ᐅ Townhouse Floor Plan – Opinions and Feedback Welcome

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask for your feedback on the floor plan attached.
I know that a so-called townhouse is not to everyone’s taste, but it suits us.

My ideas are as follows:

Access to the bathroom and bedroom only through the dressing room, as having two doors seems pointless to me.

Is it possible to build the fireplace as shown?

Thank you for your responses.

I generally like the sequence of sleeping, dressing, and bathing areas, but you don’t have enough space for that.
The bedroom is 3 m (10 feet), and even if the bed is only 1.8 m (6 feet) wide, there is just 60 cm (2 feet) left on each side. That works for fairly young and healthy people but will become difficult quite early on.
The dressing room has a hallway that is only one meter (3 feet 3 inches) wide, which is very tight. Also, the wardrobes being 50 cm (20 inches) deep is a bit optimistic, especially considering the rough structural dimensions. It’s uncomfortable to get dressed in that space.
I prefer the toilet to be inside the bathroom, but that’s a matter of taste.

On the ground floor, the kitchen island is quite small; a compact kitchen area would be more practical. I believe timely kitchen planning is important to achieve better results for the entire design.

What really bothers me about the floor plan is the non-functional living room—it’s far too small, and a home theater setup won’t be possible. Also, the staircase requires passing through the entry mudroom area, which isn’t ideal for cleanliness.

Overall, the design includes very expensive solutions that do not improve living quality. Additionally, the space between the kitchen and living area is inefficient. Therefore, the cost-performance ratio will likely be poor if this plan is realized.

Regards,
WD

Wanderdüne schrieb:
I basically like the sequence of bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom, but you have too little space for this.
The bedroom is 3 m (10 feet), even if the bed is only 1.8 m (6 feet) wide, that leaves only 60 cm (24 inches) on each side. This works for fairly young and healthy people, but later it quickly becomes difficult.
The dressing room has a corridor only 1 m (3 feet) wide, which is very narrow, and the wardrobes being only 50 cm (20 inches) deep is somewhat optimistic, especially considering rough structural measurements. Getting dressed in that room is uncomfortable.
I prefer the toilet inside the bathroom, but that’s a matter of taste.

On the ground floor, the kitchen island is rather small; a compact kitchenette would be more practical. I find early kitchen planning important, as it leads to better results for the whole design.

What really bothers me about the floor plan is the non-functional living room, which is far too cramped, so a home theater setup is not possible.
Also, there’s a staircase that requires you to cross the dirty zone at the entrance.

Overall, the design includes very expensive solutions that do not improve living quality, and the area between cooking and living is inefficient. Therefore, the cost-to-benefit ratio will probably be poor if realized.

Best regards,
WD

Why is the living room too small? A sofa is usually max. 3 m (10 feet), right? Why wouldn’t surround sound work?
What issue do you see with the staircase?

Thanks for the tips!!

LincolnHawk schrieb:
Why is the living room too small? A sofa is usually no more than 3m (10 feet), right? Why wouldn’t surround sound work? What issue do you see with the staircase? Thanks for the tips!!

It’s quite simple. Just try designing a living room based solely on its functionality, without fitting it into any floor plan. The result will most likely not look like the current situation, where a sofa is squeezed into a too-small niche and you always have to look at the TV from an awkward angle. This can be handled better in a new build.

Although I like the staircase because it is straight, the first step is located right in the entrance area. That means if you are moving through the house in clean clothes, you have to pass through the rather dirty entrance zone. Also, to reach the more private rooms upstairs, you don’t want to have to go through the most public area of the house—the entrance.

WD

Wanderdüne schrieb:
It’s simple. Just design a living room focusing purely on functionality, without fitting it into any floor plan. The result will probably look very different from the current situation, where a sofa is squeezed into a too-small niche and you constantly have to look at the TV from an awkward angle. With a new build, you can do this better.

I like the staircase because it is straight, but the first step is right at the main entrance area. This means that when you’re walking through the house in clean clothes, you have to pass through the rather dirty entrance zone. Also, to reach the more private rooms upstairs, you have to go through the most public area in the house—the entrance.

WD

First of all, thanks for the suggestions!

We specifically decided to separate the staircase from the “private” area so that later we can have peace when our kids have visitors. I understand your point about the living room and the niche; I would prefer to place the sofa on the south side, but that would also be disadvantageous because it would block the windows.

I understand the idea with the staircase, but it would need to be planned so that the bottom step is located outside the cloakroom area and still separated from the living space. This is not a problem with a flexible design. What makes the current design more challenging is that the cloakroom is very small, meaning the hallway or the space under the staircase might need to be used as additional cloakroom or shoe storage. If children then bring snow and grit into the area under the stairs, you would have to walk through it just to get to the upper floor.

I also don’t see a satisfactory solution for the living room, which is absolutely necessary. Is it possible to step back and let the planner revise the design? There are other issues with the plan as well; a thorough redesign might be advisable.

Best regards,
WD