Custom Home Design - Suggestion and Recommendations

summithunter on 30/12/2023 - 11:56
Last edited 05/01/2024 - 20:17

We are building a custom home and have managed to come up with this design. I am looking for recommendations and suggestions to make the plan functional and efficient.

Its a corner block and the family and dining opens to north facing backyard.

Thanks :)

https://imgur.com/a/Q23ec57

Thank you everyone for all the comments and suggestions. Some ideas were great and we loved it and will be taking it to our builder to redesign our home. Unfortunately i cannot afford an architect at this stage !

Home & Garden

Comments

  • twotwotwo on 02/01/2024 - 11:41

    I've always thought a plan like this would be approaching 1million. Am I just out of touch?

    1. Remove WIR for bottom bedroom and expand bathroom.
    2. Laundry location looks like a pain in the ass going through kitchen and butler's pantry.
    3. Garage won't be fitting in any big cars. I always like my garage to also have some storage for tools and junk.
    4. Could remove the wall as you go up stairs to prayer room and close it off from master.
    5. Never cared for a theatre room so could make it another bedroom downstairs.
  • Chong on 02/01/2024 - 12:01

    My 2 cents.

    1. Garage could be wider, 5500 for double garage may not be able to put shelves on both sides. (or batteries etc), Garage would be one of the cheapest to widen if you are not already at the boundry which would give you more options down the road.
    2. Visually its abit too flat from the front? will look too commercial? try to have the porch sticking out abit, and use a feature material that is different to the rest of the front.
    3. More a personal thing, i never understood Bath in the "kids" shared bathroom, its such a trip hazard, even if you have an older kids. i would do seperate bath and showers
    4. Think hard about that built in wall position, it doesnt have any storage behind it? it is just a permanent visual element? I would move it 60 cm so you could put a row behind or get rid of it altogther (rather than it being permanent)
    5. Same with study nook in Master bedroom, are you sure having that wall bit sticking out make sense? personally any permanent walls like that should not be load bearing
    6. also the wall upstairs closing the stairs fully off from passage, i would go with a balustrade (so half) which would let the light through, more natural light the better,
    7. Also personally i would rethink that upstairs living placement etc, see if that small wall sticking out could be removed, or at least widen the width.
    8. The plans doesnt give much space for storage, like there is almost zero space for built in cupboards for storage of linen or general stuff. The wall with the pantry shelves i would extend some counter on that side or have floor to ceiling cupboards there with space for the oven to go in at a height you dont have to pend down (i designed my own place, and having the island to oven being of similar heights makes things so easy)
    9. personally i would think the stairs should face the kitchen side rather than the front door, creates a nexus where people have to walk past each other. Also for a morning or come home routine likely to go to kitchen anyway? In my place its a straight staricase and we mulled on this a long time, in the end we decided it was most likely we usually come in from garage, stop by kitchen and go upstairs, same with meal times etc, so was optimised for that. But if you really want your dark passage between the two bedrooms might not be an option.
    10. Because of the very square layout, the staircase seem abit far from good sources of natural light, may want to consider a skylight (those with a reflective tub would work.

    remember to put outlets in every corner, once furniture go in you wont see it but so convenient not having to run extension cords when you want to move stuff. Really open places i even put a double outlet in the middle.

    Edit: Bonus note, also if you can use standard window sizes where possible, you can quite easily get blinds for them at spotlight/bunnings, however dont give up more light if the space demands it of cos.

  • densmorek on 02/01/2024 - 15:02

    I built about 2 years ago. My 2 cents based on things I regret and things I'm happy I did:

    1. Master ensuite: change the door to a pocket door. Consider moving the toilet into a watercloset.
    2. Master: are 2 entrances to the WIR necessary? Removing one would give more storage space and decrease noise if someone is dressing while someone is still sleeping.
    3. Beds 2&3. Be aware those are small. Maybe mark them out on the ground somewhere and make sure you're happy with the size.
    4. Guest bed: remove the walk in robe. Shift that bathroom over and now you have room for a coat closet. Where are the shoes and jackets going when you walk into the house?
    5. Garage: consider making wider to accomodate storage if you actually plan on putting cars in there. Also consider a wide, short window up high for some light.
    6. Theater: That's a tight room. Again, maybe mark it out on the ground or something to check if you are comfortable with the size.
    7. Laundry: Personally I have a larger laundry than this and love it. Would question how far it is to the bedrooms, that's a long haul. Pocket door between the laundry and pantry.
    8. Outdoor living: make it bigger, possibly extend to dining slider. What do you want to use it for? BBQ, table, leisure chair, etc…
    9. Kitchen. That tiny sink looks annoying and weirdly placed on the edge. Make is a useful size.
    10. General:
      • be aware this house has very little storage space. Where do the holiday decorations, sports gear, camping gear, tools, luggage, etc go?
      • Put sound proof insulation on all internal walls for the bedrooms and bathrooms at minimum.
  • TailsK on 02/01/2024 - 15:09

    How big is your block? Although you're building a four bedroom house, it feels like a lot of the rooms are quite small or disproportionate. For example:

    • You have butlers panty (which take up a lot of space), but your home theatre room is very small. If you have a dedicated room for a home theatre, I would suspect that you would want to fit more people in that room. A four bedroom house with only room for a four seater couch in a home theatre room doesn't really seem to make sense to me.
    • If you can get a straight staircase in your house, your life will be easier when it comes to moving furniture up and down stairs.
    • If you want a two car garage, you should really go for a minimum of 6m x 6m. If you can make the garage 6.5m long, you'll be able to get some good storage/shelving.
    • Your guest room seems quite large compared to the other bedrooms. How often do you expect to have guests over? Do your guests need a walk in robe?
    • What are the HV and PV in the plans? If this is for ducting, I wouldn't that though there should be so many, depending on how you run the ducts? A lot of the PV just seem to waste space…
    • Are you planning to hardwire/network the house? If yes, you should consider somewhere that you can put a small server rack.
    • Are you sure you want to have the study in the bedroom? It means that if someone has work and your significant other is sleeping or unwell, you will likely disturb each other.
    • You may want your outdoor living to be bigger, especially if your indoor dining can seat more people. I'd think you'd want to seat at least as many outside as inside (if not more as you would likely use the outdoor more when you have guests as well).

    What are you looking

  • Hangryuman on 02/01/2024 - 16:47
    -2

    aspect was missing from OP - but later described as west-facing with north 'back'yard

    I would ask about slope, any views, and neighbours - I'll guess a new greenfields site so likely a McMansionville including this something like 500sq.m. under eaves monster ?

    'Butler's pantry' - that's wanktastic - nice upsell there …

    'Theatre' is a small room with max 4-seat sofa and flat-screen TV - hmm - moving back downmarket again …

    If I matched up the 2 plans correctly, it looks like 'G. BED' might have a west-facing metal roof - another recipe for hot oven summer afternoons and nights.

    East facing bedrooms 2 and 3 will need blockout curtains to not be woken at sparrow's fart by blinding sunrise sunlight coming in there in summer.

    Ideal warm winter sun will only come in to the dining table downstairs and be blocked by the deck roofing unless you sit outside in the cold air - brrr - upstairs a good private space for lovely warm winter sun will be bedroom 2 - master bedroom will only get hot summer afternoon sun turning it into a hot oven for summer nights, then suffer from cold south-westerly winds in winter - whereupon the occupants will likely prefer bedroom 2.

    What can I say about the WIR - good for Imelda Marcos' shoe collection ?

    Oh yeah - and if both showers (downstairs walk thru? - ugh!) are yesterday's fashion half-panel, expect the bathroom floors to be flooded after your shower, and maybe then onto to wet any carpet outside, as I have seen elsewhere - stupid idea that fashion.

    Oh yeah and if you have two doors to the G. ENS - then expect 'accidents' to happen with someone wanting to use the toilet surprising the naked occupant, or the guest stepping out the wrong door naked because they were unfamiliar - is that part of the design intention … ? ;-)

  • RatBargain on 02/01/2024 - 18:00

    Quite like the layout.

    Check your garage dimensions to suit your future vehicles, workshop and or toys

    Most project home designs are uselessly narrow and short for two cars forget about a large 4wd, garden tools or a workshop. If it were a forever home, I’d out a single roller on the back drive through access even.

  • LlamaOfDoom on 02/01/2024 - 18:22

    I can't picture the upstairs bathroom with the shower infront of bath. Anyone got a photo of what that might look like?
    Deffo separate downstairs WC+bath if possible (powder room) as downstairs toilet will do the main lifting.

  • Chuckler on 03/01/2024 - 10:35

    My advice, inspired by stuff I wish I did with my own place:

    1. Bigger garage, wider and longer.
    2. Even if you're not doing solar yet, have the builder run conduit and a string between the garage and the roof.
    3. Bigger laundry.

    We used the media room as an office, but tbh it's hardly ever used.
    We've also never used our patio. Maybe one day.
    I guess these things are lifestyle influenced.

    Think about where your bins will go.
    If you're thinking about crushed stone for any external landscape pathways, don't. Get it pebblecreted.
    Having exterior lights on a timer is awesome.

  • AwesomeAndrew on 03/01/2024 - 11:24

    I probably wouldn't want to walk through the pantry every time I want to do use the laundry, so you might want to rearrange that.

  • Euphemistic on 03/01/2024 - 13:27

    I feel OP might think they are getting smashed by negative comments. End of the day it’s your house and needs to suit your needs. We are just pointing out opportunities to consider changes to plans.

    • summithunter on 03/01/2024 - 23:01

      I can understand and the comments have actually been quite insightful. I am going back to the builder with a long list of changes !

  • Seraphin7 on 03/01/2024 - 14:05

    This looks like "you've tried to pack everything" into the space you have … yet don't leave enough room for the fundamentals.

    The butler's pantry, theatre, leisure, and study spaces all sound great, but ultimately take up too much space for what fundamentally becomes a three bedroom house.

    The consequence of which is it's fundamentally restricted you to three bedrooms (and a guest bedroom that will never get used) and the "guest ensuite" becomes the main crapper for when everyone is downstairs. When you think of "reeking of hospitality" this is not what should come to mind.

    Personally, I'd make the theatre a bathroom which then allows the guest room and ensuite to actually be a more "private suite" that can also be used as an office or similar. This allows you to ditch the upstairs study for something more useful. I'd then turn the leisure space into a fourth genuine bedroom.

    As it stands, this risks looking great "on paper" but ultimately lacks functionality and smart use of space (which in turn reduces its value).

  • Morphio25 on 03/01/2024 - 14:23

    This is what I'd change.

    Upstairs:

    1. Remove part of the Study wall and put a door in there. Fill in the wall from the Master Suite side, turning it into its own little room that can be used by the whole family.
    2. If you can afford it go for some skylights in the WIR and Ensuite to allow for some natural light.

    Downstairs:

    1. Change the Laundry so that the sink is at the far end of the bench, that way you'll have room for a broom closet (closest to the butler's pantry), a pull-out clothes bin next to it and still have space for a washer and dryer underneath the bench.
    2. Consider getting rid of the Ground Floor WIR, or at least removing the CSD between it and the Ensuite. I'd just have a built-in robe in that room.
    3. Change the Garage door to the rear of the house to a roller door. It'll allow you to get things in and out of the backyard easier.

    Other things to consider - have you thought about wiring the house for Ethernet, where you NBN gear is going to go etc.

    • Euphemistic on 03/01/2024 - 16:46

      Change the Garage door to the rear of the house to a roller door. It'll allow you to get things in and out of the backyard easier.

      Less important on a corner block - I’m assuming that the garage is on the corner in this plan. If so, backyard access is actually easy via the fence if you put an appropriate gate in - or remove a panel.

      • Morphio25 on 04/01/2024 - 11:52
        +1

        Indeed, but since that detail wasn't shared (i.e. we don't have a copy of the block plan to look at) I thought I'd make that recommendation in case it is something OP needs to consider.

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