ᐅ Floor Plan Conversion from Two-Family House to Single-Family House – Improvement Suggestions
Created on: 19 Oct 2022 10:11
S
stöckliHello everyone,
This concerns the renovation of a two-family house that is to be used as a single-family home.
Questionnaire:
- Lot size: 750 sqm (8,072 sq ft)
- Slope: no
- Adjacent buildings: no
- Basement: fully cellar
- Number of floors: 2 full stories
- Roof type: gable roof
- Orientation: terrace faces south
- Number of occupants: 2 adults + 2 children
- Open or closed architecture: open
- Open kitchen, kitchen island: peninsula
- Number of dining seats: 6-8
- Fireplace: yes
- Overnight guests per year: 20
- Garage/carport: courtyard and double garage
Current status:
- Two apartments on ground floor/upper floor with almost identical layouts (see old plans)
- The upper floor was renovated a few years ago. We currently live there.
- The ground floor is in an old condition that requires renovation.
- Attic not developed, used as large storage space.
- Basement present with gas central heating
Goal:
Ground floor: Renovate the ground floor so that both floors can be used together like in a single-family home. Connected living/dining area on the ground floor, small guest bathroom and hallway, study. Compare old and new ground floor plans.
Upper floor: The kitchen and dining room will be combined into a children's bedroom. The toilet, bathroom, and hallway are to be combined later into a larger bathroom. Thus, the upper floor will be only for bathroom and children's/bedroom in the future.
Here I am showing you two variants, which mainly differ in the arrangement of guest bathroom and hallway. I have marked the two waste pipes with red circles.
Planning origin: draft from an architect, refinement by me.
What I particularly like: kitchen and dining room on the south side directly adjacent to the terrace, larger dining area, combined kitchen and dining room.
Specifically, I would like your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
What do you think about placing the kitchen and dining room on the terrace side at the front on the ground floor, as shown in the new plans? Water and sewer connections for the kitchen are already available there. The walls between the old hallway/bedroom and children's room/bedroom (see old ground floor plan) would be removed for this. A structural engineer has already approved this.
The staircase must remain where it is; moving it would require very extensive work.
The kitchen layout is just a proposal. The kitchen can be arranged differently as well. The old door between kitchen and hallway can be bricked up depending on the kitchen layout.
I am still quite uncertain about the hallway/guest bathroom area. Which of the two plan variants do you find better? Do you have other variants or ideas?
Is there anything I might have overlooked? Are there any improvements? Anything you dislike?
I hope the information is sufficient. I look forward to your feedback.
This concerns the renovation of a two-family house that is to be used as a single-family home.
Questionnaire:
- Lot size: 750 sqm (8,072 sq ft)
- Slope: no
- Adjacent buildings: no
- Basement: fully cellar
- Number of floors: 2 full stories
- Roof type: gable roof
- Orientation: terrace faces south
- Number of occupants: 2 adults + 2 children
- Open or closed architecture: open
- Open kitchen, kitchen island: peninsula
- Number of dining seats: 6-8
- Fireplace: yes
- Overnight guests per year: 20
- Garage/carport: courtyard and double garage
Current status:
- Two apartments on ground floor/upper floor with almost identical layouts (see old plans)
- The upper floor was renovated a few years ago. We currently live there.
- The ground floor is in an old condition that requires renovation.
- Attic not developed, used as large storage space.
- Basement present with gas central heating
Goal:
Ground floor: Renovate the ground floor so that both floors can be used together like in a single-family home. Connected living/dining area on the ground floor, small guest bathroom and hallway, study. Compare old and new ground floor plans.
Upper floor: The kitchen and dining room will be combined into a children's bedroom. The toilet, bathroom, and hallway are to be combined later into a larger bathroom. Thus, the upper floor will be only for bathroom and children's/bedroom in the future.
Here I am showing you two variants, which mainly differ in the arrangement of guest bathroom and hallway. I have marked the two waste pipes with red circles.
Planning origin: draft from an architect, refinement by me.
What I particularly like: kitchen and dining room on the south side directly adjacent to the terrace, larger dining area, combined kitchen and dining room.
Specifically, I would like your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
What do you think about placing the kitchen and dining room on the terrace side at the front on the ground floor, as shown in the new plans? Water and sewer connections for the kitchen are already available there. The walls between the old hallway/bedroom and children's room/bedroom (see old ground floor plan) would be removed for this. A structural engineer has already approved this.
The staircase must remain where it is; moving it would require very extensive work.
The kitchen layout is just a proposal. The kitchen can be arranged differently as well. The old door between kitchen and hallway can be bricked up depending on the kitchen layout.
I am still quite uncertain about the hallway/guest bathroom area. Which of the two plan variants do you find better? Do you have other variants or ideas?
Is there anything I might have overlooked? Are there any improvements? Anything you dislike?
I hope the information is sufficient. I look forward to your feedback.
I quite like the first solution. The hallway is not too large – it’s more the guest bathroom that feels big. In my opinion, the open hallway feels a bit uncomfortable here. I would separate the entrance area and hallway from the living area using drywall partitions.
I don’t like your changes. They turn the home office into a narrow corridor, which doesn't need that much space. The cloakroom is much more important.
I don’t like your changes. They turn the home office into a narrow corridor, which doesn't need that much space. The cloakroom is much more important.
The wardrobe area shouldn’t be too large!
However, I would suggest swapping the guest/office and kitchen spaces in terms of layout (and then also swap the dining and living areas). You already have the utility connections in the (old) kitchen, which can be used. Where you’re currently planning the kitchen, it would require setting up new connections, which is more work and therefore more expensive. Also, having the guest/office room there would provide a separation between the entrance area and the living space, which I personally prefer.
I also don’t think the access to the guest/office through the living area is ideal.
Just a thought: grandma visits, goes to bed earlier, but needs to use the restroom again while you might still be sitting with neighbors in the living room. That’s an awkward situation for both parties...
What have you planned for the stairwell? As it stands, it doesn’t seem connected to the living area, probably unheated and feels more like a hospital corridor, right? If I were designing a connection between the upper and ground floors, I would integrate the stairwell into the overall design and possibly keep it open to the wardrobe area. Is anything planned there?
In my opinion, simply redesigning the two floors separately is too limited – they want and should be connected in a way that you don’t feel like you’re walking through a cold stairwell from the sleeping area to the living area.
However, I would suggest swapping the guest/office and kitchen spaces in terms of layout (and then also swap the dining and living areas). You already have the utility connections in the (old) kitchen, which can be used. Where you’re currently planning the kitchen, it would require setting up new connections, which is more work and therefore more expensive. Also, having the guest/office room there would provide a separation between the entrance area and the living space, which I personally prefer.
I also don’t think the access to the guest/office through the living area is ideal.
Just a thought: grandma visits, goes to bed earlier, but needs to use the restroom again while you might still be sitting with neighbors in the living room. That’s an awkward situation for both parties...
What have you planned for the stairwell? As it stands, it doesn’t seem connected to the living area, probably unheated and feels more like a hospital corridor, right? If I were designing a connection between the upper and ground floors, I would integrate the stairwell into the overall design and possibly keep it open to the wardrobe area. Is anything planned there?
In my opinion, simply redesigning the two floors separately is too limited – they want and should be connected in a way that you don’t feel like you’re walking through a cold stairwell from the sleeping area to the living area.
Climbee schrieb:
You already have the connections in the (old) kitchen that can be used. Where you are currently planning the kitchen, the effort to install the connections is greater (= higher costs). Also, the guest/office room would create a separation between the entrance area and the living space, which I personally prefer.
That's exactly what I was thinking too. On the other hand, the kitchen by the terrace is obviously nicer. How difficult is it to run the piping? It’s not just water, after all. The stove connection is often a specific cable that isn’t usually routed multiple times throughout the house.stöckli schrieb:
Water and wastewater connections for the kitchen are already available thereSorry, I missed that.But still: I don’t think it’s desirable for guests to have to pass through the living area to get there...
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