Floor plan 9x11.30m, 4 people, 2 offices

Hello everyone,

thank you very much for all your questions – they are super helpful and make sure that you eventually overcome the "work blindness" :)

However, I don’t see that, because the office is too narrow.

Yes, well, we started planning upstairs. Parents' wing on the long north side so that the children's rooms get light below. Since sound insulation is important to us, we also tried to position a buffer room between the children's rooms and the parents' wing.

Regarding the staircase, we don’t like slanted steps that much, so a straight or landing staircase would be preferred. But looking at the floor plan upstairs, I don’t see many other options than a straight staircase, do I?

If you do it that way, because of the 9m width for the office, only a narrow strip remains. Do you have any ideas on how to solve that differently? For us, (felt) the nice side is the one facing the garden, meaning the living/dining/kitchen room should be there and not an office.

This has nothing to do with the floor plan or the kid’s bathroom story. Apparently, the OP wants a kid’s bathroom. Personally, I do not like kid’s bathrooms either, but it is about the OP’s plan, and the kid’s bathroom doesn’t hurt: it doesn’t take away any necessary room space and apparently the OP can afford it. I would just point out that here you are planning 3 showers for currently 2 people plus guests. That can be worked on – especially since the guest room will probably never be a bedroom anyway.

Yes, we would like a second bathroom so that you can spread out a bit in the morning. Basically, we also find it nice if the guest WC looks “tidy,” which speaks in favor of a kid’s bathroom upstairs. Currently, I don’t think it takes away that much from the floor plan upstairs.

We find “age-appropriate” planning (someone might have an accident or something...) important but not at any cost. Meaning: if you can do something more useful with the space saved from the omitted shower or something on the ground floor, or if it opens up new possibilities, then we should do that and just plan that it could be redesigned later if needed.

So, now I wanted to show the improvements but have to state and also say that the plan doesn’t work at all because the cellar stairs are blocked by the access storage room.

We would initially plan the cellar as a utility cellar, i.e., technical equipment, laundry, storage. Additionally, we plan to build a room as a “hobby room.” It could also become a guest room, playroom for the kids, or something else depending on needs.

In any case, the way to the cellar is not an everyday walking path. So we thought it might fit with the stairs and the accessibility of the storage room under the stairs. Otherwise, the office would just become an even longer corridor…

Again about the office (later bedroom): you also have to play Tetris in terms of workflows. The one reason why it is always said “later the living should be all on one level” is because people fear not being able to climb stairs anymore. What is not considered: the bathroom won’t be enough, and you also can’t get to the cellar to do laundry anymore…

Yes, there is some truth to that. If you need it later, a stairlift is also a valid option. So from prioritizing, I would say: Priority 1 – being able to use the house well and nicely now. Priority 2 – plan a little ahead what options you have later if needed or make preparations so that you have them.

Depending on the story height, the straight stairs are 0.5m to 1m too short.

We will have a room height of 2.64m, which should be 3.09m story height.

Why do you then only show us the draft with the more favorably positioned stairs small in the site plan from two drafts?

Then you should name it here – we know some and are aware of their different skills to develop reasonable models or adapt them to customer wishes.

We first had a draft where the parents' wing was on the right. The bathroom was above the living rooms and at the front in the nicest corner. We were advised against planning wet rooms above the living area, so we discarded this plan.

We are building with Bien-Zenker.

Do you have any ideas on how to design the ground floor differently in particular?

Thanks & Happy New Year!

We initially had a draft where the parents' wing was on the right. The bathroom was then above the living rooms and at the front in the nicest corner. In particular, we were advised against planning water-carrying rooms above the living area. Therefore, we discarded these plans as well.

Not having the bathroom above the living room does not (at least in one step) directly lead to a different staircase location.

We are building with Bien-Zenker.

They have quite a varied range - didn't you find any basic model suitable there?

The planning is based on the Evolution 162. Our max. width of 9m means that many of the larger floor plans with more rooms no longer work as well or become somewhat "narrow" somewhere. The original floor plan is 9.42m here.

I do not know if the direct link to Bien-Zenker is allowed. In principle, the standard floor plan without any frills looks like the "Evolution 162 V4" (Google leads directly to the floor plan) just without the bay window.

The maximum size of 9 meters makes quite a few things impossible. Your straight staircase simply divides the house into two halves. You have to prioritize what you want. If a bedroom on the ground floor is needed with the necessary minimum of 3 meters, then the kitchen has to be on this side as well, and if you start planning upstairs, you should keep in mind that there should be a room the size of a bedroom downstairs.
In addition, the staircase naturally ends up right against a wall upstairs, which causes difficulties with the distribution of room entrances on one side.
A house 9 meters wide or a house build on 400sqm of land is not rocket science, but you have to be willing to accept it and not hold on to stubborn wishes.
I assume your age is 27 (why do you always have to guess here again, even though the questionnaire explicitly asks this question... you can't be constructive this way. Then I ask you, why do you want to plan for 50 years in the future?
And honestly: if you had filled out the questionnaire completely, you would already be further ahead now... would have received some improvements and can calmly, armed with documents for the architect, enter the new year.
I still wish a happy New Year to all involved.

Edit: I think your problem is that 9.42 is set as construction time. So 9 meters is not possible. Or you take the 8.17!

Where exactly do you enter the basement? (I’m kind of confused right now) With straight staircases, it’s often just the same space underneath, but there is the storage room access there. Or is it still possible (without bumping your head??), since the basement staircase is presumably a bit shorter due to lower floor height? Is that really practical?

What mainly catches my attention is that there are small corners built in everywhere. In the storage room (which also means little cupboard space?), behind the sofa (is that some kind of built-in cupboard or something?), upstairs partly as well. This is especially noticeable when you compare it to the 162-v4 floor plan.

(I find it hard to come up with more precise suggestions for improvement as a noob here ;))

We are in our early 30s. But you're right – maybe we just have to drop the bedroom requirement on the ground floor and think of something else if necessary.

I find the office (without the bedroom requirement) still acceptable in terms of shape. If you remove the shower in the guest WC downstairs, you could create some extra space there. In return, you could make the kitchen deeper – but then you somehow lose the cloakroom corner at the entrance, which is also needed.

Do you think the basic layout on the ground floor is okay?

Where exactly do you come down to the basement? (I'm kind of stuck here) With straight stairs, it’s usually right underneath, but that's where the storage room access is. Or is it still possible (without bumping your head??) since the basement stairs are presumably a bit shorter due to lower floor height? Is that really practical?

The idea was that the basement stairs run under the other staircase but shifted a bit to the left. Based on the floor height, I thought that should still work. So you come from the living room through the door, have a small landing from which you can either get into the storage room or go down the stairs on the left.

As an alternative, you could also leave the storage room as it is and assign the space to the office. Then just a big cabinet for vacuum cleaners and stuff would go in there, which is also conceivable.

I mostly just notice that there are so many small corners everywhere. In the storage room (which also means little cabinet space?), behind the sofa (is that somehow a built-in cabinet or something?), upstairs partly too. This also stands out especially when you compare it to the 162-v4 floor plan.

(I find it hard to come up with more precise suggestions for improvement as a noob here ;))

We find that the living room currently has quite little space for furniture, for example for a bookshelf. The idea was to build it behind the sofa here. But that is actually still a point – too little space for cabinets in the living/dining area. Maybe that’s also simply too many windows at the moment...

In some places, we tried with “small corners” somehow to still create enough space in this Tetris game for each individual purpose – but maybe that was too much. I will take that impression with me again!