How do you get into the kitchen and living, from the garage, laundry and rumpus?
As a visitor, I would feel self conscious of people walking slowly past, on the stairs, while I'm using the toilet,on hall way. Could the toilet be placed somewhere else.
You have three living areas and a study. Are all these rooms necessary or could you multi purpose them.

Sorry my drawings are atrocious and not very detailed. From the garage is an internal slider and 1 x step into house, with stairs directly on the left heading up to main living - then 2 x steps in hallway - then 2nd flight of half stairs to upper level bedrooms. How many stairs in each flight will be determined by slope / contours.
The powder room bothers me being there. but not sure where else to place it? Didnt want to make the pantry any larger or Living room any smaller. If the entry to powder room moved and hall stairs not needed then i would also prefer my stairs next to one another, but needed a solid wall for steps and toilet.
As for living spaces, we need the seperate study for work. Want open plan living near kitchen for entertaining and theatre for tv away from living.
The living upstairs near bedrooms is unnecessary but didnt know what else to fill in the space? Rumpus downstairs is ideal to make that a self contained area for family down the track.
We are a young family 2 boys (2mths and 2yrs) so house is for them to grow up in.

cant' read the plans.. please try again so we can see all the details especially the dimensions and i'll make a proper scale plan of your ideas and post for you to share

Hi Shannon, initial suggestions are for the bedroom off the rumpus to make an entry direct into bathroom. Given you have a separate powder room I would question need for any access off the rumpus room.

With the butlers pantry move the sink to opposite bench where you have room to set the dirty dishes on side of sink and dry on other. Being up against entry at present makes it too exposed for knocking dishes. Add a slider to pantry if not already.

If you do not require the upstairs living then the photo attached is An alternative set up to your upstairs minor bedrooms.
There is a separate toilet, and a larger bathroom for your boys. And equal size rooms. They might be little now, but if this is your forever home, then think about the future.
Also in your ensuite bathroom, maybe a double sink and a larger space for drying. Just an idea, instead of having a living room upstairs.

Do u need 4 living spaces?

I don't even think the Brady bunch needs 4 living spaces 😂

I always struggle to work out orientation when the term "facing" is used. It's already meant which direction the rear of the dwelling faces, but now people use it interchangeably with the term frontage. So what direction is the frontage of the block?

Also, where are you located? Local climate should play a big part in designing a home.

We certainly don't need 4 living spaces, the upstairs living is only there as I don't know what else to put there? If i make the boys bedrooms too big then it becomes hard to furnish - i currently live in a 66sq house so everything is huge, with 6 living spaces 😬 But that has taught us we dont want everything so big! could certainly upscale the ensuite and bathroom!

The frontage of block is South, rear of property to the North. There is a 5m easement on the east side of block,and a large house elevated to us on the west - which will protect western sun,but will also provide a lot of shade and darkness.
Located near Newcastle - so moderate temps year round.

trying to rework plans on phone app and will update soon 😀

Please explain what you mean about bedrooms hard to furnish. They only need a bed,(enough room for a double or queen, when your little guys are big guys) and a study area. Now they don't require lots of furniture. Bed, change table, bookshelf for their books. The room sizes you have on your plan are good sizes. My point in my previous post was to make the bedrooms equal, and enlarge the bathroom. Is there a reason why the upstairs actually has to be the square metres that it is. Why can't it be reduced in area.

Rough sketch of reducing your upstairs area.

Reduce upstairs living, incorporating some into master for a retreat area, moving wir off front windows. Delete upstairs verandah unless you have a view as if it is south facing it will get little use. Could look at master on north side. If you want a verandah.

Hi Shannon,

congratulations on your dream home, it's such an exciting time.

However if I could provide some feedback, I'd say that this design looks like many other project home builder floor plans that I have seen in the past, where the floor plan is essentially laid out to make it easy to build and ultimately maximise the profit of the builder. If I was to provide feedback on the design I would say that this design connects poorly to the outdoors. It doesn't utilise the Northerly aspect, Easterly easement or the slope of the block very well at all. This is a great block of land with so much potential to build a beautiful and interesting house but it appears as though you are trying to put a standard project home on it. I think that if this is your dream home, that you deserve a lot better.

If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be to find a building designer or architect who's work that you like or that you trust and speak to them.

Speaking to a designer, they will ask you good questions such as, does this really reflect who you are, how you live and what your needs are? From what I have read above, I don't think it is.

Of course, these are all questions for you to answer but if you'd like to discuss these things at all, I'd welcome the opportunity.

Thanks

my rough copy of your original plans might make it easier for you to consider furniture, door and window locations but any house with such a big diagonal slope needs professionals to ensure the best use of the site and it would be a shame to waste your dad's skills and experience on a less than ideal design but, what is the width and length of the block, the amount of setback needed from each boundary, are there any good or bad views and do you plan to allow space for a future pool or? and an easy way to help visual the basic shape of the building is to make a shaped hill in a sandpit and stack some big blocks at different levels

Thankyou so much for your help guys. I have tried to make some changes as suggested, however some I just cant seem to make work. We are extremelly practical people and would rather have usable spaces and 'extra rooms' then to have a pretty house with wasted space (eg dummy walls to create niches etc). if we can end up with both even better!
I have now sent the below sketch to my architect so hopefully he plays around with it and has some good feedback/advice. Looking forward to the 3D images as i cannot visualize things.
The house is stretched to its limits in terms of size. The block is 755m2, but has a 5m easement on one side, and recommended 10m from back fence due to surrounding bush. No plan for pool as parents just around the corner with pool & spa. great opportunity for our boys to want to go to grandparents. And to be honest we dont want the maintenance.

Firstly, a couple more questions about the block?

Flame zones to the N & E, sloping down towards the SE. So, due to the slope & eastern easement, I'm curious whether you have any views to the east, & if this would only be from the? level or both. Importantly, I'm wondering if you'll be overshadowed from the north, or whether you'll have access to northern sunshine in the winter.

For me, a comfortable home in not just getting the spaces right, it's about thermal comfort. That means the home should be shaded in summer, & living spaces should have access to northern sunshine in winter.

This last point is where I see a major problem with your design. Access to winter sunshine! I hate north facing covered alfrescos. They make living areas dark throughout the year, & rob the home of winter sunshine. At this time of the year you want sunshine streaming through your glazing, warming the home. The home will be more comfortable & your bills will be lower.

This is called "passive solar design". I highly recommend you read this government website.

https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design

1sqm of sunshine can contain up to 1kW of heat, that is a lot of heat! When the sun is shining, just a few square metres of northern glazing (unshaded in winter) can create as much heat as a heater. In Newcastle there should be no need for a heater in a well designed home.

It's an easy fix, just remove the covered alfresco. As you have full length glass doors to the north, an eave length of around 1m would be appropriate. Probably around 600mm for your northern windows. You can calculate the appropriate eave length by using this image.

Excuse my typos. The houzz Android app won't let me edit a comment on my phone. The browser is no better, as I can't control where the cursor is, & it moves about possessed. Don't know if I'm the only one with these issues on an Android phone. Frustrates me, then I give up on using Houzz for a while :/

there is certainly the issue of shading from both the North and West and there is a large house built up on the west and a bush hill behind to the north - beautiful outlook, but well shaded. We are planning for large skylights over the kitchen/living to try and get more natural light into it - this area is BAL 40 so can be done. we do a lot of outdoor entertaining and regularly eat dinner in our current pergola so an alfresco area with built in outdoor kitchen is important to us.
the front verandah is purely for aesthetic to break up the front of the house and extra privacy to main bed if curtains are open. The bush to the east is not as attractive, nor private.
I've never heard of passive solar so will look into that, very interesting!!
i have the same problem on my android with spelling and unable to make changes later!

At the least swap powder room to other side of stairs so it is accessed from hall not living space, yuk. Sketch below I have shifted stairs to accommodate the powered room and the basin sits under stair cavity,

Shannon, Please move that living/toilet. This is in a worse position than your first sketch.

Shannon, don't worry about the shading from the west, this is a very good thing!

This is because in winter the sun sets in the WNW, & never actually get to the west, so western windows don't actually gain much heat in winter.

While in summer the sun sets in the WSW, passing the west an hour or two before sunset. So western windows gain a lot of heat in summer. Yuck!

I'd recommend you get a good understanding of how the sun moves across the sky throughout the seasons.

suncalc.org (.net or the app) is a good place to work it out. You'll be able to zoom in on a satellite image of your block, to be a better idea how your neighbours will effect you thought the year.

Personally, I think skylights are a bad idea. Even the best, most highly insulated skylight are far, far worse insulators than good ceiling insulation. Losing heat in the winter, & as they can't be shaded, gaining heat in the summer.

How about, instead of this, you have cathedral ceilings in your living area, with north facing clerestory (highlight) windows ABOVE the junction with the alfrescos roof. These windows will make your living area lighter. With appropriate length (small) eaves these windows will be shaded in summer, while letting sunlight inside in winter.

Though not such a good solution, a vergola will let some light & sunshine in. Or have a cut out, or clear section for part of the alfresco roof.

Or a combination of two or all three of these. Access to daylight & winter sunshine in your living areas doesn't look like a high priority for you architect. Which is a bit of a worry, especially as you're bless with a northern backyard.

I'd DEFINITELY recommend you read all of the Your Home website I posted. It's a brilliant government resource. You really need to understand this yourself, not rely on the architect or builder, who may have no interest in passive design (although they really should), your future comfort, & future bills.

A home built in Newcastle, designed to these principles, really should require no heating & minimal of any cooling. So bills will be lower too.

NATHERS requires a minimum building standard of 6 stars. A passively designed home in Newcastle should far exceed this. For reference, an 8 star home will consume less than half the energy of a 6 star home.

Talking energy. I'd definitely make sure your roof is designed for solar PV panels of shading isn't too bad. A flat area, sloped to the north, west or east. Your architect might have other ideas, choosing form over function.

Have you found a sky light for flame zone? Most of the ones we looked at aren’t suitable for flame zone.

my suggestions although slightly smaller is still almost 420 sqm and a professional could fit the house to the slope with variations in room sizes without losing the basic design but it would be better to restrict northern roof over outdoor areas to maintain better light and passive solar design but, please explain the purpose of the external door from the pantry??

oh wow that is amazing oklouise, thankyou! Have passed these ideas onto my architect so now will see what he comes back with 😁
mummagabz - As for skylights, we are BAL 40 for that section of house so according to rfs we can do it. Will wait and see.
ddarroch - I know my architect is very into sustainable and energy efficient living. So I'm hoping he is well read and informed on those things. Cathedral ceilings is certainly something we have suggested. We will have a split system in the open living and a gas fireplace (fireplace is just something I've always had, and want to keep). And should get between 22-24 solar panels on the North side.

thanks everyone for your opinions and advice, it has been very helpful and informative. I've now left in the hands of our architect, so excited to see the plans and 3D elevations!

Shannon, the most important point about my recommendation for cathedral ceilings in the living area, was the addition of north facing clerestory windows above the (lower) alfresco roof. This would give you additional light & winter sunshine in your living areas.

HI Shannon n all

I am exactly in same situation in lot with 2 meter fall.

what are your thoughts on leveling the elevated side and try to flat the land as much as possible. Are we allowed to do that or not ?

Thank you