Conversion of two-family house to single-family house - floor plan?

He doesn’t leave me speechless – that’s just the way it is, the original house. It seems to me a fairly modern old house?! I would shorten the kitchen a bit and make a backup kitchen behind it, so a huge pantry :D Could you please draw the support pillar up there? There still should be a way to gain more space. …… Of course, you could put the kitchen and dining area where you plan the living room, then divide the other part not horizontally but vertically on the plan, with the bedroom area on the left and a smaller living room where the dining table is now, but you have probably already tried all versions and know what advantages you now have with this one?

We had also discussed that, it is probably less complicated since the bathroom could stay in place. However, as presented, we find the layout more harmonious. And since the bathroom needs to be redone anyway, we would relocate it in the process.



Why?:oops:

You spend more time in the bathroom than in a walk-in closet. And a 2.50 m wide bathroom is already very narrow. Why give up a larger bathroom? Especially when you have to squeeze the shower so awkwardly next to the pillar.
When you enter the master suite, you look into the walk-in closet. From the dining table, you can see into the walk-in closet when the door is open, I don’t find that harmonious.
And as I said, two children's rooms of different sizes, with only one having a large window, I don’t find that very fair. My brother had the better room. That was really annoying and constantly a cause of quarrels. We were also wall to wall, and there was constant fighting because one of us always complained about the other’s noise. A room as a buffer would have been welcome there.

And the speechless refers to the walls to be removed. Inside and outside. A few steel beams are not enough to support the loads. The first step before any floor plan tinkering is to commission the structural engineer.

I would plan such a massive conversion with an architect. What if he sees much better possibilities than are apparent to a layperson? You don't even know if much better designs will emerge than seem possible. Maybe he says: everything inside can be removed from the walls, only not that one. And now you are planning to remove exactly that one wall and are hanging things on other walls, even though everything could be done really well.

We should manage that. Exactly what?



Oh, is that so? Big sorry! I marked red as demolition, yellow as new construction. If I have a bit more time tonight, I will change the plans.

From the outside on all sides. Inside, important things like roof truss supports that have to remain.



You can save yourself the work of redrawing. The architect will do that properly. Hopefully better too. I don't like the ground floor at all.



Can you sketch the current status for us? "Last year we started merging and connected both apartments through the installation of a new staircase and a large breakthrough inside."

From the outside on all sides. Inside, important things like roof support posts that have to remain.

All right, thanks!

You can save yourself the work of redrawing. The architect will do that properly. Hopefully better too. I really don't like the ground floor.

Well, I hope so ;) However, the architect of course also implements our wishes and is correspondingly influenced by our preliminary discussions. What don’t you like at all? And what would you do differently? Just out of interest.

Can you draw us the current status? "Last year we started merging and connected both apartments by installing a new staircase and a large opening inside."

The first two floor plans of the ground floor and upper floor show the current status. The new staircase leads from the upper floor to the entrance area of the ground floor. Previously, the wall in the entrance area was closed and the access to the granny flat on the upper floor was from outside.