ᐅ Planning / Floor Plan for a Single-Family Home (approx. 140 sqm, Basement, Ground Floor, Top Floor)

Hello everyone,

Last fall, we (my wife, 28; our son, 9 months; and I, 32) bought a plot of land and have since been brainstorming, sketching, and exploring how to plan and design our house.

The more you look, the more you see, and sometimes it gets more confusing.

In principle, we are satisfied with the layout and room distribution, but the upstairs (attic floor) still has some issues. We would appreciate opinions from experienced homeowners and builders on whether our ideas and the floor plans we sketched are really practical and livable.

Here are the basic details:

Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 497 sqm (see location plan)
Slope: no
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: anything allowed
Architectural style: anything allowed except bungalow

Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type => Single-family home with bay window, gable roof, 25 – 28 degrees (relatively shallow)
Basement, floors => basement, ground floor + attic floor (knee wall 1.80 – 2.00 m (6.0 – 6.5 ft))
Number of people, ages => currently 3 (he 32, she 28, son 9 months); a second child is desired
Space requirements on ground floor, upper floor:
[I]Ground floor => living, dining, kitchen, guest WC/shower, storage/pantry
Attic floor => 2 children’s rooms, bathroom, master bedroom with walk-in closet
Office => for family use
Open or closed layout => open living/dining area
Conservative or modern style => modern but cozy
Open kitchen, kitchen island => open; kitchen layout not fixed yet, depending on what fits best
Number of dining seats => at least 4 but ideally space for 6 to 8
Fireplace => no
Music/sound wall => no
Balcony, roof terrace => no
Garage, carport => double garage with direct access to the house
Utility garden, greenhouse => regular garden, nothing special planned
Other wishes/features => we like the half-turned staircase with landing, though it takes quite a bit of space; we have a rather large sofa (3.50 m x 2.00 m (11.5 ft x 6.5 ft)); I manually inserted this sofa on the ground floor plan, as the one included by the builder does not fit the proportions at all.

House Design
Who planned it:
=> Designer from a building company based on our specifications (hand drawing)
What do we like?
=> We really like the ground floor layout and the open, bright feel (maybe kitchen a bit small with little countertop space)
What do we dislike?
=> The attic floor! Children’s rooms a bit too big, should be around 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each; master bedroom and walk-in closet too small; bathroom layout is not ideal; due to the staircase location, the room arrangement upstairs is tricky.
Price estimate by architect/planner: about 330,000 EUR (turnkey excluding flooring and painting)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 350,000 EUR
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler or air-to-water heat pump

If you had to give up something, which details/upgrades
Could you do without? => actually nothing, it’s not really special already; maybe a different staircase design
Could you not do without? => direct access to the garage; open living/dining area
[/I]
Unfortunately, the builder did not include dimensions on the plans, only area sizes, but I hope you can get an idea from that.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Best regards,
Schorsch584

Hello Tobias,
it would be helpful if the floor plans were dimensioned and if you had a few elevations and the house drawn on the plot. What is the orientation of the roof?
Here are some observations so far:

• The ground floor has a lot of circulation space
• The storage room is too narrow to place a shelf inside
• The short wall in the living room does not provide any benefit
• What is the purpose of the bay window (other than cost)?
• The bay windows in the children’s rooms are probably hardly usable. Also, a lot of light will not enter the rooms through them.
• You won’t be able to place proper 60cm (24 inch) cabinets in either your bedroom or the walk-in closet. Especially not with the corner window. It’s better to leave out the wall to the walk-in closet.
• The bathroom layout is, to put it mildly, a disaster.

And the kitchen definitely needs to be reconsidered; as it is drawn, I wouldn’t want it. This is not really a proper kitchen island; it’s more like an awkward extension that’s difficult to use and where guests get splattered with grease. Also, how is the space behind the peninsula seating supposed to be used? Do you really need two huge doors right next to each other at the corner?

Hello Tobias,

Why exactly is the staircase positioned the way it is?

Did the builder just copy your specifications, or did they also contribute their own ideas?

To me, the house doesn’t work conceptually. You say the children’s rooms are too large, but that can only be resolved with a completely different layout. The walk-in closet is too small (why do you even need it if you still have to walk through the bedroom to get to the wardrobes?), on the ground floor there is too much hallway space compared to the cloakroom area (which is barely usable) and the storage room (also hardly possible to furnish), but too little adequate space for furniture in the living areas.
You urgently need to include all the other furniture in realistic sizes when planning!

Overall, it should be a very small (or at least narrow) house, so dimensions are even more important!

Jochen104 schrieb:
Short wall section in the living room brings no advantage

The sliding door inside has to go somewhere.

If you want a passage from the garage, the kitchen and storage room should probably be located there as well; otherwise, you won’t gain much advantage.

Have you considered swapping the kitchen and living area, as well as switching the guest toilet and storage room?

I really can't imagine the house on the plot right now. I assume the site plan is oriented to north – is that correct?

Otherwise, see jochen104