Hi hello,
my husband, our two sons, and I currently live in a 100-year-old house. We live together with his grandmother and her caregiver. As soon as the grandmother passes away (she will soon be 99 years old), we plan to demolish the old, very large house and build a single-family home (pictures 1, 2, 3). (The furniture shown in the pictures will of course not be arranged exactly like that.)
We live in a location that’s perfect for us, in a small town on the beautiful main street. We have a corner plot with a large garden facing south (picture 4). This means that on the north side you are close to the action, while the garden remains peaceful.
The new house must be aligned flush with both streets, and the building style is closed. (Picture 5 shows the plot with the current house.) This means the garage (which in our case will actually be a carport, contrary to the drawing) must border the neighboring property.
We spent a long time working on the floor plan. Apart from some small changes, like moving some doors, the house will likely be built as planned because it meets our requirements 🙂 The house will have just under 180 sqm (about 1937 sq ft). We are building it for our family of four. Our youngest just turned one. Still, I am concerned about what will happen in 20–25 years when both children have moved out and the house becomes too big for just two people. So I am looking for a way to downsize if that is ever desired.
The staircase must remain in the center because I don’t want to have to walk through the entrance area to get to the living area. This is also an important wish of my husband. Upstairs, we plan a nice reading area in the hallway, which will then serve as living space and not just as a passage. We have something similar now, but smaller. Both floors should be connected by the staircase. What I want to avoid later is dividing the house into living space downstairs and renting out the upper floor completely, because I don’t want to hear strangers walking around over us (though the utility room and bathroom are less of an issue for me), and also because there is our garden and I do not want the tenants to overlook it. That’s why I have been thinking about the following layout for the future.
(Picture 6) The half-landing staircase would become two straight staircases. The door to the utility room would be raised a bit and would be the tenant’s entrance.
I am thinking more of renting this out as office or commercial space, since all the windows face north. The layout is not ideal for a one-room apartment. However, we will only be able to decide what makes sense when the time comes, as we cannot plan that far ahead. (Currently, rooms on the ground floor at this location are rented out as a massage practice by my husband’s grandmother for about three years; before that there was a video rental store for about 10 years.) The important thing is to have two completely separate units with distinct areas with as little effort as possible!
What do you think? Does anyone have other ideas?
Who has suggestions for the laundry chute (which I don’t like where it is now)?
I am happy to consider proposals, except that I do not want to separate the south side upstairs from our living area, especially since that’s where our bedroom will be.
Thank you in advance
my husband, our two sons, and I currently live in a 100-year-old house. We live together with his grandmother and her caregiver. As soon as the grandmother passes away (she will soon be 99 years old), we plan to demolish the old, very large house and build a single-family home (pictures 1, 2, 3). (The furniture shown in the pictures will of course not be arranged exactly like that.)
We live in a location that’s perfect for us, in a small town on the beautiful main street. We have a corner plot with a large garden facing south (picture 4). This means that on the north side you are close to the action, while the garden remains peaceful.
The new house must be aligned flush with both streets, and the building style is closed. (Picture 5 shows the plot with the current house.) This means the garage (which in our case will actually be a carport, contrary to the drawing) must border the neighboring property.
We spent a long time working on the floor plan. Apart from some small changes, like moving some doors, the house will likely be built as planned because it meets our requirements 🙂 The house will have just under 180 sqm (about 1937 sq ft). We are building it for our family of four. Our youngest just turned one. Still, I am concerned about what will happen in 20–25 years when both children have moved out and the house becomes too big for just two people. So I am looking for a way to downsize if that is ever desired.
The staircase must remain in the center because I don’t want to have to walk through the entrance area to get to the living area. This is also an important wish of my husband. Upstairs, we plan a nice reading area in the hallway, which will then serve as living space and not just as a passage. We have something similar now, but smaller. Both floors should be connected by the staircase. What I want to avoid later is dividing the house into living space downstairs and renting out the upper floor completely, because I don’t want to hear strangers walking around over us (though the utility room and bathroom are less of an issue for me), and also because there is our garden and I do not want the tenants to overlook it. That’s why I have been thinking about the following layout for the future.
(Picture 6) The half-landing staircase would become two straight staircases. The door to the utility room would be raised a bit and would be the tenant’s entrance.
I am thinking more of renting this out as office or commercial space, since all the windows face north. The layout is not ideal for a one-room apartment. However, we will only be able to decide what makes sense when the time comes, as we cannot plan that far ahead. (Currently, rooms on the ground floor at this location are rented out as a massage practice by my husband’s grandmother for about three years; before that there was a video rental store for about 10 years.) The important thing is to have two completely separate units with distinct areas with as little effort as possible!
What do you think? Does anyone have other ideas?
Who has suggestions for the laundry chute (which I don’t like where it is now)?
I am happy to consider proposals, except that I do not want to separate the south side upstairs from our living area, especially since that’s where our bedroom will be.
Thank you in advance
Buffycat schrieb:
Thanks for the responses, even though much of it misses the point.
I asked for ideas on HOW a division into two separate areas could be done effectively. I did not ask whether it was possible. Up to this point, it read as if you—all except for some uncertainty regarding the preparation for the later subdivision—were largely satisfied with the design to the extent that it was practically considered untouchable; at this point
Buffycat schrieb:
The building permit has already been issued it even reads as a certainty that, aside from minor adjustments in finishes, nothing more can be changed; the house, as a whole, is basically locked in place. Yet, on the other hand, there is the aspect mentioned at the start of the thread
Buffycat schrieb:
As soon as grandma passes away (she will soon be 99 years old), we plan to demolish the old, very large house which ties the start of any modifications to an event that, despite the validity period of the building permit, is unpredictable. Even grandmothers who are eager to move on have no way of knowing when that moment will come.
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H
hampshire5 Dec 2020 11:53Buffycat schrieb:
It is not just a house (it will be), but our home, and to me that includes much more than just the building. It couldn’t be put better.
Looking ahead to the future, I can speak from experience because we had these exact considerations – although our sons were already 17 and 19 years old when we moved in. Still, the basic ideas might be helpful.
- The children get their own part of the building, divided into two separate apartments – in your case, it would be enough if it can be separated later on.
- Each apartment has a kitchenette and a bathroom as well as a sleeping loft with a ceiling height slightly below standing height, so our sons can be independent if they want – for you, it would be sufficient to plan the plumbing and electrical connections accordingly during construction and place a children’s bathroom in that part of the building.
- When the children move out, a self-contained living unit is created that can be used in many ways without feeling like empty rooms. Airbnb and own guests, office space, hobby room, whatever. For us, it was important to have the option to generate rental income if that should ever become necessary.
- The children’s part of the building is designed so that one apartment can be converted into an accessible bedroom with a suitable bathroom for disabled use. Structurally, this is possible with minimal remodeling.
- If needed, the other apartment can become a very comfortable home for a caregiver.
- The second part of the building is then the living/parents’ area (for us only the parents’ unit) with one entrance and a “multi-purpose room,” which we take quite literally, as our bed is also in there – but that’s not necessary and can be separated if desired. There is also a guest toilet and a small parents’ bathroom.
- A technical room is located on level -1, separately accessible (no stairs inside the house).
Because this resulted in a mostly single-story layout, the building is quite long, shallow, and not very tall – whether that works for you depends on the building plot. This makes the price per square meter higher but saves square meters overall, so there are fewer to pay for.
What really benefits us now is the very relaxed family living atmosphere. The young men have their privacy but always have contact when they want. If they become “boomerang kids” again, which is unfortunately quite common, they don’t get on our nerves (nor we on theirs) because they can maintain their own household.
Such a concept does not fit into a square floor plan, not least because it requires multiple entrances. You can roughly plan something like this starting from 2 x 25 sqm (270 sq ft) for the “children’s section” and 70 sqm (750 sq ft) for the parents’ section. Ours is only slightly larger at approximately 2 x 35 sqm (380 sq ft) + 115 sqm (1,240 sq ft) + technical room, not based on DIN standards.
That was the background for my surprise about the square floor plan. Of course, such a concept has to be aligned with building regulations/planning permission and the plot. There are some fundamental considerations involved that certainly add value if you want to live in the house with small children, teenagers, young adults, and later as a couple or alone—and have the house offer a suitable home for every life stage.
Redesigning the upper floor will not achieve this kind of forward-looking flexibility.
11ant schrieb:
I have already been looking forward to the Boanlkramer, w What is that?hampshire schrieb:
Looking ahead to the future with the layout is something I can speak about from experience, because we also considered exactly these points – although our boys were already 17 and 19 years old when we moved in.Hello,
I have a colleague who is still living upstairs with his mom at 50 years old.
That says a lot about planning certainty.
Regards, Olli
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