Floor plan design for a single-family house 230-235 m² on two full floors

Overall, I find some corners and especially the window area not designed very generously.
Specifically, in the open living area, the 3 symmetrical "loopholes" seem quite arbitrary. According to the drawing, the dining area is narrow and additionally not necessarily structured. For example, I would envision a large window element in front of the table. Conversely, there is a mirrored L shape in the middle of the open living area and behind the couch; what is supposed to happen there? Is the couch deliberately positioned so that you cannot look out from it? Given the size of the property, I would actually expect some activity outside, ideally the living area extending in summer onto the terrace and beyond that the garden.
Guest bathroom en-suite and additionally a WC, in my opinion one of the two is superfluous. The entrances of the children's rooms count as part of the rooms but "bring nothing," the utility room likewise as well as the transition from the dressing room to the bedroom. The bump of the utility room below the WC only brings insignificant additional storage space, the corner solution is necessary but possibly usable for the heating.
For the people, the cloakroom is missing, the hallway is not very open, I would no longer see the quarter-turn staircase at this square meter size and definitely not in the shaft between two walls.
The master bathroom or the shower with opening to the toilet I also find suboptimal. The children's bathroom is quite narrow, the first square meter usable only for the door again, the shower relatively small in return, and if built masonry style, correspondingly dark.

Since you have quite a few rooms... should the guest room explicitly be for guests or a second office that is used for guests when they visit?
If 3 children are close in age, smaller bedrooms and instead a shared hallway area possibly separable with a chill and play area?
Overall, the statics seem quite demanding, since almost no walls are directly above one another in the center of the house, only the wall to the left of the stairs is continuous on both ground and upper floors.

If you are open, I would also be in favor of a more architecturally exciting overall design instead of the bloated standard single-family house, and the issue of symmetry is just one thing; once a certain harmony is achieved, you can quite easily depart from strict symmetry by putting on the corset.

I hope that the structural engineering is not problematic, but that will only be shown by the coordination with the experts. Let's hope... :)

You don't seriously want to present this (sorry) rubbish to a professional?! You can clearly read the defensiveness in your answers. :rolleyes: I advise you, hire a planner!

Thanks for the feedback! I am not reading defense, my intention was to explain why we have drawn some things the way we did and what we expect from it.

A free architect planning will unfortunately hardly be possible for two reasons:
- To avoid separate financing of land and house, we need to fix the floor plan and house costs quite quickly and get the financing of the overall project underway. Free planning by an independent architect will no longer be compatible timewise.
- We have already had several talks with the general contractors; floor plan proposals with corresponding offers are available. If an architect costs, for example, 40,000 euros, I would have to completely remove the planning service from the general contractor and save the 40,000 euros at this point. Referring to the ideas already submitted and plans created, a general contractor will hardly agree to this. So I would probably have to look for a new company.

A few more answers to the comments above:
- The guest room is meant to be a real guest room, without an office. The en-suite bathroom would please me, but it could just as well be sacrificed due to space and cost aspects. In that case, the guest WC would be moved out of the [HTR] and become a regular 4-5 m² guest shower bathroom near the front door.
- The distributed double doors facing south are more or less like what we have in our current house; we find three double doors completely sufficient since the garden is primarily to the west and less to the south. That’s why the large sliding door faces west.
- The couch is planned facing the wall so that a TV can be used. At least one section of the couch would look towards the large sliding door where guests could sit. I rarely like these free-standing approx. 2.50 meter "room divider walls" for the TV. However, we had also considered a terrace door to the left of the TV, roughly opposite the kitchen window, to have more light in this area.
- As it is currently drawn, there are exactly 300 cm from the front edge of the kitchen island to the southern wall, i.e., 100 cm for the upper row of chairs, 100 cm for the table, and 100 cm for the lower row of chairs. Are there any rules of thumb on how much space there should be between the dining table and the wall? More like 120 cm?
- The volume under the staircase would be closed off to allow for a storage room. If the statics allow it, the triangle between the top edge of the handrail and the ceiling could be left open towards the hallway to create a lighter spatial impression. Again, the question is what square meter number would be more appropriate for the entrance area?
- The play area currently is the living room. However, the children will grow older and will eventually want their own rooms. Therefore, the idea was less in the direction of a large hallway on the upper floor but rather larger rooms. As long as they play together, it works in the living room or they meet in one of the children's rooms.

12 x 12 meters and only 6 meters eaves height and then a roof with that pitch? That just looks massive and not like a city villa. It’s like someone needs a bigger car and therefore turns a Golf into a stretch limousine.

would appeal to me, but it could just as well

more or less like we have it in our current house

If the statics allow it, it could

we would really like to

dozens of designs and variants

but I imagine it to be difficult,

and assume

It doesn't sound like the house was really "planned" with much thought. Your statements scream for an architect who properly plans what you actually want.

Creative architect houses are great, but not only does the architect cost a lot of money, the implementation does too.

[/QUOTE] No. That is total nonsense. The houses don't "cost" you, they deliver exactly the quality of life you can get for a defined budget. In the end, the architect house is built from the same raw materials as by the general contractor (GU) who offers the standard floor plan. And they have the same price, just like the craftsmen. Only special features become expensive—but even the GU will hit you deep in the wallet for those.

A free architect's design will unfortunately hardly be possible for two reasons:

Excuses. And with an investment of this size? I absolutely can't understand that. Those who want their terraced house for €250,000 are well served by the GU/developer. Those who need to plan individually due to family size and/or life circumstances (or simply because they want to) should also have an individual planner.

A free planning by an independent architect will no longer be compatible in terms of time.

You see me confused. Why should a free architect take longer than the architect from the main contractor? In the end, he does nothing different.

If an architect, for example, costs 40,000 euros, I would have to completely remove the planning service from the general contractor and save the 40,000 euros at this point.

Theoretically, that is also possible. Then it is indeed a general contractor – otherwise, he calls himself a main contractor. Practically, you will probably have to pay for part of the planning redundantly, unless the architect and the general contractor work together regularly – but only a rather small part. Edit: Perhaps a bit clearer: You should definitely avoid the classic type-house main contractor here, but there are also providers outside of that who basically work exactly like an architect, yet deliver everything from a single source and of course give the desired price guarantee. Someone like that could do it at least as well as a freelance architect, and there are quite a few of those in NRW as well. ;)