ᐅ Suggestions and ideas for our floor plans are welcome.

Hello everyone,

now the post in the right place...

We are already in the planning phase and have had several appointments.
However, it seems like they don’t really want to listen to what we want...
I gave specific requirements, but then we receive floor plans that don’t match those.

I have also looked at dozens of floor plans online, but they are either too large (budget) or don’t fit the orientation...

Here is our information:

Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 625m² (6729 sq ft)
Slope: approx. 2m (6.5 ft) over the length
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: none specified
Building setback lines: 3m (10 ft) from neighboring properties
Edge building: with utility building (garage)
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: none specified
Roof style: none specified
Architectural style: none specified
Orientation: southeast
Maximum height / limits: with roof pitch 0 – 27° (0 – 27°): eave height max. 6.0m (20 ft), ridge height max. 8.5m (28 ft)
No neighbor to the south! Nature reserve

Builder requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: basement plus two full floors
Number of occupants, ages: 3 (35, 25, baby soon born)
Space needed on ground floor and upper floor: from 70m² (750 sq ft)
Office: family use --> guest room with double bed and wardrobe (health-related precaution)
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern design: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes, yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: the TV wall
Balcony, roof terrace: not needed
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: garden
Other:
- Front door with side panel
- Staircase not directly at the front door
- Shower bathroom on ground floor
- Cloakroom (to avoid dozens of shoes and coats in the hallway)
- No “corridor-like hallway” (we currently have that in the apartment... dark and very narrow for two people), should feel open
- Walk-in closet on upper floor
- Master bedroom not next to children’s room
- Kitchen wish from wife: U-shape, front part as counter
- Pantry not necessary
- Small utility room on ground floor would be good
- Entrance via garage would be good
- Open to staircase style
- Garage should be on the northeast side

House design
Who made the plans:
- 2x planners from construction company
- 1x architect
What don’t we like? Why? Does not fit our requirements we gave...
Price estimate according to architect/planners: 350,000 - 408,000
Personal price limit for house including flooring and walls: 380,000
Preferred heating system: district heating - underfloor heating

If you had to give up something, on which details or expansions?
- can give up: fireplace (might be installed later)
- cannot give up: shower bathroom and guest room on ground floor

Why does the current design look the way it does?
I assume it’s a standard design from the planner
Which of our wishes were implemented by the architect?
Not really

What is the most important / fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?

About the floor plans:
Ground floor from architect: laundry room upstairs despite info about basement; kitchen in wrong place according to orientation; cloakroom forgotten.
Ground floor version 1 by developer: all requirements forgotten, tiny front door, tiny hallway, utility room, looks uninspired (this is the second draft!)
Ground floor version 2 by developer: garage (in my opinion) on wrong side, bad sun orientation, also looks bleak...

I believe the kitchen should be on the sunny side in the middle of the house and the living/dining area to the left, like an L layout... This way you would fully benefit from the sun, right? With a large window wall on the northern corner of the house then...

When I try to draw it myself, it doesn’t look very good due to my lack of drawing skills...
Unfortunately, it’s also bleak and boring :-(
You should be happy to come @Home for several years, right?

I somehow lack a spark of inspiration here,...
Maybe some of you can give us tips to make it more dynamic.

Your ideas are surely better than mine

Thanks

PS: Hope I forgot nothing

You really can’t boast about the designs. There are better ones out there... The plot itself seems quite nice and has potential for expansion, except for the slope.
Can you describe the slope in more detail, or better yet, mark it on a plan? How does it run?

The single-family house slopes downward from the northeast to the southwest... basically the same orientation as the plot (top right to bottom left).

Now you know why I'm asking for advice... somehow, it doesn't really excite us, and we’re not good at making drawings.

I like the architect’s design the best, but I would swap the kitchen and the guest room....

Then it would look a bit more like the builder’s version.....

But now your preferences would need to be known:

I think it’s good that the utility room is separated from all the other rooms here, but I don’t know your upper floor.

Do you want to enter the house directly through the garage, yes or no?

New attempt, I was no longer able to edit the post above:

I prefer the architect’s design the most, but I would swap the kitchen and guest room as you already mentioned yourself… especially since you have such a great view of the nature reserve there, I would rather have that from the kitchen than from a guest room which I probably wouldn’t use much during the first 20 years while I’m healthy…

Then it looks a bit more like the developer’s version…

But we would need to know your preferences better now:

I like that the utility room is separated here from all other rooms, but I don’t know your upper floor… Have you set a budget (this could be why the basement was left out, otherwise why a utility room?)

You wrote, and I just saw above, that you want to enter the house through the garage, so you would need a mix of the proposals…

Sorry, I don’t quite understand the plot yet. How will you access it with cars? The road seems to end a bit before the property. Will it be extended? Or did I miss something?