Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 21, 2012 9:53 pm Hi everyone, we are in the process of designing our block of land, we are planning to build two front and back townhouses for me and my brother to live.
At the moment we've got our initial sketches from our building designer, and I wanted to post it here to get some advice/feedback from you guys, because this is our first time, we just want to make sure everything is right Ground Floor Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Top Floor Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We have a few concerns, 1. for unit 1, that island benchtop shape is very weird, would it look better with just rectangular in shape regardless of the fact that it is positioned diagonally? 2. for unit 2, is that partition wall really necessary between lounge and dining area? wouldn't it look better and more open without it? and we are concerned with the two bi-folding doors for the area, would it be too much? if we remove that partition wall, would it be better to have just one bi-folding door right at the centre and perhaps have one window on each side? So basically we are having a masters room downstairs for parents visiting us but unwilling to walk the stairs, and we will be having another two bedrooms upstairs, one being masters room for by us and the other for the kid. the other bedroom is semi-ensuite because there may be guests in the study and rumpus area wanting to use the toilet.. Oh, by the way, our building designer suggest removing the existing crossover, and creating a new one on the other side, basically joining it with the neighbours on the south side. he said that this is better because we will get more northern sunlight on our house and private open space. I would really appreciate some feedbacks! and which one do you prefer? the front one or the back one? why? Thanks guys Merry Christmas! Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 2Dec 22, 2012 12:48 pm Unit1 - Agreed. Square off the bench The pointy ends would look odd. Unit2- Depends if you want open plan. May look better without the wall, but personal choice. Definitely the front unit for choice. More land at the front. Better access to the stairs from the entrance. Decking area looks more user friendly. Even upstairs looks more open. The only thing I might change is door access direct to garage but that makes a problem with the laundry. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 3Dec 22, 2012 2:11 pm Thanks for your comments. regarding the garage for unit 1, we are planning to have a door open to decking and then access via door in laundry to the house any other comments would be much appreciated Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 5Dec 22, 2012 10:18 pm Unit1 - i would Square off the bench do not like The pointy ends . Unit2- would go open plan and go . without the wall, but like written before this would be my personal choice. do like the idea of the ensuites Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 6Dec 22, 2012 11:32 pm The plans look good! I agree about the kitche island, it just looks strange. As a personal preferance I would be taking the divining wall out to make it open plan, I also agree either one sliding door in the middle and windows, a stacker door or two sliding doors to open it up. My only thought was is 3 ensuites overkill? But our build will be the first time me have a toilet not in the bathroom! Part of the reason I ask is because I am assuming that is a bath in the ensuite of bedroom 2, would it be a problem having the bath in an ensuite bathroom for others use? but this could be something you planned/wanted... Is this a long term build or short term? If short term who would be the target market be when you sold? Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 7Dec 23, 2012 9:34 am I agree with cutting off the pointy bits on the kitchen bench. Have you thought about how you would furnish the lounge in unit 2. Would you need the dividing wall for furniture or entertainment unit? If not, remove it. Is there some reason why unit 1 needs to be so far back from the front boundary? If you pushed it forward it would give a larger backyard to unit 2 and / or larger garage to unit 1. Or a separation between the two units. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 8Dec 23, 2012 10:19 am These look great! I like the 'pointy' bench -- a lot Only thing that would put me off is all those toilets/bathrooms to clean. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 9Dec 23, 2012 12:53 pm 1rocky Unit1 - i would Square off the bench do not like The pointy ends . Unit2- would go open plan and go . without the wall, but like written before this would be my personal choice. do like the idea of the ensuites Yes, that's exactly what I wanted. But I am afraid after square off bench, it would only be 2 metres..at the moment its 3 metres from pointy to pointy. fmac My only thought was is 3 ensuites overkill? But our build will be the first time me have a toilet not in the bathroom! Part of the reason I ask is because I am assuming that is a bath in the ensuite of bedroom 2, would it be a problem having the bath in an ensuite bathroom for others use? but this could be something you planned/wanted... We didn't really need to bathroom, but our building designer said it is necessary to have one for re-sale value in the future. There wasn't enough space to squeeze it other than in one of the bedroom upstairs which is the one we are going to live in. We really wanted a double shower though... catjim I agree with cutting off the pointy bits on the kitchen bench. Have you thought about how you would furnish the lounge in unit 2. Would you need the dividing wall for furniture or entertainment unit? If not, remove it. Is there some reason why unit 1 needs to be so far back from the front boundary? If you pushed it forward it would give a larger backyard to unit 2 and / or larger garage to unit 1. Or a separation between the two units. Haven't thought about it, but I guess we wanted it more open plan to make it look bigger, since the units are relatively small. The front is actually setback 9 metres. There isn't much we can do about that because all the houses on the street is about that length. TomCat These look great! I like the 'pointy' bench -- a lot Only thing that would put me off is all those toilets/bathrooms to clean. I thought those pointy benchs are inconvenient, and might hurt people. But I am very concerned because at the moment it is 3 metres from point to point. but if I remove the points and have it retangular shape, it would just be 2 metres. would this be too small? I guess if its 2 metres, I cannot put a sink in the island, I have to put the sink else where, like near the pantry area and have the cooktop opposite the island. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 10Dec 23, 2012 8:14 pm I don't think the bench will be 'pointy' pointy. I would love to see it finished it some kind of stone with rounded/smoothed edges. I think that would look super modern and classy Good luck! Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 11Dec 24, 2012 6:42 am you have a lot of houses for the space, well done!! just some comments... unit one ..double garage? it looks small unit two .. shower downstairs looks like you cant access it, as the vanities are in the way (or loo is, ) a door wont be able to be opened, there is just no room. re check the measurments, cos come building..the builders will say, cant be done! unit one bench..how about a round bench to give you that extra width? I dont like the pointy bits but I love rounded (esp a 100mm thick top) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ the lounges look small, so i would get rid of the wall in unit 2 to make it as large as possible and have as much glass as poss, as little aluminium as you can, blocking the view. i have these in my family room, stacker doors with 800 mm wide glass panes, but windows on each end, that open at the bottom for cool air and the top to let out hot air but no site line in the middle to block your eye Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ and burglars find it hard to get through, so we leave them open when we go out, but i wouldnt in oz! rain doesnt come in, but might be hard re fly screen,,,? I would always choose the back unit, as away from the noise of the road at the front, you dont have cars on the drive pass your house all the time ...like the front does. ie your brothers mates at 2 am, zooming pass to go home. they will be parked on the street...if he is at the front quieter backyard, more private, you dont have to maintain the 9 mets of front yard that you cant really use, but personal choice really i like both layouts, so cant decide... each has their plus's and minus's but well done and good luck, Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 12Dec 24, 2012 6:48 am ps I think i would make unit ones, bed 3 not ensuite..do it like unit 2. just seems weird to have 2 doors next to each other, and it doesnt need to be ensuite for kids, having a 'main bathroom' upstairs is ok. not a 2 way ensuite main bathroom etc is the gallery an extra living room? (which you do need in a home like this) make sure you place furniture now before you place windows. ie corner suite and tv where etc? ok, i think i am done for now! Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 13Dec 24, 2012 11:31 am kiwi ps I think i would make unit ones, bed 3 not ensuite..do it like unit 2. just seems weird to have 2 doors next to each other, and it doesnt need to be ensuite for kids, having a 'main bathroom' upstairs is ok. not a 2 way ensuite main bathroom etc is the gallery an extra living room? (which you do need in a home like this) make sure you place furniture now before you place windows. ie corner suite and tv where etc? ok, i think i am done for now! Kiwi, thank you sooooo much for your reply. You have given me so much things to think about... Yes! i think that round benchtop is a good idea, because i do not really like pointy but cannot comprise with a short island benchtop! I am thinking of either putting a long stacker door or a bi-folding door, but definitely not 2 of them as shown in the plans. Kiwi, how long is your door in your family area? I can see that there are 6 panels of 800mm, so i guess it would be 4.8 metres in length? Flyscreen is one of my biggest concern, I am planning to install on all of the windows..however with the big door in living/meal area, i don't think theres much we can do. Unit 1 bed 3, thanks for pointing that out. I will get the building designer to change that. regarding the gallery for unit 1, i think the only way to put the tv is under the two windows on that wall facing north. there is no other walls there. so i think i'll have to make those windows a really high one..horizontal in shape instead of vertical. there also going to be issues on bed 2. our masters room. our bed will be under the 2 windows and the tv will be on the opposite wall. so the windows has to be high ones as well.. this is also the case for bed 2 in unit 2..and i think i need to add another window for that bedroom otherwise it would be too dark... a lot of thinking to do...argh!! thanks once again for pointing out all these Kiwi Merry Christmas Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 14Dec 24, 2012 2:44 pm You are most welcome! Yes, our doors are 4.8 wide, you can have as long as you want and you can have fly screens on stackers. We don't, as we live in nz, but I know a lot of the build threads on this forum have installed fly screens and when I went to jodges house ( a girl on this forum) beginning dec, and sunshines home, they both have fly screens. So they are very doable..not so much on bi folds though. Re tv in gallery unit one, you could put the tv against bed 3 wall and have a couch under those windows on the north wall. Means the windows could be bigger then. Just cut some furniture out to size, and have a little play. That will really help you know where / how big/ what sort of windows or walls you will need up there. If you design the space well now, it won't be a waste of real estate $$$$ And it will be well used and a space that is multi functional , tv watching, play station playing, a library, piano playing, lounging in the north sun in winter on a chaise etc etc Good luck and happy Christmas , show us how you get on if you change anything. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 15Dec 26, 2012 1:19 am Hi guys, after talking to family, we are basically quite happy with unit 2's design. we have decide to remove that wall between lounge and meals, to make it more open. regarding unit 1, we are not happy with the design. we are looking for a more open plan design. we do not like the fact that there is a stair at the centre of the house and how the lounge is far separated from the meals and kitchen. we did a sketch as to how our ideal plan looks like and might get the building designer to change it to suit our needs. what do you guys think? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 16Dec 26, 2012 7:09 am much better design love the open plan Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 17Dec 26, 2012 10:00 am Yes, have the stairs and laundry facing the road. You don't want a lounge facing the road and south. Good job. Much better and much more useful space. More people can fit in the one area now...good for parties. How does upstairs now work? With the stairs moved. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 18Dec 26, 2012 10:09 am Ps That kitchen, meals lounge is exactly our layout. With dining on the left of the kitchen as you look out onto the deck ( you can see our couches I think in the photo above) so of course I like it, cos it works! Use the under stair storage in the laundry somehow..make sure the designer has the stairs going in a way that you can utilise that space for a shoe rack, coats, the vacuum etc via the laundry not from the kitchen. Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 19Dec 26, 2012 9:57 pm Thanks for your replies. We have not thought about upstairs yet, because that will really depend on the stair's actual location and when ground floor's plan is confirmed. We will be contact our building designer after the break and get him to re-design unit 1's plan to meet our requirement. But we would really want the masters bedroom upstairs to face north too! the study can be on the south. Regarding the stairs, we will have it closed up and have a storage room inside it. We are just a little bit concerned about the Powders Room downstairs, seems no where to put it, we will certainly not wanting to compromise our meals/lounge area as it is just about the right size. So perhaps shrink the bedroom maybe. Not sure yet, i guess i'll leave that to the designer. kiwi, glad to hear that our open plan is workable, i just had another look at your photo, seems like your lounge is a bit dark, does it have window on that side? we might have a bi-folding door at the centre of the meals/lounge and have another 1 window on each side of it. so its symmetrical. but again, we are concerned about bi-folding doors not having a fly screen...it is going to be terrible in summer..though the door looks fabulous when fully opened...might end up with a stacker door with fly screen ..maybe..we will definitely install fly screen to all our windows though..any suggestions? Will update when new drawings are confirmed. Thanks once again for your replies Best Wishes Re: Young couples home - designing stage, need advice please 20Dec 26, 2012 10:53 pm If you can put the bedroom to face north and the ensuite be a 2 way ensuite / powder room nearer the front door, that will mean you have one less toilet and basin ..saves you $$$$ and the bedroom will get north sun to warm it The room isn't dark, with just the doors, it was the angle of the photo Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Don't know re fly screens!! Someone will though Hi All Just been working on refining the design. It has been a struggle getting everything to work, but I think we are 90% there. Again, don't buy a 32m deep block.… 16 5691 Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 10740 Levelling compound Ardit is the best but buy a bag of sand and make sand dam to protect your wood floor 2 13231 |