Floor Plans – Page 2

How Much House?

Do you know that in spite of the standard block getting smaller over the past 20 years the actual size of the houses has been getting bigger. The builders are doing a good job of selling us on the idea of more space.

There are three sizes of house you could buy:

The size you need . . .. SMALL
The size that you would like. . . . BIG
The size that the builder wants to sell you. . . .ENORMOUS

Get a bigger house and it could blow your Budget. To keep costs in check you need to do some preparation. Here are some suggestion:

Avoid starting by visiting show houses.
Go through your existing house throwing away all the junk you haven’t used in the last year or two. You could even raise some money and have a garage sale.
Measure the internal size of each room in your house, in m² and think about whether that room needs to be bigger, or could be smaller.
Don’t forget to include the wardrobes, the pantry, and the garage.
Don’t measure the hallways but allow 15-20m2 for hallways and passages.
Allow around 15-20m2 for internal and external walls.
Decide what additional rooms you need, for example an extra bedroom if you have another child on the way.
Add all the areas to get the total area of the house.
You could also convert the sizes to Squares for easy comparison when looking at adverts.
Start looking on the builders web sites or adverts for houses plans that are close to this size.
When you are looking at plans use the dimensions you originally took for each room to get a feel for the room sizes.
Only go and look at houses that are within the dimension you calculated, plus say no more than 10%.

To help I have prepared a Google documents Checklist which can be accessed from the link or the Checklist tab at the top of the page.

How have you made sure you haven’t finished up with a house that’s too big?

For posts about Costs see Budget

For Posts about Design see Floor Plans

Understanding Plans – Basic Floor Plan

A basic floor plan is the sort of plan you will see in the developer’s brochure or on their web site.

Most people aren’t used to looking at plans and relating them to what they are going to get.

So here is a way of helping you understand.

1. Get a pad of metric graph paper. These usually have smaller squares with 2mm sides and heavier lines every 10mm.
2. If we are going to draw a plan at 1 in 100 then the side of every small square is equivalent to 200mm, or 20cm.
3. Start in a simple room, say a bedroom, and measure one wall. Draw a thin line along one of the lines of the graph paper.
4. From one of the corners measure to the next corner and draw this line on the graph paper, don’t worry about the doors or windows at this stage.
5. Carry on measuring and drawing until you have gone right the way around the room. You should now have drawn a box that looks something like the picture below.

6. Mark the position of the doors and the windows.
7. Thicken the outside of the lines to the thickness of one square for external brick walls.
8.Thicken the outside of the lines to the thickness of half a square for internal walls.
9. Draw in a quarter circle to show the way that the door opens. You should now have a drawing that looks something like the picture below.

10. This will help you relate the size of your existing room to one you see on a plan.

11. If you want to see how the furniture looks its better to cut out sections of graph paper the same size as the furniture rather than draw on the paper. You can then move these around.

Once you have got the hang of this you can expand the drawing to include all the rooms of the house.

For similar posts see Drawings and Floor Plans

Garage Storage

I was out for a walk very early and saw these bikes which had been out in the garden all night.

It got me thinking about how when people are planning they tend to think of a garage as just somewhere to store the car.

Here are some additional uses of a garage that you might need to consider:

Bike storage, adults bikes and children’s.
Outside kitchen.
Party space.
Workshop.
Gardening tool storage, including mower and barrow.
Passage from front yard to backyard.
Suitcase storage.
Camping gear storage.
Fishing tackle storage
Somewhere to leave the garbage and recycling bins.

Are you going to allow enough space? or just leave the car(s) on the drive?

Compact En-Suite

Some time ago I went ‘Glamping’ and was really struck by how the company had built a really compact en-suite. . . . so I thought I would share it with you.

As you can see its actually built out of a galvanised steel water tank.

A really good idea if you are an owner builder who wants to live on site.

With fully waterproof walls it’s just a case of installing the fittings and painting the concrete floor with an epoxy seal . . . and away you go.

You could say it is very fashionable if you like the ‘industrial’ look.

Basically it’s got a shower area at one end and the toilet at the other end, with the wash basin in the middle.

Where Is Your Fireplace

One thing I have never understood is why Australian Houses nearly always seem to have their fireplaces, and chimneys, on an outside wall.

I was brought up in an English terraced house, and a significant source of heat in winter was the heat radiating from the wall against next door’s fireplace and chimney.

Even the cat knew which was a nice warm spot!

If you are planning to build a detached house with a fireplace don’t position it on an outside wall.

There is going to a lot of heat you have paid for that will be lost to the outside.

Historically

A hundred years ago, when all cooking was done on a wood stove, there was a good reason for the kitchen fireplace to be on an outside wall.

Cooking on a hot Australian summer day meant that you wanted to minimise the heat going into the home, so an outside wall could be a good choice.

These days with almost all of us cooking using electric, or gas, that reason no longer applies.

Planning a house

Check this link to see how I designed a house with a central fireplace: Bubble Diagrams

Thinking About Pets

Did you think about your pets when you planned your new House?

Will the House and garden be safe for your pets when you move?

Here are some things to think about:

Planning

Where will the pet sleep at night?

Where will it have access to during the day?. . . . For instance check out this Cat Lovers House

Where will it food be placed? and a litter tray be for cats? I like to keep the litter tray away from carpets, and anywhere else where I might walk with bare feet.

Are you going to give a dog access to the whole of the back yard or just a run.

Will there be shelter for the dog in the yard? We used to leave the dog bed under the verandah at one house, at another we had a porch at the back door.

How are you going to deal with a wet dog after a walk?. . . a regular reader of this blog told me they have planned an extra large laundry with a shower big enough to wash their two dogs.

When You Move In

Are any fly screens cat/dog proof , , , I would recommend any fly screens that protect doorways have a strong metal mesh.

Are all gates in place.

Do the fences go right down to the ground, and are high enough to prevent jumping. . . . we had a medium sized dog which had never escaped until we moved to a new house and my wife got a job. . . . It then started jumping a 1.5m brick fence.

Is there a risk your pet will try to dig under the fence?

Do you check your plants to check they aren’t toxic to your pets?

We have only had dogs and cats as pets, so there may be other questions for different pets.

Which Way Round Do You Want The Bath?

I was recently contacted by a reader of this blog about their bath installation.

They found the bath had been installed in a different direction to which she had expected.

As far as they were concerned the ‘back’ of the bath should point into the room rather than against a wall.

The question was whose fault was it?

Check The Drawings

When you get the drawings from the builder they do show details like the direction of the bath.

In this drawing the plug hole is at the ‘top’ of the drawing which is indicated by the black dot in the bath.

Make sure you check details like this and if you want something different make sure the plans are changed.

Outcome

Unfortunately in this case the drawings showed the installed orientation.

As the cost of breaking out the in slab pipework was too expensive the owner had to accept the installation.

Doors

Something else which you may notice on the plan is that the toilet door opens inwards.

That makes me wonder how someone shuts the door when they go in the toilet as the door sweeps through where they would be standing.

See Doors for more on this subject

Clever Design Tips and Tricks to Solve Your Small Bathroom Dilemmas

Guest post by Hubert Dwight

If you’ve got a tiny bathroom, it can be really annoying to have to read article after article of luxury renovation tips.

They’re all designed for the kind of broad, sweeping spaces that wouldn’t look out of place in a celebrity mansion.

There’s got to be some good advice out there for the awkward bathrooms, right?

For the cramped, tight on room spaces that are in desperate need of a makeover?. . . Well, you’d be right.

There are plenty of clever ways to make a small bathroom feel bigger.

They’re also a lot simpler and more cost efficient than you might think.

So, it’s time to stop lamenting those small bathroom woes and start creating something fabulous.

These handy tips and tricks will give you some ideas on how to expand the space and make it look and feel larger.

Float the Vanity Unit

So, if you need to create extra space, you can invest in tailored storage solutions and accessories.

Bathroom renovations in Sydney can be as bespoke as you like.

For instance, fixing cabinets and vanity tables to the wall (rather than having them rest on legs) frees up room on the floor.

You can then store baskets, boxes, or other items directly underneath.

Stick with Light Colours

The easiest way to keep a bathroom feeling light and spacious is to stick with similarly light colours.

Tones like white, stone, beige, pale grey and pastel yellow are all ideal.

Dark colours like navy blue, black, and intense grey will make everything appear closer together.

Install a Corner Basin

Very often, the flow of smaller bathrooms is disrupted by an awkwardly placed pedestal basin.

This isn’t the only option, however, because a sleek corner basin may suit the space better.

Just make sure that you place the basin across from the toilet and not the shower.

Otherwise it creates a clumsy passage in and around the shower.

Build Over the Toilet

Most homeowners leave the area directly above their toilet free of any accessories and features.

Yet, it doesn’t really serve any purpose.

As long as you leave enough room to press the top of the tank flush buttons, you can install shelving right above it.

The best way to create the illusion of space is to have the shelving extend over the toilet and round the wall.

Add Mirrored Surfaces

Mirrors are a cheap, easy way to trick the eye into seeing more space.

This is simply because you really are seeing more space when you look into them; the sneaky part is that it is just a reflection.

Investing in a broad mirror and installing it above a sink is a good way to make sure that multiple bathroom users can get everything done.

Open Up Your Shower

The temptation may be to opt for an opaque, heavily frosted glass shower panel or door.

However, this divides a small bathroom and makes it feel more cramped.

If you invest in a sturdy lock for the bathroom, you can get away with replacing the frosted glass with beautiful, clear panels.

They’re expansive, contemporary, and bring the whole bathroom together.

Why You Should Always Shop Harder, Not Smarter

These days, the cost of bespoke bathroom designs is more affordable than ever before.

You can create a space that works for you.

Your dream bathroom is possible, even if you don’t have the room that you’d like.

It is all a matter of being clever with your décor.

Shop for items and accessories that match the size of the room, rather than overpowering it. . . . Shop smart and make every design decision count.

The Block 2016

I’ve previously talked about the ‘unreality TV show’ The Block . . . . . . So what has got me shouting on the TV this Season?

It’s kitchens!

Generally the kitchen is the most expensive room in the house.

Are people suggesting having 3 expensive kitchens next to one another in a 3 bedroom apartment is sensible?

The Trophy Kitchen

This is an enormous kitchen / casual dining area full of fitted appliances,

Bigger than some commercial kitchens that I have worked in that can prepare 100s of meals a day.

But it’s not used for cooking because you have. . .

The Butlers Pantry

The butlers pantry used to be room in mansions to store and polish the silver wear.

In inner city apartments it seems it has now been transformed into the kitchen where you cook so you don’t mess up ‘the Trophy Kitchen’!

Not just sinks but ovens and Dishwashers!

But if you have friends round for a casual meal you won’t be using this because you will be using , , ,,

The Outdoor Kitchen

A simple gas barby on the balcony has always been good enough for me. . . but I must be behind the times.

You need fitted kitchen facilities in this area which is 3-4 steps away from the main kitchen.

The waste of all of this expensive equipment was summed up by one of the contestants who said “I don’t really cook myself.”

I wonder how true that will be of most of those who buy these pretentious apartments?

Voids Above Living Rooms

I recently read in the property pages of the Herald Sun that voids above living rooms are gaining popularity.

One quote was “They add to the sense of space and are an affordable architectural feature”.

For example this photo from Hooked on Houses

Of course this comment was from someone trying to sell a big new home design.

Disadvantages

I can’t deny they are a ‘WOW’ feature but before you get seduced by the Display Home here are some things to think about:

With all that glass it’s probably going to overheat in the summer and lose loads of heat in the winter.
As heat rises it’s going to be much cooler at floor level than up near the ceiling, even with the fan running.
How are you going to clean the inside of the windows 5m above the floor or remove spiders webs from the cornices.
Changing light bulbs is going to be a challenge.
It will allow noise to rise up the stairs making it harder to get children to sleep
What about all that blank wall above eye level?
It might be ‘affordable’ but it is still expensive per square m compared with other rooms in the house.

It always pays to think about how you would use the house, rather than get too distracted by the appearance.