ᐅ Opinion on the floor plan / Two areas that could be improved.

For my building project (Toscanan house), I have now received a new floor plan (version) and I find it quite good, except for two exceptions:

1.) On the ground floor – the kitchen should be separated from the dining and living area by a glass sliding door to keep the cooking smells contained.
I will miss having a small utility room on the ground floor, but it probably won’t be possible to include one.
On the first floor, I mentioned that the large bathroom should be extended toward the kitchen. The dressing room of 11.76 sq meters (126.6 sq ft) should be converted into a bathroom, and the storage room should be split into about 6 sq meters (64.6 sq ft) for storage and 10 sq meters (107.6 sq ft) for the dressing room.

What do you think about this?

Thank you
Evelyn

Could you say a few more words about the future occupants?

Yes, gladly.

I would like to live on the ground floor and actually have a utility room there as well, since I might not want to wash laundry in the basement and carry it upstairs when I am older. The separate toilet and hallway are for my nephew, and the entire first floor is for him, as I find it easier if we have a shared basement access with a passage to the basement from each apartment. However, I like the idea of two separate entrances because my nephew might move out at some point. What bothers me visually is that the entrances are located very close to each other.

I see a lot of doors.
Do you really need two shower bathrooms and one toilet on the ground floor? Otherwise, it would be possible to include the laundry room.
The walk-in closet is actually unnecessary. In a nearly 20 m² (215 sq ft) room, you can fit a lot more wardrobes. So it really ends up being just a passage room and not an efficiently used space.
If the separate unit (nephew or someone else) is going to use your hallway to access the basement anyway, why have separate entrances?
And the guest toilet for the apartment on the upper floor is completely unnecessary.
In other words: with a bit more careful planning, you can also fit the utility room in.

There is a lot of hallway space on the upper floor.
Here too, I find the walk-in closet unnecessary, as the bedroom is large enough.
Otherwise, the layout as described will be better than what is shown on the plan.


milkie

So, I took some time to think it over and here’s what I came up with. I’m totally fine with a shared basement stairwell but separate entrances. What I don’t like are the two entrance halls on your side, especially since one has no natural light. I suggest extending the wall along both sides of the staircase and designing your basement access like your nephew’s. The toilet is unnecessary. Just make the entrance to the small shower room from the hallway and turn the small WC and the adjacent cloakroom into a small utility room. If you really intend to use it only for laundry—which I think is very practical—that space will be sufficient. You can then place the cloakroom in the entrance hall right by the front door.

As for the upper floor, the only thing I’m not too keen on is the small corridor extension by the large bathroom—or by the kitchen, depending on the layout. I would allocate that space to the living area, because for a family with two children, it feels a bit too small (even with the bathroom). Otherwise, it’s really well designed.

65sqm (700 sq ft) hallway/corridor, impressive! That’s more than some apartments have.

Jokes aside, I see too many compromises in the floor plan to really appreciate it. I can’t imagine a planner or architect delivering something like this. I also think such a house would be difficult to resell, as every new owner would first need to make a significant investment to achieve a more "normal" layout.

That said, I admit I might not fully understand your situation.