Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 16, 2014 3:13 pm Hi everyone,
We have just started designing our "forever home". For us and our two little ones. We also wanted to provision a Granny Flat (either for extended family or to rent out - have not decided yet) - we might decide to build the granny flat a couple of years down the track if our main build becomes too expensive. The block itself is about 700 sqm and is North facing (well North East). Nice big frontage but starts getting narrower at the back (25m at the front and 21m at the rear boundary - kinda like a Trapezium with three regular sides and one irregular side). Main feature of the design is around the open living area and the side yard/verandah/entertaining area. Open plan Kitchen and Dining placed around this feature. I think the first floor is a fairly normal run-of-the-mill floor plan. We are trying for passive solar and adequate cross ventilation where we can. Land is oriented North/North-East. Parts of the house based on universal design so we can stay there for a while (Guest BR/Study and adjacent bathroom designed to Adaptable Living standards). Ground floor plan http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag358/JohnDoe2014/Groundlevel-Floorplan_zps3b4ddeec.jpg First floor plan http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag358/JohnDoe2014/Firstlevel-Floorplan_zps67506494.jpg Really, really keen to hear your comments and feedback. Ugly, bad and good - all feedback welcome Cheers. Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 2Aug 16, 2014 5:41 pm It's not coming up on my phone ☺ Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 3Aug 16, 2014 6:24 pm Hi joannek, Took me a while to figure out how to get the images to appear ... Thanks for letting me know Hope it's okay now. Found a Custom design thread - so have posted there. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33027&p=1219869#p1219869 Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 4Aug 16, 2014 7:22 pm There are a few too many west facing windows for me. I would make the granny flat a bit smaller (say make the 2nd bedroom a single) and change the dimensions so the patio was bigger and wouldn't be as shaded. by the granny flat in winter. Unless you have 2 hot water services its going to take forever to get hot water to the master en-suite. 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: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 5Aug 16, 2014 8:14 pm Without criticising, but is there a particular reason you have so many rooms down stairs including a guest and a granny flat but a joint pantry/laundry? Obviously I'm not sure of your circumstances so genuinely curious. Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 6Aug 16, 2014 9:43 pm bashworth There are a few too many west facing windows for me. Bashworth - Are you talking about the windows on the Granny flat or are you talking about the bifold leading to the verandah? Your comment on the winter shading of the patio makes perfect sense. Will keep it in mind when we go through the next set of revisions. Emma1906 Without criticising, but is there a particular reason you have so many rooms down stairs including a guest and a granny flat but a joint pantry/laundry? Obviously I'm not sure of your circumstances so genuinely curious. Hi Emma - The granny flat is for the in-laws (they could be living with us in the next 3-5 years). If they don't live with us, we figured we could use it as a rental. Hence the access to the Granny flat was designed without coming across the main residence. The Guest BR is actually my study (ie: study is the primary purpose). If we had guests, they could stay over there (but this would only be a secondary purpose). The joint pantry/laundry was our designer's idea. I am not sold on the idea (had concerns around traffic, humidity, etc). Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 7Aug 16, 2014 10:56 pm JohnDoe2014 bashworth There are a few too many west facing windows for me. Bashworth - Are you talking about the windows on the Granny flat or are you talking about the bifold leading to the verandah? No I'm talking about Master Bedroom. other upper floor bedrooms, Study, Media room , Room leading onto Verandah, guest bedroom. all of these rooms have a window that will really get a lot of summer sun in the afternoon causing a lot of excess heat. 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: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 8Aug 17, 2014 6:38 pm JohnDoe2014 bashworth There are a few too many west facing windows for me. Bashworth - Are you talking about the windows on the Granny flat or are you talking about the bifold leading to the verandah? Your comment on the winter shading of the patio makes perfect sense. Will keep it in mind when we go through the next set of revisions. Emma1906 Without criticising, but is there a particular reason you have so many rooms down stairs including a guest and a granny flat but a joint pantry/laundry? Obviously I'm not sure of your circumstances so genuinely curious. Hi Emma - The granny flat is for the in-laws (they could be living with us in the next 3-5 years). If they don't live with us, we figured we could use it as a rental. Hence the access to the Granny flat was designed without coming across the main residence. The Guest BR is actually my study (ie: study is the primary purpose). If we had guests, they could stay over there (but this would only be a secondary purpose). The joint pantry/laundry was our designer's idea. I am not sold on the idea (had concerns around traffic, humidity, etc). Inlaws I could understand, I'm not keen on sharing my property with renters but each to their own. My suggestion would be to create a different pantry/laundry area. You have plenty of room to work with. Good luck Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 9Aug 17, 2014 8:34 pm Emma1906 Inlaws I could understand, I'm not keen on sharing my property with renters but each to their own. My suggestion would be to create a different pantry/laundry area. You have plenty of room to work with. Good luck Emma - The pantry and the laundry are combined for the main residence - not meant to be shared with the Granny Flat at all. Granny Flat is supposed to be fully separate including it's own access path, etc. Hope that makes sense. The bit I was not sure on was having a combined pantry/laundry for the main house. Not sure if anyone else has done it. Is it an advantage to have it this way? Thinking through bashworth's comments - should I consider flipping the L-shaped design (ie instead of building the kitchen and living area close to the Eastern side fence, build them close to the western side fence? Although the block is wide - with the north-east frontage, I am not sure how best to position the living areas. Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 10Aug 17, 2014 11:46 pm I like a c ( or u ) shaped house, whatever you wish to call it. Everything designed around a central inside and outside point. May I say tho, in the event you needed a quick sale, given the amount of dollars it will owe you, I would be turned off by the tiny garage, tho your in Sydney perhaps that doesn't matter as much, but 4 ensuite style bathrooms and not one enclosed WC. Not knowing the level of finish, hard to judge, but the scope of the design lead me to think this would be a major turn off for future buyers in a house of this calibre. Luck Timeline Aug 08-Land Mar 09-Demo/Titles Sept 10-Handover No1 Sept 11-Handover No2 April 12-Sold No2 Aug 14-Land/Demo Jan 15-Slabs viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25736 Re: Custom build (Sydney) - Floor plan for feedback 11Aug 18, 2014 10:40 am Echo I like a c ( or u ) shaped house, whatever you wish to call it. Everything designed around a central inside and outside point. May I say tho, in the event you needed a quick sale, given the amount of dollars it will owe you, I would be turned off by the tiny garage, tho your in Sydney perhaps that doesn't matter as much, but 4 ensuite style bathrooms and not one enclosed WC. Not knowing the level of finish, hard to judge, but the scope of the design lead me to think this would be a major turn off for future buyers in a house of this calibre. Luck Hi Echo - Good pointers on Garage size and enclosed WC. Will consider those in our next round of design changes. Will try playing with a few options on the house shape. Re: Custom build design/floor plan (Sydney) - North facing b 12Aug 19, 2014 11:36 am You might find your food in the pantry to have a shorter life because of the moisture if you use the dryer. It's more of a design thing that I wouldn't have them combined when you have such area to work with I don't know why you'd combine them when you can have the separate. I understand the granny flat is fully self contained. 6 55346 The warning is on the sticker on the door too. Second the aluminium powdercoat 6 18198 Hi, Seeking volume or semi-custom builder in victoria(east), which have existing double story wide floor plans. Seeking 18-20m wide homes with depth of 12-15m long. Or… 0 25163 |