shape - gabled roof
Style -
Orientation - North/South
Maximum heights/limits - not relevant
Other specifications: hornbeam hedge towards the cul-de-sac on our property (to the west, on the floor plans this is on the right since they are not oriented to the north)
Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: determined by developer
Basement, floors: utility basement + 2 full floors + converted attic (already given by developer)
Number of persons, age: currently 2 (31+32); planning 1-2 children
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor:
Office: family use or home office? Home office, both partly in home office. Some separated space for each would be great, but if that isn’t possible with potentially 2 children, that’s manageable
Overnight guests per year: about 3-4 times per year
Open or closed architecture: middle? Open connection between kitchen and living room is a must, but overall, walls are also allowed.
Conservative or modern construction: -
Open , kitchen island: tend to be “not completely closed” (see above), but we don’t necessarily need an island or similar if something else is more practical/affordable.
Number of dining seats: for 4 people
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage is included
Utility garden, greenhouse: no (possibly a small bed later self-made)
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why something should/should not be:
We both partly work from home. Currently we have an office and a desk in the living room. If possible, I would not want to continue working in the living room. Moving in as two people is absolutely no problem, with 1 child probably still no problem, with 2 children... well, by then the world might look different anyway. I have the feeling that then a solution will be found and if someone locks themselves in the 4sqm room on the 1st floor (the walls there are still adjustable) or gets a desk in the bedroom.
House design
[ATTACH alt="kg.png"]79658[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="eg.png"]79657[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="og.png"]79659[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="dg.png"]79656[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH alt="lage.png"]79662[/ATTACH]
About the surroundings: to the south there are the garages of the neighboring terraced houses, then a turning area (end of the cul-de-sac), after that some individual trees and other detached houses. To the east is, of course, our block first. Then a few small trees and a railway line (a few meters lower). To the west, on our plot, there is a city-mandated hornbeam hedge; we will try to negotiate a passage to the street (for bikes and co) (since the second emergency exit on the ground floor is via the terrace, I see chances here, but the city is not always easy)
Planning by:
- developer
What do you particularly like? Why?
- I see the plan working for us both if the family planning doesn’t work out (then very spacious) as well as with 1-2 children.
What don’t you like? Why?
- Ground floor: (main pain point) entrance relatively tight/little cloakroom. The peninsula in the kitchen seems too small to work well (and probably requires an expensive extractor in the island), the distance from sofa to TV is huge, the access to the basement is in the living room. We will probably manage some kind of furnishing for the ground floor, but right now there is no “yup, this is great” feeling.
- Upper floor: we were considering whether to make the 4sqm room slightly bigger to possibly have it as an alternative office later, but basically we think the current plan isn’t that bad (and initially more practical)
- Roof: the “landing” here would be another potential office space with kid(s), we were debating whether to partition it with a wall and door now or leave it as drawn at first.
So actually: except for the ground floor, we are quite satisfied, everything else is in the area of “if we want the jack-of-all-trades, maybe something could be changed – or we just leave it as is and see if the need actually arises.”
If you have to do without, which details/extensions
- you can do without: changes to upper floor and roof
- you cannot do without: at least 1 office
Why did the design turn out as it is? e.g.,
Standard design from the developer
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? I find it a solid floor plan for young families, but the ground floor gives me some concerns. I feel maybe a different stair shape would have helped, but as far as I have been told, that is unchangeable.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How to furnish the ground floor? Should we still change something here?
Drafts for potential changes to the ground floor
Maybe shrink the kitchen and straighten the wall in the hallway? (Idea we once considered in the forum for kitchens but haven’t presented to the planner yet) The plan is not well scaled here (I think my cabinets are too big). The raw measurement in the kitchen at the narrowest point is actually 248cm, so roughly ~240cm minus ~130cm for both kitchen sides would be 110cm row distance. Also, the window would be shifted to the corner. For that, there would be more cloakroom space in the hallway. Dumb idea? Opinions?
Another question is a bit... can we reduce the distance from the TV to the sofa somewhat? I just roughly inserted our current furniture, it would look something like this (sofa 275x220)
Ideas go towards putting a shelf behind the sofa (but that blocks the terrace door more), any other ideas?
Best regards