ᐅ Enlarging the Hallway Floor Plan of a 1921 Detached House: Any Tips?

Dear forum,

We are currently planning a new heating system, during which we will probably install underfloor heating on the ground floor. This means we will likely have to remove the entire ground floor flooring, insulate it (there is a cellar vault underneath), and lay the heating system. In other words: everything will need to be cleared out and completely renovated.

We have been living in our end-terrace house from 1921 since 2017 and are generally very satisfied. However, the hallway area on the ground floor has been a constant source of frustration. There are four of us living here, and we often have visitors. The entrance area is too narrow, and in the future, we will need more storage space for shoes and coats as the children grow older. At the moment, it’s manageable, but it becomes tight when guests come over.

Attached you’ll find the floor plan, which the previous owner (a civil engineer) drew up. I have marked some changes, for example, we removed the wall with the door from the vestibule, changed the kitchen door’s swing direction, and swapped the kitchen and living room. The horizontal interior wall is load-bearing and, including plaster, measures 15cm (6 inches) thick. The wall depicted vertically on the plan is non-load-bearing (the neighbors completely removed theirs) and currently measures 10.5cm (4 inches) including plaster. So the thickness shown on the plan is not correct. Unfortunately, the original plans are no longer available.

I could live with reducing the kitchen space a bit in order to enlarge the hallway. However, there should still be a solid wall between the kitchen and hallway, since we definitely do not want an open kitchen. We had an open kitchen for the first four years here due to the missing kitchen door – never again! So the door could be relocated.

Currently, in the hallway, we have a shoe cabinet 89cm (35 inches) wide and a hall cupboard for coats, bags, etc., 100cm (39 inches) wide. A radiator 49cm (19 inches) wide including the thermostat would be removed, which would free up some space.

Where would you most likely make changes here?

Is this now the status after the exchange, meaning labeling = AS IS? But regardless, if you have swapped rooms, you probably have already purchased some items permanently. It would make sense to sketch out which pieces of furniture are placed where in the living room/kitchen so that you can consider things like wall niches or similar.

If you currently have a kitchen and it is going to be reinstalled (or at least mostly reused), I think it would be helpful to know what it looks like and how it is arranged, and whether you want it to stay more or less the same. I could also imagine moving the wall partially to create a dressing niche, but whether that makes sense definitely depends on what kitchen elements are in place and will remain.

So, a "+1" for at least the kitchen furnishings, and it would also be great to mark where the cabinets are currently positioned in the hallway 🙂

This is the current condition, yes. I can gladly mark a few things.

I hope it’s possible to make it out, but the floor plan is labeled quite “tight” overall. It’s a small house, after all.

The kitchen is very old. It’s quite likely that it will be replaced. I would like to aim for an L-shaped kitchen layout. The kitchen island currently houses the freezer, refrigerator, and pantry storage. Instead, we would prefer to install extra-tall wall cabinets above the kitchen counter to create more storage space, and move what is currently in the island to the shorter leg of the L-shaped layout or something similar. A friend who is a kitchen planner will help us design it nicely.

If you really need extra space (which I personally don’t think is necessary), you could build a nice niche immediately to the right of the entrance (where the table is currently located).