Terrace planning for a corner terraced house with a large garden - What to consider?

Our current terrace is basically framed (wall made of concrete blocks), which you could easily do yourself, for example, and on top of that we screwed down decking boards, creating a bench all around. Depending on the number of visitors and their needs, we then push the table to one side and immediately have a few more seating options. You can also break this up with plants, clad the visible side with simple boards.......depending on taste. If it should be inexpensive and nice, you'd probably have to think a bit outside the box, but as previous speakers also said, especially check the real demand and necessity again.

7x4 is not a particularly spacious terrace, but rather a "suitable" one. However, if I want to build around the corner, it becomes quite large and - no matter how and with what you build - relatively expensive.

For me as a DIY person, only a wooden terrace comes into question, which can be built relatively easily by yourself (I built such a corner terrace of about 70sqm myself a few years ago). Currently 40sqm - again made of wood.

In your case, the two terraces could at least be connected by a "path" with individual large-format slabs. For the grill, I would, for example, build a small recess on the 7x4 terrace where the grill is not in the way.

Our terrace is also about 7 x 4, and then it continues with a structured bed and planting into another 4 x 4, but for us, it is excessive, meaning: we could have done without it and simply placed two deck chairs on the lawn or similar there. So: on 7 meters, you can already fit a whole host of people.

Our daughter also has a corner terrace and married into a large family. On one side, there is the grill and dining table (2.40 meters long), on the other terrace side there is a mega seating lounge. During visits, most people do not sit permanently in their seats, there is movement playing with the children, going to the buffet or grill or inside to work in the kitchen or the senior table inside for those for whom the weather is never good, and then there is the fire bowl terrace. Additionally, a beer garden set is set up there where it is seasonally nicest. So on the lawn. What I want to say with this: you do not need a terrace that holds counted seats for every possible family member. Also: in the extension of two terraces, that is where they meet at the house corner, usually no one sits because such a place is usually not the coziest. They have structured planting there now, but with a transition of the terrace. Basically, what you do in the interior with walls and furnishing — giving structure, creating rooms, setting seating areas by planting — also applies in the garden. What takes the least work in the garden are shrubs, bushes, trees. They structure, provide protection from view, wind, and rain. Children’s toys belong on soft ground, lawn, play sand. Lawn and paving require the most work. The area in front of the bay window does not make sense to me because people like to sit in corners. In the planning, there is also no such wide area between the bay window and the main terrace. Whether you even go out from the bay window is also a question. Is it really the case that you cannot get from the kitchen into the garden? Regarding roofing: ask the building authority! But you don’t have to roof everything. Those who sit in the garden also want to sometimes have it open in nice weather. It is good to consult when you buy some garden magazines. Google searches or Pinterest often show just the same thing, plus now there are expensive AI-created versions that don’t fit into one’s own budget. Also, one should not hesitate to draw everything up and furnish and plant it to scale. Usually, nothing good comes from nothing.

It would be nice for the forum and the participants if you could give some feedback on the other questions as well. For example, many people put a lot of effort into the partition wall to the neighbor.

When money is tight, I would set up 2 seats for the immediate family. The seating for the large gathering I would simply place on the lawn as needed. This is quite common in Scandinavia, for example. We do the same at a large family celebration. The swing can also stand on the lawn. Are you even allowed to build such a large terrace?

Are you even allowed to build such a large terrace?

That’s also why a wooden terrace, which does not seal the ground. It does not count towards the floor area ratio (no idea if there are still any exceptions in any federal state, but basically that’s how it is). You can then also gladly build a 180 sqm wooden terrace.

7x4 is not a particularly large, but rather a "suitable" terrace.

Difficult to determine what "suitable" is. As I said, I myself have no problems with lavish projects; just recently we built, on a whim and for enjoyment in the evening, a third terrace of 25 sqm in DIY with about €800.- in larch, and of course there are no fixed parameters for what is "right." However, I read here among other things about awarding the work to a company and the special materials plus the 40 sqm plus the connection, apparently a rather limited budget. Likewise, I repeatedly experience that one goes all out in one place and then runs out of financial leeway elsewhere. Such a large terrace, in my opinion, if it is to be chic, must also be "appropriately" nicely furnished, with borders. Plants come with that, and even if not the whole terrace must be covered, a sufficiently possible shading should be possible; I have read nothing about that here and with that budget there is no room for that. What was written above by reads to me like a sensible reality check. We have also enclosed our entire house side here with wood at 1.30 m, but all in DIY and cheap material, basically as an optical toy and not out of necessity.

Yes. My neighbor has 6 by 3 m, which I find much too small, so I want the large terrace, 7 by 4 m, that is 28 sqm.

I would be interested in the concrete reasons why that would be too small for you; is it functionality, appearance, or something else? I say this aware that I myself usually want everything 1-2 sizes bigger than necessary. I would rather invest my imagination and energy in nice details and rather create niches, integrate plants, etc.

Just put the swings normally on the lawn and a smaller terrace suffices.

Exactly. At that time, we built a huge wooden swing set that stood in the middle of the lawn. Since someone repeatedly fell off, it was less bad on the lawn. I would consider a swing on the terrace poor planning and an unnecessary risk. Kids want to get away from the old folks anyway, at least that was the case with us....

I am just happy about your experience with terraces, what mistakes did you make and what turned out well, what would you do differently. Especially what did you pay for your terraces.

The respective own mistakes are perhaps not always explicitly named but are reflected in the advice given.