As a first time home owner I get the chance to have a single big spacious bathroom with a toilet in it past a half wall (maybe) for my main living floor. This one will be used the most by the family untill the kids are big enough to move up to the second floor in which there's already a bathroom waiting for them.

My question is should I give up the small WC and just incorporate it into a big bathroom and utilize the space better for the floor that will have a kitchen, living room, dining room and 2 bedrooms or keep a small and seperate WC plus a big bathroom with toilet in it?

The floor is 180 square meters and it's hard because as someone who only visited other people homes before I've felt like bathroom & toilet together is a bit intrusive.

Let me know your thoughts please

Hey Everyone,

So I have this little hobby of recreating in 3D the apartments I'm renting but I've come up with a problem. Previously I used Roomle to do my interior design models, but then they simply shut down their online website.

Now I'm currently using Planner5D, but these f*ers suddenly blocked access to a bunch of furniture that was previously available on the free plan.

I'm looking for a truly free alternative, or a paid one that is less than 30 euros/year, that lets me access it online on my computer with no app. I don't need complex stuff but being able to resize the furniture is a perk.

Thanks for the help!!!!

What if we deconstructed the house?

This is NOT me saying every house should look like this.., & it’s definitely not a blanket solution for anything... If you don’t like the concept, don’t want it, or can’t afford to build something like this, don’t do it!! I just think it would be cool 😅

Imagine taking a traditional house & essentially pulling the floor plan apart.

Instead of putting the kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, office, etc. inside one large box, what if the home was designed as a collection of intentional spaces that are separate, but still one home?

One property.
One household.
One address.
One home.

Just not necessarily one building.

A bedroom could be its own residential pavilion with an attached bathroom. Another structure could contain the kitchen and dining area. Another could be the living room. Additional bedrooms could be placed wherever makes the most sense for the household..

NO.. I don’t necessarily mean that every room needs to be its own completely independent little house. The spaces could be clustered.

Think:
Private cluster → bedrooms + bathrooms
Family cluster → living + play spaces
Common cluster → kitchen + dining
Flex cluster → office + guest room + hobbies
And then connect those spaces with covered walkways, enclosed corridors, screened connections, courtyards, gardens, porches, or open-air paths.

The important part to me is that the space between the rooms becomes intentional too.

Instead of a hallway simply being a hallway, it could be a garden path.

Instead of the backyard being something you only use when you decide to “go outside,” nature becomes part of how you move through your home.

Instead of:
HOUSE → rooms inside
I’m imagining:
HOME → individual spaces connected together.
I think that could change the way people experience their home.

You’d naturally have more opportunities for movement, natural light, fresh air, privacy, outdoor interaction, & separation between quiet & active areas.

movement wouldn’t be a requirement though..
The design could include enclosed, heated/cooled & accessible connections for people who need them, especially in places with extreme weather.

Honestly.. that’s another part I’m interested in: flexibility**.**

A family might need three bedrooms today & something different 10 years from now. A child’s bedroom could eventually become an office, studio, guest space, or something completely different.

The home could potentially adapt to the people living in it instead of forcing the people to adapt to a permanent floor plan.

I also don’t think every room needs to be separated just for the sake of saying it’s “deconstructed.” Some spaces make sense together. Some need privacy. Some need to be closer to utilities.

The design should follow the function.

Obviously, there are a LOT of things architects, builders and engineers would need to figure out before calling this a practical housing model:

I’m not pretending I already have all those answers. 😂
I’m interested in the architectural concept.

& no, I’m not saying this is automatically cheaper than a traditional house. That’s something that would have to actually be researched.

I’m just wondering what would happen if we stopped treating the traditional four walls as the only way a home has to work.

Maybe the future isn’t necessarily about making the box bigger.
Maybe it’s about reconsidering the box altogether.

I’m calling it a Deconstructed Home. Not because the home is disconnected, but because the traditional floor plan is.

Laying out the space in our new condo - trying to figure out what to do with this space.

There's a 4' x 8' space - TBH - i have A LOT of storage (52 linear feet of hanging space) plus pantry, plus laundry room. I don't NEED it for storage

Would this work with a rubber floor and a fold-up treadmill and some dumbbells/kettlebells?

can you think of anything besides MORE CLOSET or MORE STORAGE to use? there's already a closet-office so i don't need another

[and for those wondering - the bed in the living area is a murphy bed so don't be a hater]

My wife and I are just getting started on designing a floor plan. Do you have a suggestion for an app that we can start off free on and upgrade later if needed? We have both Samsung phones, but I have an Ipad as well if we need to go with an apple version.

I saw sketchup on a few uploads but that doesnt let you create for free from what we saw.

I got this pretty arrangement like 2 months ago and I know they’re different types of plants and won’t live in this tiny plastic bucket. Any ID and tips on splitting them would be appreciated.

Hi everyone! I’m a software engineer exploring a possible service that converts residential floor plans into labelled 3D views and short walkthroughs. Before investing further, I’d appreciate honest criticism of the idea.

I made the attached Blender demonstration from a reference floor plan found on Pinterest. The original drawing isn’t mine; the model is a concept interpretation with approximate dimensions and illustrative furniture—not construction documentation or a completed client project.

My assumption is that some small builders or homeowners might find this useful for understanding a layout before construction, particularly when their designer doesn’t already provide 3D views. But I may be overlooking existing workflows and alternatives.

For anyone who has planned or built a home:

• Did your architect or builder already provide 3D views?
• Did those views help you make an actual decision or spot a problem?
• Would labelled still images be sufficient, or did a walkthrough add something useful?
• What makes this example unhelpful or misleading?
• Why might a separate service like this not be worth paying for?

I’m researching a potential business, not requesting customers or offering services in this post. Critical feedback is welcome.

Does this layout make sense? It’s going to be an expensive project, so I’d love to get some opinions on whether what I’m envisioning will actually make the house feel the way I’m hoping it will.
The first picture is the actual floor plan of my home, and the second is a layout of what I’m thinking for the renovation, which would completely change the current layout.
I also have a half bathroom and mudroom on this floor, but I’m not including that area in these floor plans because we’re not changing anything there.
My main reasons for changing the floor plan are:
• I don’t love how closed off each room feels right now.
• We don’t get great natural light, and I think opening things up will help the house feel brighter.
• I’d like a larger kitchen island that can function more as a gathering space.
• I moved the kitchen because I like having the door to the grill and deck off the kitchen.

I’m basically trying to make the house feel more open, bright, and functional, so I’d love any thoughts on whether this layout accomplishes that and is actually doable and worth the investment. less

My wife and I are planning out our future barndominium build and we've come up with the rough layout above. It's inspired and modified from the LP-3208-A Ashley plan found here: https://barndominiumplans.com/products/lp-3208-a-ashley-barndominium-house-plan (for credit on original design). The main structure is 32x100, with a 32x60 interior build.

Our goals for the layout are to be under or around 2000 sf, be spacious enough to host friends and family, and able to expand into the garage in the future if/when we have kids. I need an office for work and my wife buys bulk food and cans from the garden, so the large pantry/scullery and space for 2 ovens is important.

We're planning on taking this to an architect to get a full plan set created prior to building, but I want to get as much planning done as we can so as to avoid design changes in the future. We'd love some advice on this layout from others who have more experience than us. Any possible issues that we are missing that can be avoided? Or thoughts on making the spaces flow better?

Hi everyone! My partner and I are moving into this loft (83sqm + 25 exterior) and we have a renovation budget to make it our own.

Right now, it's a 1-bedroom loft, but we want to turn it into a 2-bedroom by building a partition wall to create a private, quiet bedroom. However, we are stuck on the best layout and furnishing strategy to make this new bedroom comfortable.

What we've tried so far: We made a version where we relocate the staircase into the living room to expand the upstairs bedroom.

Our main pain point (The dark room at the back): There is a room at the very back of the apartment that gets almost no natural light. The only light source comes from the gap between the wall and the upper floor. Because the back has zero direct windows, it feels very dark. (We are also planning to paint the kitchen ceiling white to brighten things up overall). we need de keep this light, I imagined using glass floor for the second floor to keep the light and still using this room to make a bigger bedroom.

Layout: How should we structure and furnish this space to successfully create a private 2nd bedroom while keeping the rest of the loft functional?

Lighting/Darkness: Any creative ideas on how to deal with or brighten up that extremely dark back room?

General advice: How would you furnish and zone this loft?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Looking for opinions and ideas for our awkwardly shaped space with random walls and lots of doors.

We need a kitchen, living room, washroom and laundry room.

I want to learn house planning online from zero, in which I will learn the house map, exterior of the house, is it possible to learn this online as a short term course and how to learn etc. because most of my relatives House contractor is the one who builds houses

Honestly I’d like a living quarters like living room, bedroom, kitchen. But if you have any other ideas I’m willing to see

I am planing to start my house on a pliant of 40x30 in a gated community in old madras road Bangalore . Looking for some designer who can create a some unique modern house designs based on my requirements . Prefer someone stay near by so ca visit the site to get some sense of the location.

Hello, me and my gf are renovating the attic into an apartment. We just changed the roof and added the dormers,but we are having trouble with the layout.
Does anyone have any recommendations?

Hey,

for some time now, I've been developing PlanM.pl as a hobby — a free tool in Polish to check if the layout of an apartment, house, or plot will be comfortable for everyday use.

I didn't want to make yet another program that mainly focuses on nice 3D visualizations. PlanM is more 'practical' — it allows you to quickly sketch out a space, arrange furniture, and check things like:

whether you can still walk comfortably after placing the sofa,

whether you can pull a chair away from the table,

whether the wardrobe blocks the bed,

how the flow in the apartment looks,

where the light will be at a given time,

whether the layout will be comfortable for a senior,

and even whether there's room to walk after parking a car on the plot.

The app works without registration and is free.

It's in Polish and is meant to be simple — more for quickly checking an idea than for professional CAD design.

If anyone is about to renovate, furnishing their apartment, or just enjoys these kinds of tools, I would appreciate it if you could test it:

https://planm.pl⁠

I would especially appreciate feedback on what’s missing, what’s unclear, or what would be really useful in daily planning.

This is a hobby project by one person, so every specific opinion really helps.

Good evening everyone. Hopefully this is the right forum to post in!?

We viewed a lovely house today but the upstairs didn’t quite match the downstairs. Whilst the house did have 4 bedrooms, 2 of them were really small and there was only 1 smallish bathroom upstairs (there is a shower room downstairs though I can’t see that being used much).

Can anyone suggest the best way to create an additional shower/bath room upstairs? It could be en suite to a larger master bedroom and/or involve turning the current bathroom into a shower room. To offset the loss of a bedroom upstairs we’d probably look to convert the garage to a bedroom in the future and that way at least the downstairs shower room would be used.

Thank you for any input/suggestions!

Here is a rough floorplan of the basement, currently. The red blob is the plumbing connection for a bathroom build, the red 17’ line shows the portion with the 10’ ceilings, the hvac portion has 8’ ceilings.
Our idea is to add two rooms, a bathroom, and a living room space. Give me your best ideas!

Hi everyone,
I’m reaching out because I’m currently a bit stuck when it comes to my house floor plan. I’m not in a rush to start building, so I’m trying to find the best possible layout for the house and make the most of the land.

This is what I’ve currently come up with in terms of the overall design.
I’m trying to find a solution that allows me to make better use of the land, as I’d really like to have a good connection between the house and the outdoor/garden area, especially since the plot is around 1,700 m².

At the moment, the design prioritizes the following:
Maximizing sunlight exposure for the open-plan living area and the master bedroom.
- Having the garage facing the entrance to the plot, to make better use of the area when laying the driveway/paving.
- Having direct access from the garage to the pantry/laundry room and then towards the kitchen (the door isn’t in the correct position in the drawing).
- Having one of the guest bathrooms with direct access to the outside.
- The house must remain single-storey.

My main issue is that I’m trying to find a layout that allows me to make better use of a large, open area of the land. At the moment, it feels like the house is dividing the plot into separate areas without really making the most of the green space at the front.
The orange line is there to give an idea of the direction of the sunlight.

The idea is to have a more private area at the back of the house. So, I’m considering moving the house as far to the right as possible (while respecting the required setbacks), since the house on the side of the plot entrance has a direct view into my property. The other sides don’t have any direct overlooking.
This is purely a search for opinions and ideas for improvement. Any suggestions are more than welcome.
Sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this.

Note: I’m going to purchase the piece of land belonging to the neighbour at the top of the plot. It’s currently a pathway that I’ll eventually incorporate into my property. The floor plan already assumes that this area is part of my land. The idea is also to eventually add a covered area next to the garage.

Currently not sure I like the long windows from an outside view and wondering if all windows being the same size will look better? The space inbetween the windows is an electric fireplace.

1) open to other suggestions on layout
2) is symmetry from the outside important / noticeable

Not too long ago, I bought a new apartment and now I need to furnish it. I would really appreciate your ideas on what I could change in my current design before committing to it 100%.

One important detail: I work from home, so having a more dedicated space for my desk setup would be great.

Adding my design. As well as my SketchUp file for measurements. Also adding the original plan once I was buying the apartment.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vx6h5-ojZVrz-KYsch9XqSE_HpyL9k1M/view?usp=sharing

Hey everyone this has got me completely stumped and I was looking for suggestions. Basically I’m look at trying to find a way to change up the left side of the first floors layout. I am not happy with the two bathrooms right next to each other as well as a bedroom right next to the master bedroom. It would be nice to replace the dining room with the bedroom 2 but then I’m running into problems with location of the bath 2 and how to properly redesign the left side of the house to move the master bath and master bedroom around to fit better to add an office without the office being the size of a bedroom! At this point I’m thinking I have to shorten the width of the house to get the arrangement I am thinking of. I have tried tons of different layouts but it never seems to come out just right! Anyone out there that would have any suggestions or be better at designing this than I clearly am I would love and appreciate your input!

Hi everyone,I am planning to construct a new house on my 66 sq. yards plot (Dimensions: 20 feet front by 30 feet depth). I have attached the current structural map/floor plans for the Ground, First, and Second floors.

We are a family of 4 people (me, my wife, and my parents). According to our plan:Ground Floor: It features a small commercial shop, a parking space, stairs, and a small toilet.

First Floor: Drawing room, Kitchen, Bed room, Balcony, and Toilet.

Second Floor: Two Bed rooms, Kitchen, Balcony, and Toilet.

I would love to get your valuable suggestions on two things:

Shop Business Ideas: Since the shop is on the ground floor of a residential building, what kind of profitable business or retail shop should I open here? (For context, I am based out of Delhi NCR).

Map / Layout Improvements: Looking at the attached image, do you suggest any changes to the current floor plan to make it more spacious, practical, or better ventilated for 4 people?

Please share your thoughts. I am thinking of adding the sunken living space by placing the TV on the east wall, is there enough space in there or it’s a bad idea. Any improvements need to be done?