As above really, would anyone be willing to share any interesting floor plans that they have come across that have been used on a conventional 4 bed detached house with an integral garage?

 

It will be my first self build, approximately 150sqm in total across 1.5 or 2 floors, but won’t be a “forever” home, so hoping to come up with a floor plan design that stands out a little bit when we put it on the market, perhaps a clever use of space or slightly unconventional layout?

 

I appreciate that there is only so much you can do to a conventional 4 bed detached house across 150sqm but any inspiration or examples would be gratefully received.

Fleming Homes and Scotframe have a range of standard designs that will give you a good start for conventional but a bit different from volume housebuilder type houses. A quick look on Rightmove will find you the floorplans of upmarket developers too - up here in Scotland that's the likes of Charles Church and McTaggart and Mickel. 

Before you can design a house, you need to know the plot and what size building will fit on it.

 

I like our layout, but it is only 3 bedrooms (but not far short of your size)  The main feature is the house is wider than it is deep (you need a decent plot to do this) and it is based on a stair well in the middle with all rooms directly from the small hall at the bottom or small landing at the top. Very eficcient use of space and good separation of bedrooms (master is the other side of the stairwell to the other two)

 

EDIT:

I have added my floor plans to the bottom of the post

 

Thinks I particularly like.

 

The two living spaces downstairs open top the entrance hall with double doors.  Doors open and it's like one big open space downstairs.  Doors closed and you have 2 separate living areas for when you want to do your own thing.

 

Upstairs the master bedroom (for us) with it's en-suite is separated (from a noise point of view) from the other bedrooms by the stairwell.

 

Stairs in the middle means everything links off the two small hallways so very eficcient use of space.

 

Not to everyones taste is the combined utility room and downstairs WC.  But I could no see a way to make these separate rooms without extra wasted corridor space.  We quite like the arrangement now.

BW005_-_GF_Plan.pdf BW007 - FF Plan.pdf

It would be useful to know more what you mean by "cottage", and which part of the market you consider your target?

 

(ie for last bit basically a description of your imagined customer).

 

F

The likely value will be circa £300k which in East Lancashire is considered to be relatively expensive so probably aimed at working professionals or more likely, those with small families (a couple of kids, perhaps). 
 

One of the thoughts I had was to maybe put the master bedroom in the loft with an en-suite and walk in wardrobe to allow the other 3 bedrooms on the first floor to be expanded out somewhat and a more generous sized family bathroom. I presume my converting the loft at the initial build stage is less costly that leaving it with the ability to be converted at a later date?
 

In terms of ground floor layout, something that accommodates open plan living will probably attract the biggest target market around here. 
 

When I say “cottage” I use that term because the site is slightly out of town, in the countryside and surrounded by 4 or 5 cottage style farmhouses so will need to follow a similar style, but on a slightly smaller scale.

Putting the master in the loft makes sense for resale, the three first floor rooms ending up bigger is what families notice. Just watch the stairs and headroom up there, a cramped top floor puts people off faster than a small fourth bedroom would. Does the cottage style limit how high the roof can go with the planners?

Putting the master in the loft makes sense for resale, the three first floor rooms ending up bigger is what families notice. Just watch the stairs and headroom up there, a cramped top floor puts people off faster than a small fourth bedroom would. Does the cottage style limit how high the roof can go with the planners?

I like Dan-Wood's site - lots of freely available floorplans. Enough to get the creative juices flowing so you can take theirs as a baseline and make them your own.

A few examples around the 150sq m mark:

https://www.dan-wood.co.uk/house-designs/1-5-storey-houses/point-135e

Park 139.2E: 4-Bedroom, 2-Storey House | Danwood

Point 142.1E: 1.5-Storey, 4-Bedroom Detached House | Danwood

https://bramptonvalleyhomes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Kensworth.pdf

https://www.patmunrohomes.co.uk/new-build-homes/4-bedroom/tarmachan