ᐅ Floor Plan Conversion: Part of a Barn into a Single-Family Home with the Option to Convert into a Two-Family Home

Hello everyone,

Thank you to all who are active in this informative forum!
Now I’d like to give it a try as well. Just a brief introduction: My partner and I would like to convert part of the barn on his parents’ farm into a residential home. This means we are not as free in terms of dimensions, style, design, etc. as with a new build and have to work with the existing conditions. The goal is to convert the barn section into a single-family house for a family with presumably three children. However, the house should later, if needed, also be rentable as two separate apartments. The reason is that the existing farmhouse, where my partner’s parents currently live, is not very suitable for rental, so a move there in the future is not excluded. The potential for later rental, along with the constraints of the existing building, imposes further limitations.
We are therefore looking for the best and most practical compromise. Our first ideas are shown in the attached floor plans. Please excuse the hand-drawn nature and the partly missing dimensions, etc. Our main focus is on the general layout of the rooms! We welcome criticism and suggestions that maybe we haven’t thought of yet. Thank you very much!

Questionnaire Regarding Your Floor Plan

Building plan / restrictions
Plot size: /
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio: Not applicable
Floor area ratio: Not applicable
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: Existing
Adjacent building: None
Number of parking spaces: Sufficient space available on the farm
Number of stories: Oriented to existing building (2 full floors plus attic)
Roof type: Gable roof
Style: Oriented to existing building
Orientation: Defined by existing building
Maximum height/limits: Existing ridge height 9.2m (30 ft), eaves height 4.5m (15 ft)
Additional requirements:

Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: dictated by existing structure
Stories: Ground floor (GF), first floor (FF), attic
Number of occupants, ages 28, 25, desired: approximately 3 children
Room requirements:
 GF: Living room, kitchen + dining, pantry (utility room if rented), office / guest room (bedroom if rented), bathroom
 FF: Bedroom (dressing room if possible), family bathroom with separate toilet, 2 children’s rooms (dining and living if rented), laundry room (kitchen if rented)
 Attic: small storage room, children’s room, hobby room
 → Rooms can also be arranged differently if a better proposal arises (e.g., additional child’s room in attic, hobby room on FF, utility room on GF, etc.)
Office: partial home office for both
Guest sleepers per year: 5
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Traditional or modern construction: preferably as modern as possible but with traditional elements due to the existing building and closed floor plan
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island preferred, probably setup as a cleaning/prep island
Number of dining seats: 8 expandable to at least 10 (preferably more, large families on both sides)
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony planned on FF
Garage, carport: no
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be:
- Direct access to the rest of the barn is strongly desired (both of us are used to this at home; it is the main entrance we use there, where lots of work clothes, a mudroom, etc. are stored – extremely valuable on the farm)
- Open-plan living area is not desired (a door between dining and living room) but visual connection wanted (double door)
- Heating and other technical installations will be centralized in another barn for both houses, so no need to house them in the building itself (only necessary utility boxes etc., also for future rental)

House Design
Who designed it:
- Do-it-yourself
What do you like most? Why?
- All elements included, large kitchen/dining/living area
- Tunnel fireplace
- Large children’s rooms
- All rooms with windows (challenge due to fire wall)
What do you dislike? Why?
- Narrow entrance?
- Wardrobe only possible under the stairs
- Staircase start unfortunately right at the entrance due to future rental considerations
- Slanted wall as kitchen entrance may not be very contemporary?
- Bathroom and guest room (later bedroom) on the ground floor not next to each other
- Dressing room not always available (two variants on FF)
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: /
Personal upper budget limit for house including fittings: /
Preferred heating technology: /

If you had to give up, which features/rooms could you live without?
- Could do without: dressing room, hobby room
- Cannot do without: minimum 3 children’s rooms + 1 office

Why is the design as it is now?
For example:
We have planned the design ourselves so far, based on the many existing conditions and our wishes, trying to find the best possible compromise.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Less direct questions but rather a wish for independent feedback. We feel the space could be used more effectively/better or that more creative/modern solutions exist despite our constraints.

Scheune20 schrieb:

My partner and I would like to convert part of the barn on his parents’ farm into a residential house.

Are you even allowed to do the conversion? A farm sounds like it’s in a rural area where construction is generally prohibited.

No plans for technical systems like heating and connections?

Edit: Found it 🙂

Yes, we are located in an outside development area, so of course there are some challenges regarding the building permit / planning permission. However, an architect experienced with outside development areas assumes that obtaining a permit is possible. Some of our friends have recently completed very similar projects with the same conditions (farmstead in an outside development area, part-time farming, parents living on the farm, conversion of a barn for the next generation) in the same municipality (NRW). Therefore, we are initially assuming that it is possible, though details (especially concerning roof extensions, changes to the facade, etc.) will of course need to be clarified accordingly.

Are there any photos of the existing building? Both interior and exterior.

How old is the barn?

Scheune20 schrieb:

So we basically start from the assumption that it is possible,

Isn't it usual to submit a preliminary building inquiry first before getting into the details, to avoid wasting time?