ᐅ Initial Floor Plan Draft – Backyard Development – 1.5 Stories
Created on: 15 Oct 2025 14:31
S
Steiger
Hello everyone,
we would like to present our first floor plan draft and kindly ask for your honest feedback.
The house is designed for 2 adults plus potentially 2 children in the future and will be built on a rural plot of land. We are currently in the design phase and welcome all constructive comments and suggestions for improvement.
The plot is a backyard development, which means there are some restrictions. For example, we are not allowed to exceed a length of 7.0 m (23 feet) and an eave height of 3.7 m (12 feet). In addition, the assigned plots are not yet developed, so we will need to build a road access here.
On the site plan we were allocated plot number 4.
More details are included in the notes..
Building Plan / Restrictions
Homeowner Requirements
House Design
Why the design looks like this
We wanted a home that is family-friendly, functional, and suitable for aging in place, while complying with the building plan.
The basic idea: parents live fully on the ground floor, children live upstairs.
We are still optimizing and would appreciate feedback on:
We look forward to your honest feedback!
What would you improve or arrange differently?
Thank you very much in advance for your time and suggestions.
we would like to present our first floor plan draft and kindly ask for your honest feedback.
The house is designed for 2 adults plus potentially 2 children in the future and will be built on a rural plot of land. We are currently in the design phase and welcome all constructive comments and suggestions for improvement.
The plot is a backyard development, which means there are some restrictions. For example, we are not allowed to exceed a length of 7.0 m (23 feet) and an eave height of 3.7 m (12 feet). In addition, the assigned plots are not yet developed, so we will need to build a road access here.
On the site plan we were allocated plot number 4.
More details are included in the notes..
Building Plan / Restrictions
- Plot size: approximately 27.5 m (90 feet) wide × 41 m (135 feet) deep (~1,100 m² (12,000 sq ft))
- Terrain: flat, no slope
- Site coverage ratio (floor area ratio): 0.4
- Floor space index (floor area ratio): 0.4
- Building envelope / setbacks: 3 m (10 feet) boundary setback, house positioned on the right side, garage may be built on the boundary
- Number of floors: 1.5 stories (maximum ridge height 7 m (23 feet), eave height approx. 3.7 m (12 feet))
- Roof type: gable roof, minimum 25° pitch
- Architectural style: modern country house style
- Orientation: south is at the top of the plan
- Maximum heights: 7 m (23 feet) ridge, 3.7 m (12 feet) eave
- Additional requirements: the plot must be accessed via a new road. The style must blend with the neighborhood.
Homeowner Requirements
- Building type: single-family home, 1.5 stories, no basement
- Occupants: 2 adults, later 2 children
- Ground floor needs: parents’ area fully on the ground floor (bedroom, dressing room, bathroom), living/dining/kitchen area (living area preferably separate), utility room with access to the garage, guest toilet
- Upper floor needs: 2 children’s bedrooms, 1 office, 1 bathroom, storage room
- Office: for home office and flexible use
- Guest accommodation: rare (max. 2–3 times per year)
- Architecture: open, welcoming, with clear sightlines
- Construction method: rather conservative-modern (no flat roof, but light materials, clean lines)
- Kitchen: open kitchen with island
- Dining area: spacious, table for 6–8 people
- Fireplace: optional, mainly for design/coziness, probably no
- Music/stereo: no specific plans yet
- Balcony/roof terrace: no
- Garage/carport: double garage, direct access to utility room, cars might be parked under a covered entrance to keep the garage space free since there will be no attic
- Garden: usable garden area, south-facing terrace → I would like to plan a conservatory here for the future or optionally build it right away. Since we will have a south-facing garden with farmland behind, a conservatory is desired as a separated area to be used all year round.
- Special features:
- Smart home planned
- Parents’ area deliberately on the ground floor
- Conservatory desired either in the future or built-in from the start
House Design
- Designed by: architect
- What we particularly like:
- South orientation with bright rooms
- Functional floor plan and parents’ area
- What we don’t like (yet):
- Children’s bathroom upstairs might be too large
- Bedroom too small
- Pantry/storage room has a door to the utility room; maybe reduce utility room size to enlarge pantry
- Children’s bedroom closets block windows and might reduce lighting
- Driveway to garage is not ideal. The garage may need to be moved further back
- Price estimate from architect: not available yet
- Personal price limit (house + fittings): around 500,000 € (approximately), completely self-built, land already purchased
- Heating system: ground source heat pump with borehole, underfloor heating, technical room probably in the garage equipment room
Why the design looks like this
We wanted a home that is family-friendly, functional, and suitable for aging in place, while complying with the building plan.
The basic idea: parents live fully on the ground floor, children live upstairs.
We are still optimizing and would appreciate feedback on:
- Room layout on the ground floor (hallway, sleeping area)
- Living/dining/kitchen area: solution with an adjacent conservatory. Living area preferably separate, so children or adults can use different paths when guests visit.
- Garage size
- Children’s bathroom: size and whether the storage room could be bigger and the bathroom smaller. Possibly separate the toilet from the children’s bathroom?
We look forward to your honest feedback!
What would you improve or arrange differently?
Thank you very much in advance for your time and suggestions.
Steiger schrieb:
… attached is our next draft. I notice that the topic of reveal and jamb insulation in the dormers has been overlooked; and I would never, ever, under any circumstances, consider building a bike shed with multiple layers of masonry (this is a sure way to waste money). Especially here, since this is a separate building structure, it wouldn’t be complicated to switch from a cavity wall in the main building to a veneer brick on the secondary building when it comes to connection details. Otherwise, the design looks visibly different at least. How many release versions do you plan to push through—do you have so much time that money doesn’t matter?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
ypg schrieb:
Is the kitchen struggling because of pantry access? Are tall cabinets for the fridge, oven, and others less important? For my (organized) two-person household, the kitchen is too small, with too little countertop space. Please plan 60cm (24 inches) cabinets for the wardrobe. The bedroom window is too large, and I wouldn’t want the bed with the door at the head. The children’s room windows are much, much, much too small. They could easily be three times bigger. Agreed. The kitchen definitely needs improvement.
Wardrobe: Does the wall need to be adjusted downward then?
Children’s room windows: Absolutely. We just need to be careful with the sloped ceiling so it still looks right. But the windows definitely need to be larger.
kbt09 schrieb:
What I notice is that the dormer area in the children's rooms is somewhat difficult to use. Keep in mind that above the beds there's already the sloping roof, and the space next to the doors is meant for wardrobes. Just imagine that.
You would need to check how far the hopefully not floor-to-ceiling windows can be moved outward from the central wall, so that wardrobes could possibly be placed against the central wall between the children's rooms. The desk would then be located more in the dormer recess.
Narrow pantry corridors with floor plan depths of 120 cm (47 inches) are basically useless spaces. In reality, this becomes more like a 115 cm (45 inches) deep room (due to plaster and so on) where you can't even place a freezer cabinet because the door inside the room won't open.
And with the currently popular passage through the tall kitchen cabinet, you lose the possibility of a genuine 90 cm (35 inches) tall cabinet in the kitchen. Instead, it would be better to have access to the pantry via the hallway with a door opening into the entrance area, or even better, to combine the pantry area with the utility room. Thanks for the note about the dormer!
Regarding the pantry: would you rather omit the pantry here and enlarge the utility room instead?
11ant schrieb:
I think the topic of reveal and cheek insulation in dormers is being neglected; and I would never, ever, under any circumstances consider building a bike shed with multi-layer masonry (slowly but surely the world goes downhill). Especially since this is a separate structure, so it wouldn’t be complicated to switch from a facing brick on the main building to brick slips on the outbuilding in terms of connection details. Otherwise, it already looks noticeably different. How many more release versions do you want to process – is time no money for you? In what way do you think the insulation is being neglected? How could this be improved? Sorry, I’m not familiar with this at all.
The bike shed is fine. We are slowly going downhill 🙂
The timeline is set. Construction starts in January. We want to pour the foundation slab in autumn. We really have to push now..
Steiger schrieb:
Regarding the storage room. Would you rather leave out the pantry here and enlarge the utility room instead?I already mentioned that 😉
kbt09 schrieb:
And with the currently popular pass-through in the tall kitchen cabinet, you lose the option for about 90cm (35 inches) of actual tall cabinetry in the kitchen. It’s better to have access to the pantry from the hallway via a door opening into the entrance area, or even better, to combine the pantry area directly with the utility room.Is the equipment located in the outbuilding? Then the shed is not allowed to be built right up to the property boundary, correct?
Or if the equipment is also in the utility room, I would split the square meters of the utility room and pantry, about 17m² (183sq ft) in total, equally. On the lower part of the plan would be the equipment, then between the cold storage and kitchen the utility room, BUT it should be accessible from the hallway, so you can comfortably do household tasks there and store supplies.
Or if the equipment is also in the utility room, I would split the square meters of the utility room and pantry, about 17m² (183sq ft) in total, equally. On the lower part of the plan would be the equipment, then between the cold storage and kitchen the utility room, BUT it should be accessible from the hallway, so you can comfortably do household tasks there and store supplies.
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