ᐅ Second Draft – Requesting Feedback on Floor Plan for Single-Family Home with Accessory Apartment

After completely redesigning our first draft https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/planung-steht-fast-eure-meinung-erwuenscht.10701/, this is the result 🙂

What do you think of the second draft!? I personally find it much better than the first one!?

Our requirements/wishes remain the same:

- Single-family house with a separate apartment (for the parents and later for renting out). Main living area approx. 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft), separate apartment 50 sqm (538 sq ft)
- No basement, but storage space under the stairs on the ground floor, in the attic, a larger garage, and a garden shed
- The development plan allows for 2 full floors (roof pitch up to 28 degrees), so it will have a hipped roof
- Solid construction with 36 cm (14 inches) T9 bricks
- KfW 70 energy standard
- Heating: gas condensing boiler
- Underfloor heating
- House orientation: unfortunately not marked on the floor plan, but top is north, bottom is south
- We definitely want a walk-in closet and a master bathroom in the bedroom

A fireplace is still to be planned... the question is, where would be the best (strategic) location!?

I’m considering whether to install 3 decentralized ventilation units (1 in the separate apartment, 1 on the ground floor near the kitchen, 1 in the master bathroom). Do you think that makes sense or not? (Please briefly comment... I don’t want to start a discussion about this 🙂 )

Especially since I heard that according to the new Energy Saving Ordinance 2014, it is advisable to plan a central ventilation system (I’m not a fan of that and don’t want it!)

Thanks in advance for lots of feedback

Regards,
karismasen

Path to the kitchen as long as possible.
4 m (13 feet) bedroom – leave 0.90 m (3 feet) passage, 3.1 m (10 feet) left for the bed; this is too narrow on the right side if both sides should have a bedside table.
Staircase in the middle of the living room.
Lots of hallway and circulation space.

I really like the upper floor. It looks great to me. Okay, BehaElJa is right, it could be tight with bedside tables. We have a similar setup at the moment, but we have 3.40 meters (11 feet) available, and on the window side, it’s already quite cramped with a 1.80-meter (6-foot) bed.

What I don’t like is the living room on the ground floor. Having the staircase behind the sofa just won’t work; it will always cause drafts. I would try to arrange the staircase access from the hallway instead—also considering furniture placement options. A 2-meter (6.5-foot) couch for four people???? And the kitchen???? For a single-family house, it’s a joke, sorry. In a small apartment, I might accept a mini kitchenette like this, but for a house it’s definitely too small. There’s basically no storage or workspace, and two people in the room at the same time is just not doable here.

Where is the building’s technical equipment supposed to go? All upstairs in the utility room?

I think there are still several improvements needed, especially on the ground floor.

- I would place the staircase in the hallway.
- Why so many corners and bay windows? They just add extra costs...
- The kitchen is way too small, especially the lack of countertop space along the walls.
- Are you draining the main bathroom through the parents’ bedroom? Not ideal...

I will briefly address the feedback received so far:

• The kitchen is also a concern for us; it will definitely need to expand further to the right.
• The idea to close off the stairway to the hallway is not bad... Advantage: no traffic through the living room, no drafts... Disadvantage: less space for a wardrobe in the hallway. But wouldn’t this make the living room feel even smaller? And is this change feasible without significantly altering the overall plan?
• The issue with the master bathroom upstairs and the tenant apartment’s bedroom below is indeed not ideal... What would be the solution to this problem? Swap the bedroom and bathroom upstairs? But then you have the bathroom facing south and the bedroom facing north!

By the way, the reason for the bay window is to create more living space downstairs, as there is still a basement apartment below. The furniture layout shown is not final… the dining area is actually planned for the east side in the "bay window." This means the living area and dining area would be swapped.