ᐅ New construction of a single-family house with 150 sqm of living space, Saarland

chrisOo schrieb:

Hi,
so I have now swapped the kitchen and living area. I like the living area well, and I was also able to integrate the fireplace nicely so that it fits on the upper floor as well.

11.8 m² (127 ft²) is not a living area; it’s more of a better reading nook.

chrisOo schrieb:

The kitchen is just under 16 m² (172 ft²), which is quite large in my opinion, so I added a pantry. But I am not really satisfied with it.

That’s a sign that no proper planning is taking place, just a sequence of rooms. There is still some leftover space, so: hmm, what do I do with it? OK, I’ll add a pantry…

chrisOo schrieb:

Alternatively, I could make the utility room a few centimeters larger and expand the kitchen island back to 3 m (10 ft).

Moving walls around won’t get you anywhere here…

chrisOo schrieb:

Which mini-door do you mean?

The one by the cloakroom. Apart from extra costs and wasted space because of less wall area, this door doesn’t add any value.

• Entrance area too small because the cloakroom is away from the entrance
• Guest toilet too big (remove the shower)
• Living corner too small
• Straight staircase doesn’t belong here (in my opinion) → 1 m (3.3 ft) airlock
• Upper floor: Children’s room with 3 windows eats up wall space. Bed in front of window! Please try furnishing both properly.
• …

You need to write down which rooms you want and their approximate sizes… then we’re back to the “beloved” questionnaire…

The “new” upper floor plan just came in… the children’s rooms barely fit a changing table. Can’t you see this isn’t working and won’t work?

Addition:
Children’s room: Paint the middle window, as there will be a wardrobe/shelving unit over 3 m (10 feet) there. Otherwise, where are all the toys going to go?
You won’t be able to properly furnish the office like this either. A pity about the 10 m² (108 sq ft)….

Hello, I’d like to join the discussion.
Although it has been mentioned before, you quickly dismissed the issue of the staircase length. In my opinion, it is really planned too short. And with the current layout, a longer staircase would completely ruin your plans, so you definitely need to check this again.

I can fully understand your wish for a straight staircase—I also insisted on it (against the advice from this forum). Still, I would recommend checking the hallway width once more. I find 1 meter (3 feet) quite narrow as well.

Currently, your living room has a width of 3.5 meters (11.5 feet). That is not very generous. Personally, I think 4.5 meters (15 feet) is a good distance.

The pantry is too small. If you install shelves 50 cm (20 inches) deep, you will have only 50 cm (20 inches) left to the wall. It will be very uncomfortable to bend down there.

In the bedroom, there is very little space at the head of the bed. You will be standing right against the wall in the morning.
I also find the walk-in closet awkward because it feels “trapped.” You would have to go through the closet first in the morning and then pass by the sleeping partner in the bedroom to get to the hallway.

The furniture layout in Child 1’s room is terrible on the plan, but due to the window locations, this can’t be avoided at the moment. I would strongly recommend redesigning it to be able to place the floor-to-ceiling wardrobe properly.
Child 2’s room looks much better in this regard.

In general: you will face a lot of criticism here because everyone has different likes and dislikes. You can’t make much use of this input if you don’t know your own routines and lifestyle well. I think you should think more about what you truly want, what effect is important to you, etc. That way, you can take some criticism more calmly without feeling personally attacked.

Hello everyone,

For Child 1, I will remove the right window on the rear wall. I had included it because of the window arrangement on that wall, but the room is already nicely filled with natural light.

What is wrong with the office? It suits my needs, or am I missing something?

The only option to enlarge the living area is to swap it back with the kitchen. I do like the idea of having direct access to the terrace from the kitchen, but a 16sqm (170 sq ft) kitchen seems oversized to me anyway. The only issue would be relocating the fireplace.

The staircase with 4m (13 ft) on the ground floor and 3.5m (11.5 ft) on the upper floor is not a problem. I don’t see why that wouldn’t fit.

The small door is supposed to be a regular door and is necessary for the connection to the garage. Of course, having a detached garage would be an option, but I think everyone has their own preferences or ideas about that. Since I also want to place the home gym behind that door, it’s actually essential. Otherwise, I would have to go outside in any weather to get into the house.

I can reconsider the master bedroom, but it meets my needs and I don’t think you pass directly in front of your partner when coming from the walk-in closet. Size-wise, I don’t really need more in the bedroom. I’m there “only” to sleep.

I don’t want to give up having a shower in the basement bathroom.
The toilet in the upper floor bathroom can be relocated, that’s no problem. The shower, measuring 1 x 1.2m (3.3 x 4 ft), is clearly larger than standard, sufficient in my opinion, and wheelchair accessible. It could definitely be optimized further, and the shower could be made 20cm (8 inches) wider and deeper.

Best regards
Chris

chrisOo schrieb:

I can take another look at the master bedroom, but I find it fine for my needs and don’t think you have to walk past your partner when coming out of the walk-in closet. Also, in terms of size, I don’t really need more in the bedroom. I’m there “just” to sleep.

1. Whether you have to walk past a sleeping partner when going from the walk-in closet to the hallway is not a matter of opinion. How else would you get from the walk-in closet to the hallway without going through the bedroom? The only way to avoid this situation is if both people always get up at the same time. That’s rather unrealistic.
What is a matter of opinion, of course, is whether it bothers you if your partner has to walk through the bedroom again. For me, this includes considering that a sliding door would have to be whisper-quiet and that the extra light might be disturbing. If it doesn’t bother you, that’s fine.

2. “Enough space in the bedroom.” Yes, basically it’s large enough. But you can only position the bed so that there are 50cm (20 inches) between the bed and the wall. That is very tight!

If you were enthusiastic about everything, I think anyone else would be perfectly fine with it as well. But these are just “attached compromises.” The kitchen is too big, the living room too small, I don’t care about the bathroom, the bedroom is somehow okay, the wardrobe is fine if it has to be, I don’t want to think about the stairs any further, the child’s room is acceptable as is, the office will probably work out, the pantry is whatever to me, and I don’t really care.

Drasleona schrieb:

1. Whether you have to pass by a still-sleeping partner to get from the walk-in closet to the hallway is not a matter of opinion. How else would you get from the closet to the hallway without going through the bedroom? The only way to avoid this situation is if you both get up at the same time, which is rather unrealistic.
What is a matter of opinion, of course, is whether it bothers you that your partner has to walk through the bedroom. For me, this also means considering that a sliding door would have to be whisper-quiet and that the additional light might be disturbing. If it doesn’t bother you, that’s fine.

2. "Enough space in the bedroom." Yes, in principle it is big enough. But you can only position the bed so that there is 50cm (20 inches) left between the wall and the bed. That is very tight!

If you were enthusiastic about everything, I think everyone else here would be perfectly fine with it too. But these are just “compromises stuck together.” The kitchen is too big, the living room too small, the bathroom I don’t care about, the bedroom somehow fits, the wardrobe is okay if it has to be, I don’t want to think any further about the stairs, the child’s room is fine as it is, the office will do, the pantry I don’t care about.

Regarding point 1: that’s not true, you can easily place the bed on the other side, giving you 1 meter (39 inches) of space to the wall on each side.

Regarding point 2: "I don’t want to think further about the stairs" — that’s not true either; I have checked the staircase calculation and, as I have drawn it, there is absolutely no problem.
"The office will do" — it will indeed, it’s an almost 10m² (108 sq ft) room that can be arranged as desired, even as I have shown. It will work perfectly.
"The child’s room is fine as it is" — I think the rooms are big enough to make something out of them, and when the time comes, the child can decide where the bed, desk, etc., should go.

"I don’t care about the bathroom" — I never said that. Personally, it doesn’t matter to me whether the toilet is placed behind the door or elsewhere. If someone gives me a reason why the toilet should not be behind the door, I will take that into account and place it somewhere else.

Unfortunately, I get zero useful input from your writing. Instead of arguing your points, you’re just putting words in my mouth that aren’t true.