ᐅ Floor Plan – Seeking Tips and Ideas from Experts

Development Plan / Restrictions

Plot Size	1700 m² (1,830 yd²)
Slope	Yes, but only in the garden area
Floor Area Ratio (FAR)	160 m² (1,722 yd²) (see plan)
Floor Space Index (FSI)	See plan
Building envelope, building line and boundary	See plan
Edge development	See plan
Number of parking spaces on the property	2
Number of floors	Basement, Ground floor, Upper floor
Roof type	Gable roof
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum heights / restrictions, maximum ridge height	Unknown

Client Requirements

Architectural style, roof type, building type	Single-family house
Basement, number of floors	Basement yes, ground floor, upper floor
Number of occupants, ages	2 adults (32 & 33), possible 2 children
Office: family use or home office?	Home office
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor	Living area + kitchen, guest WC, storage room, office, bedroom, dressing room, 2 children’s rooms, bathroom
Occasional overnight guests per year	Max. 1
Open or closed architecture	Living area open, rest mostly closed
Conservative or modern construction	Generally balanced but leaning towards modern
Number of dining seats	6-8
Fireplace	Yes
Music / stereo wall	No
Balcony, roof terrace	No
Garage, carport	Garage
Kitchen garden, greenhouse	Garden
Special notes	We would like to enlarge the office a bit so it could later be used as a bedroom, in case we want to live on one floor as parents

House Design

Designed by	Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?	The plot itself is wonderfully idyllic and the terrace and living-dining area are oriented towards nature.
What do you dislike? Why?	The office might be too small. Unsure if the living-dining area is too small as well (perhaps some clever adjustments could optimize space). We are still unsure about the kitchen layout, which type of kitchen fits best here and how much space it requires. The staircase is too large. The basement has not been discussed in detail yet, but is planned without an external entrance – we consider an external entrance essential and would appreciate opinions from the forum here.
Estimated cost according to architect/designer	~ 3000 € per m² of living space
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings	No limit, but aiming to stay within 600,000 €
Preferred heating technology	Heat pump

If you have to compromise, on which details/expansions
-Can you compromise: Honestly, we don’t want to compromise on anything
-Can’t compromise: See above

Why has the design developed as it is now? e.g.,
Standard design from the planner? Roughly yes, with minor changes by us
Which requests were implemented by the architect? Partially

What makes the design particularly good or bad in your opinion? see 130 characters summary
No comment

What is the main/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?

Our requirements have basically been implemented as described above, but we are unsure if living-dining area and office could benefit from a few extra square meters, ideally through smart redesigns. We would also like a narrower staircase. We like the upper floor overall. The basement has not been planned in detail yet, but the question of an external entrance is open. We appreciate any ideas and input as we are quite inexperienced, and the experts here have already contributed great suggestions.

The office would be quite small even without a sleeping area. Depending on how often you work from home, I would definitely make it larger. Do you need two workstations?

Having the bedroom as a passageway to the walk-in closet could disturb someone who is still sleeping. Is access to the bedroom through the walk-in closet intended?

There are some nice solutions. However, I just can’t get on board with it.

Is the entrance on the east side?

The kitchen, as drawn, really doesn’t work. It’s quite problematic. There is no work triangle; instead, there are deficiencies and wasted space. A pantry that is awkwardly inserted disrupts the whole nice area, which could otherwise function well as a kitchen.

The hallway seems too dark to me, and the entrance area is not very inviting.

You can’t just reduce the width of the staircase without making it longer, because the missing steps have to go somewhere. Perhaps a standard double-turn staircase would be a better alternative?

The office/guest room is now only the size of your dressing room. That room would need to be at least twice as large to meet your standards later on. The guest bathroom does not meet the requirements for a regularly used bathroom—especially for later years.

Forget about the idea of leaving the upper floor unused in old age, because then you would also have to abandon the basement. You don’t do that to yourself or the house; you would sell it instead. Build for the next 20 years and that’s fine... If you remain healthy for another 20 years, it’s normal and acceptable to reuse the children’s rooms for yourself or your grandchildren.

For the reasons mentioned above, I would also avoid planning the bedroom as a walk-through room.

Given the property size, I wouldn’t build a complicated or impractical basement. Ultimately, this contradicts the idea of designing the house for “now and old age.”

Otherwise, the plan is doable, but rather uninspiring.

Floor space ratio and plot ratio refer to different concepts, specifically the building density of the property. Basically, you have not provided any details from the land use template of the development plan here. Designing the office as a bedroom for an elderly person is a common naive mistake. The staircase affects the entire design; in my opinion, its step rhythm is only tolerable for people without a sense of rhythm. This design flaw would have been discarded by me already during the preliminary draft. I would swap the positions of the toilet and the shower. "Slope, but only garden area" is too vague a description to provide meaningful suggestions. I do not follow the idea of including a basement here. Nowadays, I would not install a fireplace anymore. The load-bearing walls are located unfavorably.

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Osnabruecker schrieb:

The office would be quite small even without a sleeping area. Depending on how often you work from home, I would definitely enlarge it. Do you need two workstations?

Having the bedroom as a passageway to the dressing room might disturb someone who is still sleeping. Is access to the bedroom through the dressing room intended?

First of all, thanks so much for all your input—it's amazing how quickly we are getting feedback here. Maybe I should mention that we are still in the early planning stages and have basically just created the third floor plan with only minor changes compared to the initial one. The staircase—which we are not happy with—is included, but we definitely want to change that.

It is also important to say that our terrace currently faces a peaceful woodland area with wildlife crossing, which is why it is oriented to the west.
I will be working from home more often in the future, so we are aiming for about 10 m² (108 sq ft) for the office.
Our idea now is the following:
We extend the side between the office and garage by enough to gain 2 m² (22 sq ft), which, according to my rough calculation, should be about 0.5 m (20 inches). Then we should also be able to separate the pantry from the kitchen since it’s about 2 m² (22 sq ft) as well. What do you think about this?

We will reconsider the dressing room situation more carefully.

ypg schrieb:

Some aspects are handled quite nicely. Still, I can’t really get on board with it.
Is the entrance on the east side?
The kitchen, as drawn, simply doesn’t work. It’s really, really bad. There’s no functional work triangle; instead, there are deficiencies and wasted spaces. The pantry, awkwardly placed, disrupts the whole nice room that could actually be used well as a kitchen.
The hallway seems too dark to me, and the entrance area doesn’t feel welcoming.
You can’t just make the staircase narrower without making it longer, because the missing steps have to go somewhere. Perhaps a regular double-half-turn staircase would be an alternative?
The office/guest room is now the size of your dressing room. That room would need to be at least twice as large to meet your future standards. The guest bathroom does not meet the requirements for a regularly used bathroom—especially not for older age.
Forget the idea of letting the upper floor become unused as you get older, because then you’d also have to shut down the basement. That’s something you and the house should avoid, and instead sell the property. Build for the next 20 years and that’s enough... If you stay healthy for another 20 years, that’s normal and it’s fine if you then reclaim the children's rooms for yourselves or your grandchildren.

For the reasons mentioned above, I would also not plan the bedroom as a walk-through room.

Considering your plot size, I wouldn’t build a complicated or impractical basement. Ultimately, that goes against the idea of building the house for ‘now and later.’

Apart from that, the plan is doable but rather a bit boring.

Thanks also for your input, many interesting points to consider.
To explain, the entrance on the east side is due to the access being via a narrow private lane on that side. What do you think speaks against having the entrance on the east? For example, the neighbor has it arranged similarly.
We have a meeting with the kitchen planner soon, and after that, I will upload an updated floor plan, as several changes will be made.

How would you design the hallway differently? Do you have any ideas for us?
We definitely want a different staircase, preferably fairly narrow and allowing some natural light to flow into the corridor. What do you think?
We’ve more or less given up on the idea of moving downstairs as we get older.
One idea is to move the office entirely to the basement, relocate the ground floor bathroom to where the office currently is, and make the living room a bit larger. I’m just not sure how advisable an office in the basement is. Do you have an opinion on that?

We would use the basement—technical room, additional pantry, a football (soccer) room, and so on.

The real highlight of our lot is the space, but if you have any ideas to overcome the ‘boring’ factor, we would be glad to hear some tips from you 😉 Thanks again for your input!