Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 17, 2009 11:08 am After looking through every second display village in SE qld and not finding a layout that suits our requirements or block, we decided to DIY and go owner builder.
After hundreds of rough drawings and many late nights fine tuning each design then scraping it the next day, we have come to this design which we think is "it". Main requirements are; -covenant requires internal floorspace over 240m2 (this just makes it) - large open plan living, lounge, kitchen area at the rear to look over our smallish yard. (The boy loves playing outside) - off road storage for the boat, rear roller on the garage looks after this. - lots of storage -maximise the backyard The father in law is a builder and has agreed to manage the job. I'm a trade qualified cabinet maker (no longer in that game) but now manage a signage installation and building maintenance company so have relationships with people in most building related trades. Block is 15 x 33 and faces west. So please give me your honest opinions on the layout; Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Opinions on DIY layout 2Jan 17, 2009 11:55 am Have you thought about 'flipping' the plan so that the living room/rumpus will be on the north side to get some natural light and warmth during the middle of the day? Most of the bedrooms can stay on the cooler south side.
The meals area will still get nice morning sun for breakfast. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.p ... 035#151035 Re: Opinions on DIY layout 3Jan 17, 2009 12:23 pm I did consider it but it creates some issues, first is a council pit which is on our footpath that will make our crossover a bit difficult if it was on the left.
Secondly the facade i have designed is best viewed from the right, which is the side that everyone enters the estate from, but if we switched it, it wouldn't look so good. the second favourite design was the opposite but there was more cons than pro's. I am still working on it though. Heres the facade i've designed for this layout. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Opinions on DIY layout 4Jan 17, 2009 12:30 pm wake_me a council pit which is on our footpath that will make our crossover a bit difficult if it was on the left. Secondly the facade i have designed is best viewed from the right, Can you keep the facade the same but flip the back half around? Re: Opinions on DIY layout 5Jan 17, 2009 12:44 pm dymonite69 wake_me a council pit which is on our footpath that will make our crossover a bit difficult if it was on the left. Secondly the facade i have designed is best viewed from the right, Can you keep the facade the same but flip the back half around? Its hard because the boat storage is an issue, i need a 3m wide 5m long storage area behind the garage. also the garage and storage is almost 2m longer than the main bedroom as well which makes the space left behind alot less, making it hard to fit the rest in. And the wife wants the kids bedrooms as close as possible to the main bedroom (she actually wants to hear the little ones , i'm quite happy to not hear them ) Re: Opinions on DIY layout 6Jan 17, 2009 1:56 pm wake_me nd the wife wants the kids bedrooms as close as possible to the main bedroom (she actually wants to hear the little ones , i'm quite happy to not hear them ) My wife insists on a baby monitor and I don't even like those. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 7Jan 17, 2009 3:18 pm No comment on your house plan but coming from a mum of 2 under 3 and hopefully at least another one to come - I agree with your wife wanting to be close to the kids.
This was the reason we designed our own home to build - every project builder had the master bedroom too far away from the kidlets. We prefered to be right beside them. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 9Jan 17, 2009 3:31 pm Isn't it funny Helyn - growing up we had three teenage girls in a small 9sq home with the bedrooms all next to Mum and Dad's. Never scarred us so my kids are having the same. Also helps for the once a night "I've lost my dummy" cry from DS and checking that DD hasn't rolled completely off her bed. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 10Jan 17, 2009 3:37 pm Helyn Whereas we have one teenager - our bedroom is at the very front of the house, his is at the very back! We designed a compromise. We created a patient's retreat from the master BR which serves as nursery until baby's routine settles. We then ship them to the other side of the house. After we complete our family, the retreat will serve as a study. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 11Jan 17, 2009 3:39 pm dymonite69 Helyn Whereas we have one teenager - our bedroom is at the very front of the house, his is at the very back! We designed a compromise. We created a patient's retreat from the master BR which serves as nursery until baby's routine settles. We then ship them to the other side of the house. After we complete our family, the retreat will serve as a study. Hey I know kids are stressful but a hospital room? Gee my DH must be a worry wart - kids in our room until they are at least 1 (DD was 15mths before we moved her). Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 12Jan 17, 2009 3:59 pm kyton dymonite69 Helyn Whereas we have one teenager - our bedroom is at the very front of the house, his is at the very back! We designed a compromise. We created a patient's retreat from the master BR which serves as nursery until baby's routine settles. We then ship them to the other side of the house. After we complete our family, the retreat will serve as a study. Hey I know kids are stressful but a hospital room? Gee my DH must be a worry wart - kids in our room until they are at least 1 (DD was 15mths before we moved her). Oops.. must have patients on my mind. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 13Jan 17, 2009 4:07 pm We are similar to dynomite69 and have designed a study/nursery for small bubs, and then all the other bedrooms are far away! This nursery room will have 2 access doors, one from the Master BR and the other from the hall so we can alternate our use/entry to it.
We haven't build it yet but I think it will definitely work for us, good luck with what you choose. Kate Re: Opinions on DIY layout 14Jan 17, 2009 4:12 pm Wake me,
A few comments: (1) Brick work next to WM maybe too narrow. I had a similar thing in my original house design, but builder's engineer said not enough structural integrity (one brick width). Had to put the window in the door. Check it out. (2) Ever thought about putting BR1 robe outside of the ensuite (his&hers either side of the door)? I think it'll be more user friendly. (3) Are your showers 800mm wide? If it is, it's too narrow (min 900 x 900). (4) More wall space in study can be achieved if you swap position of robe and rumpus room store. Something to consider. Chris Re: Opinions on DIY layout 15Jan 17, 2009 8:35 pm ChrisL Wake me, A few comments: (1) Brick work next to WM maybe too narrow. I had a similar thing in my original house design, but builder's engineer said not enough structural integrity (one brick width). Had to put the window in the door. Check it out. (2) Ever thought about putting BR1 robe outside of the ensuite (his&hers either side of the door)? I think it'll be more user friendly. (3) Are your showers 800mm wide? If it is, it's too narrow (min 900 x 900). (4) More wall space in study can be achieved if you swap position of robe and rumpus room store. Something to consider. Chris Thanks Chris, 1) The father in law talked me into a window next to the WM for ventilation, worst case we could install a lintel above the window/door so the coarse of bricks between door and window will be purely cosmetic. 2)do you think that would make the master bed room very long and skinny. it would then be about 3.3 wide and 5m long. 3)no the ensuite shower will be 1m wide and bathroom 900 wide, just a bit out of scale on the drawing. 4)i had them that way to create a relatively central alcove for the entertainment unit /TV. if it was the other way it would be a bit too off centre. sorry to dismiss your ideas, i appreciate your time in replying though. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 17Jan 19, 2009 9:21 am Kyton, Dynomite, your situation is a bit different to ours in that you are building now while your kids are littlies and aiming to build something that will suit you in the future as well as now.
In our old house all the bedrooms were together down a hallway away from the liveing areas and we had 3 kids for most of that time (older 2 have now left home) but we built this house with one teenager and could build what suits us now, no compromise between needs of littlies and older children Quote: Isn't it funny Helyn - growing up we had three teenage girls in a small 9sq home with the bedrooms all next to Mum and Dad's. Never scarred us I'm not worried about him being scarred - more like us keeping away from loud music, late nights etc , we're old fuddy duddies who like to be in bed early and have peace and quiet Re: Opinions on DIY layout 18Jan 19, 2009 10:09 am Helyn Quote: Isn't it funny Helyn - growing up we had three teenage girls in a small 9sq home with the bedrooms all next to Mum and Dad's. Never scarred us We have the privilege of building a generously sized house but all indications show that families got away with a lot less in the past: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/ABS@.NSF ... num=&view= In the past 18 years, new houses have increased in size by about 1/3rd. Smallers houses are also eheaper to keep warm and cool. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 19Jan 19, 2009 10:29 am I'm a bit confused on the layout of the master bedroom, wake_me. It looks like the only wall you can place the bedhead against is the wall separating the bedroom from the entry, which means you are walking past the bed when you go into the bedroom, it could look a bit backwards? Either that or place the bedhead against the windows. Again, not very conventional.
Our laundry layout is very similar to your proposal, what our builder did was to install a combination aluminium door and window frame, which matches the rest of the window frames around the house. It looks like this: http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg226/LatVal63/August18013.jpg Our door (not shown) is a 'half-light' with a large pane of glass in its upper half, and we also got a security door to match later on. Re: Opinions on DIY layout 20Jan 19, 2009 10:33 am Its interesting to see how every one has such different idea's and requirements based on so many variables, its bloody hard to design a house with a broad appeal.
We obviously want to design this house to suit us and our family requirements for the next few years (one 2 year old now and another addition being considered at the moment) but are building this as a stepping stone to our next (upgrade) house, so need to keep in mind what might appeal to others as well. Any more opinions on the layout??? Good or bad? I am currently playing around with moving the kitchen to the rumpus area (so the kitchen dining living will run the long southern side if the house) and move the rumpus to the kitchen location. have attached the 2 options Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks for the suggestion. The space between shower and sinks was too tight. I agree about the toilet location. So I have tried two other options: The lower one is… 3 6128 Possibly both depending on the sizing. Idea of working from the centre is that you dont have a 20mm thin tile at one end and a 400mm at the other end. A quick search on… 3 8401 You never have a fridge against wall as you’ve drawn. The doors can’t open past 90 degrees and it’s difficult and maybe impossible to remove drawers 2 15586 |