Floor plan design, optimization of single-family house without basement

Hello everyone,

my husband and I are currently planning a single-family house that we want to build next year. With the help of a draftsman, we have designed this floor plan and would now like to get your ideas / suggestions for improvement. Here are the details:


Development plan/restrictions:
Size of the plot: 880 m2
Slope: no
Number of floors: max. 2 full floors
Roof shape: SD
otherwise no restrictions according to the development plan


Builders' requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: classic single-family house/Jura house, SD
Basement, floors: without basement, 2 full floors
Number of people, age: 2 adults and 2-3 children
Room requirements on the ground floor: shower bathroom, open kitchen/dining area, living room, utility & technical room, pantry, entrance area
Room requirements on the upper floor: 3 bedrooms, 1 office (which might later become another children's room), bathroom, possibly storage room
Office: family use or home office?: initially home office, possibly later as another children's room
Overnight guests per year: not relevant
Open or closed architecture: open kitchen/dining/living area, otherwise rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with kitchen island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: one parking space each, garage and carport
Utility garden, greenhouse: rather not
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should not be:
- Entrance area with door to the living/warm area (on one hand as a dirt trap / wind trap, but also separation because of dog/children going outside)
- WC and stairs also in the “warm area”, so access not through the entrance area
- generous utility/technical room: ideally so laundry can also be hung up there
- side entrance via carport/garage

House design
Who created the plan: draftsman

What do you particularly like? Why?
- orientation of the most important rooms (according to cardinal directions)
- garage/carport combination and at the same time covered entrance
- room layout/use upstairs

What do you not like? Why?
- entrance area possibly too small and dark, no real space for a wardrobe, where to put shoes/jackets etc.? (we initially thought about making a niche for this in the living room, but we think we would not like an awkward corner in the living room or it would also be harder to arrange)
- utility/technical room perhaps too small?
- we are also considering whether the WC right next to the kitchen might be a bit problematic, especially when guests are over
(- originally we wanted the living room to be more spatially separated, so no door to the living-dining area, but e.g. a stove with a small wall as a room divider, a straight staircase as a separation, or the living room in a kind of niche/without line of sight)

Price estimate according to architect/planner: not yet available
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: approx. 550,000 €
Preferred heating technology: district heating

If you have to do without, which details/extensions
-can you do without: stove, storage room upstairs
-can you not do without: pantry

Why was the design made as it is now? Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
- not a standard design, cooperation and attempt to implement all our wishes somehow as best and cost-efficiently as possible without “wasting” much space
- basically our most important points have been implemented, so it meets our requirements and we quite like it
- in the draftsman’s design, no furniture is drawn in, so it is somewhat difficult for us to estimate the proportions (but we are currently reproducing the plan including furniture in a program to better visualize the whole thing)


What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
- in general, we would like to know how or if we could still optimize the whole thing in any way, so we welcome suggestions/small changes that we might not have considered
- we still have some concerns whether the whole (from the inside) looks good/harmonious or if, for example, the entrance area and thus the first impression appears too oppressive/dark; are there ideas how to solve this in this plan (without omitting the door)?

We are looking forward to your suggestions. Thank you very much for your help and best regards


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I also see the wardrobe issue as needing a solution; essentially, I only don't like the layout of the bedroom. I recommend you go to the architect without any drawings. The draftsman should know one ;-)

Wardrobe, I don't like the kitchen. The garage will fall victim to the budget. Butter paper and you can do it yourselves. Move walls, draw in furniture.

Why district heating and not an air-to-water heat pump? That way you are much more independent in terms of price.

I would replace this huge window in the stairwell with one half the size. We chose one here that is 214cm high and 63.5cm wide, which brings absolutely sufficient light into the stairwell. The entrance issue with the hallway has already been addressed. When you have children in the house, space there is worth its weight in gold – for putting down jackets, rubber boots, umbrellas, etc. I also think the area in front of the house entrance could be improved. Why is the tool shed directly at the house? I would definitely put it in the garden where it is needed. You wouldn’t run through the carport just to pull the lawn mower out from the front for mowing the lawn. On 880sqm there is a better place for something like that. In my opinion, the pantry is very large at 5sqm. Considering your budget, I see potential for savings here. In our current rental house, we have 2sqm and it holds a shelf, 2x 50L trash bins, 3x 12-packs of milk, 2x 6-packs of water, Dyson charging station, my complete grill equipment, and much more. At 5sqm, even the mother-in-law could sleep in there.... :) I don’t want to trash your design, but it seems unthought-out in many areas. Find some floor plans on the internet that appeal to you and/or lay the sketch paper over the current design and think about how the rooms should look when you mentally move through the house. We also took many detours before we landed. It takes several nights of sleeping on it. *Edit because only just properly noticed: This gable roof extension with shed, CP, and garage will probably remain a wish with the budget. I would definitely cost-optimize that.

For me, a draft from which one can learn that a first draft is meant to see how not to do it. But also to see that _Different_ is not necessarily better. In that respect, it does make sense. But not to discuss it, rather to immediately see that - the hallway without space and wardrobe makes no sense - the kitchen is not just a placeholder - the pantry and the access should also follow a plan - and yes: hallways nowadays are just as warm as the rest of the house. So you can also plan the hallway accordingly. Wardrobe is missing, movement space for 5 people plus dog in the hallway is missing, the kitchen here is actually more of a passage room where kitchen furniture could even be in the way, I would even say, you stand in the way. The shower toilet as a spare bathroom means you first have to stand in the kitchen before and after using it. What is the room in front of the stairs for? I wouldn’t pay attention to the upper floor now before somehow moving Tetris in the ground floor. For example, one could see that the hallway has a wall where a wardrobe cabinet should go. You are right: the dining area wouldn’t benefit from that, but possibly the kitchen with tall cabinets. I see the pantry more in the area of the storage room, the kitchen where the living room is now. Large access to the open plan area opposite the stairs with a view axis outside to the garden. Possibly also the technical room next to the equipment room, then you have your laundry drying place in the garden with direct access. In the house, I do not see such a thing at all. I would try a lot, a very lot, and would not be satisfied if there is no nice large kitchen space, if the shower toilet is not somewhat privately accessible, and if the entrance does not have what it is there for, namely space for coming home and enough space for at least 15 jackets, 30 pairs of shoes, and a large dresser for scarves, dog things, and bags. Given the location of the equipment room and freezer, one can absolutely do without a pantry. Incidentally, I would place the access of the equipment room opposite the wood storage.