A first draft of our architect... Your opinion please

I find the access to the terrace only through the kitchen unfortunate. In your place, I would consider an access from the dining/living room to the terrace.

I would do without the shower on the ground floor. If that is removed, the sink can be placed there instead. At the same time, the whole bathroom becomes shorter, which also creates a nice niche for a wardrobe.

If I understand correctly, the walls on the ground floor are not there yet, right? Then I would move the stairs from the kitchen to the dining area downwards on the plan (but leave 60cm space next to the south wall for the tall kitchen cabinets). Then, in the dining room, in the lower left corner, in front of both entrances from the kitchen and hallway, you could set a kind of platform and make a shared staircase. I would also probably move the exit to the terrace to the left, so that a work surface fits on the right wall, then a window as a pass-through to the dining table can also be made on the right wall.

To compensate for the missing shower on the ground floor, I would try to create a shower bathroom upstairs at the top of the plan near the hallway. This can then be used as a children’s bathroom, which can also be used by guests. For that, the large bathroom would be made a bit smaller. Access then either only from the dressing room or the door from the hallway into the dressing room is removed. This would create a completely separated parents' area.

I have sketched this out, it’s just difficult without exact measurements, but I could imagine that this would work.

In the upper floor we notice the following things:

- Offset in the wall between the children’s rooms actually unnecessary
- Bathroom unnecessarily large
- Piece of "dead hallway" behind the outer children’s room
- The thing with the dressing room is really not optimal, what would bother me is that I would always have to lock 2 doors when I go to the bathroom

Regards

I would close off the area behind the staircase on the upper floor towards the rooms, so that the window benefits the staircase and the hallway. The dressing room and bathroom should be accessible separately from the hallway, without an intermediate door between the dressing room and bathroom. The doors are located directly next to each other, and the furnishing of the bathroom would be easier.

I don't like that the wastewater pipes are not aligned vertically. Since I have some time right now, I did a little drawing. Of course, this only works if the room dimensions – which are completely missing here – allow this or a comparable arrangement of the sanitary fixtures to be functional.

Since it is an exciting challenge for an architect, I am confident that an interesting design will result from your collaboration.

Rhenish greetings

If I understand correctly, the walls of the ground floor don’t exist yet, right? Then I would move the stairs from the kitchen to the dining area to the bottom of the plan (but still leave 60 cm space at the south wall for the tall kitchen cabinets). Then you could place some kind of platform in the lower left corner of the dining room in front of both entrances from the kitchen and the hallway and make a shared staircase. Also, I would probably move the exit to the terrace to the left, so that a workspace fits on the right next to the wall, then you can also make a window as a pass-through to the dining table on the right wall.

Matte1987, I would like to thank you very much... firstly for your interesting suggestions and also for taking the trouble to draw. I especially like the idea of the platform, I will discuss that with the architect. Unfortunately, the door to the balcony cannot be moved because the drain is already located exactly there. But the pass-through is planned in the form of a half wall.

To compensate for the missing shower on the ground floor, I would try to set up a shower bathroom at the top of the plan near the hallway on the upper floor. This can then be used as a children’s bathroom, which can also be used by guests. For that, make the large bathroom a little smaller. Access then either only from the dressing room or remove the door from the hallway into the dressing room. That way you would have a completely separated parents’ area.

Well, the idea of a children’s bathroom has also occurred to us, but we discarded it for various reasons (too high costs, who will clean it, ...).

I would close off the space behind the stairs on the upper floor to the rooms, so that the window there benefits the stairs and the hallway. Dressing room and bathroom to be accessed separately from the hallway, without an intermediate door between dressing room and bathroom. The doors would be right next to each other and furnishing the bathroom would be easier

That would not be so bad for me, but the lady of the house wants a direct passage from the bedroom – dressing room – bathroom. As you have already described, the issue of “too many doors” is absolutely valid. We need to think about this again.

I don’t like that the wastewater pipes don’t lie one above the other. Since I have a bit of time, I drew something. Of course, this only works if the room dimensions – which are completely missing here – allow this or a comparable arrangement of sanitary fixtures to work.

A big thank you also to you, Bauexperte. I find your ideas really exciting and interesting. Please allow me a few questions to better understand your designs:

GF
- Do I understand correctly that you would make the guest WC around the corner up to the garage door? What does the small red square on the left, in the upper area of the new room mean? Is that the shower? What does your drawing above the wall to the stairs mean (1 cross stroke, several longitudinal strokes)?
- In the office you made the same drawing on the left wall. Again, question: what does that mean?
- “Glass” probably means that you would plan a sliding glass door in these spots, right? In the kitchen we are planning an almost continuous open half wall along the wall (except in the first 60 cm at the bottom wall where the tall cabinets are supposed to be). Therefore, a sliding door wouldn’t be possible here. However, in the hallway / living room area it would be.

UF
- I like the idea of enlarging the children’s rooms. That way, the unnecessary dead hallway can be reduced a bit.
- What does the dashed line between the children’s rooms mean?
- In the “new” bathroom you also drew this dashed line, this time vertical.
- Don’t you think 1.90 m depth is a bit narrow for a bathroom? The idea with the half-height wall next to the WC is cool though.
- What did you draw in the lower left area of the “new” dressing room?

Thanks again to everyone. I’m really surprised and pleased that you are so actively involved and delivering great ideas.

Best regards
Grobi