Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 04, 2013 2:17 pm Im looking at building a 4 bed 2 bath home which is 219sm not including verandahs and garage. Unfortunatley there is no display so I have very little to go on with how spacious it would feel or if there is enough room in certain areas. It will be our home for a very long time so I am determined to get it right!. Also its a long farmhouse style so any other houses Ive seen at similar size dont seem the same! How did you know if your house was big enough with out being able to walk through? Did you find it was to small or too big for your needs? Its driving me crazy so if anyone has any thoughts it would be much appreciated. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 2Feb 04, 2013 2:29 pm Look at the size of the rooms in the design you've chosen. There're only going to be a dozen or so, give-or-take. Then with those written-down, have a look at the list of houses on display at the display-village closest to you ... you'll be able to find houses with rooms pretty-close to what you're looking at that way. Then you can look at just the houses which have rooms you want to check-out. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 3Feb 04, 2013 3:27 pm Compare it with the rooms in the house you are living in at the moment. This link gives you some things to think about and also refers to a checklist that may help: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=594 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 5Feb 04, 2013 4:51 pm did the same as bashworth also measured our rooms at old house butstill was surprised at size of the house when we fist saw it Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 6Feb 04, 2013 5:34 pm with a garage that is a 255 ish sq met home. I think that would work really well... we have a 242 sq with garage and we squeezed 5 beds, 3 bath , a study and 2 living..and it is great. Just right. I hadnt seen a display so I too was hoping it would be ok, and it is. 4 bed, 2 bath will be ok i am sure. do you have a plan you could share with us? Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 7Feb 04, 2013 6:32 pm We have just sold a 4 bed plus study and two bathrooms. It was 260m2 incl the garage and it was a good size. The only reason we sold it was it didn't work for us when DH was on night shift. Our new house is 395m2 including the garage and I am wondering if it is big enough. I know it is, but you always wonder. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 8Feb 04, 2013 7:36 pm We visited display homes and compared their room sizes to what was on our plan to get a feel for the room sizes. Also compared plan room sizes to what we are currently living in. Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 9Feb 04, 2013 9:31 pm Ask if the builder can show you a computer-generated walkthrough (some can do this). The alternative is to copy the plan into a program such as Sweet Home 3D yourself ( http://www.sweethome3d.com/index.jsp ). This particular program is free software. There are plenty of commercial software alternatives. After copying the plan into the software, I used it for fiddling with the furniture fit and floor layout ( to add storage space and see if it would suit my needs ). You need a lot of patience and need to be reasonably comfortable with computers! There are a few companies around that could provide you with a 3D walkthrough for a fee. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 10Feb 05, 2013 7:03 am maximus There are a few companies around that could provide you with a 3D walkthrough for a fee. I don't know how useful this would be ... it's OK for seeing whether you like shapes, maybe whether you like the "flow" of a place, but for an idea on whether it's going to be spacious enough for your needs I don't think it's going to be particularly useful. The 3D rendering would have to include all the furniture you're going to want, and to scale; I doubt they'd do that, it'd be quite a lot of work. Now the bit you mentioned about cutting & pasting furniture into a plan; that would work, not only with a computer but also if you actually put it all onto paper. It wouldn't be hard to get the paper representation of the furniture to scale; print off the plan onto A3 paper, print the furniture outlines as seen from above, cut them out & have yourself a big jigsaw puzzle. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 11Feb 05, 2013 9:07 am I would love to see the homes that are similar size just to get an idea (even if it will be different) The house we are looking at is the valley retreat from great lving homes....I forgot how to post pictures http://www.greatlivinghomes.com.au/ its under the rural section... There is only the two of us at the moment but soon to be three so looking to be comfortable with a little room to grow Ill look into the 3d walkthrough sounds very interesting ! Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 14Feb 05, 2013 9:59 am Get a door to close off the passage going to the minor bedrooms. Helps with cooling and heating zones as well as sound traveling when you have littlies/younger chn trying to sleep if you have guests over. And one on the laundry. Hide your laundry, don't worry about soaking stuff with toddlers around, block the sound of washing machine or dryer going. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 15Feb 05, 2013 10:00 am PS love ranch style anything with a verandah. sigh. I so wanted a verandah /porch out the front. I like that your front doors don't open straight into your living area. Gives you a bit of privacy if strangers are at the door. Some might say it's a wasted space but you can use the alcove opposite the door for useful items and it makes a big difference to the feel of the house if you have a nice entry area. Re: activity area. When your impending bub is small you prob won't use the activity area much for their play but rather as storage. They'll be in the family area with you but once they get past toddlerhood having that area separate will work really well. You'll love having an area littlies can play that hasn't completely destroyed/trashed your family room area if you get sudden visitors and so you don't have to clear a path with a scoop truck so your visitors can sit down. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 16Feb 05, 2013 10:21 am Thanks for the advice! I will definitley put some doors on those areas....I was a bit worried about heating and cooling. I agree about the entry... defintley worth it - even if it is dead space... Ill try to add a niche and put a nice painting or picture there. I really want to remove the powder room and have a proper enclosed toilet and make the kitchen pantry somehow smaller to make the ensuite bigger. The bench in the kitchen that seems to just end kind of bugs me . I want to add overhead cupboard to Laundry and kitchen We are putting a drive through carport out the front aswell so I dont have to squeeze in and out the garage with baby... probably make the garage a little bigger also. I want the verandah on the back of the house as well with doors going outside from activity and maybe french doors on activity aswell. Annnddd... I want a huge bath that is built up higher (not the spa shape thats there) so you can see it when standing directly in fron of bathroom opening Thats all the ideas so far! Hopefully we can get it all in the budget ! Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 17Feb 05, 2013 11:08 am A couple of thoughts: I would be looking at 2 hot water systems otherwise at one end of the house you will be waiting ages for Hot water. Have you thought about how you are going to reduce sound transmission from the home theatre to bedroom 2. Brian The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 18Feb 05, 2013 11:15 am Bashworth they could add insulation to the wall between the theatre and bed 2. It might also only be used as a tv/lounge room more than a dedicated Home theatre so might not be an issue. IN the kitchen design there really isn't anywhere much for overhead cupboards like you were hoping for. I'd try and keep that pantry the size it is. You'll need storage somewhere. try for a few sets of drawers in your kitchen not just cupboards as you can fit more in them. Laundry: If you can fit an ordinary door externally and have a small window which can be opened for ventilation ( think using a dryer and how steamy laundries get) you'll get more privacy than having a sliding door. Great for those early morning get ups, middle of the night/late night get ups with kidlets and you perhaps not dressed in attire you want to be seen in. Great to see the toilet separate from laundry. I don't see the powder room toilet being a huge issue as long as it has a sink of it's own. You don't want visitors having to troupe into your ensuite to use the sink and being able to see your bedroom. Also great if you want want visitors trooping past the kids activity room bombshell/disaster area to go to the loo. Have you seen the discussion in another thread about open ensuites and people getting up at different times ?( light issues) In the end your money will run out before you can have every dream. There will be some compromises. Just work out your priorities and go for it. Don't forget there are somethings you can save for and do afterwards. Even though it might mean a wait. Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 19Feb 05, 2013 11:26 am The home theatre shouldnt be a problem... we arent to fussed on the home theatre experience...DH dosent really like movies haha 2x hws sounds like an idea .. I may have to extend the bathroom out to make more room for the kitchen I have pot drawers in my current kitchen and all overhead cupboards....definitley useful! Re: How do you know if you house is big enough!? 20Feb 05, 2013 11:34 am if you switched around the bath and sink in ensuite and moved the doorway over a tad you could prob fit a long bath in. Of course you couldn't then see it from the doorway. Some people fit folding screens ( shoji?) across their ensuite so they can close it off when they want to. Saw this done in a hotel room recently. Was great as I was staying in the room with my aunt and cousin. I doubt she wanted to have a view of me getting out of the shower. But we all had a bit of fun jumping in and out of the bath imagining sitting there with glass of champers and the screen open. Most of the time, council will push you out to a private certifier as it ties up their limited resources. Where a builder has gone belly up, the certifier passes the file… 7 5381 As per title, unsure if my land doesn’t have enough fill. The house on the left seems to have higher elevation. Not sure if the empty lot in between has just been… 0 570 |