Floor plan design single-family house in L-shape

Hello dear forum community,

After we found our dream plot for ourselves, we are currently in the first planning/thinking phase. The plot has a rather elongated building ground (building lines approximately 15x26m). We prefer the L-shape as the preferred building form to protect the garden from views.

Here is my first draft of a floor plan. I hope you have suggestions for improvement or comments/tips on it.

Development plan/restrictions
Size of the plot: 820 sqm building land + additional grassland
Slope: yes (drop 3.5m over 15 meters)
Floor area ratio: unknown
Plot ratio: 0.4
Building window, building line and boundary: 15x26m building lines
Number of parking spaces: 2 garage spaces/cellar
Number of floors: 2
Roof shape: uncertain (rather no flat roof)
Style: not too modern
Orientation: south/east
Maximum heights/limits: 11 meters above natural ground, 3 floors towards the valley side, top floor must be set back

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: not too modern but bright and friendly
Cellar, floors: cellar + 2 floors
Number of persons, age: 2 (around 30), maximum 1 child planned
Room requirements on ground floor, upper floor: ground floor with kitchen/dining room/living room/office/small bathroom, upper floor with 2 bedrooms/bathroom
Office: family use
Guests per year: 0
Open or closed architecture: open to both
Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative, not overly modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: large roof terrace from living room, 2 small balconies in bedrooms
Garage, carport: garage in cellar
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should not be included: normal staircase desired, bright rooms, secluded roof terrace

House design
Who designed it: -Do-it-Yourself
What do you especially like? Why? Kitchen with dining area, open friendly/bright due to glass front
What do you dislike? Why? large corridor on upper floor, living room seems unstructured.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: -
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: 350k
Preferred heating technology: not yet planned

If you have to give up, on which details/extensions
- can you give up: dressing room, balcony in children’s bedroom, smaller office is okay
- can you not give up: balcony in master bedroom, roof terrace living room, shower on ground floor, L-shape

Why did the design turn out like it is now? E.g.
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
+ nice dining room/kitchen combo, L-shape allows glass front on roof terrace
- large corridor on upper floor, maybe too many balconies/roof terraces?, no possibility to go from ground floor into the garden because it’s built into the slope (cellar is half underground/half above ground)

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?

Layout okay?, corridor too big?, missing anything important?, plan not feasible?

top floor is to be stepped back

That sounds like a setback story (and therefore a flat roof). The floor plan becomes more realistic if you don't assume 10 cm wall thickness everywhere - exterior walls 40 cm and interior walls initially all 20 cm (even if many will be slimmer later) are the more realistic basis in this prototype stage.

We were told by the building authority that any roof shape with stepping in is possible. The 1m that the top floor has to step back is used by 99% simply as balcony space. Then the roof is just placed on the house.

Maybe someone can recommend a free program with which I have more options regarding wall thickness? I use a furnishing program and the wall is always only 10cm thick. I thought that was okay for the interior and you can make the exterior walls thicker later anyway. That doesn't change anything about the interior rooms.

For sketches, planned walls are sufficient. However, the property/site plan is always necessary for an assessment :)

You write that you don't like that the living room seems unstructured.

I would say: the living room is a pass-through room, and very poorly designed at that. The same applies to the bedroom.

I would start completely anew, then please also consider that some rooms are retreats and others are more dominant. A staircase connects both floors and is still a traffic area. After using the toilet, we have been taught to wash our hands before touching a door handle [emoji6]

The staircase does not fit either, 300 cm is not enough. See staircase representation in

Furthermore, a site plan of the property with a few measurements would be very useful.

Looks like Sweet Home 3D? If yes: You can change the wall thickness, either globally in the settings for all future walls, or by double-clicking on individual walls and adjusting the thickness of each wall there. With Sweet Home 3D, quite a lot is possible; it just requires some practice. I recreated our entire house down to the centimeter, including the plot, roof, and furniture, and was able to view everything wonderfully in 3D even before the construction (and if I compare it now, with the house standing, it is very close). I also initially planned floor plans with it.

In my opinion, it is not yet really worth saying anything about the floor plan itself. First change the walls to realistic values. Then you will see that many things simply no longer fit because the dimensions change significantly in some places. You will then have to modify the floor plan. You can then set up the new floor plan again. Then something can be said about it.

But even now in advance: I do not like the placement of the living room either. As ypg already said, it is a walk-through room and not a retreat. The office feels very narrow (tight and long, which will be even more pronounced when the wall thicknesses are realistic). But since the dimensions are missing, that could be deceptive?! I do not like the small hallway after the front door with many doors. There will hardly be any space for a wardrobe there. I find the bathrooms with separate toilets horrible. You sit on the toilet in a windowless small room where you can’t even properly turn around; with realistic wall thicknesses, that will no longer work at all. And without a sink (a no-go in my opinion!). What speaks against integrating the toilets into the bathrooms? You can still partly hide them so they are not openly visible. In general, a few dimensions wouldn’t hurt. How wide is the dining table and how wide is the room (with realistic wall thicknesses)? Can you still walk around the table well? About the upper floor: A dressing room without a window? Think about that. I am very glad to have a window in my dressing room. Also, the window in the bedroom seems very small for the large room. In general, I don’t really like the arrangement of the rooms. Neither on the ground floor nor on the upper floor. I don’t like the long corridor on the upper floor at all. It is wasted space. With realistic wall thicknesses, it could also become quite narrow. That’s just some of the things that caught my eye at first glance.

Do you already have a planner (architect, planner from a general contractor)?