Floor plan design for a hillside house with 5 children's rooms

Hm... I notice that the planner basically just traced over your sketch. That would be okay if everything fit the needs, but I see no possibility for a sensible later separation (too many empty hanging rooms in the front area), nor to carve out an area intended for patients. What is inconsistent here is that, although there is a bathroom for the children in the basement, you can’t really keep that for patients?! Instead, there are two bathrooms upstairs, even though "only 3 people" stay there overnight permanently?! The utility room would be too small for technology and utility room purposes if a cloakroom is carved out. Your changes: in the basement, the children’s rooms lose "space" if the entrances become corridors. Although there is one more cubic meter, it looks rather oppressive when entering one of the children’s rooms. Children 3 and 4 have barely any usable space. The rooms are just about as wide as a bed is long... The piano player fills the entire floor with sound, the TV is in the line of fire and drones against the piano alongside. I do not see my designs as flawless or optimal, but somewhat more sensible in terms of space planning. The best example is the bathrooms: one for a few people upstairs, one for the majority of the children, and one accessible in the front area of a practice room or for other guests. I do not see the practice room here at all.

Phew, there's something to that.

Do you think it would be easier on 3 levels? A semi-underground basement plus one full floor plus a converted attic? Is that possible with a 12.something ridge height?
And would that probably be more expensive again? Or rather 2 full floors into the slope plus a converted attic?

Yvonne, I just looked over your plans again. I actually find them very suitable for us in many ways. But what I’m missing: we want the kitchen or dining area at the front facing the street or south and the living room towards the garden (north).

Additionally, we would like a large living and dining area. We often have many guests, so the 2m table has to be extendable by 1m without any problems. And we want to be able to make music together. Therefore, the piano must be placed centrally, but somewhat protected.
Also, the sofa, which is 3.6m long and 2.3m deep, must fit into the living room. And the 3m wide family bed must fit in the master bedroom, at least as long as the little ones are still small.
I had planned the upper floor around these sizes. Then there is not much space left for several children’s rooms. The children’s rooms are the spaces used the least overall, both in terms of lifetime and daily hours. My children prefer to be outside or near me. That will probably change at some point, but overall we will have more of such needs than needs for seclusion. And that’s how the house must be built: it should provide space for the cozy gathering of at least 7 people and some space for anyone who wants to retreat. That means the living-dining area must be large. Even later, when the children bring partners and families, we will need that space.
By the way, I think your basement is great for us!

The practice can have a regular bathroom. I work with families, children, and sometimes also groups with babies. A mixed bunch. At the moment in a facility, later, when not all the children are at home anymore, possibly at home. So that doesn’t have to be a priority.

Oh dear, I think this really is a challenge [emoji85][emoji1]

Phew... me too

my head is spinning, maybe in the basement the entrance from the front - bedrooms on the left, your practice on the right, the staircase in the middle, as the planner designed it. Then you could bill the lower right part of the building separately as commercial space... later partition the children's rooms on the right as a residential unit.

Anyway... I will internalize your lines in #67 again tomorrow and try to incorporate the components.

however, you should be aware: when you move into the house, two years will have passed. Maybe you could imagine that, for example, sleeping habits regarding a 3-meter bed for everyone will no longer apply??? Think about it...
Also, as I’m writing this, it occurs to me that in the future there will be more teenage kids in the house regarding friends etc... that should be taken into account more than the current situation. What do you think?

How important would the practice be? I think more important than you originally presented it? It is your source of income after all?!

Great, you still have ideas!

I'm afraid we won't be able to perfectly meet these typical teenage needs. There will be a garden house with table football/pool. I think they'll have to resort to that. I don't think everything will be possible. And even if this is now grandma-style: we grew up very happily with smaller rooms ourselves.

But the shape of the narrow children's rooms definitely still needs to be optimized. Yes. I also find two bathrooms for the children important, so there's no stress in the mornings during school time.

I don't know much about billing for businesses. I need to read up on that. That would indeed be interesting.

And no, in 2 years the sleeping habits probably won't change [emoji16]. We mostly have the "super cuddler" model and the youngest is still tiny [emoji7]. I think it's one of the best-kept secrets that the nicely furnished children's rooms often stay empty for a long time, or you rack up a lot of walking miles between the rooms at night [emoji5]. But well, there are all kinds of children...

That is due to your upbringing, with the cuddle bed. I hear from all sides that this is not supposed to be good for children in the long run, but that should not be the topic here... I also don’t want to argue with a psychologist?
I’ll see if I can plan other ideas!

Regards, Yvonne