Hello dear forum,
this is my first post here and I am hoping to get some input on the topic of floor plan modifications in an existing property.
I did not fill out the pinned questionnaire, as it seems to be intended more for new build projects (?), but I will still try to provide all relevant information.
The house dates from 1998 and is in well-maintained original condition. In theory, the property could be moved into as-is (including the floor plan), but we would like a bit more comfort in some areas than currently available, so we are currently working on a small renovation plan with the help of an architect and energy consultant. This led us to consider which floor plan changes might be possible or desirable, and at this point I would very much appreciate your input.
The house was built as a two-family house and was used as such in a multigenerational household. We are a household of six (ages 37, 32, 8, 5, 1 plus an au pair for the next few years) and want to use the house as a single-family home. In this context, we want to convert the kitchen on the upper floor into an additional bedroom to have enough rooms. This would give us on the upper floor three children’s bedrooms, parents’ bedroom, family bathroom, and storage/laundry room; and on the ground floor cooking/dining/living, au pair room (guest), office, second bathroom, guest toilet, and utility room. The house has no basement.
I have marked our planned changes on the floor plan in color and have also attached the originals. However, this “original” floor plan does not correspond exactly to our property, since it was mirrored and the position on the plot is also incorrect (perhaps a standard house from the general contractor adapted to the actual building plot?). For better understanding, I have included the actual site plan. For example, you can see that the ground floor guest toilet window was omitted at the expense of the adjacent garage. Also, the upper floor children’s room has a dormer instead of a skylight. Everything else matches.
Here are our thoughts on the floor plan:
Ground floor:
1) Cooking/Dining/Living: I prefer the “one dining table solution,” so I would like to remove the wall between the kitchen and living room to create a large, open-plan living-dining-kitchen area. I would also enlarge the room at the expense of the hallway by extending the wall between the living room and the office. What do you think of this? How would you furnish the room most efficiently? The kitchen would presumably remain as currently drawn in an L-shaped layout. The dining table would probably be centered between the two south-facing windows, thus positioned under the steel beam that will replace the removed wall. Do you have any other ideas?
2) The bathroom on the ground floor is actually too large for us, as it will only be a shower bath (guest bathroom). A bit of a luxury problem, but how do you furnish a room that big if it only needs a shower, sink, and toilet? I am currently inclined to put the washer and dryer there but find this solution not ideal. I would prefer to put them in the adjacent utility room, which probably has too little space. That room contains all the house technology such as the electrical panel and heating (prospectively a heat pump, currently under review). What would be your solution? And if washer/dryer are in the bathroom, where exactly?
3) Where to put the coat rack/wardrobe for six people?
Upper floor:
4) The kitchen will become a bedroom. To create closet space behind the door, I want to move the wall between the kitchen (yellow) and living (green) to make the living room smaller. One of the two windows would have to be bricked up (which is naturally less ideal), but this way I can adjust the room sizes and create closet depth in both rooms. “Living” would probably get an additional skylight in the west as compensation for the bricked-up window. Do you have a better solution? What I also like about this option is that the hallway becomes more square at this point.
5) The bathroom is planned as a family bathroom and should include a bathtub, shower, double sink, and toilet. I want to enlarge it at the expense of the small storage room, so that a large (masonry) walk-in shower replaces the storage room and is currently (necessarily due to the sloping ceiling) placed in the center of the bathroom. I imagine the existing window would be very helpful for this. I would then extend the wall between the bathroom and the adjacent utility room at the expense of the hallway. What do you think?
6) From which room on the upper floor would you make the parents’ bedroom?
Don’t laugh, some attachments are photos taken from my laptop screen because I couldn’t do it any other way right now...
this is my first post here and I am hoping to get some input on the topic of floor plan modifications in an existing property.
I did not fill out the pinned questionnaire, as it seems to be intended more for new build projects (?), but I will still try to provide all relevant information.
The house dates from 1998 and is in well-maintained original condition. In theory, the property could be moved into as-is (including the floor plan), but we would like a bit more comfort in some areas than currently available, so we are currently working on a small renovation plan with the help of an architect and energy consultant. This led us to consider which floor plan changes might be possible or desirable, and at this point I would very much appreciate your input.
The house was built as a two-family house and was used as such in a multigenerational household. We are a household of six (ages 37, 32, 8, 5, 1 plus an au pair for the next few years) and want to use the house as a single-family home. In this context, we want to convert the kitchen on the upper floor into an additional bedroom to have enough rooms. This would give us on the upper floor three children’s bedrooms, parents’ bedroom, family bathroom, and storage/laundry room; and on the ground floor cooking/dining/living, au pair room (guest), office, second bathroom, guest toilet, and utility room. The house has no basement.
I have marked our planned changes on the floor plan in color and have also attached the originals. However, this “original” floor plan does not correspond exactly to our property, since it was mirrored and the position on the plot is also incorrect (perhaps a standard house from the general contractor adapted to the actual building plot?). For better understanding, I have included the actual site plan. For example, you can see that the ground floor guest toilet window was omitted at the expense of the adjacent garage. Also, the upper floor children’s room has a dormer instead of a skylight. Everything else matches.
Here are our thoughts on the floor plan:
Ground floor:
1) Cooking/Dining/Living: I prefer the “one dining table solution,” so I would like to remove the wall between the kitchen and living room to create a large, open-plan living-dining-kitchen area. I would also enlarge the room at the expense of the hallway by extending the wall between the living room and the office. What do you think of this? How would you furnish the room most efficiently? The kitchen would presumably remain as currently drawn in an L-shaped layout. The dining table would probably be centered between the two south-facing windows, thus positioned under the steel beam that will replace the removed wall. Do you have any other ideas?
2) The bathroom on the ground floor is actually too large for us, as it will only be a shower bath (guest bathroom). A bit of a luxury problem, but how do you furnish a room that big if it only needs a shower, sink, and toilet? I am currently inclined to put the washer and dryer there but find this solution not ideal. I would prefer to put them in the adjacent utility room, which probably has too little space. That room contains all the house technology such as the electrical panel and heating (prospectively a heat pump, currently under review). What would be your solution? And if washer/dryer are in the bathroom, where exactly?
3) Where to put the coat rack/wardrobe for six people?
Upper floor:
4) The kitchen will become a bedroom. To create closet space behind the door, I want to move the wall between the kitchen (yellow) and living (green) to make the living room smaller. One of the two windows would have to be bricked up (which is naturally less ideal), but this way I can adjust the room sizes and create closet depth in both rooms. “Living” would probably get an additional skylight in the west as compensation for the bricked-up window. Do you have a better solution? What I also like about this option is that the hallway becomes more square at this point.
5) The bathroom is planned as a family bathroom and should include a bathtub, shower, double sink, and toilet. I want to enlarge it at the expense of the small storage room, so that a large (masonry) walk-in shower replaces the storage room and is currently (necessarily due to the sloping ceiling) placed in the center of the bathroom. I imagine the existing window would be very helpful for this. I would then extend the wall between the bathroom and the adjacent utility room at the expense of the hallway. What do you think?
6) From which room on the upper floor would you make the parents’ bedroom?
Don’t laugh, some attachments are photos taken from my laptop screen because I couldn’t do it any other way right now...
T
Tritratrullala15 Sep 2024 20:18ypg schrieb:
mirrored, all photos rotated differently... as a reader, you don’t really know what is factual. Yes, that makes complete sense. Thanks for the feedback. It’s like not seeing the forest for the trees—I know the floor plan inside and out, so of course I can say blindly where everything is. Now I realize that my collection isn’t immediately clear at first glance.
I promise to improve, but not until tomorrow, as the baby is already sleeping in the study (yes, we need more space), and I’m hesitant to go in there right now.
T
Tritratrullala15 Sep 2024 20:24ypg schrieb:
With three children and an au pair, I would probably keep the master bedroom on the ground floor and leave the upper floor for the children and the au pair. This also has the advantage of having a small, well-maintained parents’ shower bathroom on the ground floor, which is suitable for guests as well.Yes, we’re currently considering that too. At the moment, I still prefer the option of parents being upstairs with the children and then moving downstairs once we no longer have an au pair. But that is more a maternal feeling than based on solid arguments.
The point about having a bathroom for guests is very helpful! Thanks for that; we will include it in our considerations.
T
Tritratrullala15 Sep 2024 20:38ypg schrieb:
You need to check where the technical installations are in the utility room. It might be possible to allocate the remaining bathroom space to the utility room and then create a wardrobe area. I had the same idea, but reducing the bathroom to enlarge the utility room or wardrobe area is difficult because of the window. Or maybe I lack the imagination. The garage is located on the north side, where there is no window. I would prefer to avoid having a bathroom without a window.