Floor plan 2 full floors KFW 55, 136 sqm flat roof

Straight flights of stairs are a feature from the moth-toolkit of replacement villa sellers, selling the cheapest construction as noble formal clarity. They are (apart from their inconvenient shape in terms of traffic flow) absolutely not bad, but completely overrated.

I can well imagine it being special when you look in the direction of travel both from above and below through the windows at the end of the stairs into the daylight, well, outside. Of course, you virtually buy a lot of circulation space with it, but it does have a certain something.

What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?

I like the connection from inside to outside from the large living area. I also like the courage to have an impractical staircase as a room divider in the living room. If you really like that exactly that much, you can manage the rest somehow. I also like the dining area solution with an integrated bench in the seating window – it’s not standard, not so easily accessible, worse for leaning on... so what? Nice, well-divided small bathroom upstairs. Worth reconsidering

[*]Storage concept – count what you want to store and calculate that children will increasingly require storage space as they grow up over the years. Then you see if it fits or not. What is “enough” is not objectifiable. “More” is not always better, because “more” will always get filled. [*]Walk-in closet – The walk-in closet is a huge space eater without really being practical. If it has to be, I would place the entrance to the bedroom via the walk-in closet corridor next to the bathroom entrance. That way, you don’t have to walk serpentine paths to the bedroom; if necessary, also relocate the door there. [*]Upper floor hallway size – The hallway is quite nice, no question, but in relation to the living area, it consumes a lot of space. If you put the bedroom access through the walk-in closet, you can expand the rear children’s room around the hallway. Shift the wall between the children’s rooms a bit and you give the kids a little more space – the entrance to the rear children’s room is not super practical but helpful. [*]Transporting bulky items – that will be very annoying. But it works – you just have to know how often that happens. Possibly give the utility room an entrance door. [*]Utility room – depending on the technology, maybe a bit tight. [*]Carport – that will be tight. Do you have a “German” attitude towards cars or a pragmatic one? Those things withstand weather, provide comfort with a parking heater/ventilation (for the electric vehicles driven soon anyway, that’s standard). Less is more here, a shed for bicycles and children’s vehicles would be enough.

The house fits your life if

[*]You like it lively. The traffic routes go through the living area. Retreat is only in the parents’ bedroom or in the garden. [*]You are sociable and communicative. [*]You are willing to share the living space equally with the children. [*]You are outdoor people. [*]You prefer an individual flair over maximum practicality. [*]You manage with few things, have no space-consuming hobbies, and are disciplined with purchases. (Storage) [*]You are disciplined in controlling the environment, not constantly giving children all sorts of things. [*]You are able to manage laundry logistics in a very small space. [*]You don’t find cars very important. [*]You are not embarrassing to your children – at least not too embarrassing during puberty. [*]You can live with it if it doesn’t always look perfectly tidied up.

I would probably... hmm, I would probably rotate the house with the long side forward and backward. Capture sunlight from the south, but switch to windows with sills.

That is too radical for me. We have deliberately placed the house this way in the building window (of course, shifting it a meter or more can be discussed to make the entrance area wider). This way, I achieve an L-shaped garden and get south and west sunlight on the terrace. I imagine a U-shaped garden is nowhere really usable or only a garden facing north would be shady for us. The house would cast a lot of shadow in spring and autumn.

Regarding the orientation of the windows: You have really great window areas that open the house to the garden, make it look bigger and friendlier, and are supposed to provide brightness.
But have you looked at your south side? It would be understandable if you wanted to shield yourself from the street, but there are neighbors left and right as well. They are literally looking into your lap with the floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs.
And unfortunately, the carport is in front of some windows, the shed will block more windows...
If a vehicle is parked in the carport, neither the postman nor visitors can easily reach the front door.

I also think we will reduce it a bit here. The planner and energy consultant approached it so that they got the maximum window area possible that still meets KFW 55. I think we will rather use windows with sills on the east and west sides upstairs because of the neighbors.

If you move the house three meters further back, then you can also enter the house space-savingly and practically through the front door without walking through the kitchen with dirty shoes.

Hm, then I have a north-south 8-meter deep front garden on the street side.

Sounds like you would choose a completely different volume of the house and position it differently within the building window. Do you mean this creates a nicer garden?

A member who can no longer log in here just pointed out to me that more than three contour lines (of unknown spacing) run through the building window here. In the virtual Lego baseplate "I don't see these transferred" ;-)

, to put it positively: you skillfully sidestep the unpleasant storage topic in your answers... ;) But sooner or later, it won't help: face the issue. I speak from experience, we also have a flat roof without a basement and with 155m2 only slightly more than your living space. But from the 155m2, on each floor, one - admittedly (very) small - room is deducted as storage space. For me, that was just as unappealing before the build as it seems to be for you, but reality catches up with you. Even the two small rooms we have (by the way, in addition to a 10m2 utility room where a drying rack fits) are not enough. And we still have a garden shed and are using a shed for some things until our garage is completed... and we are NOT hoarders and only recently have a toddler in the household. I have a bad feeling, so: really reconsider the planning regarding this issue.

, to put it positively: you skillfully dodge the unpleasant storage topic in your replies... ;) But in the short or long run, it won’t help: face the issue. I speak from experience, we also have a flat roof without a basement and with 155m2 we are only slightly above your living space. But from the 155m2, one – admittedly (very) small – room per floor is deducted as storage space. For me, that was just as unsexy before building as it seems to be for you, but reality catches up with you. Even the two small rooms we have (by the way, in addition to a 10m2 technical room where a drying rack fits) are not enough. And we also have a garden shed and are still using a shed for some things until our garage is finished... and we are NOT hoarders and have only recently had a toddler in the household. I have a bad feeling, therefore: really reconsider the planning regarding this topic.

It just simply hurts to spend at least €2500/m² for storage. I somehow think there must be another way, with ceiling-high custom cabinets, for example (I know currently not many would find a place for them)... Well, probably it won’t help. You speak from experience.