Hi Ray,

first of all thank you for the detailed response.

With regards to the robes, we didn't notice the nibs and the option to build without them. That was just what the architect placed in the design. We can look into this further.

I was thinking also about having the linen doors sliding as well due to the small space.

With regards to the main bathroom, that is something that we have to rethink. Initially we wanted a powder room outside the house as that is what we have been used to. However this option makes a more complicated roof line which exceeds site coverage as set out by the council. Therefore we decided to place the powder room inside the house. My mother wanted a kind of guest powder room, hence the reason for the two toilets. Maybe we can just reverse the position of the door so that you see the shower instead of the toilet when you walk into the main bathroom. The shower in the main bathroom is 1200x1200.

The ensuite upon closer inspection has a shower cubicle of 1300x1150. That is probably the reason why it looks like a tight sqeeze. I am thinking of getting this reduced to 1100x1100. We will take the advice and have a look on the bathrooms on Houzz to get a better idea on bathroom design.

We decided to compromise a little on the WIP. We wanted to keep the living area as large as possible. I think that we will have to have another look at it.

Also great suggestion about the feature niche on the entry side of Bed 1. We do plan to put skylights in the hallway and in the living areas as the house faces east.

You are right, it is an economical build largely due to the shape of the lot and wanting to maximise the living space whilst staying within council guidelines.

We have spent a lot of time with tape measures, 3D modelling programs getting a feel of how the house would actually be.

Again thank you Ray for the generous feedback.

Cheers.

Ray's 100% correct.

Definitely move kitchen and add bigger pantry, that area at the end of the kitchen will hardly be used. It's too small to be used as a meals area or anything else really.

I recently did one with a similar layout. The kitchen had a bench running across the back under the window so it was basically a U shape kitchen with a island bench. It was a smaller area than yours though (6,480 including pantry, I think).

Rework the bathrooms as placement of shower, toilet, etc. will make a massive difference. I'd put the main bathroom shower behind the powder room and move vanity to opposite side. As Ray mentioned a bigger shower or have the toilet where the vanity currently is.

Also, no bath? Most of my clients still want at a bath wether they have kids or not.

Overall great layout, simple and straight forward.

Hi jbantick,

thank you for the input. Much appreciated. We weren't sure of what to do with that space at the end of the kitchen. What you mention sounds like an interesting idea. We will definitely look into it.

We are going to have a redesign of the bathrooms. Again what you suggest is worth investigating further.

We decided against the bath. We don't take baths (we do shower lol). Therefore we thought that the bathtub will take space (more of a display piece than anything else) that won't be used so we would like a bigger shower area instead.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Cheers.

I agree with many of the other comments.

I definitely think the hallway would benefit from skylights. I would also consider potentially including some niches along the hallway for visual interest and to break up the monotony of what appears to be quite a long hallway. As far as I can tell, the hallway looks towards a large sliding, stacker door, so at least the view as you walk up the hallway from the front door will be pleasant and enticing.

I would also take the kitchen across the entire width of the wall and enlarge the walk in pantry. The current space at one end of the kitchen looks like it will be too small for a meals table and chairs. I would also consider including a built in study nook (with doors) beside the (bigger) WIP.

I also agree about moving the laundry door and including the linen cupboard within the laundry.

I'm not sure why you need two linen cupboards. I would consider re-working the second linen cupboard, powder room and main bathroom as a three-way bathroom. Perhaps place an open double vanity where the line cupboard currently is, keep the powder room as the designated toilet and then use the "main bathroom" space to create a luxurious wet room with a bath and two person shower. You could steal some space from the main bathroom to ensure that there is room for the double vanity and also make the toilet a little larger.

In the ensuite, I would consider putting the toilet in the opposite position to where it currently is, putting the vanity where the shower is (so you get the benefit of the daylight through the window) and put the shower where the towel rail currently is. You could even consider getting rid of two doors from the main bedroom and instead accessing the ensuite through the WIR. If you have a play around with the layout of the ensuite, you may find a solution which you prefer to the current layout.

Depending upon your priorities, in Bed 2, you could put the BIR across the shared wall with the hallway which would mean it would be bigger and the BIR in Bed 1 could also be bigger.

I would ensure you get sound-proofing between the main bedroom and the garage so that if someone leaves for work early in the mornings (or comes home late at night), they don't wake up anyone sleeping in the main bedroom. I would potentially consider using the WIR and ensuite as a "buffer" between the garage and the main bedroom (although you would still want sound-proofing between the main bedroom and the laundry due to noise from the washing machine and dryer).

I'm guessing that the TV in the family area will go against the wall between the family room and Bed 3? If so, I would have a think about your furniture layout and what size sofa/s and dining table you want in that space. You could potentially end up with a lot of "dead space" in the middle of that room. I personally don't mind "dead space" as it can allow ease of movement and flow, but some people may regret not being able to capitalise on every square metre. One option may be to extend the kitchen island bench and then to have a built-in dining table run perpendicular to the direction of the island bench. But, that could block the view and flow from the hallway to the backyard.

Another option may be to bring the kitchen back towards the WIP, but extend it out towards the family area (i.e. align the island bench with the "edge" of the hallway) so that you have enough space at the opposite end of the kitchen for a dining table and chairs.

Your requirements for this space will depend upon how you live, how often you entertain, whether you're planning on dining/entertaining regularly on an outside alfresco area, etc. Everyone is different, so just have a think about how you currently live and how you would ideally like to live.

Good luck!

Hi Ray and jbantick,

I came up with a sketch taking into account what you both suggested with regards to the ensuite and the main bathroom. I made the both the main and the ensuite smaller which gives a lot more space for the WIR for the ensuite and some more space for the powder room.

Now when you open the door to the main bathroom, you see the vanity instead of the toilet.

In the ensuite I think a diamond shaped shower would work best here as it gives whoever uses the ensuite a nice area to easily access the basin, shower and toilet.

Let me know what you both think. I am currently working on modifying the kitchen.

Thanks again to you both.

Cheers

Hi haephestus,

thank you for such a detailed response. We are thinking about ways to make the walk from the hallway to the rest of the house more visually appealing.

The current space at the end of the kitchen looks like it is going to be a dead space. Therefore we have taken the advice of the people who have commented and doing a rethink. I also noticed the 'dead space' that you mention in the living area. We are not really sure what to do with that to be honest with you. I don't mind dead space to ease flow of movement as you say, but there is a point where it becomes too much dead space and it thus becomes a waste.

Personally I would like to get as much use out of the space as possible. The second solution that you mention sounds interesting. We will look further into that.

The reason why we have two linen closets is basically because we want as much storage space as possible. Often people accumulate so many things that garages thus become places of storage. We did consider the three way bathroom with access from each of the bedrooms, but we thought that we could have a bigger shower and vanity unit instead.

We thought about the positioning of the ensuite. If we move it on the opposite wall as you suggest, then we would get noise from the laundry. We do plan to do some soundproofing of the master bedroom/garage wall.

But like you say, it depends on how we want to live. This is something that we will definitely have to take into consideration.

Once again, thank you very much for taking the time and making the effort to provide help.

Cheers.

Hi Anthony

Where is north in relation to your home?

Hi Envirotecture,

the house faces east-west. The front of the house gets the morning sun and the back of the house receives the afternoon sun, which makes north on the right side of the picture in the original post. Putting skylights in to get some sunshine in the house during the day. In the summer, we receive (where the existing older house is) reflected daylight from the adjacent properties which is nice. However during other months, the house is very dark during the daytime.

Thanks for showing interest in this post.

Cheers.

There are various detailed suggestions to be made but the simplest move is to flip the orientation of the house; you currently have the biggest windows to the south and a blank wall and garage facing north.

The more you can pull away from the northern boundary to improve solar access the better.

It looks like you have large west facing doors to the garden (practical, yes) but you need a strategy for shading them otherwise you'll need a large air conditioner and wallet to keep the place habitable in summer.

I presuming you are on the East Coast somewhere, if you're in Tassie things are different

West facing windows can be a real problem. I have found minimising them is the best option but if you don't want that a reflective (not tinted) film makes a big difference.

Hi Envirotecture and anewhouse,

thank you both for the advice.

Yes, we are on the East Coast, Botany, NSW to be more exact.

On the north side of the house, the next door neighbour is a two storey house. In the winter time, we are lose day light on that side of the house. The windows on the south side receive reflective light. We will look into doing a mirror image of the house.

At the rear of the house, there is a very big eucalyptus tree on the adjacent property which overhangs over a third of the proposed backyard space. This will provide some relief from the summer sun. We also played around with the idea that the bedrooms be placed at the rear of the house. This would provide shading to the living area, but those bedrooms would be very hot.

We will look further into the reflective film for the west facing windows, which are two sliding doors and one window.

Thank you again for the suggestions.

If possible extend west end of roof to provide a veranda for shading?

That is an idea. Due to council site coverage guidelines (50% of land area), the site coverage of the proposed plan is 49%. So at this point in time we cannot due to the fact that we wanted to maximise the living/kitchen/dining. However, post build we plan to address this issue. Thanks again for the input.

A folding awning could be something to look at as well. These are good during winter as they can be 'folded' into their 'cassette' when not needed and in summer can be folded out. Many are electric so just push a button and they extend outwards. Won't affect site coverage either.

Just had a look at the folding awning that you suggested. That looks like a very viable solution. I think you may be onto a winner here :) Thank you very much for the suggestion.

Sorry, when I mentioned a three-way bathroom, I meant a bathroom where the vanity, toilet and shower could all be used separately by different people as opposed to a bathroom that can be accessed from multiple bedrooms.

Here is a better description: No matter what age or size your family, a three-way bathroom allows people to shower, use the toilet and the vanity all separately. The vanity area can open to a hallway, and should be provided with light from a skylight.

A vented skylight above the vanity area not only provides natural light, but also prevents musty smells from accumulating. A three-way bathroom requires more space than a single bathroom, but the benefits often outweigh the additional costs.

Thanks for the clarification. We didn't know that this was an option. Interesting. We are going to look into this further. A very big thank you to yourself and everyone else who has had constructive input into the design of this house. It kind of feels like now this place is all apart of you all. :)

Not sure where you are. Assuming you are building in the Southern Hemisphere then the first thing to do is move your garage to the south side of the block and let more rooms of the house enjoy the northerly sun in Winter.

Make sure your corridor is wider than standard( imagine two people passing each other comfortably)- maybe an extra 30 cams- you won't regret this. A skylight here that opens to let hot air out in Summer is great.

To further save cost, have all wet areas as close together as possible, and if possible,on the south side.

A kitchen bench and whatever is on it can suffer enormously with the angles of the sun during the Winter months. Better to put this on the south side and have the family area bask in the warmth when it is cold. Large windows on the north side will ensure plenty of light through to the kitchen.

Personally I love the idea of an internal access from the garage directly or as near as possible to the kitchen because I do not want to traipse through other rooms with heavy shopping bags or dirty shoes.

Sliding doors to linen cupboards and bedroom wardrobes to save space.

Back of house faces West so consider a wider eave to give some relief from the hot Summer sun, which could be shining into your family/dining areas till quite late each day.

I have been looking at your plans agsin and wondered if you would like an open plan house without a corridor ? This would save heaps of space and give you a very slick clean floor plan that is pleasing to the eye.

eg: garage, master bedroom, ensuite, bedroom2, bathroom , bedroom 3 and laundry all along the south wall.

formal living room, dining room, kitchen, informal living areas all along the north wall.

Viola!

Hey there mykindof house.

First of all thank you for such the detailed response. That floor plan sketch looks interesting as well. I also like the idea of having the garage access close to the kitchen as you explain. Also the no corridor is something that I never would have thought of and as you say, it gives an interesting floor layout.

We had a serious think about what we really wanted in a house and recently we decided to abandon the idea of a single storey house and build a double storey instead. We found a design that fits our budget and in reality doesn't cost that much more than building a single storey. So thank you again for taking the time to help me out with this design and I will take onboard the other advice with regards to sliding wardrobe and linen doors in addition to placement of windows, benches.