ᐅ Looking for design ideas for a semi-detached house floor plan.

Tichu78 schrieb:
Yes, the design is already with the architect. It's simply fun to work out some details by yourself.

I don’t see any suitable space for a proper bedroom. Don’t you have a wardrobe? If your architect is a registered professional with authorization, please make sure there is enough space for a decent closet.

The staircase also needs to accommodate furniture: if you have to carry Ikea flat-pack pieces through a window to the upper floor, living there won’t be enjoyable in the long run.

Toilets should ideally be stacked vertically—here it makes sense to swap the bedroom with the bathroom (at least the bathroom’s location), so the soil pipe stays in one corner. About 10m² (108 sq ft) should be enough for the bathroom; otherwise, avoid the T-shaped layout, which takes up a lot of room.

Place the toilet in the guest WC along the exterior wall so the waste pipe can go outside via the shortest possible route.

Move the middle wall 20cm (8 inches) further east – a 3.5m (11.5 ft) wide bedroom is borderline but might work. However, you still won’t have a closet. The calculations are not correct – the bathroom currently has over 13m² (140 sq ft), not 10.5m² (113 sq ft). An 8m² (86 sq ft) bathroom is sufficient – try to find space for a closet instead...

ypg schrieb:
I don’t see any suitable space for a decent bedroom here. Don’t you have a closet? If your architect has signing authority, please make sure you have enough space for a proper wardrobe.

The staircase also needs to work for moving furniture: if you have to carry Ikea flat packs through the window into the upper floor, living there won’t be enjoyable in the long run.

Toilets should ideally be stacked vertically—here it makes sense to swap the bedroom with the bathroom (at least the bathroom’s location), so the soil pipe stays in one corner. Around 10 square meters (108 square feet) should be sufficient for the bathroom—otherwise avoid the T-shaped layout, it takes up a lot of room.

Place the toilet in the guest WC against an exterior wall so the drain can run the shortest route outside.

The wardrobe is in the office. We have it like this now and want to keep it that way.

The staircase is the main issue in this whole setup… if it’s wider, the living area becomes too narrow. If it’s longer, the bedroom becomes too small. If I move the stairs further south, the office/dressing room gets smaller.

I know it’s hard to understand, but we really only use the bedroom for sleeping. In at night, out in the morning. The minimum space really is enough! We have it like this now and want it the same again.

In my opinion, the utility room, bathroom, and toilet are ideally located together… no long runs for the sanitary pipes on the upper and attic floors. On the ground floor, it would be even better if the kitchen adjoined the utility room, but there’s not enough light there. We only sit on the couch in the evening anyway, so natural daylight isn’t necessary.

If we swap the bathroom and bedroom, the bedroom would have a roof window—which is a no-go. Also, there is a sloped roof on the north side with knee walls just under 1 meter (3 feet) high on the upper floor. That would make the bathroom too small. The 10 square meters (108 square feet) isn’t accurate. Areas in the living space between 1 and 2 meters (3 and 6 feet) height only count as 50%.

I’m happy to give up the T-shaped layout idea… it was just a suggestion.

Of course, I haven’t taken the pipes and electrical wiring into account, nor the structural calculations. That’s detail work for the architect to optimize.

Hopefully, it’s solvable.

I made some changes. The stairs are now located inside, with the kitchen on the opposite side. The cloakroom is built under the stairs.
There is also a guest cloakroom opposite.
Positives: the layout of the utility room – entrance area – guest toilet, as well as better interaction between the kitchen and living area.
What I am still not entirely happy with is the utility room; you lose space inside where there is no usable area. The stairs might be a bit dark. When entering the living room, the first thing you see is the shelving unit. The upper floor is divided into three rooms: children’s room on the south side, parents’ bedroom on the north side (including dressing room and office), and the bathroom behind the stairs. A dormer on the north side probably makes sense.

Overall, I feel this solution has advantages compared to the other design.

ugh, no natural light in the bathroom ... a real pity. That’s a no-go.

Tichu78 schrieb:
I made some changes again.

... and completely lost sight of the upper floor in the process...

Tichu78 schrieb:
The wardrobe is in the office. That’s how we have it now, but we want to change it back.

Yep, but circumstances can change—second child or selling the property for whatever reason—so sometimes you have to think conservatively and find a balance between individuality and standard solutions.
We used to have the wardrobe in the office as well (initially a temporary solution) because the bedroom lacked space for a standard 3-meter (10-foot) wardrobe. Later, we actually liked it.
Now, in the new house, we have a separate walk-in closet, but made sure the bedroom can fit a regular wardrobe—it’s possible that one day the walk-in closet might be converted into an office, so then you’d need wardrobe space in the bedroom again.

Best regards, Yvonne