Floor plan design for a single-family house with a conservatory and plot selection

But I wanted to keep the outer line fairly simple (apart from the conservatory), as I read that this drives the costs up quite a bit.

That is commendable and earns a merit badge from the penny pincher.

and the dormer is no longer in the middle of the house. Can you do that without it looking "crooked" visually?

In my view, it won't be dramatic.

Or do you mean the ceiling height isn't enough and you hit your head?

Yes, I would find the 2m line over the whole staircase, and not just over the middle of the walking line, more agreeable.

Where possible, I have also planned transom windows under the windows.

You probably mean the glazed balustrades – those should be sufficient.

55 cm on each side of the bed is somewhat narrow or promotes claustrophobia and broken toes.

Living/Dining/Cooking in the space for 4-5 people, sometimes up to 7, is cramped.

Building services/housekeeping wall to the bedroom should have extra soundproofing. Dryer, washing machine, heating are not always quiet.

Is the small room between the bedroom and entrance a storage room? The contents should fit into a closet.

Would move the sports corridor to the study. Sports while 2-3 children/teenagers are jumping around you with friends. The space could also be well used elsewhere, e.g. bathroom.

I have a few questions:
Have you ever thought about what it’s like to enter the house and immediately run into a door/wall? Then another hallway wall, and no open path towards the living area, life, family...
There are a lot of exterior walls, but the shower bathroom doesn’t get a window and is pushed into the middle of the house—why?
Why should the technical/heating room be accessible from the living area? Is that nice?
How is family life supposed to happen in this tight open space with four or even five people? One is cooking, another is doing schoolwork at the dining table, can anyone still watch TV calmly? Is it smart that everyone brings stress into the chill room when they want to get a glass of juice from the kitchen?
Why only one shower for 4/5 people plus a lot of guests? Where are those who want to shower supposed to wait? You can do sports well in the office/guest room; you don’t have to pump in front of the kids.

The fact is, it will be a very dark house, at least in winter. The sun sets at the front door. Also, the [Wintergarten] in that position is certainly an energy challenge, but that is only a guess.
If you want the garden/terrace in the west, the house can still be oriented towards the south, advantage: sun. In the evening in the west (in summer NW) the sun is very low and is usually blocked by surrounding houses.
If I were you, I would take a look at floor plans from the major house manufacturers, which mostly work.

I don't like the floor plan at all. From the bedroom, you first have to go through a dark entrance hallway to then reach a shower room without a window. The living area with kitchen is too small for my taste. With children, I also find the entrance coat area too cramped; to me, it rather feels like the hallway/entrance of an apartment. Upstairs, the children have no shower and older children always shower.

Best regards
Sabine

:
- Thanks for the tip about the soundproofing. How thick would I need to plan the wall there approximately?
- Yes, the small room is supposed to be a storage room. I thought that before leaving the hallway that long, I might as well create some storage space. You would probably rather not make a separate room but place a closet at the end of the hallway?
- Moving the sports area into the study would be too tight. And that wouldn’t help the bathroom either, since I can’t move the wall any further downwards on the plan because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get into the upper children’s room anymore (at least with this floor plan).
What I forgot to mention about the sports area: You should also be able to juggle, do hula hoop, etc. there. It would be practical if the club doesn’t hit the computer right away.
We haven’t thought about that it could bother the children if someone works out there. It should be a common area for everyone.

:
- It doesn’t bother me that you don’t come straight into the living room from the front door. But the door between the vestibule and the hallway is really a bit superfluous. I will probably only provide an archway there.
- I couldn’t get the shower bathroom on an exterior wall anymore. If I swap it with the utility room, then you can only get to the bathroom through the bedroom. → not good. If I give both the utility room and the shower bathroom a door to the hallway and a window, then they become two long narrow rooms. Right now we don’t even have a window in the bathroom and it doesn’t bother me.
- Open space: Isn’t it a problem with every open space area that you can’t watch TV undisturbed? Right now we don’t even have a TV; I don’t think we’ll start watching a lot of TV all of a sudden. Okay, having to always walk through the living room first is really not ideal.
- Showers: The plan is for the bathtub upstairs to get a foldable shower partition so you can also shower there. We have done that for several years and it works quite well. I didn’t want to shrink the upstairs bathroom even more by adding another shower. And having two showers in the household is already comfortable. Standard houses usually only have one.
- The dark house is really a drawback and not intentional. I have to reconsider that. Does orienting the house to the south mean I have to rotate the gable by 90°? Or does it simply mean that there have to be many windows on the south side?

:
- It’s quite normal that you have to go through the hallway first to get to the bathroom. The alternative would be to put the bathroom behind the bedroom with a direct door to it. But then anyone on the ground floor who needs to use the toilet has to go through the bedroom first. I wouldn’t like that. I planned two double-height windows in the stairwell; do you think the corridor won’t be bright enough because of that?

I have a few new ideas thanks to the suggestions. Especially regarding the open space. If I manage to implement them, I will post them again.

Mea culpa... I usually don’t tinker, but this one calls for it:

I thought, before I leave the hallway that long, I might as well create some storage space.

So you want to enter your house through a storage room?

And that wouldn’t help the bathroom either, since I can’t move the wall further down according to the plan

because otherwise you can’t get into the upper children’s room anymore (at least with this floor plan).

That’s called poor planning and you start over. In a family bathroom, you should at least be able to fit the standard version of a bathtub next to a shower.

What I forgot about the sports area: You’re supposed to juggle there,

The ceiling will probably stop you from doing that ;)

It should be a shared space for everyone.

For that, you should use the open-plan room, i.e. the living and dining area – upstairs should rather be retreat spaces for family members.

- That you don’t come straight from the front door into the living room doesn’t bother me. But the door between the vestibule and the hallway is really somewhat unnecessary.

Even without a door, you’ll enter a narrow, dark area.

- I couldn’t get the shower bathroom on an outer wall anymore. If I swap it with the utility room, then you can only get to the bathroom through the bedroom. -> stupid.

That’s also poor planning. meant something similar to me: you end up in a narrow hallway...

If I give both the utility room and the shower bathroom a door to the hallway and a window, then you get two long, stretched rooms.

There are other alternatives if you squash everything together and start fresh.

At the moment we also don’t have a window in the bathroom and it doesn’t bother me.

But it could bother you if more than two adults want to stink up that small room or shower one after another.

- Open-plan room: Isn’t it the problem of every open-plan room that you can’t watch TV in peace?

No, not really – that’s why you choose, for example, an L-shape or a bit more buffer, i.e. space.

We have had it like this for several years and it works quite well.

Yeah, we’ve always done it like that ;)

Didn’t want to make the upper bathroom even smaller with an extra shower.

see above.

Standard houses usually only have one.

Nope, with 4 people you start checking if the 1500€ for a second shower is financially viable.

- That you first have to go through the hallway to get to the bathroom is quite normal.

see above. That’s meant differently.

But then everyone on the ground floor who needs to go to the toilet has to go through the bedroom first. I wouldn’t like that.

Not like that either... as I already said: if you approach it more from a planning perspective, you can find a solution. A good design evolves over months :)

I had planned two floor-to-ceiling windows in the stairwell;

Where? Upstairs?

I got some new ideas from the suggestions, especially about the open-plan room. Once I manage to implement them, I’ll post again.

You should let a trained professional handle this. Architects have studied this and know the dimensions with which you can create a practical plan that offers space for many things. Sure, there are also boreholes, but this design really isn’t what you’d call quite nice or yes, beautiful. It might seem great to you at first glance because you don’t know better, but the time will come when you put the kids to bed in their own beds, when you have to grant everyone their privacy, including bathroom privacy... and in the middle of the house, well, that’s just a bad place to do your business.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel/house now either :)