ᐅ Single-family house with 2 full stories, no basement, approximately 190 m² (about 2,045 ft²)

Hello everyone,

since we have finally found a suitable plot of land, we are currently in the idea collection phase for our house. We already have a very clear vision of how our future home should look. Existing furniture is also to be incorporated as much as possible. Here are the details of our first draft. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for improvements and ideas!

Development plan/restrictions: none
Plot size: 970 m² (10,442 sq ft)

Owners’ requirements
Gable roof
2 full floors, no basement, garage roof usable as storage
2 adults, 30 and 25 years old, 2 children planned
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: home office with 2 workstations needed, plenty of storage space required
No guest room necessary
Rather closed architecture
Conservative construction style
Open kitchen with cooking island desired
Number of dining seats: 8 people, extendable up to 10
Fireplace desired in living and dining areas
Double garage with heating room and storage space for tools and others
Size approx. 180 to 190 m² (1,938 to 2,045 sq ft)

House design
Who designed the plan:
Designed by myself. We have not yet consulted an architect
What do you particularly like? Why? Kitchen-dining area with direct access to the terrace, bedroom facing east, layout on the upper floor is good because each room has privacy and is not directly adjacent to bedrooms/kids’ rooms. Also, we would like a T-shaped layout in the bathroom.
What do you not like? Why? Office is too big; 13–14 m² (140–150 sq ft) would be sufficient. Pantry could be larger. There is also little space for a guest wardrobe. The cloakroom should be for residents only.
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment but without furniture: €450,000
DIY work desired
Preferred heating system: gas heating

If you had to give up certain details/upgrades
- that you could give up:
- that you could not give up: wood stove with glass door in dining and living areas

Why is the design the way it is? For example,
Because the plot is very secluded, we want large windows facing south. The plot is only accessible via a 40 m (130 ft) private driveway leading to the residential street.

Unfortunately, I do not currently have an up-to-date plan on hand. In the PDF, I was unable to correctly mark the plot boundary. The garage is, of course, within the plot.

I look forward to your answers!

Please be so kind and provide the floor plans as JPG attachments without all the extra pages in the PDF. PDF files are also harder to view on mobile devices.

Is this supposed to be a two-sided fireplace, like a see-through fireplace?

The doors to the cloakroom/pantry are inconvenient; when opened, they block access to the rooms behind them.

The dressing room on the upper floor is only accessible through the bedroom, which is also less than ideal. If someone gets up earlier, they have to go from the bedroom to the dressing room, back through the bedroom, and then to the bathroom. This could be disruptive.

The staircase is too close to the front door for my taste; otherwise, a spacious floor plan can start to feel cramped.

An interior garage length of 521 cm (205 inches) might be very tight for a large car.

The bathroom door swing on the upper floor should also be reconsidered.

A downside is the angled entry to Child 1’s room.

I find it very impractical to have such a long way from the walk-in closet to the bathroom. For me, a walk-in closet doesn’t make much sense if you constantly have to walk through the bedroom and possibly disturb your partner while they are sleeping. Given the size of the house, I wouldn’t skip having a separate bathroom for the children. Teenagers can spend a lot of time in the bathroom (facial treatments, masks, etc. — our son can easily spend an hour in there), so it’s really convenient to always have access to a bathroom (and for it to be tidy). I know… you don’t really think about these things before you have kids. Do you really want to completely separate the kitchen from the living area? It’s also not ideal with small children, and you often end up cooking alone while the rest of the family is in the living room.

Best regards,
Sabine

@Curly .. but you can also have a wonderful cooking session, and those who don’t want to participate can sit in the living room. Or have separate men’s and women’s groups, or if the kids are teenagers and want to cook themselves... like my niece and nephew, who often have five guests over, filling up the kitchen/dining area. That’s when you’re really thankful for a separate living room.

Could you please tell me how to export the floor plan as a JPG in Sweet Home 3D?

Yes, we want a double-sided fireplace.
I agree about the staircase. However, I’m not sure which staircase design would suit our home best.
I hadn’t considered the length of the garage. Thanks for the tip.

We don’t want a children’s bathroom. Instead, we have a second shower on the ground floor that can be used as a children’s bathroom.
Yes, we want to separate the living room from the kitchen-dining area. For us, the kitchen-dining room is the main gathering space. That’s where people sit together when guests come. That’s also why I want a kitchen island. The living room should be a place to retreat, for example, if guests are over or someone wants to read or watch TV. Others would only disturb. We definitely want to keep these two rooms separate.

I would place the kids' bathroom upstairs. It’s quite inconvenient to have to pass by the front door downstairs just to get to the shower. Plus, you always end up carrying your things like cosmetics back and forth.

Why does the utility room upstairs need to be so large? What activities are supposed to take place there?

The kids’ bedrooms are also very spacious… so overall, there should definitely be space for a kids’ bathroom as well.

-----------------
If needed, just take a screenshot in Sweet Home. That’s how I do it in Virtual Architecture.