Custom Design floor plan thread post them here!!

Yes Kiwi, we are sad too.
And very disappointed that we were told it wasn't a good idea to build our design. But since we don't want to spend half of our budget on excavation and retaining, we don't really have much choice.

We are getting quite annoyed though that we have to keep going back and redesign everything all over and over again and again. Getting quite sick of it to be honest. The design the draftsman of the builder came back to us with wasn't great so I spend a few nights at the computer (again) to try and fit some of our previous ideas onto the contours. It's getting really, really difficult now to fit our wants and needs (that were already hard to put into a floorplan) into the additional restrictions of the contours of the block. The plan above is now back with the builder to do some adjustments and fine tuning. They can do some work as well!

There are still some problems I have with this plan, but I hope our builder can help us sort this out and get it all together. And we thought we put it up here again too to see if there are any ideas from this great community. Although I'm afraid people might be getting sick of us by now?

Anyway, the problems as I see them:

The Al Fresco is now on top of the dining area and thereby blocking access for the Northerly sun in winter. But I can't really see where else we can put it so we might have to live with it?

The Entry area doesn’t work well yet. The way the doors go off the entry hall looks a bit strange and the main entrance doesn’t look nice.

The rumpus room shape and lounge room / rumpus room wall don’t look quite right. I wonder if we could do something different with that. Also there seems to be not much room for windows to the rumpus room so a bit of a worry about natural light in there.


Having said all of the above, we still like the other design you all helped us with. But barring a lottery win very soon it won't happen, but any donations are gratefully received.

Thanks to you all for your help and comments. Much appreciated!

ooow, im so sorry. sounds like the pits and you aint even started yet...when it becomes the pits!
im a bit useless with plans, so not much help. all I know is I loved your pavillion plan before...maybe chippy can help again with this one, he/ she did a good job last time.

somewoman is in her home now, she might have a spare few minutes to throw something down,
she is always good with making the most of a space.

good luck and I hope the builder can also help..and give you a good price too...re contours and building within them

Think we are getting there. Still need internal access from garage but thinking that the natural spot for that is opposite the laundry and also missing bag storage for inside internal garage access but thinking that can be incorporated into laundry. Any more thoughts or suggestions?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54857809@N07/5082815898/

Ingrid- pic isn't showing up....

Cant get image to work atm. So posted link

Ingrid & thalian, do you NEED an alfresco? What about a vergola, something openable? A vergola in that area would work a treat as it can completely seal to make the area water tight, would could also add in drop down plastic cafe blind things to make an all-year outdoor room, and you could still open the roof to allow the sun in to warm you in winter or close it for good eaves in summer. It seems a sensible solution, and makes that space REALLY workable. Probably not much more expensive than a fixed roof alfresco.

I like the current iteration. I think it will still maintain some of that pavilion feeling without the cost and difficulties involved with building pavilion. I hope you get it to where you want it soon

Ingrid-have you thought about moving the door to the study/bedroom pavilion further back so that you can get rid of that
"d!cky"corner to the rumpus? It would also mean that the entrance hall had a better viual effect as you walked in with the wall being straight across instead of that angle IYKWIM?

Somewoman, we have been discussing exactly that last night as we were worried about losing the North facing sun into the dining/kitchen. THink that will be the go without losing the 'closed in' alfresco. Still would like entertaining area like alfresco but think this could work.
Not sure what you mean Demaree. There has had to be some consideration about contours.

Ingrid

you could do something with eaves and have downlights or something in them extended out to form a complete circuit of the alfresco area, then have the vergola added in like a vaulted ceiling. It could make a real feature of it. You don't need to compromise at all.

I think I'd do this with the entry:


Well, not that precisely, but something along those lines...

also, we upgraded our front door to 1.2m width. Looks stunning but also incredibly practical for getting large items (ie, furniture when moving in) in or out. Highly recommended

oow, I think you are getting there.

the dining room...do you think it is overly big?
is there a way to make a bigger kitchen, in that space..and a smaller dining 'area'.
unless you are also having a computer there etc, it is a big space for a table only and the kitchen seems tucked
away at the back and small compared to the huge home you have....make it a bit bigger and an island rather than a U shape


I like how you can access the bathroom outside, brilliant, like the 4 bedrooms,
like the entrance but that master entrance..not sure??
master bed there..not sure really. maybe the rumpus is the kitchen and the master moved along abit?? I dont know, not good with this stuff! but I think the pavillion fee is still there so well done.

that looks tidier.

Thank you for your suggestions somewoman. As usual they are brilliant! We quite like your idea for the entrance. It is looking much neater and should work much better as a welcoming entry area. However, it looks like this cuts away a big chunk off the rumpus room (adding it to the living area), which is an unfortunate side effect. We might have to see if there is something we can do about that....

I don't think I quite understand your suggestions for the Alfresco area though. Somehow I can't picture the eaves with the skylights and the vergola over the top of it? Can you maybe try to explain or show this differently? Ta.

Hmmmm, we have to think about the dining room and kitchen. You are right that the dining area seems quite big. But on the other hand, we have a reasonably big dining table and the area also is kind of a passageway between living area and kitchen, laundry, garage and alfresco so there needs to be enough room around the table to comfortably walk to those areas. We'll have to draw in our table and see how everything fits.

Access to the bathroom from the outside was one of our main needs. There will be a pool in the back at some later stage (once the finances have recovered a bit) and we wanted to plan for that so you can have easy access to wet areas from the outside.

I guess the master bed entrance is different, but we both like the idea and the look of it. Something a bit different.

the black squares are downlights or the likes, plaster finish ceiling in these areas, probably box gutter above, very square and modern finish is what I'm thinking... BIG hole in the roof where the vergola will sit. If you raise the vergola to a higher level than the surrounding "box" then it will give the impression of a vaulted ceiling and look very awesome!

We have a sort of "gallery" to the master bedroom also. It's perfect for putting up pictures that neither of us want to get rid of, but the other doesn't want to have on display in the main house. Namely, his quaint little village paintings that mean a lot to him but would just completely throw the feeling that I'm going for through the rest of the house.

Not sure about how to get that space back into the rumpus without either making your entry walk through there to get to the lounge/kitchen/dining/etc or losing your storage and gallery area on the master bedroom... Wasn't the rumpus intended as a playroom for the kids? So walking through there would be sub-optimal... Need to think on it more when I haven't been awake for 18 hours (and likely to be awake for at least that many more, and then some

Ok, now I understand better what you were suggesting. Thank you for clarifying. That sounds indeed very nice and we will certainly see if we can make it happen.



Yes, you are right that the rumpus room will be used as the kids playroom. It's meant to be their area to play and make a mess without making the rest of the house look too untidy. At least that's the plan. So a walk through there wouldn't be such a good idea. The visitors are supposed NOT to see the kid's mess (and we don't want to see it all the time either).

One option I can think off is too stretch the house up towards the bathroom/entry/bedroom4 a bit further and thus make the rumpus room bigger. Downside of that is obviously that the house gets bigger and more expensive and that bedrooms2 & 3 or the study need to become bigger as well.

Hmmm, need to think some more about it and maybe our builder guys have some good idea as well.

Thanks again so much for your suggestions. You're an awesome source of good ideas and inspiration.

I think the play room is big enough with the nicer entrance.
how big a room do you want to have trashed!?

they have large bedrooms, there is the pool when they are older that they will be in, when they are little
they stay wherever you are so prob play in the dining room, lounge and rumpus so that is a BIG space!.

as they get older the rumpus will be a tv room for them, and that seems to look a very decent size for just doing that.

I dont think you would need to make the house bigger. a huge play room wont be welcoming.
you want it cosy and snug.
it isnt like it is a family room.

if it is just for toys and play stations...it is ample.

the alfresco will also be used for riding bikes on when raining or too hot under the sun and that is a good size, I think it is looking great!

the master bed entrance looks better this way. and I get the gallery completely...
shame you cant fit double doors on!

still my only concern is..I would try and make the kitchen bigger.
one way in and out will drive you nuts ...you cant run away from them as they come and see you as easy (cos they are blocking the escape with their ride ons!!)

Thank you for your comments Kiwi.

You are probably right with most things you said about kids and the playroom (after all you should know, you have plenty of experience ). I guess we still would like the rumpus room to be a reasonably big size for a couple of reasons. First, some of the room will be taken up by a large cupboard or similar for storage of toys and stuff (not drawn in yet). Second, as the kids grow up, the use of the room will change and we want it to be a good size to keep it versatile. Also, we think the living room is already plenty big enough and it seemed not right to make it even bigger by taking away space from the rumpus.

The preference is of course not to make the house bigger. It already is big enough as it is (just think of all the cleaning that needs to be done - and I'm not even the one doing most of it )

Anyway, this is what ADH came back with today:

I think it is a good compromise.

Now we will have to sort out what we do with the Alfresco area. We like the size, but I'm quite concerned about the issues mentioned above. ADH suggested putting in a skylight in the dining area to allow light into that area, but I'm not sure that is the best option. They probably have their own problems with letting heat in in summer and draining the heat out of the house in winter...

I can see what you mean about the kitchen, too. But that is more for Ingrid to decide what she wants to do there. She is the one doing most of the cooking. Although I like to cook as well, with work and stuff I don't get much chance during the week and only occasionally get into the kitchen on weekends.

Thalian I love your design
You have a huge pantry which is great, look at putting your fridge on the pantry side and then create a island bench, moving it a little further into the dinning area.
I would also put a cavity slider on the ensuit door, you will find in very annoying having a door open onto the shower door, we had this in our previous house and we where constantly worried that we would break the shower screen with the door handle.
Cheers Lou

SW & Thalian-that entry is more what I was suggesting (without SW's computer skills to provide a visual!) Take 2 is spot on about the cavity slider to the ensuite too!

what can I say, im a great shag.