ᐅ Floor plan of a traditional single-family house on a 700 sqm plot with east-facing access

Hey everyone,

many of you probably know this situation: suddenly there are three of you, and you realize that your current apartment will soon be too small. My wife and I have therefore decided to treat ourselves to a single-family home. We are currently working with the architect we chose to develop the floor plan.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 700 sqm (7,535 sq ft)
No slope
Site occupancy ratio (building coverage ratio): 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full stories; with two full stories, a knee wall is not allowed
Roof style: Gable roof

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: The roof style is fixed as a gable roof. The house should also blend in with neighboring buildings, so a more rectangular than square (town villa) footprint is preferred.
Basement, floors: No basement and no sloping ceilings desired; therefore, two full stories
Number of residents, ages: 3 people aged 35, 30, and 0.3 years; space for an additional child desired
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: Typical needs of a family with two children and no special hobbies. A sufficiently sized utility room to be able to hang laundry indoors in winter. Kitchen large enough to comfortably bake a cake occasionally (currently only a 6 sqm (65 sq ft) kitchen, which is rather tight). We had also considered a home office on the ground floor to avoid guests needing to enter the upper floor, but overall that made the ground floor feel too large.
Office: The office is for home office use, designed for two workstations (usually not used at the same time) and with the possibility to accommodate occasional overnight guests.
Overnight guests per year: None regularly. If our parents or friends want to stay over, we want to have the option to use the office space for this.
Open or closed architecture: We think open layouts look nice, but in everyday life we want practicality, which includes being able to retreat occasionally. Therefore, a large living/dining area with a kitchen that can be at least partially integrated via a large sliding door, while the rest remains rather closed off.
Conservative or modern construction: Modern construction as far as we like it (for example, an open staircase in the living area is currently trendy but we do not like it, and for the “T” layout solution, we find our bathroom too small and cramped).
Open kitchen, kitchen island: The kitchen should not be fully open but with a large sliding door. A kitchen island and dining area directly in the kitchen would be nice.
Number of dining seats: 8+
Fireplace: No fireplace
Music/surround sound wall: Not desired. Besides the TV, a 2.1 sound system will be installed as now, and that’s enough.
Balcony, roof terrace: Not desired
Garage, carport: Carport
Utility garden, greenhouse: We plan a small utility garden — a few raised beds, maybe 1-2 regular beds — but the focus will be a low-maintenance recreational and leisure garden.
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things are desired or not: Each children’s bedroom has an attic ladder leading upward, so the rooms can be expanded upstairs when the kids are teenagers and want more space. We have seen this realized in 2-3 houses and think it’s pretty cool.

House Design
Who designed the plan: Independent architect
What do you especially like? Why? The southwest garden protected from the street. The living room, which is open yet still brings some calm due to the niche and the door that only leads into the dining area. The kitchen has a terrace door that can be unlocked from outside, so groceries can be carried straight into the kitchen. The walk-in closet, which adds visual calmness to the bedroom. Storage space under the stairs. The separation of the technical room and the utility room, allowing the utility room to be kept tidier.
What do you not like? Why? I worry that the bathroom on the ground floor and the office might be somewhat too small. The children’s rooms seem fairly generous with 17 sqm (183 sq ft); 16 sqm (172 sq ft) might have sufficed.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: The architect is handling only phases 1-4 for us. We have not yet decided whether to hire a general contractor or use individual contracts and arrange construction supervision ourselves.
Personal budget limit for the house, including fixtures and fittings: 500k
Preferred heating system: Ground-source heat pump with horizontal trench collector

If you had to give up something, which details/upgrades
- can you do without: We have already dropped the basement and fireplace; we will probably also give up on the “T” layout in the bathroom to avoid making it too dark and cramped.
- cannot do without:

Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner? The plan was created individually based on a questionnaire we completed for the architect.
Which requests were implemented by the architect?
- Carport and shed cover the neighbor’s unsightly prefabricated garage.
- House and carport form a kind of L shape lying down that creates a protected southwest garden.
- Two children’s rooms with at least 15 sqm (161 sq ft) + office
- Kitchen separated from the living/dining area by sliding door
- Long-term option to convert the upper floor into a separate living unit (for flexibility and eligibility for KfW funding for two dwelling units)

What do you think makes the plan particularly good or bad?
Overall, we quite like the plan. We now want to look at details (for example, the walk-in closet slightly larger by about 1 sqm (11 sq ft) so that a low cabinet could fit against the second wall). The windows are not planned yet and were initially placed arbitrarily by the architect.

We are especially looking forward to your open feedback to optimize the plan further before it gets serious and hopefully avoid some mistakes. 😉

Best regards

Mitch404

The ground floor layout is similar in general arrangement, just with a basement added.

You need to be aware that the dining room will be lighter and used more frequently than the living room… we wanted it that way because we hardly ever sit in the living room except when watching TV.

If you want to keep the ground floor layout as it is, I can give you some tips. For example, you should definitely include glass panels in the front door or add a glass element next to it; otherwise, the hallway will be too dark.

Is the kitchen really going to be furnished like that?

For me, the fact that when entering the house you only see a hallway ending in a wall, rather than a room or an open view into the main living area or garden, is a deal-breaker. I keep noticing this whenever I’m somewhere else or when I’m doing my own drawings.
I would extend the imagined living room division further towards the chill-out area, making the dining area larger (at 2.76m (9 feet) it’s already too narrow when the dining table is in use; the bench seating is hardly accessible), and then have a direct view at the end of the hallway into the open entrance of the dining area.

Mitch404 schrieb:

because of the niche and the door that only leads into the dining area, it still brings some quiet.

If you see that as a positive, that’s fine. After all, it’s your house.

I don’t like the kitchen at all. It’s traditionally closed off and very dark. The kitchen lacks windows and natural light. It needs a view of the outdoors and garden with a countertop in front of the window so you can keep an eye on the child. I also don’t see the large sliding door you wanted. I’ve already said what I think about the dining area.

You might want to consider whether you should rather “close off” the living room and create a large open-plan kitchen with dining area.

Moving the stairs further forward toward the entrance could also have advantages, as it would shorten the long hallway and use the gained square meters for an extra living space.

We have a very similar floor plan and orientation – but not by choice, as we have an older building. The kitchen is too narrow to be furnished properly. And I wouldn’t choose a living room facing north either.

ypg schrieb:

For me, the fact that when entering I only see a hallway with a wall “welcoming” me, instead of a room or an open view into the living area or garden, is a no-go. I keep noticing this whenever I’m somewhere else or working on my drawings.

You are right to say "for me."
I would find it extremely unpleasant if every delivery person or anyone at the door could look directly into my house.
That’s why our layout is similar to the original poster’s, and we are very happy with it that way...

Hausbautraum20 schrieb:

...
I would find it extremely distressing if every mail carrier or anyone else at the door could look inside my house.
...

One word would be enough for me to answer this. Unfortunately, it has to be at least five words.

"Frosted glass"