Floorplan - Any thoughts/suggestions?

[Coops85]

Hello, 

We are awaiting approval for planning and wondered if there were any tweaks to the floor plans we should consider before we give the go ahead for building reg drawings. 

 

We are compromised by size of external ground floor footprint and the house has to be built similar to the old Code 6 standards.  

[ProDave]

I would swap lounge and Kitchen / diner.  At the moment Kitchen / diner gets the best view and best sun.

 

The curved pantry wall does not work for me.

 

 

[newhome]

I quite like the curved wall but I wonder how fiddly it is to construct. Does the downstairs WC meet building regs? Do you really need 5 bedrooms? 

 

[bassanclan]

It looks s bit top heavy - effectively 6/7 bedrooms, with only one living area and a playroom?

[Sue B]

I agree - a bit top heavy.  

4 bedrooms on the first floor all sharing one toilet - it is not what I would expect in today’s world and I would guess it would hamper future saleability.  

Not having many room sizes shown makes it harder to see what works well - how big is the usable space in the study?  Is it big enough for a bedroom?  Otherwise a shower room on that floor feels a little odd and I think it is possibly very small?

The living room in a house with that number of bedrooms, seems quite small, I’m guessing around 18ft long (I can only visualise in ft and inches) but I think it may only be about 10 ft wide - could you get enough sofa space in that area to seat everyone occupying the bedrooms upstairs?

[Ferdinand]

Recognising that a lot is cast in stone as you have a Planning App in, but commenting a little more widely as I am wondering if your overhangs will be seen as taking the p slightly on a footprint restriction and they may say to think again in some respects. I like that you have not told the planners *too* much stuff they do not need to know.

 

1 - I like the placement, orientation and layout on the plot, but wonder if you need something for winter / wet weather playing for kids that is not the main lawn; area by the South end of the house? Being cater-cornered always make it seem more upmarket and bigger, like laying tiles diagonally in a room.

 

2 - I like the curved wall - if stud should be OK to build (insulation inside it) if planned carefully by good people. Not sure a pantry that deep and narrow will work at the back - lay it out in full plan size and experiment physically? I might make the last 1.2-1.8m into a cupboard or shelf unit in the hall.

 

3 - To me the overall look and feel is a bit retro, and does not match recent ideas of open voids and "wow" spaces inside, and in the use of windows. May not be a issue for you. That may be partly the furry sketch style of drawing, which always feels more busy on the page. Has it been run through a furry-iser program ?, or is it a real by-hand sketch plan (gold star if so)? 

 

4 - I half agree on the "4 beds to one bath" comment. I would consider a compact ensuite (perhaps shower / whb / no loo) in Bed 5 - either where the desk is shown, or at the house corner and move the Master Ensuite (does it need a bidet? Would a shattaf be OK instead?) down slightly where there is room and the M.E. window round the corner (in two minds on this as that would make the road-facing elevation asymmetrical). I would make Bed 5 a potential alternative or second study wrt to sockets and lights etc. Make sure all the showers are large, and not like telephone kiosks.

 

5 - I think the lounge-dining works OK but if that is a woodburner it may be a pink elephant in a Code 6 house. Consider a flame effect gas fire or even electric, or spend the money on a lighting designer for your lounge diner to create an intimate feel?

 

6 - I think your biggest issue is that the hall / loo / utility / stairs area is not resolved enough, and could be a lot better. It feels a bit maze-y to me. There is a lot lost to circulation space in the hall and that dogleg walkway in the utility. 

 

I would:

a - Put the hall-utility door by the kitchen, so that the utility walkway takes up less space and you only have doors in one corner.

b - Straighten the wall between the utility and cloakroom, for me towards the utility so a shower can go in the cloakroom for disabled or frail guests etc.

c - Put that inner-hall space into the Cloakroom, and use that as a coats and "things" (pushchairs, wheelchairs, golf clubs etc) area - could have a large closet, with a further door to the downstairs loo, into which I would put a shower as (b). As it is that circulation space is wasted.

d -I would take away the wall between the stairs and the front door, so you get a more fluid space and the impact of the void above the stairs is your "wow" perceived on entry.

e - I would consider moving the front door to the West or Centre within your 3 section door design and consider either making the staircase wider (ie open well between the two halves), or making it a 90 degree not a 180 stair to lead the eye into the void. That would increase your impact for minimum changes, but may need a bit of juggling with your door design. I think it would be grander and suitable for a large house such as this.

f - I would make sure the stairs are at a more relaxed than typical angle - go for 34-38 degrees if you can, not 42. It makes a huge difference to the "feel". IMO insist on this. This should be a building regs not a planning matter. 

g - I would be more generous with my staircase windows, perhaps double or treble the width. That may affect your Code 6, however.

 

7 - I think you could reconsider your other windows at the front - at present there are too many different sizes, and I am not sure about the "tall and thin" subdivisions. To me that is not a suitable entrance face for this house. This would unfortunately involve returning to the planners.

 

8 - What is your provision for house-wide disabled / elderly access in future? This will become important.

 

9 - Do you need a snug?

 

HTH - it may be more than you wanted but even for validating your decisions different suggestions can help; there is also a lot you could do within your PP if this is approved.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Coops85]

Thank you for all the comments.

 

The reason for the 5 bedrooms is due to having 4 children. We would like them to have a bedroom each. 

 

We are removing the pantry altogether.  So the curved wall will go. 

 

The lounge is about 21ft x 15ft at the northern end.

 

Will have a look at the utility/WC area/stairs, although I don’t want to compromise the space in the hall too much.... very aware of how congested it gets when 4 children are getting themselves ready to go to school!! 

 

Lots to think about before meeting our architect this evening. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sue B]

It won’t take long for them to become young adults all wanting to go out in the evenings and spend hours “prettying” themselves.  That is when the lack of bathrooms will become particularly noticeable.  We had 2 kids, one of our “must haves” on our list was an en-suite for each bedroom.  The arguments saved each morning were worth it but I understand your space won’t allow that.

[Coops85]

26 minutes ago, Sue B said:

It won’t take long for them to become young adults all wanting to go out in the evenings and spend hours “prettying” themselves.  That is when the lack of bathrooms will become particularly noticeable.  We had 2 kids, one of our “must haves” on our list was an en-suite for each bedroom.  The arguments saved each morning were worth it but I understand your space won’t allow that.

 

The bedrooms are all more than 3mx3m so maybe there will be space... although don’t like the idea of jack and Jill en-suite.   The shower room on the top floor might help for future years! The eldest is currently only 8! 

[Ferdinand]

57 minutes ago, Coops85 said:

 

The bedrooms are all more than 3mx3m so maybe there will be space... although don’t like the idea of jack and Jill en-suite.   The shower room on the top floor might help for future years! The eldest is currently only 8! 

 

Usually you can 2 shower rooms in the space for a Jack and Jill.

[le-cerveau]

The en-suites i put in my kids rooms were 1.8m wide by 2m and you can easily fit everything in.  Put them back to back and it simplifies the services.  You could put it between bed 2 & 3

[Triple07]

In our last house, having a dedicated playroom really helped with the kids rooms being on the smaller side as it meant few toys in their rooms, so I’d definitely keep the play room.

We now are (unofficially) moved in to our new Build,  My eldest is shortly turning 13 and the things she has is ridiculous, and she can easily spend an hour in the bathroom. It’s a large house you have got planned there and I guess it depends how long your build will take and how long you plan living there but will it work for 4 teenagers?  

Do you need the attic room as a study or could it be the master bedroom and ensuite  allowing for 4 larger bedrooms and two bath/shower rooms on floor 1? 

You are brave putting the plans up, my plans were like my baby, and when I handed them to the architect to tweak and draw I sulked at the suggestion of his changes ?... turns out he knew his stuff though and all the tweaks really enhance the layout and many were “OMG why didn’t we think of that” , so good luck with the architect, and don’t rush it the building warrant stage as tempting as it is.

On a side note...I really like the size of your utility and hall, we thought ours was adequate but it feels a bit compromised and I’m forever moving coats and boots to keep it looking clear.

[Coops85]

1 hour ago, Triple07 said:

In our last house, having a dedicated playroom really helped with the kids rooms being on the smaller side as it meant few toys in their rooms, so I’d definitely keep the play room.

We now are (unofficially) moved in to our new Build,  My eldest is shortly turning 13 and the things she has is ridiculous, and she can easily spend an hour in the bathroom. It’s a large house you have got planned there and I guess it depends how long your build will take and how long you plan living there but will it work for 4 teenagers?  

Do you need the attic room as a study or could it be the master bedroom and ensuite  allowing for 4 larger bedrooms and two bath/shower rooms on floor 1? 

You are brave putting the plans up, my plans were like my baby, and when I handed them to the architect to tweak and draw I sulked at the suggestion of his changes ?... turns out he knew his stuff though and all the tweaks really enhance the layout and many were “OMG why didn’t we think of that” , so good luck with the architect, and don’t rush it the building warrant stage as tempting as it is.

On a side note...I really like the size of your utility and hall, we thought ours was adequate but it feels a bit compromised and I’m forever moving coats and boots to keep it looking clear.

 

Hubby works from home during day a couple of days and evenings.  So a study is a must.