ᐅ Staircase in the hallway, the floor plan is basically already set :o(

We are building a prefabricated house. The floor plan is basically finalized and everything has been submitted; the building permit/planning permission application has been filed.

Like many today, we planned a quarter-turn staircase that starts right next to the front door and then leads upstairs (unfortunately, we did not have a very helpful architect).

Only now have we realized that every time you change floors, you have to go through the usually rather dirty entrance area. This is especially inconvenient with kids who constantly walk around in socks, particularly in winter.

Since we can’t make major changes to the floor plan anymore (also a cost issue), we are now considering simply reversing the staircase, meaning changing the direction it runs. We have only a ground floor and an upper floor, two full stories.

If we change the direction, that would mean:

• You would come from the living room and have the staircase immediately to the left, which would make the area in front of the living room feel a bit tighter, but you would go upstairs directly.

• We would have some space directly behind the front door under the stairs for coats and shoes and wouldn't have to walk all the way to the front of the living room for that (where the high side of the staircase is now), and we wouldn’t always have to pass by the front door when going upstairs to the bathroom or similar.

• We would lose the gallery upstairs since it would become a passageway, but it's already quite narrow there anyway (we had planned to put a cabinet in the niche).

• It would be quite tight upstairs after the stairs. According to the floor plan (there would be an extra step), the landing would only be 1.40 m (4.6 feet) long, then immediately meets a wall, and you would have to turn right.

Now I’d be interested in your opinions. Please no “Why did you...” comments, etc.

• Would you change the staircase direction or leave it as it is?
• Is 1.40 m (4.6 feet) sufficient (we can’t change this anymore; otherwise, the bedroom space would be too tight)?
• Or is the dirt in front of the stairs really not that bad… (we have planned a carport in front of the house so that the entrance area is well covered, but that doesn’t really help much with dirty kids’ shoes and having to take off shoes by the front door — if they are only normally dirty, that’s not a big deal).

We would also change the window next to the front door. Either a very narrow, tall window or a sidelight next to the door. The living room door is glass, which also lets in light, and the front door itself is planned to let in some light as well.

Maybe someone has advice that could help us.

Thanks in advance and have a great week.

Best regards,
Steffi

I would leave it as is. I believe it simply doesn’t work as well the other way around. The dirt probably won’t be that bad.

I agree. I wouldn’t change it anymore either. That much dirt is unlikely to be brought in.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to this question... I just find it more practical to have the stairs in the living room because then we can go straight from the entrance to the basement. But I always clean up the dirt there since we have the guest toilet in the entrance area. It’s probably more a matter of space... having a bit more storage in the entrance area can’t be a bad thing.

I would definitely change it. You should have enough space.

How much space is there on the ground floor in front of the base of the stairs?

You can brush off most of the dirt outside the door, but it’s the small grains of sand that stick uncomfortably to socks or bare feet. I was just thinking about our “luck” this past Saturday when we came in after a walk in the snow and took off our boots. And we don’t even have kids!
And who has the time to go get a mop right away? With two kids, you would be doing that all day long.

Regards, Yvonne

I would change it, also because I find staircases located directly next to room doors (in your upper floor) problematic.