ᐅ Floor plan for a 150 sqm single-family house with the living room facing north

Hello everyone,

We are currently considering a plot of land and have been thinking in more detail about the floor plan. I have created several versions, all differing in small details. I have uploaded the latest version of our ideas and an attempt to fit the floor plan into a slightly smaller footprint. Unfortunately, when reducing the size of the upper floor, the only idea I have is to recess the doors slightly, which creates small "bumps" in the rooms. Perhaps there are other suggestions for this.

Since it’s hard to see: The staircase in the regular version is quarter-turn and leads north on the upper floor. The staircase in the smaller version is half-turn and leads east.

Zoning/building restrictions: no zoning plan, i.e., according to neighboring buildings
Plot size: 800sqm (8,611 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: no specification
Floor area ratio: no specification
Number of floors: 1.5
Roof type: gable roof
Orientation: living room faces north

Owners’ requirements
Basement: no basement
Number of people, ages: two adults, two preschool children
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: as shown in the floor plan
Office: home office
Guest nights per year: 30 nights annually
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative
Open kitchen or kitchen island: no
Number of dining seats: 4 in kitchen, 6-8 in living room
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: not yet considered
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine, also reasons for preferences or exclusions: Living room facing north is preferred because we want access to the terrace without direct sunlight. South-facing study is fine as it is used during the day.

House design
Source of planning: own design, a mix of many floor plans from catalogs
What do you especially like? Why?: Space in the living room for family celebrations (joining two tables...), kitchen and living room connected to the terrace
What don’t you like? Why?: The house might be a bit too large for the budget – is it possible to reduce the size without major compromises?
Personal budget for the house, including fittings: 300,000 EUR
Preferred heating system: gas plus the minimum requirements to meet the 2017 energy saving regulations

If you had to give up some details/features, which ones could you do without?
- We could integrate the guest room upstairs into the study if necessary.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Could the floor plan be reduced in size without significant compromises?

P.S.: The bathroom fixtures are only roughly placed for now, just so they are recognizable as bathrooms. Planning is not yet finalized.

Hello, I can understand the desire for a north-facing terrace, but I don’t see why the entire floor plan has to be arranged around that. It’s great that the office will be used during the day, but having the main living areas, where the family will regularly spend time together, lit only by north-facing windows simply doesn’t provide enough natural light for those spaces!

Why can’t the office be placed next to the kitchen corner, so that the rest of the living area can at least get some southern and western exposure? (Personally, I would still find it unbalanced if the guest bathroom is better positioned than the living spaces...)

Is this also a dining area in the kitchen, or where is the main eating area? One dining area should be enough.
For me, the distance from the kitchen to the dining table next to the sofa is too far. The route across the terrace is almost shorter.

The exterior appearance might take some getting used to. On the south side, there are no windows at all on the upper floor, on the east side only on the upper floor, and on the west side one window on the ground floor and two on the upper floor – not sure if that will look good...

Especially in autumn, winter, and spring, the living room won't get very bright. Having a window facing west would be quite beneficial in that regard.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

@Maria16: The garden faces north, which also offers the best view. But I will try a second layout where the rooms are arranged differently. Then the west side would probably be used, since the south side faces the street, which I don’t find very attractive.

@hanse987: Yes, there are two dining areas planned. One in the kitchen and one in the living room. That’s how we have it so far as well. The dining area in the living room is always used when guests are over, and for family celebrations we move the table from the kitchen as well. So we would need to store two tables somewhere anyway...

@Wastl: The exterior view is a bit different than you might expect from the photos. On the south and north sides, the roof slopes of the gable roof are visible. That’s why most of the windows on the upper floor face east and west. Only in the guest room does the bay window interrupt the gable roof on the upper floor, so it has an additional window. A photo search for “Helma single-family house Berlin” shows how we envisioned it...

I won’t even get into north-facing orientation and the like. (If someone prefers sitting on the toilet facing south rather than on the couch, that’s beyond me...), but in the last post there was again a sentence that I often see here, and every time it makes me want to tear my hair out:

“We’ve always done it that way.”

Also common in variants like: “we’re doing it like that now too,” “that works, so we do it,” etc.

In my opinion, this is the completely wrong approach. What I have now is usually a rental situation where I have to adapt to existing conditions. Now you’re building a house—YOUR house.

Create the optimum, your dream, and then make compromises if necessary. Listen to experiences and weigh them: for example, a north-facing terrace is cool at 35°C (95°F), no question... but in spring or autumn, the situation is different... Then the question is: do I get sun on the north-facing terrace? NO. Do I get shade on a south-facing terrace? Yes!

The same with the living room: a shady living room is certainly pleasant in summer, but do I want to live in a dark hole for three-quarters of the rest of the year? If I want sun/light, do I have to go to the toilet? Well... it’s possible, but…

What I mean is, there are some basic rules in planning that have stood the test of time, despite all trends. They seem to work well. You can’t always follow all of them, but you should acknowledge that most of them are justified.

Regarding fear of sunlight: modern houses must have appropriate shading; otherwise, you really bake in summer. So that shouldn’t be a problem. On the other hand, solar gain in winter helps with heating. Isn’t it silly not to take advantage of that? Moreover, we all know that enough sunlight is essential for health and well-being. That’s definitely something I would consider when planning.

Two dining areas close to each other take up space and what sense does that make? If you have 30 guests per year, I assume your household is guest-friendly. That means more people sit at the table than just the family. Do you want to have to get a second table from the basement every time and create a makeshift situation that’s neither here nor there? Wouldn’t it be more sensible to create ONE larger dining area that can accommodate a few guests without major rearrangements?

Just my 2 cents...