What is your biggest hate in building designs?

A forum has a great post on what people hate about building designs.  http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61908

Curious, I started to rank our building design on some of the ‘frustrations’ others have had. I guess this could also double as a great post to see what you want from your building plans

• Forum says: Not enough storage-  Our plans: Heaps, thank you.
• No eaves – 750 eaves!
• Small robes – Big robes in every room
• Bedrooms with common walls – Robes divide them
• Bedrooms off dining/living/family rooms – No way
• Guest bedrooms with ensuite- No way. Bathroom down the hall
• Dining room off front hall a mile from the kitchen- Adjacent
• Accessing the laundry through the kitchen- Down the hall
• Fridge in pantry or at wrong end of kitchen – Fringe in kitchen, where it belongs

Did okay, I think. Oh, we did need to add a sliding door to our ensuite. That is just smart! Not sure we all need to share in those moments.

How does your floorplan stack up against the forum experts?

Choosing a house floor plan – Metricon Salamanca 34

Choosing a house floorplan

How do you choose the floor plan for your home? There seem to be hundreds of options across the major builders, and even more if you count all the little guys.  Good luck! It is a tough slog of lots of display homes and internet browsing.

A few questions that may help.

• What restrictions does your block have for width and length?
• How much front, side and rear yard do you want?
• What is the optimal orientation for the house to capitalise on the northern orientation?
• How do you use your home?
  • Entertaining?
  • Watching lots of TV
  • Outdoor living etc
• Do you want bedrooms upstairs or down?
• Do you want a parents retreat?
• Do you like an open plan kitchen, dining, lounge?
• Do you want an office?
• Do you like dividing walls or prefer the house to flow?

We chose the Metricon Salamanca as it really met the brief of our family and ticked most of the above list for us.  What we love about the Salamanca 34:

• Feeling of space throughout
• Large spacious adult retreat that will also be a study room as well
• Generous ensuite for relaxing in a lazy bath
• A lovely front balcony
• A generous front office
• Generous butler’s pantry
• A hidden staircase (we didn’t want a feature one)
• A laundry on the north side (of our block)
• An outdoor room on the north side
• A really relaxed design upstairs where nothing is cluttered or jammed in.
• A really modest width and length (leaving us with 66% of our land for a backyard and garden)

What was important to you? Did you compromise on anything? Did you find a great floorplan?