Spain House Build - Land Bought

[HangTime]

Is there a risk of laundry appliances disturbing the office too much with vibrating washing machines etc?

Regarding the orientation, the number one thing for me would be maximising the views from the lounge/kitchen area. You'll presumably sit in there every day whereas you won't use the pool every day.

Bathroom looks tiny (can't even fit the sofa in? Not suggesting you want a sofa in the bathroom but just for scale!)

 

[Martynt74]

Is there a risk of laundry appliances disturbing the office too much with vibrating washing machines etc?

Regarding the orientation, the number one thing for me would be maximising the views from the lounge/kitchen area. You'll presumably sit in there every day whereas you won't use the pool every day.

Bathroom looks tiny (can't even fit the sofa in? Not suggesting you want a sofa in the bathroom but just for scale!)

Probably, sorry final final update after my wife had initially shot this version down, she woke up this morning deciding she preferred it as it stops the laundry door obstructing having a big wall of units.

Bathroom is small, but it matches the one in the OP and covers having a double sink (probably swapped to a single and a tall storage unit) and a shower/toilet. It's only really for guests. The en-suite is bigger which is more important for us.


Regarding views, the benefit of this plot is that really, there is no bad orientation as it's got mountains on 2 sides, the valley on one side, and then the worst view is to the North which is where the drive/entrance will be anyway. If you take the first picture in post 30. The road you see will be the access road, then towards the top we'll turn left onto the drive which will be ~100m to the gate. Then you approach the front door and the views from the lounge/pool will face the hills to the left. It's sufficiently far away/lower that the house in the top corner won't have any views onto the plot

 

[HangTime]

Looks better in terms of the laundry and less wasted passageway space, however be aware of the viewing angles now you have just 1 door between the guest bedroom and bathroom:

• If stood behind the sofa you could see directly into the bathroom when the door is open, depending on where the toilet is positioned maybe not the best view.
• If stood/sat around the kitchen island you could see directly into the guest bedroom when the door is open, might be a source of embarrassment for the guests e.g. one opens the door to use the bathroom you get an eyeful of their partner in bed

This could probably be solved by hanging drapes or something in the exit from the living room, although that might impact the lighting in the passageway.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

If the bathroom is only really for guests why not make it an ensuite as well
If you have no guests should you want to use it, a short walk into the bedroom and then into the ensuite is no drama.

Or make it one of the ones with two doors. When no guests can enter from the passage but if you have guests you can lock the door from the passage and it becomes an ensuite.
(Avoiding some of the issues hangtime mentions)

Could you not put a small loo in the laundry room (or office) space (off the corridor by the door), should you have the need for a guest to use it other than someone actually staying.
Say just a visitor who is there for the afternoon or something. I would deffo make the bathroom an ensuite to the guest room then if it was me.

 

[Martynt74]

I guess the issue there is for times we have guests staying, but also day guests.
The above keeps the non master en suite a shared space, whereas turning it into another en suite removes that option.
There may also be times where I’m booted out of my office by additional guests (I’m aiming for a 50m2 man cave style out building as a backup office/gym/workshop , but makes sense to primarily use the 3rd bedroom to avoid heating/cooling extra buildings)

Not in the drawing but will likely have an internal sliding door on that opening so it can be shut off. The other option would be to move the office door to that little section to mimic the layout in the initial post.

Plans May be dashed a little as I’ve just caused serious damage to my Jeep that’s Only insured 3rd party. Annoying given it’s value but due to age it was all I could get. Could be expensive depending on the outcome and if I’ve affected the frame/tub.

 

[Martynt74]

Ok, so the architect has done the official drawings. Still a few minor tweaks i think to make, mainly being the pool being further from the house, but hopefully we can get things done quickly so we can get planning permission in. We're also questioning whether to try and save some money on the left sliding doors in the lounge and turn it into a long 3m window with sliding opening. This would unlock the change to put a sideboard style unit under the window, and given we'd likely have furniture on the terrace anyway and would never open the doors on that side, it makes sense. The main concern is whether it looks better from the outside with symmetrical openings.

What's quite cool is that i'm sure the pool was only specced as an 8x4 but they've done a 10x4 version

 

[Martynt74]

Final bit, but i'm now also trying to think of a layout for my "outbuilding". The aim is to be a bit of a man cave/gym/garage/workshop. Basically a unit for all my crap that doesn't fit/belong in the house.

I'm erring towards something like this.

Logic being. In the top left i have a covered area where the car would usually be parked. Then the left wall of the long room would have a garage roller door to be able to bring the car inside if i ever needed to. 3m wide is plenty for it and at 6m long there's plenty space at the right end for tools etc.

The top left room could be a store room for things like leaf blowers, pressure washers stuff like that. Maybe even have a workbench for woodworking tasks.

Bottom right room would likely be a home gym. Could have a large window looking down the valley

Top right room would be a bit of a "nothing" area but would be where i dumped myself if i ever get kicked out of my office in the main house when we have extra guests. The two rooms on the right could probably be combined into a longer room in reality.


I had considered adding in a bathroom, but that adds complexity for plumbing etc, and means there's a higher chance it turns into a guest house and i then lose access to other rooms because guests don't want me clattering weights or using power tools next to them!

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Have you got any roof lighting planned in? Just looking at the main bathroom, you've probably got an abundance of light outside that will struggle to make its way into a bathroom. Having had two bathrooms in new houses without a single window, I'm always really cautious about dingy bathrooms. A roof light could help deal with the privacy concern but give you wonderful light in there. I'd say the same for the en-suite, and perhaps even the laundry room where you aren't likely to be worried about it either being too bright when you're going to sleep or it overheating (risk in the lounge with uncontrolled roof lights).

The whole thing is quite compact. Is that intentional?

For your outbuilding, why not shift the orientation so that the covered bit leads into the long bit? That means taking your two top rooms and moving them to the bottom, and moving your bottom room to the top. You end up with three rooms at the bottom, and you don't lose any space, just increase the convenience of using it.

For your home gym, I'm always so envious when I see people who have a roller shutter or something that they can open so they can go outside if they want - even have the rack outside. How about a covered section with a big door so you have the option?

 

[Martynt74]

All very fair. Each bathroom does have a 60cm wide window. Same the with laundry, there's a 140cm wide window in there. A roof one would be cool, especially those small porthole type ones, but i'm not sure how easy it'd be for something relatively small with a solid concrete roof structure, and then theres the risk of leaks with the flat roof.

If there was anywhere to add roofing lighting i think it'd be the lounge/kitchen for me as long as there were blinds to shut them off. I do worry it might feel dark due to the covered terrace, but i think that's likely over thinking things.

Yeah. Compact is intended. There's only 2 of us and we don't need a huge space. It'd just end up being wasted.

Excellent call about the outbuilding. I kind of laid it out and then only afterwards thought it made sense to add the covered car port. Re: the gym, i will likely add a bifold door or something so it can be opened up. Being able to roll the rower machine outside overlooking the views in the last picture of Post 30 would be the dream.

Also likely to try and squeeze in a sauna somewhere inside. Although unsure if it'd be better outside. Same with a hot tub. Although i'm torn between that being here or closer to the actual house (probably around 100m between them)

Part of my long term plan is to add some container houses for rentals. Mainly aimed at cycling/running retreats so having the Gym/workshop accessible for them would be a nice addition. My wife is less keen on the idea, but my theory is they're the ideal renters. Likely to be quiet, go to bed early to recover and generally i can bore them about running/cycling rather than my wife!

 

[jpaul]

how far is it from house/pool, no potential BBQ/covered-area role.

yes I'd commented on bathroom light before - currently have 120 with opening pane on broadened window ledge behind basin which adds a lot of ambiance in morning with sun & it's heat in summer,
one way mirrored unit if you didn't want to forgo view too ?

 

[Martynt74]

how far is it from house/pool, no potential BBQ/covered-area role.

yes I'd commented on bathroom light before - currently have 120 with opening pane on broadened window ledge behind basin which adds a lot of ambiance in morning with sun & it's heat in summer,
one way mirrored unit if you didn't want to forgo view too ?

I've gone for 6m from house to pool. The covered terrace is around 2m, and then there'll be 4m to the pool itself. Feels like a good compromise. I'm not a fan of having it too close, but likewise i don't want it miles away.

Good shout on one way mirrored wall. That'd actually be pretty cool in the shower area

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I've gone for 6m from house to pool. The covered terrace is around 2m, and then there'll be 4m to the pool itself. Feels like a good compromise. I'm not a fan of having it too close, but likewise i don't want it miles away.

Good shout on one way mirrored wall. That'd actually be pretty cool in the shower area

You could project shadows into it to make people think you're having one off the wrist but as joke so they think you aren't, because who'd be that stupid? But, then you in fact are.

 

[Martynt74]

You could project shadows into it to make people think you're having one off the wrist but as joke so they think you aren't, because who'd be that stupid? But, then you in fact are.

Ah, the old double bluff ****

 

[Martynt74]

Update. The land is now officially ours. The house layout is agreed as per the above, and it's now waiting on the architect to do geo land surveys and mark up the full layout.

Decided to mark up the locations of things for him. Mainly because we have constant discussions between myself and my wife, then get to the agents/developers, i say something and she looks at me blankly. So i've knocked up the below for the architect to work from and included her in the group chat so she can't claim otherwise

Grey is the drive
Green is the fencing/gate. This is probably well over the allowed size in the budget, but i don't think extra is too expensive. Also not sure if we can reduce it quite a bit in reality
Red is my garage/gym/office
brown is the house with the relevant direction (absolutely not to scale. The drawing below probably makes the house about 900m2!)
blue is the pool

Also in the plans is a pool room/shower/toilet which i've not marked up.


In the future my plans will be to add a guest accommodation (maybe 2) where the rubbish is, maybe further "in" which we can rent out, but still be far enough from the main house.

I'm also currently looking for a digger for sale to start trying to level up the plots. Not going to touch where the house will be, but will be good to get the drive sorted and other areas. We can probably also begin clearing it and planting some trees so they get 12 months growth before we move in.

 

[Martynt74]

Also, have decided to keep the above layout pretty much on the garage.

Due to the way i'm laying out the fenced off plot, i think having the drive into the garage on the left makes most sense. It slots in nicely between where the natural "steps" of the land are

 

[jpaul]

Can the architect provide any 3d renderings of the inside to check out the use 'flow' -
... seems maya is what was used on the bbc series on interior design options https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2swPU_Accs

digger - don't you have a risk of any top soil erosion if you did levelling without having some irrigation/terracing plan ?
do you have prevailing wind/mistral direction to play into overall orientation

 

[Martynt74]

Can the architect provide any 3d renderings of the inside to check out the use 'flow' -
... seems maya is what was used on the bbc series on interior design options https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2swPU_Accs

digger - don't you have a risk of any top soil erosion if you did levelling without having some irrigation/terracing plan ?
do you have prevailing wind/mistral direction to play into overall orientation

I'm hoping they will be produced as part of the plans. There was the original 3D render of the exterior, however we've changed a few things. There is a 3D option on Floorplanner which i've used above, but it's not the nicest and i've not positioned windows/doors etc or added colour/floors. Might do though if the architect doesn't provide anything.

There isn't really any soil. It's mostly loose rock/dust. I'll likely get some advice before going mental. It's a bit weird the way it's been landscaped as there are clear terracing, although they don't flow all the way along and just pop up at random points.

Wind wise, it blows from right to left so the house is positioned to provide sufficient shielding to the pool

 

[Demon]

Final bit, but i'm now also trying to think of a layout for my "outbuilding". The aim is to be a bit of a man cave/gym/garage/workshop. Basically a unit for all my crap that doesn't fit/belong in the house.

I'm erring towards something like this.

Logic being. In the top left i have a covered area where the car would usually be parked. Then the left wall of the long room would have a garage roller door to be able to bring the car inside if i ever needed to. 3m wide is plenty for it and at 6m long there's plenty space at the right end for tools etc.

The top left room could be a store room for things like leaf blowers, pressure washers stuff like that. Maybe even have a workbench for woodworking tasks.

Bottom right room would likely be a home gym. Could have a large window looking down the valley

Top right room would be a bit of a "nothing" area but would be where i dumped myself if i ever get kicked out of my office in the main house when we have extra guests. The two rooms on the right could probably be combined into a longer room in reality.


I had considered adding in a bathroom, but that adds complexity for plumbing etc, and means there's a higher chance it turns into a guest house and i then lose access to other rooms because guests don't want me clattering weights or using power tools next to them!

I would 1000% do what I could to have effectively a double garage, i.e. be able to drive the car in and have plenty of room to work on it.. so you need plenty of floor space.. then have cheap kitchen units/worktop for tools etc and off you go!
(Airconditioned of course)..

For me, the ultimate outbuilding would be
- Double garage
- Dedicated Gym
- Dedicated Home Cinema room

Each to their own, but wow.. you don't get too many chances to spec things precisely as you want!

 

[mattyg]

Holiday homes in spain can make some decent money. We try to get out there every year and were spending £3-6k a week on a place.

 

[Martynt74]

I would 1000% do what I could to have effectively a double garage, i.e. be able to drive the car in and have plenty of room to work on it.. so you need plenty of floor space.. then have cheap kitchen units/worktop for tools etc and off you go!
(Airconditioned of course)..

For me, the ultimate outbuilding would be
- Double garage
- Dedicated Gym
- Dedicated Home Cinema room

Each to their own, but wow.. you don't get too many chances to spec things precisely as you want!

I did consider a wider garage section, but it limited elsewhere. 50m2 seems plenty though, given the house is only around 115m2

As you say, the ability to drive the car in is a priority. Luckily i have a Jeep so it's not wide at all and 3m should be enough for the car and space around the sides. Then enough space length ways for tools etc.

Home Cinema room would be nice, i just doubt how much we'd use it. The long room on the right will be big enough for my gym/office and then i plan to have a decent stereo in there with a comfy chair. I could always add a drop down projector in front of the desk to turn it into a HC if needed, but with a 65" tv in the house it's generally all we need.

Speccing things is great, but annoying as i keep second guessing things and adjusting. The builder yesterday asked my wife to keep me under control! My response was the sooner he/the architect get plans submitted the less opportunity to change my mind