ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a 175 m² Single-Family Home with Three Children

Hello everyone,
Currently, my wife and I are planning a single-family house on a 600m² (approximately 6,458 sq ft) plot and are working with the architect to finalize a design for a building permit / planning permission application.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: roughly 600m² (approximately 6,458 sq ft)
Slope: No
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.3
Site occupancy index: 0.4
Building zone, building line, and boundary: detached construction, building boundary
Edge development: -
Number of parking spaces: -
Number of floors: -
Roof style: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / limits: -
Additional requirements: -

Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: modern, bright and open, gabled roof with flat roof tiles, no eaves, slightly rectangular shape
Basement, floors: no basement, 1.5 floors with higher knee walls (we originally wanted full floors, but the development plan restricts this)
Number of residents, ages: 2 adults, planning for 3 children
Room requirements on ground and upper floors:
Office: currently home office, more a workspace than a family room
Guest bedrooms per year: unpredictable, average use
Open or closed architecture: open architecture
Conservative or modern building style: modern building style
Open kitchen, kitchen island: kitchen island about 3 meters (10 feet)
Number of dining seats: open dining area
Fireplace: fireplace wall planned
Music / stereo wall: -
Balcony, roof terrace: -
Garage, carport: double garage with storage room
Utility garden, greenhouse: -
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or shouldn’t be included: The house should be fully equipped with a home automation system, a geothermal system is desired (feasibility to be checked), and the garage should have a high-voltage connection installed for future electric vehicles.

House Design
Who designed the plan: Architect
What do you particularly like? Why?

• The staircase in the living area was a special request, with the idea that you enter the upper floor directly from one living area to another. In traditional layouts, you have to leave the living area and go into a hallway to reach the upper floor.
• We really like the access from the garage into the utility room and from there into the kitchen and hallway, because the utility room will be one of the most frequently used rooms and is centrally accessible. Especially the direct access from the kitchen to the pantry under the stairs is appreciated.
• We hope our plan works out and that we manage to incorporate laundry chutes from both bathrooms on the upper floor to the utility room on the ground floor.
• We like the separate parents’ area with its own bathroom very much, so we don’t have to share one bathroom among five people. We still need to figure out how to best accommodate the walk-in closet / wardrobes.
• In the living/dining area, a 5-meter (16 feet) window wall with sliding doors is planned, which is very important to my wife as it will provide plenty of natural light, especially since the kitchen wall will be fully lined with cabinets.
• The partition wall to the living room should be a bit longer, but we really like the fireplace planned there because it can be enjoyed from both the dining area and the living room.
• With 20m² (215 sq ft), the living room is modest in size, but a media wall with a large TV and surround sound system is planned on the wall facing the office, so the distance to the wall shouldn’t be too large.
• At the entrance, the plan is for the coat rack to be on the right directly adjacent to the WC wall, and the WC door should be moved from the top wall (the WC should be a maximum of 2.5m² (27 sq ft) without a shower, since we already have two bathrooms and the children’s bathroom could be used by guests).

What don’t you like? Why?
We particularly like the open staircase but have heard differing opinions about it, which makes us a bit uncertain.
The parents’ bathroom is currently not quite how we want it. The bathtub should be placed in front of the window, and we have not yet finalized the placement of the toilet, shower, and sink.
Estimated budget according to architect/planner: n/a
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 390,000€
Preferred heating technology: geothermal energy with deep drilling

If you had to give up something, which details / extensions
- could you do without: -
- absolutely must keep: The 5-meter (16 feet) panoramic window wall must stay according to my wife.

Why is the design the way it is now?
Standard design from the planner? No
Which requests were implemented by the architect?

• We prepared our ideas with a technical draftsman (mostly based on Pinterest, magazines, Instagram, etc.) as a draft, which the architect adapted to comply with the development plan. We are currently adjusting some details.
• The window elements are not finalized yet and still need to be agreed upon.
• The same applies to the front door; a side and top window panel is currently planned as an idea.

What do you think makes the design especially good or bad?
We put a lot of thought into making the house as practical as possible, saving us walking distance and combining that with a modern design.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
What do you think of our ideas, and what experiences do you have with aspects like windows, home automation, heating, garage size, or kitchen/utility room flow? Any suggestions for the parents’ area on the upper floor? How would you design the room to accommodate a walk-in closet or wardrobes?