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?

The downstairs bathroom is really small for the space. For comfort and lifetime accessibility, I'd try to work a way to have a larger one, preferably a full bathroom or shower room. If you do a lot outside (or little ones/pets who are), I've seen some lovely ones that have the back that are accessible from the garden and house to make it possible clean up before coming into the rest of house.

If you don’t like the theatre and moved the laundry upstairs that would give you space to have an enclosed play room / rumpus room when your DC are young and a second sitting room as they get older.

Downstairs: Garage looks too small for two cars. The lack of proper separate living room is off putting. I would make the “theatre” bigger, more like 5x3.5, and set it up as a proper living room . Then kitchen in the current family/dining area, dining table in the kitchen area, and “rumpus” area as is.

Upstairs: Bedrooms are all rather small. I would lose the sitting area and use it to make bedrooms bigger and a second en suite, so only two bedrooms share the family bathroom. Would it not make sense for the principal bedroom to be at the back, where presumably it’s quieter?

Only thing for me would be more kitchen storage/work tops otherwise I'd be more than happy with it 😁😁

The theatre room doesn't work IMO.

It doesn't seem to have a door? Surely you need a door on a cinema room to stop the noise? The layout seems daft as well. Why would you pay a small fortune to have a cinema room where you have to sit facing away and watch TV by turning your head? There doesn't seem to be a way to rearrange the TV/sofas without either blocking the open plan entrance or half the viewers having to sit sideways on. If it had a door, you would have more options.

If you have young children and all that space, a separate playroom that you can close off is a godsend. It would also be good to be able to see into it from main living area though so you can supervise from a distance. If you don't want a theatre room, maybe consider swapping the entrance to the other side and have sliding doors, then use it as a playroom.

I'd get rid of the upstairs seating area, make the kitchen bigger & get rid of the theater room, make the garage 1m longer, put in a proper downstairs home office area.

Also, it's very nice but that's a very large house, especially considering you say you've only lived in small apartments... I'd probably look to build something slightly smaller & save some £££.

It's very thin, is that your only option? I guess the theatre is the lounge area and the upstairs is like an open lounge communal area .

I’ve only ever heard my Aussie in laws use rumpus & al fresco for houses - plus I spend a LOT of time on realestate.com.au looking for our dream house & the floor on style/font is just like on there

As others have said, there are 4 seating areas. 3 in very close proximity on the ground floor.
Do you need all these? How will you use them? Are they practical?
As they are, they wouldn’t work for me.
I’d want to reconfigure the downstairs layout to get a bigger kitchen area.
And I’m not sure about the upstairs sitting room.

Can i check—is there any other place you can put the garage or does it HAVE to be right there?

It's a very decent size house, OP, congratulations.

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with the layout as such, but as you say, the kitchen could be bigger. I personally wouldn't want so much open space downstairs, I quite like separate areas if you have the space (which you do), not just zones. I wouldn't like kitchen smells travelling everywhere downstairs, for example. So if I was moving in there, I'd think about separating the areas in a way that works for you.

The sitting area upstairs, well it depends on what you make of it? I think it's very handy for a lovely library/studio if anyone is working from home for example.

Looks like a house for years to come!

You have a hell of a lot of seating areas!? What about changing the upstairs one so that your master can have a dressing room?

Exciting project! We’re in the process of building a house too and I’m obsessed with floor plans!

I’m a bit confused about the process with yours though - you said that you’re not sure how you will use a few of the rooms - eg theatre and upstairs living room. Surely the starting point is you writing a list of the rooms you need/want and the architect works around that?

For the size of the house the kitchen is too small with little work surface. I also find the two living areas in the ground floor not the best use of space.

I like it but I would need somewhere to come straight in and dump dirty boots/leave dogs to dry off.

I have a much smaller scale version of your upstairs layout and turned that space into a play area. With a stair gate on the stairs it’s a perfect ‘playroom. Just something to consider if you have young kids