ᐅ Single-Family Home Floor Plans Around 160 sqm – What Are Your Experiences?

Hello,

My wife and I purchased a plot last year (garden development according to amended zoning plan) marked with number 2018 on the plan, and we now want to move the planning forward. We’re not sure if we will start the construction immediately, but we would at least like to complete the planning phase. The plan is oriented north, meaning the house would be almost aligned north/south.

Zoning Plan / Restrictions
612 sqm (about 6,570 sq ft) + driveway (approx. 85 sqm (915 sq ft))
Slope -> no
Floor area ratio -> 0.3
Site occupancy index -> 0.6
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries -> see drawing (3 m (10 ft) setback, garage allowed on the boundary, max. 15 m (49 ft), of which 9 m (30 ft) continuous) Location of the house on the plot is flexible.

Edge development -> no
Number of parking spaces -> no specification
Number of floors -> 2
Roof type -> minimum pitch 15°, no specific style, but no flat roof
Architectural style -> not specified
Orientation -> no requirement
Maximum height/limits -> max. ridge height 9 m (30 ft)
Special noise protection requirements due to nearby highway and local road

Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type -> classic detached house, gable roof, solid brick construction
Basement, floors -> basement desired but probably not realistic, 1.5 floors
Number and age of occupants -> currently 3 (ages 32, 28, 1); planning for 3 children’s bedrooms
Room requirements, ground floor and upper floor ->
Ground floor: utility room, kitchen, dining, living, guest toilet with shower, guest room/playroom
Upper floor: master bedroom, 3 children’s rooms, storage room, bathroom
Office: family use or home office? -> both (both adults work from home partly but not full-time)
Overnight guests per year -> negligible
Open or closed layout -> kitchen/dining open and spacious, living room smaller and separate
Conservative or modern style -> conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island -> open kitchen yes, kitchen island if it fits
Number of dining seats -> 6-8 (extendable table)
Fireplace -> no
Music/sound system wall -> yes if possible
Balcony, roof terrace -> not required
Garage, carport -> combination of both -> car does not need covered parking, but we want a closed space for bikes, workshop, etc.
Garden, greenhouse -> lawn
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine, including reasons why certain things should or should not be ->
- For us, the kitchen/dining area is the central hub, also with guests present. The living room should be a relatively private area.
- Children’s rooms do not need to be very large. The master bedroom is the least important room for us.
- No bathtub required in the bathroom.
- We definitely want a second entrance where the kids (and we) can leave dirty shoes, etc.
- The main entrance is intended for guests.
- The utility/technical room should preferably be outside the main house to save “valuable” living space and expensive square meters. Is this sensible?
- The staircase should not be directly next to the front door. In our current semi-detached house it is, and dirt gets dragged upstairs all the time.
- The floor plan can be designed so that it’s theoretically possible to create two apartments (ground floor and upper floor) in the future.

House Design
Who prepared the plan:
- Architect (2nd round)

What do you particularly like? Why? -> We really like the room layout, especially the upper floor is used very efficiently and rooms are evenly distributed
What do you dislike? Why? -> The area around the utility room/side entrance/carport/garage is not ideal yet
Price estimate according to architect/planner: -> rough estimate about $400,000
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: $500,000 due to interest rate increase
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump and controlled residential ventilation

If you had to give up anything, which features or fittings
- could you do without: so far nothing, the plan is not very detailed yet
- cannot live without: -

Why is the design as it is now? For example
-> After discussions with the architect about our wishes, the current design emerged. Since securing the plot over a year ago, we have reviewed numerous floor plans online and evaluated their pros and cons.

What is the key question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Do you have any concrete suggestions for improvement? How wide should the gap between the house and north boundary be, to comfortably park a car and still access the garage?

Thank you very much for your ideas
Best regards

Solid floor plan – this is how you can build.

Some (follow-up) questions regarding the wishes:
- A second entrance seems unnecessary to me. I’m not quite sure how daily life is supposed to work in that case. Everyone can just dump their dirt in the utility room and leave it there, while the expensive Persian rug lies next to the main entrance to impress guests? Or is the utility room tiled up to the ceiling and can be hosed down if needed? Where are jackets and shoes supposed to be hung, at entrance 1 or entrance 2? The technical equipment is placed separately to save valuable space, yet a tunnel entrance is built next to the main entrance, which in my opinion is completely unnecessary? Hmm.
- Three children and no bathtub? That feels wrong. Are the toddlers supposed to shower instead of happily splashing around with their rubber duck? Aside from that, this giant shower looks very cold and uncomfortable. It feels like being at a swimming pool. That’s not pleasant.
- The window and WC back wall situation in the guest bathroom looks strange so far. Half-height walls are usually shown in a different color. But this is rather unimportant.
- The houses built so far look as if they have to be built exactly on a building line. Are you sure this is not the case for you?

Nice floor plan. I like it, although if you need to watch your budget, I would first plan for two children's bedrooms and an office, and leave out the open space. Also, is the architect still estimating 2500 €/sqm (around 230 USD/sqft)? Currently, 3000 €/sqm (about 280 USD/sqft) is more realistic. I would have also tried to connect the guest bathroom with a shower to the side entrance with the mudroom, if you’re including such a space. That way, muddy children or dogs can be rinsed off immediately, without having to go through the guest hallway first.

K a t j a schrieb:

Solid floor plan – that’s how you build.
More like some (follow-up) questions about your wishes:
- I think a second entrance is unnecessary. I’m not clear how daily life would work with it. In the utility room, everyone can just drop their dirt and leave it there, while next door at the main entrance lies the expensive Persian rug to impress guests? Or is the utility room tiled all the way to the ceiling and can be hosed down if needed? Where are the coats and shoes supposed to hang, by entrance 1 or entrance 2? The technical equipment is moved out separately to avoid wasting valuable space, and then there’s a tunnel entrance next to the main entrance, which in my opinion is completely unnecessary? Hmm.
- Three children and no bathtub? That feels wrong. Are the little ones meant to shower instead of happily splashing around in the water with their rubber duck? Apart from that, this enormous shower looks very cold and uncomfortable. It feels like being at a public pool. That’s not nice.
- The window/toilet back wall situation in the guest bathroom looks odd so far. Half-height walls are usually shown in a different color. But that’s less important.
- The houses built so far look like they have to be built along a building line. Are you sure that’s not the case for your lot?

-> We are still not completely happy with the design of the utility room/second entrance either, thanks for the suggestions.
-> We are sure we don’t need a bathtub, but the shower does seem quite large, so we’ll see what else is possible.
-> There is an earlier draft with a better layout for the utility room/guest bathroom, where this is solved more efficiently.
-> The blue-black marking shows the building boundary, not a building line. Since all the other houses are from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, all street-facing plots are already built on. The development plan was updated earlier this year to allow for infill development.

One more thing to mention: for two future apartments, the open space would have to be removed and the staircase rotated. The guest toilet and utility room would need to switch places and the guest toilet might be quite large. This has not been fully considered yet.

markusla schrieb:

We are definitely sure that we don’t need a bathtub,

say those who haven’t yet had to nurse sore muscles from gardening. Or need to soak a blanket or other laundry. But I’m tired of telling people what they need or don’t. You build your first house for your enemy.

markusla schrieb:

We definitely want a second entrance where the children (and we) can leave our dirty shoes, etc.
- The "main entrance" is then intended for guests.

I’ll take this sentence as a reason to agree with @K a t j a’s post. This secondary hallway doesn’t make sense.

markusla schrieb:

The staircase should not be right next to the front door. That’s how it is currently in our semi-detached house, and you always track dirt from the front door into the upper floor.

It’s the same now: dirt is carried all the way to the wardrobe cabinet… or where are the shoes taken off? Should that happen at the secondary entrance? Right next to the laundry where the whitewashing is done?

markusla schrieb:

How large should the distance between the house and the northern boundary be, so that it is still comfortable to get into the garage beside a parked car?

Which garage do you mean? Please draw your house on the plot. Where is the driveway for the mentioned 85m² (915 sq ft)?

Otherwise, I find the floor plan buildable and acceptable.