ᐅ Floor plan of a single-family house with two unresolved issues – design inconsistency due to access through the children's bedroom?
Created on: 24 Mar 2026 22:00
B
baustei
Hi everyone,
We are a family of four with 4-year-old twins and are in the process of realizing our own home. Our journey has been ongoing for a while now. We started with an architect who primarily helped us obtain individual exemptions from certain restrictions in the development plan.
The main challenges were:
Our planners are trying to meet our budget range by defining a cost framework depending on the gross floor area (GFA). As a result, we have gone through several iterations to reduce the GFA slightly from what was originally planned.
Below, we share our current status and would really appreciate any constructive feedback.
Development Plan / Restrictions:
Size / Location of the plot: 660 square meters (7,104 sq ft), no slope
Floor space index: 0.2
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see image
Roof type: gable roof with 20-24° pitch
Orientation: northwest/southeast
Construction type: currently planned as solid wood construction
Client requirements
House design
What we dislike / open for discussion:
Best regards,
T&S
We are a family of four with 4-year-old twins and are in the process of realizing our own home. Our journey has been ongoing for a while now. We started with an architect who primarily helped us obtain individual exemptions from certain restrictions in the development plan.
The main challenges were:
- Building height – we were allowed to deviate from the ground floor (GF) and attic floor (AF) with knee wall of 1.80m (5 ft 11 in), so we can now plan the GF and first floor (FF) with ceiling heights up to 2.8m (9 ft 2 in)
- Garages and setback issues: we are allowed to build the garage higher than originally planned – but this is not the issue we want to discuss here.
Our planners are trying to meet our budget range by defining a cost framework depending on the gross floor area (GFA). As a result, we have gone through several iterations to reduce the GFA slightly from what was originally planned.
Below, we share our current status and would really appreciate any constructive feedback.
Development Plan / Restrictions:
- Upper Bavarian region ;-)
- Remaining restrictions include a 60cm (24 inches) setback from the garage to the neighboring property
- We have to include a roof overhang that we would have preferred to avoid
Size / Location of the plot: 660 square meters (7,104 sq ft), no slope
Floor space index: 0.2
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see image
Roof type: gable roof with 20-24° pitch
Orientation: northwest/southeast
Construction type: currently planned as solid wood construction
Client requirements
- Modern, high ceilings, intelligent use of space and storage, open living/dining area
- No basement
- 2 adults, 2 children
- Regular visits from grandparents or family
- 1-2 home office spaces (one also doubles as a fitness room)
- Sauna
- Fireplace
- Open kitchen – cooking integrated into the living space
- Sunken living room (2 steps down so that you can sit around the fireplace)
- Children’s bedrooms ideally symmetrical, or at least similarly sized
House design
- Designed by an architect who would work with the executing company for turnkey construction. Dedicated planning contract signed up to detailed design so far.
- What we like: overall, we are happy with the zoning, although we had to scale down from the original design for budget reasons – especially the ground floor plan differs only marginally from our initial, self-drawn sketches
- Note: the designs show zoning. The exact planning of the window areas will be done next.
- Heating system: heat pump
- Cost estimate: turnkey including planning approx. 900,000€
What we dislike / open for discussion:
- 1. On the ground floor, the living/dining/kitchen area seems small in relation to the overall house. Recently, we extended the house by 30cm (12 inches) to enlarge the children’s rooms on the first floor. As a result, the guest area also gained 30cm (12 inches). We would prefer to allocate these 30cm (12 inches) to the living room but have not yet received feedback regarding potential additional costs due to structural or load-bearing issues, as the vertical walls on the GF/FF would no longer align.
- 2. Upstairs, we are happy to have symmetrical children’s bedrooms. The hallway (shown in green) will be open to the roof and illuminated by skylights. The children’s rooms will have a gallery where, for example, beds can be placed. Attached are two alternatives for the first floor. They differ only in the access to the children’s rooms: “rectangular” or “diagonal.” In the diagonal variant, the children’s rooms gain about 1.3 sqm (14 sq ft) of floor space, while the gallery loses some space. Additionally, with the diagonal option, there is the question of whether the hallway height above the children’s room entrance doors should be continued or closed off, which would benefit the gallery spaces in the children’s rooms. Our planner has a strong opinion here but also acknowledges the advantages of the opposite. We would really appreciate your opinion.
- We would welcome any other feedback as well
Best regards,
T&S
S
Siedler3427 Mar 2026 08:28ypg schrieb:
It is 110 x 200. That’s not oversized, and if you move the stove, there will be 70cm (28 inches) left on each side. Cooking knives, salt and pepper, oil, and the mobile cookbook links mean there are 70cm (28 inches) on the right side. For placing items or working? Ask your wife. It’s not that tight. If you consider the island area and assume the standard 60cm (24 inches) countertop depth, you effectively have almost 4 meters (13 feet) of “normal” countertop space minus the cooktop.
There is plenty of space around the cooktop to spread out.
ypg schrieb:
I corrected my mistake: it is 60-70cm (24-28 inches) on each side. My error was that I also included a tall oven cabinet.
However, this doesn’t make the kitchen wider or more functional. I’m also seeing a downdraft extractor that turns the standard cooktop into an 80cm (31.5 inch) one. I actually meant the original poster @baustei in post 24 with my question "Where is the oven?" 😉
kbt09 schrieb:
I was actually referring to the OP @baustei in post 24 with my question "Where is the oven?" I know. After that, I looked at the photo again and realized that I installed one component "too many," namely a necessary oven, which the OP is missing.
Papierturm28 Mar 2026 08:44baustei schrieb:
I can’t put my wife through that—having an open fire is on our “must-have” list. Instagram or not, the fireplace is regularly used at friends’ and relatives’ homes… My basic approach is: Everyone should build their dream home. If an open fire is a "must-have," then the next question for me is: How do you integrate it well?
So that the fireplace fits well into the floor plan and heating concept?
(At the same time: Must-haves aren’t always actual "must-haves.")
baustei schrieb:
Started with an architect who drafted every idea in an initial plan (internal gutters, photovoltaics integrated into the roof, Audi R8 in front of the garage, talking about a 70k kitchen) without keeping the previously communicated budget in mind. That is very risky. The budget should come at the beginning, not at the end of the process.
baustei schrieb:
The planner also wants to handle implementation and assures us that the dimensions will be sufficient for the technical equipment.
We need to be able to rely on that. I laughed bitterly here.
If I had trusted the statements of various parties involved, I’d be homeless and bankrupt by now. Unfortunately, that’s no joke.*
An important point I cannot emphasize enough:
You as the builders ultimately bear the responsibility!
Also: “sufficient” and “functional” are often very different scales.
This is a relatively minor point. If the technical equipment doesn’t quite fit in the utility room, it can simply go under the stairs or somewhere else. That will work out. You might even negotiate a small discount.
* = My highlights: Completely underestimated additional construction costs from various providers. House plans from various providers that, despite multiple warnings from me, did not comply with the development plan and which the building authority already indicated would be rejected. Completely unrealistic schedules. Unsustainable financing amounts, and much more.
As I said, this is a minor point. But whether something works in everyday life or not will ultimately affect you.
baustei schrieb:
The kitchen seems okay to us. Others have already written a lot about that.
The effective workspace will have to be the seating area. The rest is too small/cramped.
baustei schrieb:
Thanks for the warning. We hadn’t even thought about that risk—it was actually suggested to us. See above. In the end, it’s your house, your building project. You have to filter and decide. Everything suggested should be questioned. In the end, you’ll be living in the house. Not the planner. (And no one here in the forum either.)
I like the upper floor drawn in pencil much better!
G
Gerddieter28 Mar 2026 09:27No matter what everyone else says about your design here – if you like every single aspect of it, then just build it that way!
GD
GD
baustei schrieb:
I can't do that to my wife – having an open fire is on our "must-have" list. Instagram or not, friends and family regularly have their fireplaces lit... You often don’t even need to look far to friends and family; many builders rely on their own childhood memories (in a house built around 1980), but they often lack the understanding that energy efficiency standards have improved significantly since then. A house built according to the 2014 energy saving regulations already no longer has the “leaks” necessary to vent extra heat. Nowadays, a fireplace no longer simply creates a cozy, Christmas-like warmth, but rather overstimulates the indoor climate in an unpleasant way and requires considerable countermeasures. Furthermore, it should be expected that having a fireplace will noticeably reduce the resale value of a house by 2040. “Fireplace” means pressure monitors, chimney inspections even when the fireplace is no longer used, and nowadays also unattractively tall chimneys due to neighbor protection. If you absolutely “must” have one, I therefore recommend a “fireplace” that runs as a Dolby Surround show on a Raspberry Pi.
Papierturm schrieb:
I laughed quite bitterly at this. Same here. Just take a look under the hood of a “modern” car: the miniaturization of technology, together with smaller engine displacements, leads to anything but more space among all the mechanical parts. Anyone dreaming that technical spaces will become smaller with progress clearly hasn’t understood. Lack of reserves will soon become a problem.
Papierturm schrieb:
I like the upper floor drawn with pencils much better! Working on the design by hand is generally more intense (and educational) than clicking around in software.
Gerddieter schrieb:
No matter what everyone else says about your design – if you like every single aspect of it, then just build it that way! Yes, I wonder too why people who aren’t open to advice even ask for it.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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