ᐅ Comments and feedback on the floor plan layout are welcome.

neo-sciliar schrieb:

Thanks for the tip about the hallway width.

That’s exactly where my problem lies... I can’t find a suitable floor plan for a bungalow that I can extend so that a small space also appears on the upper floor. And all of that still affordable...

Wow, I just can’t imagine that for myself, so that’s where my ideas end. I know from online sources and various home builders some really great floor plans—sometimes private plus guest areas, separate office, with a small granny flat, etc.—which could likely be nicely adapted by an architect here. In most cases, extra living space can also be created on the upper floor by using a smaller staircase, for example... or by adding a separate wing on the ground floor, since your current plan won’t be a cheap model anyway.

Somehow, I fear you have a fixed and unchangeable idea in your mind that nobody has ever built or planned before. You probably won’t find that anywhere.

Maybe you could post your list of priorities and building requirements here and virtually start a planning contest—honestly meant. I believe you would receive some great floor plans, either based on existing templates or newly designed.

Offering a bottle of champagne or something else as a prize would be interesting. But your priorities are definitely very important.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

Ufff, I can’t really imagine that for myself, so that’s where my ideas end.
I know of some really great floor plans from the internet and various house providers, sometimes with separate private and guest areas, an office, a small granny flat, etc., which an architect could probably nicely adapt here. In most cases, additional living space can also be created upstairs, for example with a smaller staircase... or a separate wing on the ground floor, since your current plan won’t be a cheap model anyway.
Somehow, I fear you have a fixed, unchangeable idea in your head that no one has built or planned before. You probably won’t find that anywhere.
Maybe you could post your list of priorities and building requirements here and basically start a design contest, honestly meant.
I think you’ll get some great floor plans, either based on existing templates or custom designed.
Offering a bottle of champagne or something like that as a reward... that would be interesting. But clearly your priorities are very important.

Hi, that’s a really good idea, if you’re serious. It won’t fail because of the bottle of champagne – maybe also an Amazon voucher.

So, I’ll try to write down my (our) requirements, even though it’s not that easy.

- The plot, with dimensions, neighboring buildings, and building envelope, is shown in the attachment. South is at the bottom, with the street there (absolutely quiet, cul-de-sac). To the north and east is forest. Construction is still ongoing in the northwest.
- Family situation: children will soon move out. They’re usually away and each needs a sleeping space.
- Rooms: living room, dining room, kitchen, shower bathroom (no bathtub, but a large shower), separate toilet, office, sufficient storage space (wardrobe of about 8 meters (26 feet) plus whatever else is needed), two (small) youth bedrooms, master bedroom, guest bed.
- Kitchen access to the terrace facing south
- Kitchen/dining area separated from living room, or at least with the option that one person cooks while another watches TV, or one has visitors while the other watches TV.
- Our everyday life revolves around the kitchen/dining area.
- At least prepared to be able to live there in old age. That’s hopefully a while away and I understand it’s hard to plan, but I want to try.
- I love stairs.
- My wife loves an open space (void) above the dining area.
- The living area size will probably be between 170 and 200 square meters (1,830–2,150 square feet).
- No attic (high knee wall, roof pitch 18°–22°, visible roof structure up to the ridge).
- Double carport on the west side, next to that ugly (some might like it) utility building.
- Front door either under the carport or facing the street.

I’m really open to new ideas. I’m a complete beginner. And I’m very grateful for suggestions. I get enough harsh criticism at home from the kids.

Best regards, Andreas

P.S. I’ve probably forgotten something important to us. Feel free to ask. Links to great floor plans are also very welcome.

Oh, a bungalow would be nice now, and the lady of the house loves open spaces and exposed roof undersides. These are similar preferences to those of @blaupuma (where is he, by the way?) – maybe the Hauscompagnie would be a good fit then?

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neo-sciliar schrieb:

Hi, that’s a really great idea if you are serious about it. It won’t fail for lack of champagne—maybe also an Amazon gift card.

So, I’ll try to write down my (our) requirements, even if it doesn’t seem all that simple.

- The plot with dimensions, neighboring buildings, and the building envelope is attached. South is at the bottom, where the street is located (very quiet, dead-end). Forest borders the north and east. Construction is still ongoing in the northwest.
- Family situation: children will soon move out. They usually travel and both need a place to sleep.
- Rooms: living room, dining room, kitchen, shower bathroom without a bathtub but with a large shower, toilet, office, sufficient storage space (8 meters (26 feet) of wardrobe plus whatever else accumulates), 2 (small) youth bedrooms, master bedroom, guest bed.
- Kitchen access to the terrace facing south.
- Kitchen/dining separate from living, or options so that one can cook while another watches TV, or one entertains guests while another watches TV.
- Our everyday life revolves around the kitchen/dining area.
- At least planned so that it can be adapted for aging in place. Hopefully that will still take a while; I know you really can’t plan it completely, but I’m willing to try.
- I especially love stairs.
- My wife loves an open space (void) above the dining area.
- As for the size of the living area, I think we will land between 170 and 200 square meters (1,830 and 2,150 square feet).
- Without an attic (high knee wall, roof pitch 18°-22°, exposed roof structure up to the ridge).
- Double carport on the west side, next to that ugly utility building (others may like it, but not us).
- Front door either under the carport or facing the street.

I’m really open to new ideas. I’m a complete beginner. And I’m really grateful for suggestions. I get plenty of harsh criticism at home from the kids.

Regards, Andreas

P.S. I’ve probably forgotten one or two things that are important to us. Feel free to ask. Links to great floor plans are also very welcome.

Maybe you should start a new thread for this? It’s just a quick idea; I don’t know if it will catch on.
Maybe you could increase participation in such a floor plan competition significantly by offering a 2–7% commission of the construction costs as a prize.
I personally think that would be a silly idea, but as long as I don’t have to pay for it, it sounds good to me and also seems promising.
... maybe it will work even without that—

neo-sciliar schrieb:

Family situation is: kids will soon be moving out. Usually on the go, both need a place to sleep.

....but in my opinion, they don’t need two separate rooms as occasional guests. One room with two beds would be fine.

neo-sciliar schrieb:

(8-meter (26 feet) closet plus whatever else comes up, 2 (small) youth rooms, bedroom, guest bed.

I’m speechless. You’d definitely need a decent house width, otherwise one-third of that monster closet would stick out of the house. Are you a fashion icon or just a collector? Especially the side note “plus whatever else comes up” alongside that monster piece really blows my mind. E-I-G-H-T meters (26 feet) plus X!

neo-sciliar schrieb:

or the possibilities that one person cooks while the other watches TV, or one has visitors while the other watches TV.

Put the TV in the guest room and the problem is solved; then you can keep the open-plan living space. You could still have a second TV outlet in the living room, but this would solve it. This worst-case scenario rarely happens or never at all, so I would never reserve rooms just for that, only want a fallback option.

neo-sciliar schrieb:

at least prepared so that it can be lived in at an older age. Hopefully, that will be some time off, and I realize you can’t really plan for that, but I can try – I just love stairs right now.

For that, a spacious walk-in shower would be ideal; a bathtub isn’t necessarily required. I feel the same about stairs; in that case, they would need to be a nice feature.

neo-sciliar schrieb:

In terms of living area size, I think we’ll end up between 170 and 200 square meters (1800 and 2150 square feet).

That seems too large to me; it can be done with 150–155 square meters (1600–1670 square feet). We have similar requirements but decided not to exceed that size, also for cost reasons, especially considering aging in place. A size of 110–120 square meters (1180–1290 square feet) plus a garden house for guests and similar could also be feasible and sufficient. The “riff-raff.”

neo-sciliar schrieb:

Double carport on the west side, a hideous (others might like it) electricity box there.

....or simply place it where it makes functional sense (including the front door). I’m sure the electricity box could be disguised in some other way as well.

neo-sciliar schrieb:

I’m really open to new ideas. I’m really a layperson. And I’m really grateful for suggestions. I get harsh criticism from my kids at home anyway.

Same here. With kids, I’d say they should be allowed to eat anything but not interfere everywhere; otherwise, off to the garden house or build their own! Though it might also be interesting to hear what criticism they actually have.

neo-sciliar schrieb:

- Family situation: children will soon be moving out. They are usually away and both need a place to sleep.
- Kitchen access to the south-facing terrace.
- Kitchen/dining area separated from the living room, or at least the option for one person to cook while another watches TV, or one has guests while the other watches TV.
- Our daily life mainly revolves around the kitchen/dining area.
- I really love stairs.
- My wife loves an open space above the dining room.

Bungalow, straight staircase, open space, children's rooms for children who no longer live at home...

Take a look at floor plans offered by home builders, you can find 150sqm (1,615 sq ft) bungalows with 2 children's rooms or 1 children’s room and 1 office. For the 2 nights at Christmas when both children occasionally visit together, one of them can sleep on a mattress on the floor. If you want a second floor, also check out split-level designs, since you don’t actually need much space upstairs.

Bungalows:
For example, the Rensch-Haus Liberty M has a room divider between the living room and dining area; the kitchen is set slightly apart.
Or the Weberhaus mylife 400. You could insert a wall between the kitchen and living room so you can install a nice galley kitchen, and the living room remains quiet—even if you don’t extend the wall all the way up and leave a nice open pass-through to the dining area.

I’m not a big fan of fully open kitchens, but my experience shows: once you cannot see the cook anymore (because the kitchen is around the corner or behind a short partition wall), it hardly bothers anyone.

Or with 2 stories, then upstairs 2 rooms and a small shower bathroom—one of the rooms for guests—I would keep this one fairly small, about 10sqm (108 sq ft) is enough for a bed and a shelf. The other room can be larger, serving as your home theater/man cave, equipped with a pull-out sofa bed, making it your “backup guest room.” That way you can watch TV there when your wife starts a loud cooking session or invites her friends downstairs for a wine evening.