Hi All,

Relatively new to this all and after giving our architect the house brief, he has came back with a first draft of plans.

 

Would appreciated any feedback or ideas for improvement so we can revise the plans if needed.

 

thanks in advance

 

House Plans.pdf

Edited August 21, 20179 yr by Ryan8087
Upload plans

Hi @Ryan8087 - not sure if you've managed to upload the plans correctly ..??

36 minutes ago, Ryan8087 said:

Would appreciated any feedback or ideas for improvement so we can revise the plans if needed.

 

I'd recommend a few more walls and a roof

Edited August 17, 20179 yr by AliMcLeod

I like it. It has a certain minimalist style to it that I can't quite put my finger on. 

Open plan is all the rage these days ?

I'm liking the use of light  

The camouflage element works well - completely hidden from view. 

For a first attempt I would say they have really taken the brief on board and produced something clean and uncluttered.

Personally I like the invisible cat . Do you know how I can turn mine into one?

 

Welcome.

Edited August 18, 20179 yr by Ferdinand

@Ryan8087 i can onlyy apologise for my mates! It must be Friday effect!

 

So to attach your drawings! Go back to your first post and hit the edit button, scroll down and look out for the paper clip, next to that is the add file button, click it and find your file, add it.

 

Then sit back with a cool beer and wait for all the useful comments to come in! 

Edited August 18, 20179 yr by Triassic

Please do it soon!!  we are all on the edge of our seats waiting for the plans......

I enjoyed those responses ha!

 

Plans now uploaded so any feedback very much welcome..

1st floor bathroom and bed 4 are not having any windows  ? ?

Looks like you have an astrium wall/eaves in several places; consider making access for storage.

Consider rearranging the bathroom so you can have a Jack&Jill door arrangement with bed2.

Move the kitchen sink to the other window, so it's closer to the hob.

How about a full-height window in gallery above front door?

The plans look like a nice base (without knowing your specific brief).

 

Nic and Richi both makes good points. In addition to them I'd consider changing the entrance to the kitchen/dining room and extending the double height space.

 

For the kitchen you could move the wall inline with the living room wall and change the door orientation, that way when you open the door there is a clear view to the corner opening (dining room) and down into the sun room. Currently you open into a wall and the kitchen/utility hall.

 

For the double height space, you could remove the HP storage area (move it downstairs or the store behind the stairs) and have it fully open downstairs. That way it would reallly open the entrance area and bring in more light.

 

I toooooooo enjoyed the comments.

 

Have you got this in 3D so you can do a walk through.

With my plans I drew a rough plan (Chief Architect), passed it to my architect and after he finished with them re-drew it up again in Chief Architect and done a walk through then went back with my concerns and amended them...Just a thought

Which way is North? more importantly which way is South?

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Which way is North? more importantly which way is South?

That's going on my wall as soon as I get ink for the printer 

Which way is North? And could we have a block and site plan, please (roads, neighbours, plot) ? I am assuming N to top, Principal Elevation tob ottom.

 

At a canter, the playroom wing looks too much of a rabbit warren with 7 different rooms having bits of it.

 

I think I would look at putting all that circulation space to use, and configuring that wing for easy transformation to an annexe / grannexe / teenage or twenties self-contained flatlet or the future.

 

What about:

 

1 - Take utility into playroom, and make playroom full depth with French doors onto "play terrace" at the top. Also potentially a huge second lounge.

2 - Turn hall/larder into utility, with washing machines etc and storage in big cupboard along one wall such that it can still look respectable. That will get you 2m more useful wall in kitchen - use hall door.

3 - WC straight off utility. Put a shower in it for muddy dogs and children etc - and suitable for annexe.

4 - Put porch over back door outside. Put larder in the corner, accessible either directly from kitchen or via porch.

5 - Take entrance hall RHS into cloaks, and make it suitable to be a study or musicroom for whatever uses you do not know yet. Put a big built in cupboard in it for cloaks, If you wanted access for that could be via door at bottom of stairs into a walk in alcove - far enough away to allow a stair lift space (though a downstairs potential convertible flat may allow that disabled requirment to be suspended).

 

Others.

 

6 - Perhaps a draught lobby on the front door, or stoop.

7 - I am never convinced by upstairs offices .. it means you have to take a hike whenever anyone arrives. They need to be near the main entrance door with a view of the visitor from your desk.

8 - Circulation to the sitting room is .. er .. circuitous, especially from the kitchen.  I would perhaps put in a (lockable?) door (or doors) to the sun lounge such that sitting room / sun lounge / sitting room can be transformed into a single 75-80 sqm party space. Or maybe a camouflaged door if you want t to be a withdrawing room..

9 - I can see that the evening terrrace might be nice with a partial canopy over the bifolds (bifolds ... aaargh! Leakity-leak), and that a morning terrace might be nice outside the kitchen for the sun at breakfast (assuming N is to the top).

10 - I think I would want a front to back limited through-view of some sort to fascinate visitors on arrival. Not sure where to put it :-). 

 

You seem thoughtful - you might enjoy a read of Jim Comrie's design notes for self-builders for varying perspectives.

http://www.ebuild.co.uk/blog/5/entry-394-house-design-notesagain/

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited August 21, 20179 yr by Ferdinand

wow thanks very much for the thoughtful replies and i'll get round the reviewing this evening when I've escaped work.

 

The front of the house we're thinking will be facing south with the sunroom windows facing west, which isn't ideal at all given the sun direction I'm assuming.

 

will come back to other queries later but very very useful responses, thanks so much.

Bedroom 1 is going to be a cold uninviting room with only a window to the north.  Get an east facing velux window in the sloping roof, if necessary pushing back the boxed in eaves space to fit it in. That will brighten up the mornings.  Likewise get a west facing velux in the en-suite.  And put a window in bedroom 4 

 

Make the door between the kitchen and the "back passage" a sliding pocket door. I am willing to bet you will never shut it and it will just be in the way.

I would move the larder into the kitchen by 600mm so it ends in line with the run of kitchen units, this would also open up the back hall/door.

i would also loose the door & wall into utility and have it more open as more a boot room idea. 

I would also loose either the French doors or bifold doors and have a fixed panel window, as can't see why would need two exits onto one patio....iv marked it as the French doors to loose but personally I'd loose the bifold (but then I live in north east Scotland you may live in a more tropical climate and find a company that will give a decent warranty!) 

also just not sure that the playroom connects well, but perhaps your children behave better than my two did ?

 

Will be cracking house though. I would encourage you to take the time now, play with the plans, sleep on them, go to show homes, go see other houses your architect has done, ask what works/doesn't, now is the time for changes....and enjoy! 

 

Further comments.

 

Make bedroom 1 triple aspect.

 

Sitting room could be a good playroom with a glass or part-glass (or electro-glass) soundproof (?) wall to the kitchen.

 

Take the terrace into the sun lounge, or perhaps make it a winter garden. We have roughly that arrangement for our lounge / conservatory / kitchen with two lots of doors in our conservatory, and when we added it (in the plans but the previous owners ran out of financial upside in the recession) it was transformative.

 

Our forum maven @recoveringacademic is building a winter garden, so you can look on his blog.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited August 22, 20179 yr by Ferdinand

Hi All,

back again So I met with our architect and we revised our plans.

 

See attached revised sketch - We've opted for an open planned kitchen, diner and living area. The kitchen sink is south facing hence why we have at the front of the house.

All the views are west facing were the French doors open from the dining table.

 

We are trying to future proof so further down the line we can change the playroom into a downstairs bedroom for when we get older with a jack and Jill arrangement to the bathroom. Although I don't think the sketch shows this.

 

Would really appreciate any feedback as this is closer to what we are after and hoping to confirm in the next week or so

 

Thanks in advance everyone!

Revised Sketch.pdf

A minor point, but if you put the turn at the top of the stairs, rather than the bottom, it might benefit the downstairs hallway by opening it up a little.

I'm unsure whether the area marked as 'gallery' is a floored space or an open void.

 

Having the lounge as a boxed off corner does seem like a shame... I'd be tempted to make that whole bit open plan and enjoy the space. But if you want privacy to watch a film etc then your layout obviously provides that.

I see the lounge has a fireplace... and a south facing window... in a relatively small space. That's going to be one warm little room