Saucepan

With the current stair location the en-suite locations could be changed to this alternative.

Pocket doors is one we'll have a good think over and probably go and try them out somewhere or see them in action in a house if we can find one that has them to view. Yes we will mock up the complete kitchen details with all the units we would want. That way we can make sure we are happy with the amount of units in the kitchen area and makes it easier to decide if we need units under the kitchen window. I'll do a version with and without full kitchen windows. You are right that it would look amazing. Would bifolds be better then full windows there too as then we could open up the whole area? If you ignore the upstairs layout (aside from stairs being excluded from porch area) roughly where and what style of stairs would you place? I can have a go at making a layout upstairs that takes into account alternative stair placement. We are pretty open to changing upstairs as we haven't spent much time on there aside from making sure we could fit in everything. The preference is 3 en-suite but maybe we would go with 2 en-suite if the layout proves challenging with 3. Very useful to know about things like carpet size limits.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. The floor plan has come a long way in a week. We'll probably just make minor tweaks around some of the storage/door openings when we work with our architect. But we think that the below plans provide us with everything we would need as well as looking great..

After looking at the upstairs it became easier to create a nicer layout if the stairs were oriented differently. So there's no need for the WC under the stairs. Here is the latest idea with the upstairs floor plan as well.

We've had an idea to put a utility room without needing to pass through it from the porch to kitchen area. The kitchen island also becomes possible in this design. And it leaves a fairly large porch area which is nice to enter to. What are peoples views on the WC under the stairs?

Thanks Bozza. It's an interesting concept and probably would have quite a wow factor. One to ponder over and I'll model up something along those lines to see what the rest of the family think of the design. AliG the door can be moved on that side of the wall without causing any issues. Or even removed completely if it helps the design.

Thanks. It should be possible to adjust the lengths of the flights of the stairs to avoid headroom issues with the help of an architect/arch technician. The roof on the porch is reasonably high on the side where the stair would be so we expect it to be possible. Between the 2 plans of a corridor to the kitchen through the utility and the hallway option do you have a preference yourself? I've put them side by side below for easy reference.

Thanks for the feedback. Some very valid issues raised. It's helped us come up with a potential alternative layout. There could be access through the utility room to the kitchen. This stair layout is better for the room shapes in the upstairs too. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on something like this?

I've followed up and all possibilities for the positions of the house were thoroughly looked at. The site is heavily constrained by the neighbouring properties and the orientation maximises the build footprint. Any other orientation would result in a significantly smaller house. So back to the floor plan. Does anyone have any further suggestions on the ground floor layout or an alternative location for the stairs to consider? Partially open plan with making a feature of the stairs is what we are leaning towards.

Thanks for the input. The issue with moving it further down the garden is that it's then overshadowing the plot on the east. Having it angled is a possibility which I assume was considered so will look to find out the reasons behind opting for the current design.

I also want to just clarify a few points. An architect was used to design the house. The design maximise the possible build footprint that is available in the plot. Any alternate shape would reduce the build footprint. There are a lot of constraints due to being surrounded by other properties. I have no problem with the build footprint and orientation as it's all that is available due to these constraints. We aren't looking to change the build footprint. However if people think there is a better internal layout which requires significant changes to the external windows/doors then we are open to another application.

Ok thanks for the feedback on HMO. The house will be used as a family house so that is the objective. 4 bed family home. I wasn't involved with the application and am now involved in looking to move forward with the project as I am back in the UK due to Covid and have plenty of spare time. Regarding the design of the house it's due to the houses on the west side overlooking hence it can't be the main part of the garden as planning would be refused. I do believe we would park the cars in front of the house as ProDave mentions. The design not being a rectangle was due to the conservation officer. I don't believe they would allow any rectangle shape as they were strongly against a simple design and development in an application a few years ago. So the design has been focused on making it interesting enough that the conservation officer is satisfied.

Hi All, Thanks for the amazing feedback. I hadn't expected such great responses. What an amazing community. Let me fill you in. The house has been given planning permission and sits in a conservation area. The elevations (In particular the front elevation) are not able to be easily altered unless we submit a new application. Hence we have a fairly limited layout to work with downstairs as there's no other area to put the stairs that seems suitable. Perhaps someone has an alternative idea of where they could be positioned that I could try out. The original application had a completely open plan ground floor layout with a feature staircase in the middle of the house. We felt this was a bit too open plan. So the current design with the stairs closer to the porch is more of a compromise that has a balance between open plan and a more conventional design. However so far the feedback seem to be strongly against an open plan style aside from a kitchen/diner. The house would be occupied by one of the family (Yet to decide who but there are 3 of us who may occupy it) and expected to be a family of 5. But we also want to keep the house options for the future so it could become a HMO or residential home as other properties in this area have. Hence it's desirable to have en-suites where possible. Here are the points I have taken from the feedback so far: 4 bed upstairs Natural light on landing Larger ensuites (1.4x2.2m) master (2x3m) Bed position 750mm either side Wardrobes for bedrooms 600mm deep 1500mm pp Hall storage for shoes/coats Larger family bathroom Larger utility and study Based on the feedback I have tweaked the ground floor layout so the island is no longer an island which makes it far easier to have a larger utility room. And I've increased the study to 2m width. It's very simple to edit any house plans in minutes using Live Home 3D. Once we have a strong basic design we will bring in an architect. But the current design is just a concept hence the lack of internal design though and poor placement of items. If someone can suggest a better placement of the stairs then I will have a go at an alternate layout downstairs. Block Plan. The plots on the east and west are completed and occupied since last year. Here's a slightly modified floor plan with larger utility, study. We have the bifold doors between the dining area and the living area so that the whole space can be open most of the time. If it's going to be particularly noisy in the kitchen area then it can be closed. Measurement included this time to make it easier to get a sense of the size of rooms. We weren't sure if we'd put in any wall between the porch and the living area but in the end decided it's nicer to have a little bit of separation. I haven't put in any storage yet for shoes/coats but the wall along the west would have space. I am also attaching a hallway option but we feel you lose a lot of space with a hallway. And in open plan the stairs can be a feature too. However we'll ask some estate agents in this area as I get the impression an open plan staircase would be a deal breaker for many people.

Thanks for the welcome and the feedback Peter. Ah the area in the bottom right is an entry porch area. Regarding the bathrooms internally you can ignore the layout I just put somethings in there to show roughly what would be in them. I don't think we'd actually put in any corner showers. We'd have better designs for them internally once the floor plan is more finalised. Yes maybe we need to increase the en-suite sizes upstairs.

Hi, We have been going through some floor plan options and just wanted to get some feedback in case anyone spots anything obvious that could be changed or should be avoided. We are also not sure if we should make a 5th bedroom or go with a large master bedroom. Thanks, Alex