ᐅ Advice and Tips for House Floor Plans (1.5-Story Single-Family Homes)

Hello fellow homeowners and experts,

After some time of quietly reading and learning, I have now registered and would like to discuss our floor plan design for our dream house.
It has been about six months since we bought our plot, and we have looked at what feels like thousands of floor plans and discarded them, ultimately designing one ourselves because none of the standard plans from homebuilders fit our needs. We have already sent the floor plan to various homebuilders to check and price it. The offers surprisingly didn’t differ much in price, but none gave constructive feedback on whether everything is feasible or practical in the end. As I have read before, every company praised the plan without any criticism, saying what a nice floor plan it is.
Before we sign a homebuilding contract, we would like to hear honest criticism and would be very grateful for advice, tips, ideas, and suggestions for improvement.

About the location of the plot: It is parcel 9 in a small new residential development with 11 plots, at the end of a private dead-end street (which still has to be built).
Unfortunately, the north arrow got lost on the attached graphics; north is at the top, east on the right, south at the bottom, and west on the left. Due to the drinking water protection zone, no further development is allowed to the east. Behind our garden is a northern neighbor’s garden, a stream, and then an open green area with a small path where dogs are walked.
The house elevations still need to be revised carefully in terms of window symmetry.

Now to the list of questions:

Zoning plan/restrictions: Yes
Plot size: 796 sqm (8570 sq ft)
Slope: No
Building coverage ratio: No (only 1 full storey permitted)
Floor area ratio: 0.25
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see below
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 1 full storey
Roof type: All permitted
Architectural style: All permitted
Orientation: East-West
Maximum height/limits: Ridge height max. 75.5 m above sea level, which for us is about 9 m (30 ft)
Other landscaping requirements: Shrubs along the northern plot boundary, 4 trees

Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof form, building type: Classic single-family house, gable and half-hip roof
Basement/storeys: 1½ storeys without basement (high groundwater and drinking water protection zone), instead a converted attic
Number of residents, ages: 3 (39, 38, 2) + 3 cats
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: approx. 140 - 150 sqm (1506 - 1615 sq ft). Ground floor: entrance hall, guest WC, utility/laundry room, kitchen, living room. Upper floor: bedroom, 1 child’s room, 1 study, bathroom
Office: Family use, not home office
Overnight guests per year: few, usually only for celebrations and so far accommodated in hotels
Open or closed architecture: Closed
Conservative or modern building style: Classic-conservative
Open kitchen with island: No
Number of dining places: Small prep and quick snack area in the kitchen, plus a separate dining area
Fireplace: Yes
Music/sound system wall: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony
Garage, carport: Carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/features/daily routine: Entrance hall as a barrier for dirt and cats, a well-accessible staircase, pantry in the kitchen

House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- DIY by us
What do you especially like? Everything we wished for is included, bay window and balcony, large utility room
What do you dislike? Upper floor layout not yet optimal,
Bathroom layout (large bathroom but difficult to furnish),
House elevations need improvement,
We are debating the position of the window on the north side in the living room (whether it is necessary at all and if so, where best),
Possibly swapping the guest WC and entrance hall?
Possibly better without pantry in the kitchen?
Price estimate by architect/planner: 230,000 - 240,000
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 250,000
Preferred heating system: Gas boiler and solar, geothermal not possible because of drinking water protection zone 3

If you had to give up certain details/extensions
- What could you do without: Basically nothing, maybe the pantry the most
- What could you not do without: Entrance hall

Hello,
I think the floor plan is quite good overall. However, I have a few comments.
Ground Floor:

• I find the entrance area too narrow for the coat storage.
• I don’t like the corners (recesses) in the living room (south side in the bay window, northeast corner, northwest corner of the living room). I would straighten these out, as it will make furnishing easier later on.
• The tall cabinets in the kitchen are quite far from the countertop workspace.
• The slanted walls in the hallway are not to my taste.

Upper Floor:

• I don’t find the storage room practical at this size. I would suggest making the walls straight and creating a storage closet in the office, or enlarging the storage room.
• The bathroom layout could still be significantly improved.

Thanks Jochen, I didn’t expect a reply this quickly.
Yes, the entrance area has become quite narrow because of the pantry and the shower in the guest bathroom. We still need to think about whether to remove the shower and move the pantry further to the right into the kitchen. I’d rather not make the pantry smaller, as it would then no longer be practical to use.
You’re right about the corners; we will optimize those. On the north side of the living room, we would also prefer the wall to be smooth and continuous without the corner on the right, but our design software won’t allow this, and we’re not sure if it’s structurally feasible. The bay window in the current plan has an internal width of 3 m (10 feet) and is centered, which is why there’s the extra corner. Someone advised us that a decent bay window with a table inside should be 3 meters (10 feet) wide. On closer inspection, though, 2.5 m (8 feet) might be sufficient. That would remove the extra corner while keeping the bay window centered. What do you think?
Which distance would work better for the tall cabinets? We thought that otherwise the passageway might be too narrow.
We designed the angled walls to make the hallway feel more spacious and airy, and to improve the entrance into the kitchen. Of course, that’s a matter of personal taste.
The storage room on the upper floor is indeed tiny, and the storage cabinet in the office is a great idea. We just wanted a small place to store the vacuum cleaner and similar items, so we don’t have to carry them up and down the stairs all the time.
We would really appreciate suggestions for the bathroom.

You should be aware that your wardrobe will end up under the staircase. Is that what you want? These placeholders in the entrance area are a joke anyway: one on the left and one on the right.

Regarding the placeholders: try drawing in a proper dining table measuring 1 x 2 meters (3.3 x 6.6 feet). Then you'll see that a square-shaped room for dining and living can be very small.

Having a balcony that connects child and parents is also not ideal if the child is a teenager who still has friends over in the evening.

I also find the floor plan quite decent. However, a few things caught my attention.
The dining bay window feels too narrow. When the table is extended, you can no longer access the kitchen.
The storage room on the upper floor creates an awkward niche in the children’s room. I would extend it fully and possibly enlarge it by a few centimeters toward the study.
Also, I would add a window in the hallway on the upper floor to allow for natural daylight.

Am I the only one who doesn’t like the layout with the northeast-facing living room? No sunlight comes into the living areas from the south or west. The small kitchen window is hardly worth mentioning, and the kitchen would be too separated anyway to let sunlight reach the living space.