ᐅ Feedback on Single-Family Home Floor Plan – 200 m² Urban Villa with Hipped Roof

Hello everyone,

I am currently deep in the planning phase for our single-family home, a townhouse villa type, with construction scheduled to start next spring/summer. To avoid any blind spots in the planning process—if not already the case—I would really appreciate your opinions on the current status and any suggestions you might have. I have attached the floor plan along with a visualization and want to thank you in advance for your feedback!

Zoning Plan / Restrictions

- Plot size: 660 m² (7,104 sq ft)
- Slope: No
- Floor area ratio (FAR) / Site occupancy index: 0.35 / 0.7
- Building envelope, building line, and boundary: See plan
- Edge development: Allowed (border garage)
- Number of parking spaces: Minimum 2
- Number of floors: Maximum 2
- Roof pitch: 0 – 45°
- Architectural style: No specifications
- Orientation: No specifications
- Maximum height / limits: 7 m (23 ft)
- Other requirements: None

Homeowners’ Requirements

- Style, roof shape, building type: Townhouse villa with hipped roof (18°)
- Basement, number of floors: No basement, two full floors
- Number of occupants, age: 2 (33/30)
- Required living space on ground floor and upper floor: About 100 m² (1,076 sq ft)
- Office use: Family use and partial home office, hence the size
- Overnight guests per year: 1 - 4
- Open or closed layout: Open
- Conservative or modern style: Modern
- Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open kitchen with cooking or half kitchen island
- Number of dining seats: 2 - 6
- Fireplace: Yes
- Music/stereo wall: No
- Balcony, roof terrace: No
- Garage, carport: Double garage
- Utility garden, greenhouse: No

House Design

- Planning by: Own design
- What do you particularly like? Why? See below
- What do you not like? Why? See below
- Cost estimate according to architect/designer: €415,000 excluding land
- Preferred heating system: Heat pump with ventilation system

If you have to compromise, on which details/expansions

- You can compromise on: Various room sizes/arrangements
- You cannot compromise on: Almost everything listed under “what I like”

Why does the design look like it does now?

Personal taste (townhouse villa, open design), plot requirements (orientation and positioning), and external advice (planning for closets, etc.).

What I like:

• General placement of all rooms on the plot: Bedroom away from the street on the east side (sunrise); living area set back from the street; office with a large window facing west (sunset side)
• Clear, uninterrupted view from the entrance area all the way to the garden
• Exterior design of the house
• Garage roof covering with space for trash bins near the street
• Integration of the kitchen unit and tall kitchen cabinets in the floor plan
• Extra room on the ground floor for guests, utility, and due to its size, potential as a full bedroom on the ground floor later
• Garage access from inside via the entrance area (“dirty zone” vs. “clean zone”)
• Central placement of the fireplace
• Pre-planned integration of household cupboards/closets into niches on both floors (space under the stairs should also be accessible)
• Laundry chute access from both the dressing room and bathroom
• Bright, open, spacious corridor on the upper floor with a window
• Central staircase location

What I do not like as much:

• Offset dining table relative to the kitchen island due to walkway width near the fireplace; it’s “okay” but requires walking around. Having the table directly opposite would be nicer.
• The bathroom is generally fine, but I am not happy with the door position and the corner, even though the corner probably won't be very visible as the door won’t fully open 90°, and the walkway is wide enough. However, I don’t see where I could take space from without negatively affecting the position of the stairs or chimney and thus compromising the generally good room and circulation sizes in the entrance, living room, dressing room, or bedroom.
• “Tunnel” effect in the doorway area of children’s room 1

The most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters

I am primarily looking for your assessment/feedback on the floor plan and welcome constructive points, suggestions, or ideas I might have missed due to “planning bias,” including your thoughts on what I don’t like.

Off the cuff, I think the floor plan is quite successful! Child 2’s room is a bit small, but if the home office has to accommodate two people, then swapping rooms probably isn’t an option?
I don’t find the corridor for Child 1 impractical at all... the door doesn’t take up any space in the room, and the child still has a moment to quickly put the phone aside before the mother peeks around the corner and sees that chatting or gaming was still happening instead of sleeping.

Overall, a good approach.
Here’s what I would work on:

Ground Floor:
- The entrance area feels too narrow compared to the overall appearance of this stately villa. I would probably move the front door with bay window outward instead of inward.
- The arrangement of the sofa/living area seems reversed to me. I would expect a corner sofa along the wall facing the garage/utility room. Opposite that, a TV unit allowing for windows in the southeast corner.
- There are quite a few dead, unused corners (kitchen and fireplace) – or are those intended as built-in closets?

Upper Floor:
It doesn’t seem fully developed.
- Having children's rooms next to the master bedroom is not ideal. A study or office as a buffer in between would be preferable.
- Child 2’s room appears rather small.
- The entrance to Child 1’s room is awkward.
- The bathroom door positioned in that corner is an unfortunate design flaw.
- A walk-in closet without a window is, in my opinion, a planning mistake.
- Having the toilet directly next to the sink in this luxury villa is disappointing.
- Ideally, the walk-in closet should be accessible without passing through the bedroom, so the partner can continue sleeping undisturbed.

The chimney still has some flexibility — perhaps it could be improved at the top. Also, consider how important the closet in the upstairs hallway really is. Otherwise, hats off for a quite successful self-designed plan.

Hello Yosan and Kaho, thank you very much for the great suggestions! Excellent feedback! Here are a few responses:

- You’re right, the layout of the TV area would indeed fit better if reversed. Originally, I planned it based on an existing U-shaped sofa and I don’t want the fireplace to damage my sofa. I am also planning to move the TV connection to the opposite wall to stay flexible.

- A bit of space is actually lost in the unused corners. However, shelves are planned to be recessed there (marked with an X). The air space behind them is gone, that’s true. I just measured it, it’s about 2x 0.5 m² (5.4 sq ft), and honestly, it hurts less now than before I measured.

- I completely understand your points about the upper floor—the hardest part for me is optimizing that. Regarding the sizes: Child 1 currently has 17.7 m² (190.5 sq ft), Child 2 has 15.0 m² (161.5 sq ft), and the study is 18 m² (194 sq ft). As for positioning, the wall between the master bedroom and Child 1’s room is made of soundproofing calcium silicate blocks, if that’s what you meant. In theory, the study and Child 1’s room could also be swapped.

- The windowless walk-in closet was deliberately designed that way to maximize closet size with the U-shape arrangement. A window could be installed opposite the entrance door, but I thought the needed lighting from above would be enough, and preferred having more closet space instead.

- I initially considered a connecting door from the walk-in closet to the bathroom to avoid going back through the hallway to the bedroom. I discarded this idea because of the laundry chute now located there, difficult sound insulation to the bathroom (especially with a sliding door), and also because the bed is actually offset around the corner anyway.

- I hadn’t really considered the toilet issue yet—what exactly bothers you about it or what would you propose to do with the toilet?

- I’m reaching my limits specifically at the bathroom door and Child 1’s entrance.

- Do you mean the built-in closet in the upstairs hallway? That is actually very important for me as extra storage for various items—whether suitcases, bedding, or winter clothes. How would you improve the chimney situation? It currently measures 40 x 60 cm (16 x 24 inches); possibly 40 x 40 cm (16 x 16 inches) would be sufficient, but I’m not sure yet. By the way, the laundry chute is located above the chimney—I don’t know if that’s recognizable as such, it might be a bit confusing.

I also think it turned out well. There are minor details that bother some people but not others... actually too insignificant to mention.
I like the appearance of the house.
At first, I was a bit bothered by the position of the two windows to the left of the front door; it would be difficult to find a compromise there. The question is whether the narrow window in the bathroom is somewhat poorly planned. Also, having a window above the bathtub usually has more disadvantages than advantages, and so on.

You are using a lot of floor area for the house, which does allow some parts to develop very well. The rest usually becomes somewhat larger (you can see this in the open central area here).
However, by doing this, you have placed the staircase as a kind of barrier inside your house: the entrance feels so cut off that it creates a sense of discomfort when you look at the winding corridor.
Between the hallway and the living area: are those two steps? Or what is that? I find the corridor a bit problematic, especially when you have guests or want to enter the house together as a family. It feels less inviting.

Overall, I quite like the design – which is why it’s all the more disappointing that the otherwise clear architectural language is completely disrupted by the gable above the study :-(

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