New build - what would you change?

[NeedingAGoodNap]

We are planning on building a new family home. We have never built or even owned a house before and have mostly lived in small appartments over the last 10 years. So I guess we don't know all the pain points a poorly designed house can have.

Is there anything in this floor plan that you would change? Anything that sticks out as annoying/poorly designed?

Maybe add doors you can use to section off bits of the downstairs.

@Ylvamoon

Not sure about the double garage... but then, I don't really like "build in" garages.

Not just me then. I detest integral garages they feel like a complete waste of space.

The sitting rooms make no sense—you have essentially 4 sitting room areas, (1) upstairs one will never be used, but your bedrooms could be a lot bigger! (2) by theatre do you mean tv room? Otherwise layout is wrong? (3) and (4) are in the dining room/kitchen which makes no sense at all! One would be empty space at least. Dining room and kitchen should be proper defined areas within an open plan, one larger seating area here is nicer.

Kitchen: I don’t think it works, small and not giving a “heart of the home” idea.

Generally: I wouldn’t do a double garage on the front, does this mean the front of your house is a garage essentially? Windows: everything here seems designed to be single aspect. Nice rooms should be double aspect or more when at all possible, to avoid sense of living in a box. Back of house in particular is best when you get a sense of sweeping open to the garden, light and a direction. Bedrooms ideally have more than one smallish plan window, if you’re going for an ideal setting.

Are bedrooms to scale? If so they’re all quite small, particularly when you’re allowing wasted space. In that case I’d up size of bedrooms and up bathroom ratio

I would get rid of the sitting room upstairs have a bigger en-suite and make that area a room which would be a walk in wardrobe . Seems a waste of space upstairs , everything else looks great !

I'd also make the kitchen bigger and get rid of that extra seating at the back of the kitchen or at least make it smaller Mayby one sofa ?

Kitchen, dining and main sitting area should ideally open up to the garden. The area you have marked for play is the best area in the house, with the views and the windows that you should be showing off and emphasising. You’ve put the kitchen and sitting areas in the least good areas, places where utility and playroom should be.

Garage - standard size for a garage in UK is 3m x 6m so check if this is big enough for your car or needs.

Study in hallway - messy and in the way of front door. Do you really want a pile of paperwork as you walk in or a desk chair to trip over.

Kitchen is too small. Where is the fridge and freezer fitting in? The layout has an oven and hob next to the doorway for the pantry.

Laundry is a bit small, but you can stack the wm and td.

Loo is also tight on space.

You will need to buy 7 sofas. Do you really need so much lounging space, 4 rooms. I'd lose some sofa areas to make the kitchen bigger.

There's no doorway to the garden. Sliding doors but no a traffic door.

Upstairs - none of the bedrooms are that big. For refence our main bedroom is 4m x 6 m plus a small walk in wardrobe and shower en suite and it doesn't feel enormous. 3m x 3m is a small double. Do you need walk in wardrobe for each room. ie is one a spare room.

I notice the main bedroom is overhanging at the front, there's a cost implication for this.

I'd lose the sitting area upstairs to make the bedroom bigger, lose the overhang/bumpout to reduce build costs. Perhaps add a small study upstairs with a door you can close off.

Have you discussed budget? Architects are notoriously out of touch with current build prices so it's worth having a chat to a builder to get an idea when you are still in the design stage. For instance the walk in wardrobes, the extra partitioning, plastering, decorating, doorway and doors, fitting the doors and handles etc, it all adds up.

Why are you putting a theatre into the only private sitting area? Would a snug evening room for tv/games/cuddling not be more appropriate?

@TryingtoBuy2021

The sitting room upstairs is a little strange, how do you imagine using it? I’m no expert - also an apartment dweller - but your kitchen counter space also looks small to me. I would personally want a separate downstairs sitting room with doors as well as a large open plan kitchen / diner and would want it to be bigger than what you have marked as theatre. Do you need a two-space garage or would that give you back some space?

Mostly this. Kitchen area is small for a family house, and the smells will get everywhere. I'd want at least one area where I could close a door.

I'm not keen on houses where the garage juts out like that - it tends to dominate the house, but that may be your only option. The bedroom above the garage is likely to be c difficult to heat though.

I'd also ditch the seating area upstairs. I doubt it would be used. I'd prefer a bigger bathroom.

Also how would the "theatre" be used? If it's to watch a screen, how will you do that with the seating in the configuration shown?

Do you have a garden area, or are you limited to the al fresco portion? Is there another house backing on to you? I’m asking because of the lack of windows along this read, which would only make sense if you were severely boxed in

I would combine the sitting area upstairs in to the master bed room also walk in dressing room would make the house stand out. There is also not a lot of storage areas, could you build a mud room and lockers for shoes coats at the front of the house

I like the layout, the only thing I'd consider is making the laundry bigger so that the garage opens into it, then you can walk through the garage straight into the laundry with mucky football boots or whatever. The best advice I was given about buying new build is sockets and light fittings!! Make sure you have all the sockets you need and more (eg either side of the bed, consider what happens if you change the layout). As for light fittings: do you want pendants or recessed or sconces? Do you want a light in the store cupboard (not always standard) what about a socket to charge a battery powered vacuum cleaner?

It would be helpful to know what our plot is like. I am assuming from this that it is small, overlooked and with no garden, is that correct? Otherwise this plan does mthing for you!

I’d have more ensuites, we have 2 so DS has one too or we could have used that room as a guest room but it also has more built in waredrobes. I’d also want a bigger kitchen and definitely a play room that can be shut off from the rest of the house so you’re not constantly looking at toys.

Also do you need a usable study? If so you need to reconsider the one on the plan. Regardless, think of first impressions when you enter the home:

At the moment your first impression would be format garage, then papers. A good guide is that you can see in, a nice entrance, warm and welcoming with a view through. Current layout doesn’t give this

@MaverickDanger yes I’m in Australia. How did you guess??

@WatchingTheRaindrops yeah no way that space will be used as a study. More a place for bags and pram parking I imagine! Double garage is a must in the area. Places with singles struggle to sell as the suburb doesn’t have great public transport links and is over 50kms to the city.

@ReviewingTheSituation some great points! Would love a fireplace but no room in the budget seeing as it would only be used a few months of the year. And the upstairs can’t be the same size as downstairs due to strange council regulations!

@EmmaGrundyForPM yep Aussie here - just ignoring the comments about boot rooms haha not a thing here! I don’t love the theatre room and would love to use that space for something else. We never watch movies so I don’t see the point!

I would also be inclined to use the upstairs longe space differently to make the office/study room there instead of by front door and fit in a shower room to give the other bedrooms two bathrooms between them. Any space after that left would be storage.

How many people are going to live here... I'm guessing max 5?

There seems to be too many separate 'living spaces'.
Do you need somewhere to use as a study/library or music room? If you're going to have a space open to the elements upstairs, that might be a good study space - presuming it's mostly used during the day when any kids are out. It can also be good to have computer/internet browsing by tweens done in an 'open' environment.
ALternatively, use the space to change the layout of the bedrooms/bathrooms and make another one of the bedrooms en-suite... handy when the kids are all teenagers, or when you have guests.

The rumpus room and family room seems like they won't both be used at once, especially as they're open plan to one another. That space would be better used to make the kitchen bigger.

There doesn't seem to be enough storage. If you are a family of five, or if you do a lot of sports, have pets etc, I think you'll need much more. Are you actually going to store cars in the garage, or is that going to be a store?

Does your laundry room have access to the outside/ where you hang out your laundry? Can you put up an ironing board in it?

Where do people (and pets?) go when they come in from outside covered in mud?

Please ignore how furniture is laid out on the plan. It is suggestive only! We won’t ever set furniture up like that!

@TremoloGreen yes, there will be a door from the laundry to outside. I honestly don’t own a ironing board anymore - just a hand steamer! We will hopefully be a family of 4 one day, so yes it’s a lot of living space.

I think I will look into making the kitchen bigger

@Flowers500 yes it’s a small block :( it’s only 10m wide, 30m deep. We will have a decent sized backyard for the area but will be close to our neighbors on the sides of the house.

I really want to add a large window to the rumpus at the back to see more of the garden

I would also say there are too many seating spaces. If you don't want a theatre room, why are you putting one in? I am not personally a fan of open plan houses and would have a bigger lounge then a kitchen/diner/single seating area but everyone has different preferences obviously!

Definitely leave the hall for coat/shoe/pram storage (it looks like the porch is open, not enclosed) - it will make the house look a lot bigger having a decent entry space, it's your first impression of the house.

I wouldn't like having a free standing fridge, I find it's very handy to be able to put things straight onto the counter from the fridge or just grab something as you're cooking.

While I love the idea of a walk in wardrobe, they look like wasted space to me. But it's not the done thing in the UK so I've never had one.

Well jell, I would love to build my own house. I hope it's everything you dream of!

I just read you're in Australia so maybe being covered in mud is less of thing for you!

If you're building a house for life and haven't finished adding to family, do consider the different needs of teenagers vs small kids... especially bathroom use!!

I would turn the upstairs sitting room into another room, ideally I would put floor to ceiling cupboards along one wall and use the space as either a laundry room/ study / or another bedroom.

Is your garage actually wide enough to park two cars and open the doors? A garage where you can’t open the car doors fully will end up not getting used.

I would consider putting an L shaped kitchen on the RHS of your open plan space with an island to section it off from the rest of the house and having one dining and sitting area. Two sitting areas with TVs in an open plan space won’t work.

Ok, so maybe a boot room is out...

My DC come with a lot of sports equipment, have you got enough room to store all the stuff that they seem to need?