Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 24, 2014 8:07 pm Hi everyone, I've seen most people on here building huge beautiful homes, but with my first home buyer budget and doing it alone I wanted to see if anyone else had some great plans for houses 20 squares or less. Does anyone have space saving tips? Or ways to maximise your smaller (not small ) home for future resale? Any tips would be extremely helpful before I decide to sign off my tender on a noosa 20 by coral homes ( I desperately wanted the 23 but the budget just didn't stretch enough) Ash Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 2Nov 24, 2014 8:49 pm What the hell is a square? Wiki suggests it is 9.29m² - but includes eaves...so how many square metres are you talking here? Small footprint in Eliza Ponds, Spearwood WA Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 3Nov 24, 2014 8:57 pm Lol it's just a way to describe the size of the house, the house I am looking at is 187.5sqm Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 4Nov 24, 2014 9:10 pm Oh OK - and what do you want to fit into that size? We are 144m² total (with garage). Some things we did to maximise space is -reduce corridor area as much as possible (got it down to 8m²), raise ceilings and doors as high as builder would go, hoping this will give a feeling of space. Glass to views on front and back to help draw your eye out and again, give idea of space. Internal courtyard so you have view to two green areas from open plan living area. Reduced double garage to oversized single, but have space outside for off-street parking of second car if needed. Toilets in bathroom and ensuite (not separated with wall). Delete 'theatre' or whatever you want to call it - we can only watch one tv at a time. Beds only really large enough to sleep, so space for desk in main living area. You could also combine laundry into bathroom, put shower over bath, put laundry into garage. I think with 190m² you will be fine..just don't go nuts on room sizes and how many you want. Small footprint in Eliza Ponds, Spearwood WA Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 5Nov 24, 2014 9:20 pm Cool thank you, that's some good ideas to think about, I really want the house to feel light and airy so I think raising the ceilings will help with that, I was already considering that and I think it's going to make a huge difference. I'm looking at 3 bedrooms with an additional living room which could be changed into a good size bedroom later if needed.. I don't need it now and would prefer the living space but for resale it's good to have that option. It's just good to see how others are maximising their space Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 6Nov 24, 2014 9:42 pm Im in the same boat as you OP (or was!), FHB with a limited budget. I decide though just stick with 3 bed rooms + 1 living area. I think at the end of the day the extra living space will be better for resale, but after all its only 3 bed rooms so there is only some many places people can be. The idea's that "Tristanium" have talked about are great - so look at them. My place is 22.41SQ (208.15m2) with a slightly bigger Garage of 1 metre depth. Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 7Nov 24, 2014 9:49 pm ASH Jordan Springs Cool thank you, that's some good ideas to think about, I really want the house to feel light and airy so I think raising the ceilings will help with that, I was already considering that and I think it's going to make a huge difference. I'm looking at 3 bedrooms with an additional living room which could be changed into a good size bedroom later if needed.. I don't need it now and would prefer the living space but for resale it's good to have that option. It's just good to see how others are maximising their space Our place will be 22 squares (4 squares of this is double garage). It's actually the size, floor plan and number of rooms we wanted, but we fell in love with the raised ceiling option, because it let in so much light. But it's more of a feature than a standard 'raised ceiling'. It's a 12-13ft ceiling in the kitchen/living and cost $10,000. To raise the rest of the house (not that high but 1ft more than standard) was another $10K, which we didn't do. So would be interesting to check the options and pricing with your builder for raised ceilings to create the sense of a bigger house. Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 8Nov 24, 2014 10:03 pm Thanks guys ️ I'm getting 2.55m ceilings at the moment with my package which is better than nothing, I hadn't thought about seeing if I could raise the ceilings higher in just the living areas though, that's a great idea and I'll look into that Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 9Nov 24, 2014 11:54 pm 20 squares is thought of as small? Oh but wait, I think nowdays the measurement includes the garage? When we built this house the size referred to living space only. 20 squares was a good 4 bedder, not a luxury one but not a basic one either. Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 10Nov 25, 2014 7:39 am Hi we plan on building a house around 15 squares, the current one is 12 squares, has 3 bedrooms, a dining room lounge etc. So why do people think big is better? Unless you have a horde of kids or family living with you it is a waste, more to cool heat and clean, so go the smaller houses! Cheers Lorri Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 11Nov 25, 2014 8:00 am I am building a 180 sqm home. I did not want lots of tiny rooms so some of the space saving ideas in my house are: No bath instead made the shower larger Deleted the laundry room and put the washing machine in the bath room (this is possible as there is no bath) Raised the ceiling height in the living areas. Only 3 bedrooms Simple economical lean to verandah (not included in house roof area) Separate free standing shed (American barn) This is however as large as the house and its colours match the house. Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 12Jun 16, 2015 8:15 am Hi everyone, my partner and I are building our first home also in Willowdale - South West Sydney. We first put our deposit down last September and are still waiting for our lot to register, hopefully in July of this year. We are also building on the 'smaller' side of things at around 21sq max. Our lot isn't huge (375) and short of going into an enormous amount of debt we have choosen to go with a single story. We have opted for all bedrooms down one side of the house with our WIP and laundry backing the garage which we added a little more depth too.. from our kitchen you look straight out to the dining and lounge and then alfresco. We are having as many windows as money will allow haha. Some things we have thought about is making bedroom sizes smaller as we have a theatre room going in and large living space - bedrooms should only be for sleeping to us. Master bedroom isnt oversized and overall just keeping everything compact. Would love to see your house as it goes along, please post pics! Re: Smaller house plans 20 squares or less 13Jun 16, 2015 8:55 am Minimizing hallways is a good idea. Make sure that you don't skimp on storage - you want to have a home for everything to help you reduce clutter. Putting the toilet in the bathroom helps you save space now but *may* affect resale value later - some people prefer at least one separate toilet. High ceilings definitely help with the feeling of space. Multi-purpose rooms - a second lounge that can be closed off and therefore used as an additional bedroom, for example - help maximise the space. Don't go overboard with the size of your master - do you really need room for a "retreat" in there too? Try to maintain all bedrooms at least 3x3m so that you have room for a queen bed. Think very carefully about how you will use all the space. Imagine yourself living in the house. How will you use each room? Can you repurpose some space for something else? The Coral Noosa 20 is a great plan and it's one we looked at too. One of the changes we were going to make was removing the "study nook" and using that space to extend the WIP instead. Good luck! Jen (& Dave) Plantation Bronte, Ormeau Ridge, Gold Coast QLD 12/03/2015 - Commencement... 26/08/2015 - Handover! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76446 at most it will have a short lintel which could be moved up just below the ceiling or even above. Above means you need to patch the cornice and might need to deal with… 2 61372 Really tight at the top of the stairs- how to get furniture into those rooms? Study books - does anyone really use them these days? Large storage closet would be more functional. 2 6884 Ask the council if there is a chance of getting build over easement exemption. Sometimes easements are unused and 24cm is not all that much. Good luck. And yes any builder… 2 13771 |