ᐅ Floor plan of a single-family house without a basement, with bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor

Hello everyone,

I would like to share our ideas and plans with you. Please take a moment to read through so you can understand our situation.

My husband and I already have a 2-year-old son, and we are planning for another child. We currently live in a large apartment above my husband’s parents on their property, which we would like to divide, reconfigure, and build our dream house on.

At the moment, the rooms feel generally too large for us, but we only have one child's bedroom and a very small office.

The biggest challenge in our planning is that it is important for us to have the master bedroom and the master bathroom on the ground floor. Two years ago, I had a cesarean section, and at that time my husband had a broken leg with several complications. So, the situation in our attic apartment was far from ideal.

Additionally, I am used to children having their own floor from my childhood home. Both parents and children always appreciated that arrangement, and I want to continue it.

We also keep in mind that later on, a child with a family or possibly a tenant might live upstairs.

Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size 700 sqm - 750 sqm (7,535 sq ft - 8,073 sq ft)
Slope none
Site coverage ratio ?
Floor area ratio ?
Building envelope, building line and boundary not yet known
Edge development
Number of parking spaces 4
Number of floors 2
Roof type gable roof
Architectural style Swedish country house
Orientation south
Maximum heights/limits not yet known
Additional requirements

Builder’s Requirements
Style, roof type, building type red Swedish house with gray gable roof and south dormer
Basement, number of floors 2 floors, no basement
Number and age of occupants 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 more child planned
Space requirement ground floor/upper floor total 160 sqm - 170 sqm (1,722 sq ft - 1,830 sq ft)
Office: family use or home office? both
Guest bedrooms per year almost none
Open or closed living area open
Conservative or modern construction conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island yes
Number of dining seats 6 - 8
Fireplace yes, in the living room
Music/stereo wall -
Balcony, roof terrace no
Garage, carport carport for the parents’ cars, 2 parking spaces in front for future children’s cars
Vegetable garden, greenhouse vegetable garden planned, no specific ideas yet
Other wishes covered south-facing terrace in the style of a veranda, covered entrance

House Design
Who planned it: my husband and me
What do you like most? Why? the open living area
What do you dislike? Why? so far we are satisfied
Estimated cost by architect/planner: -
Personal budget for house, including fixtures: approx. €450,000
Preferred heating technology: heat pump (underfloor heating) combined with Swedish wood stove, possibly water-heated

If you have to give something up
- can give up: -
- cannot give up: veranda, wood stove, master bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
Since we want to limit the space, I would like to know whether you consider this realistic.

For the ground floor, I have two variants:

Variant A was our original plan. The bathroom features a kind of wet room inspired by Pinterest.

Variant D is the plan after much consideration on how best to utilize the space.

The upper floor remains unchanged.

The coat closet is planned to fit under the stairs as a built-in wardrobe.

Could you please add some measurements to the floor plan?

TaniHoney90 schrieb:

We are currently living in a large apartment above my husband’s parents’ house on the property that we would like to divide, rezone, and build our dream home on.

Having a plot of land where there is room for another house does not automatically mean you are allowed to build one there; let alone that you can build a Swedish-style house.
If the property is within a designated development plan (also known as zoning plan or local plan), the parameters are clearly defined: for example, a floor area ratio (FAR) or site coverage factor indicates how much of the plot can be built on (for example, 600 m² (about 6458 sq ft) x site coverage factor 0.4 = 240 m² (about 2583 sq ft); the existing house with garage and driveway covers 150 m² (about 1615 sq ft), leaving 90 m² (about 969 sq ft) for a new house with carport, driveway, and terrace – is that enough?). The floor space index (FSI) or floor area ratio of, say, 0.6 determines the total allowable floor area across all stories. Heights, roof shapes, and roof pitch are also specified. There are building envelopes, which means there are marked zones where houses are permitted to stand. If there is no development plan, the rules are usually less clear and typically harder for non-professionals to understand. In such cases, the new house generally has to resemble its ‘siblings’—the surrounding houses—and informal building envelopes are determined by how far the neighboring houses sit back from the street. Even the ridge orientation ("which way the roof faces") is often not a matter of personal preference. It’s best to clarify these essentials first before we waste time discussing how you want to arrange your floor plan. Having the bedroom on the ground floor is not unusual here; many plan this, at least with aging in mind. Unfortunately, you have followed them closely, which makes the furnished bedroom a bit tight. But as I said: make sure the calculations are accurate and not made without the necessary approvals.

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Sorry, of course.

Since I'm feeling generous, I went ahead and did it right away. I hope everything fits now.

One thing to keep in mind, I just realized, is that we want to take some furniture and appliances with us since they are brand new.

These include our bed, the side-by-side refrigerator, our freezer, as well as the dryer and washing machine.

The measurements are already correct here.

11ant schrieb:

A plot of land that could still fit another house does not automatically mean you are allowed to build one there; especially not that it can be a Swedish-style house.
If the plot lies within a zoning plan, the framework conditions are clear: a floor area ratio (FAR) specifies how much of the land area may be built on (e.g., 600 m² (6467 sq ft) x FAR 0.4 = 240 m² (2583 sq ft), existing house with garage and driveway 150 m² (1615 sq ft), leaving 90 m² (969 sq ft) for a new house with carport, driveway, terrace – is that enough?). The plot ratio (also known as the site coverage ratio) of, for example, 0.6 indicates how large the total floor area of all storeys may be. Heights, roof shape, and pitch are also defined. There are building envelopes, meaning marked areas (often outlined in blue) where a house is allowed to stand at all. If there is no zoning plan, the rules are unfortunately less clear and usually more confusing for non-experts. In simple terms, the new house must resemble its neighbors, and informal building envelopes are formed by the distance neighboring houses have from the street. The ridge direction ("which way the roof faces") is often not a matter of private taste either.
It’s best to clarify such essentials first before we waste time discussing how your floor plan is laid out. Having the bedroom on the ground floor is not unusual here; many people plan that way, at least for “in old age” – unfortunately, you copied them exactly in that the furnished bedroom is a bit tight. But as I said: check whether the calculation is not missing some factors.

Thank you for your opinion.

I’ll start briefly with the bedroom, as that’s quicker.

Our current bedroom is about the same size and similarly furnished. Since we are very happy with the size and only really use the room for sleeping, we consider it fine. In my opinion, it’s more important to design the rooms used during the day to be more spacious.

A walk-in closet is completely unnecessary for me; my standard-sized wardrobe is sufficient. Likewise for my husband… he doesn’t even fill his current wardrobe.

Regarding the rest:

We are optimistic that our project will be approved. So far, the only concerns from the district administration relate to possible noise pollution from the neighboring businesses – soundproofing measures might be necessary here. The noise doesn’t bother us (we already have it now, after all), but we would accept that, of course.

The municipality and the district office are informed about what and how we want to build. A Swedish-style house is apparently not a problem; we already have all sorts here, ranging from a Natura wooden house to a house with a tower :P

As mentioned, the exact regulations are still unknown since the commercial zone has not yet been converted into a mixed-use zone. I do not have any documents on this. After the summer holidays, we will find out more.

Of course, we know we will possibly need to be flexible in some matters. These are just initial ideas that can be changed.

This is the main reason I am presenting this here now. For about a year, everything was on hold because we didn’t know if the space situation would work out. Now, thankfully, everything looks good so we are moving forward again.

Many thanks for the informative comments. We are lucky to have a great mayor who is knowledgeable and on top of things.

I find everything planned very tight. Have you ever sat so close to a fireplace? The fireplace is right next to the sofa and can’t really be used. I also don’t see any space for a coat rack; the hallway is very narrow, and the staircase is only 3.50m (11.5 ft) long.

Best regards,
Sabine