House designs for a family of 4 people. Projects of small and small houses: choosing the best option
In this article we will talk about the minimum area of a house for a family of 4-5 people.
When a family decides to build a house, the very first question they have to decide is what area to choose? And this is really very difficult, especially if you have no experience in this area. Even if you have already planned how many rooms and floors there will be, this does not negate the issue of their size. We decided to figure out what area would be optimal for 4 or 5 people.
What is the minimum and optimal area of a family home taken into account when constructing a private or country house for 4 or 5 people?
Many people are interested in what the optimal area of a house will be for a family of 4-5 people. In fact, for a family of up to 4 people, the optimal house area is 120-150 square meters. For a family of 5 people, you can add 30 meters and it will be a normal size.
Some people want to have their own garage. Then its area is added separately, that is, it will not be included in the main one. Moreover, when choosing the appropriate size of the area, you need to take into account that the larger it is, the more heating will be consumed. In addition, it will take more time to clean, and it will be more difficult to maintain its technical condition.
If speak about rational use area, it is recommended to divide it as follows:
- Living room (hall). 25-30 square meters are allocated for it. It is best to place this room on sunny side and do more windows. This will allow the room to always be bright and cozy.
- Kitchen. 12-16 sq.m. will be enough here. Here there should be enough space at the table for the whole family and at the same time there should be room for cooking. In general, of course, it is recommended to do it separately dining room so that it would be convenient to host dinners and other celebrations.
- Double bedroom for masters. Its size should be 14-18 square meters. Usually the owners arrange the room as they see fit.
- Children's room. It must be at least 14 square meters. Not only a bed should fit here, but also a table, chair, place for games and much more. You can make several such rooms for each child separately. Accordingly, the total area will increase.
- Bathroom. It is enough to allocate 6-10 square meters for it. Please note that nothing should interfere here. Even a small cabinet should not become an obstacle to washing in the shower.
- Wardrobe. It is done at the discretion of the owners, but still, if it is done, then at least 2-3 square meters are needed. It is recommended to leave this room more space, otherwise it will simply be useless.
- Hallway— 5-8 sq.m. The hallway is designed for 3-4 people, as well as the arrangement of furniture. If you plan to live with five people, then increase it by a couple of meters.
- Utility room. This could be a boiler room or a storage room. It is enough to allocate 3-5 square meters for it. In any case, this is largely determined by the habits of the owners of the house.
- Garage. If you still decide to make a garage, then it requires 20-25 square meters. There should also be a place not only for the car, but also for other things, for example, tools and so on.
What is the appropriate house area for a family of 4 or 5 people: tips
Although the total area of a house for a family of 4-5 people can be determined, people have other questions. For example, how many floors to make, what additional areas, and so on.
In fact, when a house has several floors, it is difficult and expensive to build, unlike one floor with the same area. The slope of the stairs is also important to consider; it should be comfortable. This is even more important if there are elderly people in your family. Again, additional space is needed for the stairs and it does not need to be subtracted from the total area.
It is difficult to organize heating in a house with several floors, but additional doors, as well as insulation, allow you to save on heating.
Instead of the usual second floor, you can make a living area under mansard roof. Special windows will be installed there to make living more comfortable. When the total area of the house is 80-100 square meters, then this option is ideal.
Depending on the total area of the house, a room for a boiler room is planned. If you wish, you can equip a bathhouse or sauna inside the house. If you build them separately, it is more difficult and expensive.
Some want to equip ground floor. Please note that this approach requires large investments. This space is best used for household work.
It is best to build a garage separately. We have already said that 20-25 square meters is enough, but this is only for one car. If you plan to install 2, then the area will already increase to 40 square meters, but no more. Very often the option chosen is a garage under the second floor. This is not very convenient, as many people think, because you will have to create such insulation so that the smell does not enter the house. But this is very expensive and does not always work out.
It is also important to think about the possibility of making extensions to the house. When the children grow up and have their own family, it will be possible to equip them with a separate area with an entrance.
When you choose a suitable area of the house, you should not make a choice only on emotions and try to surprise everyone around with your good financial situation. Be practical and try to think ahead.
Examples of residential building projects for 4 - 5 people
Projects of one-story houses.
One of the first issues when building your own home is choosing the area and size of the house. It is really not an easy task to choose the size of a house, especially if you have not had such experience before. Even if you have already decided how many floors and rooms there will be, the question of the size of the rooms themselves remains open. In this article, we will give you recommendations on how to select the optimal area for your future home, taking into account all your requirements.
Don't go to extremes
Quite often, when planning a future home, developers go to extremes:
- If you have lived long enough in small apartment and have been experiencing a lack of space all your life, then you will want more space. And on this basis, you can plan more rooms than necessary and make their sizes many times larger than required.
- Or you can try to save on everything, including rooms and their area.
Both the first and second options are bad. If you make your home unnecessarily large, you may end up with a lot of unused rooms and a lot of empty space. you will carry extra costs their heating, cleaning, arrangement, and construction itself will be much more expensive.
If you save on everything, you will get a small, cramped house. Most likely, after some time you will not have enough space and you will be forced to complete the premises or build a separate structure for storing various equipment and household items. accessories.
The size of the house must be optimal
To avoid extremes you need to choose exactly optimal size Houses. In fact, what is important is not so much the total area of the house, but the number of rooms and the area of each room.
For example, one family has a house of 150 sq. m., with a very small living room and kitchen, but many bedrooms. Most of them will be used very rarely or never at all and the actual living space they constantly use may be less than 100 square meters. m. While another family lives in a house of 120 sq. m. m. with a large living room and kitchen and the minimum number of bedrooms that they need. They use all the space available to them.
Although the example is crude, it becomes obvious from it that the layout of the future house, its area and the size of the rooms must be approached as responsibly as possible.
How to choose the optimal house size?
Number of rooms
Often used for this classic rule: There must be one more room than the number of permanent residents. This rule can be taken as a basis, but it must be adjusted to the characteristics of your family. If you have small children who currently share a room, consider that they will need separate rooms in the future. Perhaps guests or relatives often come to you and you need to accommodate them somewhere. Take this point into account too. Think about what additional premises you may need: games room, gym, terrace, sauna. If your house has several floors, then keep in mind that each of them must have at least one bathroom.
Try to predict the future of your family and imagine what it will look like in 10-15 years: will your parents or children live with you? Do you plan to replenish? Is anyone planning to move in with you? The answers to all these questions will help you determine the optimal number of rooms.
Room size
- Living room – 25-30 sq. m.
- Dining room – 15-20 sq. m.
- Kitchen – 12-16 sq. m.
- Bedroom for a child with one bed – 12-15 sq. m.
- Double bedroom – 14-25 sq.m. m.
- Bathroom – 6-10 sq.m. m.
- Dressing room - 2-3 sq. m.
- Hallway – 5-8 sq. m.
- Office – 12-15 sq. m.
- Garage for one car – 20-25 sq. m.
- Garage for two cars – 30-40 sq. m.
- Corridors, halls, stairs add another 10-15% of the total area of the rooms.
Of course, this is just an example to make it easier for you to navigate. If you have a clear understanding of the dimensions of a particular room, then you can ignore the dimensions from this example.
In our experience, a house for a standard family of 3-4 people is approximately 120-170 square meters. m. If you live in a house together, then in most cases house designs up to 100 square meters will suit you. m.
Choosing the layout of your future home
Once you select the number and area of rooms, you can already get an idea of the area of the house. Next, you can either draw up a layout yourself based on your family’s experience, or study the layouts of ready-made house projects and choose the one that best suits your requirements.
House layout. The house is made in the Scandinavian tradition of architectural and planning solutions. It consists of 3 bedrooms, a kitchen-living room, a shower room, a bathhouse, a laundry room and a technical room.
The living quarters are separated from the street by a vestibule (S=2 m2). IN climatic conditions In Eastern Siberia its presence is mandatory. Adjacent there is a small technical room (S=2m2), in which it is recommended to install the necessary engineering equipment: by preparation hot water and cold water supply, power supply entry and distribution unit, block supply and exhaust ventilation With additional heating air at 200-300 m 3.
From small hallway(S=4 m2) you can get into the shower room (S=4 m2), combined with a bathroom. It contains a toilet, sink and shower. The presence of a steam room (S=3m2) in the house allows you to save on the construction of a bathhouse. It can be equipped as wood stove, and an electric heater. In conditions of autonomous hot water supply, a bathhouse allows you to save on water heating. In addition, taking a bath per person requires an average of about 200 liters, while taking a shower requires about 50 liters.
From the hallway we enter the public area of the house - the kitchen-living room (S = 23.5 m2). Instead of a steel fireplace, you can install a wood-burning stove here, which can be very convenient in connection with sudden power outages that we experience.
The parents' bedroom (S=17 m2) allows you to place enough a large number of cabinets for storing both casual and seasonal clothes. You can even put it in it small table for laptop.
Children's bedrooms (S = 12.5 m 2) are mirrored relatively each other and are designed, in addition to sleep, also for daytime pastime and completing school lessons.
Next to the kitchen there is a small laundry room (S=3 m2). It is also a vestibule for the “back” exit to the site, so it is more convenient to equip it with glass plastic door. This will help retain heat better and improve lighting. In the laundry room you can organize an entrance to a well-type basement for storing supplies for the winter.
House construction. The house is built with wood frame construction. The frame should be made of boards with a section of 40 x 150 mm, grade 1-2, interior walls– 40 x 100 mm 2-3 grades. OSB-3 boards of format 1220 x 2440 with a thickness of 9 mm are responsible for the spatial rigidity of the structure. Self-adhesive foil polyethylene 5 mm thick was used as a vapor barrier. The windproof function is performed by a diffusion membrane.
The house is designed to use two brands of insulation: Rockwool Lights Butts or URSA Geo Frame .
Strip foundation combined with the construction of floors on the ground. The foundation transmits the pressure of the building to the ground through 50 mm of extruded polystyrene, 200 - 300 mm of crushed stone base and geotextiles.
The design of the upper floor is made according to the attic type. 250 mm of mineral wool insulation was used. The roof has a slope of 18 0. Both metal tiles and corrugated sheets can be used as a covering.
Interior decoration. On the walls there is 12 mm plasterboard. Ceiling – lining 14 mm. It is planned to lay PVC tiles on the floor.
The exterior decoration of the house will include a ventilated façade. We recommend external Aquapenel Knauf 12 mm followed by plastering.
In general, the house can be located on relatively flat plots of northeast, south or southeast orientation.
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I have a dream to build myself a private house within the city, even if it is not the center, but definitely in the city. I sometimes “wander” on the Internet and look at various projects. But how do you understand how much space is needed for a family? After all, you need to choose the optimal sizes, no more, no less, but exactly as much as needed, so how to calculate? You know, there are a couple of calculation methods, today I will share them...
First you need to understand what kind of house you need, this includes the material of the walls, production technology and number of storeys, the presence of a garage, etc. And after that you need to calculate the area.
Everyone chooses the material for themselves; there may be stone or, depending on your taste, color and budget.
The number of storeys is mainly chosen based on the size of the plot - if the plot is large, you can build 1 floor, because you are practically unlimited in terms of land. If there is not enough space, consider 2 or even 3 floors, so the first floor can be made compact and duplicated upstairs. So we got to the square.
For 3 people
Family - two adults (father and mother) and a child. To begin with, I would like to note that we will build a modern house, I mean with all the “necessary” rooms. Ideal project, according to many designers, should have two floors. Here are the rooms there should be:
- The hallway, any room begins with it. A good area for it is 5 square meters.
- Boiler room, heating. Also 5 sq.m. is enough.
- Kitchen. If it is alone, that is, not combined with anything, then 12 sq.m. is enough
- The dining room is sometimes combined with the kitchen. Preferably – 12 sq.m.
- Living room or hall. A comfortable room where you are not ashamed to invite friends, approximately 25 - 30 sq.m.
- Bathroom (if there are two floors, there should be two), each 5 sq.m.
- If three people live, there should be two rooms. That is, parents and child. Comfortable rooms – 15 sq.m.
- An office for work is also desirable. 12 m is quite enough
- Corridors, usually 10% of the total area. SO we have about 14 sq.m.
- Garage. I would like to note that in some projects it is included in the area of the house - 25 sq.m.
Well, let's fill in the area.
5 + 5 + 12 + 12 + 30 + (5 X 2) + (15 X 2) + 12 + 14 + 25 = 155 sq.m.
The house really has the optimal area, which will allow you not to spend too much on heating, but also not to feel cramped. Moreover, I already included a garage for one car in our project, so we got out of the car and immediately went home, this is a big plus.
For 4 people
These are parents and two children. “Just finish one room and that’s it,” you say! This is not always the case. Here the optimal area may be slightly different. And that's why.
YES, you definitely need to add more space for one child, that is + 15 meters. However, for children, designers and psychologists recommend creating another common room, let’s call it a “playroom” in early age and entertaining in the later one. Children can meet their guests there, then friends can stay there overnight, etc. I think you understand. For such a room, 15 sq.m. is again desirable.
Thus, we add 30 meters to our area, the total space is 155 + 30 = 185 sq.m. .
This is the optimal area for 4 people.
Of course, many rich people make their rooms simply huge, 30 or more square meters. This is of course not prohibited, but the areas grow to 300 and 400 meters. But they need to be drowned! Remember this.
I’ll probably end here, I think my thoughts will help you.
As you know, everything is learned by comparison. We look at 30 photos of the house in Scandinavian style, compare, draw conclusions.
Ideal home: what should it be like?
In many glossy magazines we often see huge houses with luxurious spacious rooms that create and maintain an image of luxury, comfort and a certain inaccessibility.
Large areas, hundreds, or even thousands square meters with perfectly matched design idea excite the imagination of ordinary people. However, for most people this is just " beautiful pictures” that have nothing to do with their reality.
When answering the question of what a dream home should be like, everyone will answer differently and will be absolutely right.
The thing is that everyone has their own vision, their own “ideal picture”, based, first of all, on life experience, level of education, financial condition, etc.
Ideal home in Scandinavian style
Using the example of an average European family of four with an average level of income, let’s consider one of the options for the “ideal home”.
House with total area 130 m² located in a small Danish town near the coast North Sea. The year of construction is distant 1927.
The building was acquired as a property, completely restored and renovated.
The interior and exterior decoration of the house, including the interior design, in the opinion of the owners of this home, fully comply with the necessary modern standards, and the level of comfort allows them to confidently tell them that this is exactly the house they once dreamed of and have now made their dream come true.
It should be mentioned that the house is made in Scandinavian style and is quite typical for this region.
And now, in fact, the photos themselves of this “ideal house”.
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Usually people build houses based on their budget. We calculated that a family of four would need a house with an area of about 160 m2. To create something good, you need to take into account not only your parents, but also your children (there are two teenagers in the family). They need large spaces for study or creativity. But parents also need their own territory.
Traditional in style but built to modern standards, this home is designed for a family of four. When the family modeled their daily routine, it turned out that they spent a lot of time together in the kitchen dining table and in the living room. It follows that although there should be a separate place for each family member, the whole family should be comfortably accommodated in one room for socializing, eating and cooking. This option is optimal, since one common room takes up less space than several isolated ones. At the same time, a large room gives the impression of a large space.
As a result of a long discussion of the project, several layout sketches were made. They were discussed in detail with the builders, who gave an approximate assessment of the projects.
Zones common use and individual elements of the house. In the design of the house I wanted to combine elegance and practicality. Window in the attic for internal stairs and the top of the porch visually break the straight line of the roof. Large porch provides shelter in bad weather and hospitably invites you into the house. Immediately to the left behind the front door are shelves, compartments and hangers for clothes and shoes.
The kitchen and living room are parts of one room. The heart of the house is the large room. It is bright and comfortable, as the windows face three sides. in the residential area it is made in the form of a cellular structure of intersecting beams and boards “on edge”, connected into tongue and groove and resting on unfinished beams. This design visually increases the volume of the room, while the built-in ones and the sofa take up space on the floor. less space than free-standing furniture. The ceiling in the living room is slightly higher than usual - 3 m (to the lower planes of the beams).
This increase in height gave a significant increase in the volume of the room. Untreated sheathing bars (75x100 mm) give such a play of light and shadow on the floor beams (150x200 mm) that the latter appear lighter and higher. This ceiling is very attractive and its acoustic properties are higher than those of a ceiling covered with gypsum boards. The center of attraction is the fireplace with a high mantelpiece. All family members can be present in the living-dining room at the same time: two people cook on the “island”-kitchen, two others can sit at a table in the corner. One door opens onto a terrace with a barbecue fireplace on the south side of the house.
Although the large room is the center family life, parents and children have their own premises. Teenagers have the entire second floor at their disposal. Their rooms are separated by a bathroom. The daughter’s room has a “cathedral” ceiling with a window in the roof slope. The bed sits in an alcove, freeing up space for other activities.
Son's room- on the north side of the house. It freely communicates with his studio (which is also the living room), located between two children's rooms. During construction, we had to change the layout of this part of the house: we made two small rooms with a studio-living room, and allocated space in the hall for an extension ladder for the attic. Unexpected win - the window helped to illuminate top part hall
The parents' bedroom on the first floor is of minimal size. Large windows in it seem to “open up” the room. To save space, we had to place the bathroom and sitting area next to each other.
Specified details. The shape of this house is almost exemplary. This is partly similar to houses built in the traditional New England style. The lines of the walls and roof are simple and strict. What stands out from the roof pattern is the staircase window and the top of the porch. The rafters rest on mauerlats at a height of three meters.
Simplicity building forms characteristic of individual elements that make up the “highlight” of the house: windows, external cladding, chimney, supporting beams and interior decoration.
This outer wood paneling has a diamond-shaped pattern, which is repeated on the chimney and on the interior trim of the pediment canopy.
The most expensive (about $6,000) element of the house is the fireplace with chimney. This is the central detail of the house both outside and inside. A large mass of brick surrounding the firebox from the outside is necessary for good exhaust and uniform heat distribution.
Storage rooms and built-in furniture. For small house The question of places to store things, food, etc. is important. Therefore, they try to place pantries in almost all accessible places. Built-in wardrobes provide a benefit in the free space that would be occupied ordinary furniture. For example, the wall frame of an internal staircase made of 50x300 mm boards is perfect for arranging bookshelves.
There is a corner corner built into the kitchen near the window, which takes up less space than regular table with armchairs. Before issuing drawings of benches and sofas to determine correct sizes, their life-size models were made in the workshop.
In order to savings when building a house I had to give up the basement. But it should be taken into account that, unlike a workshop or studio in ready house You can't build a basement.