Floor plan discussion single-family house / separable residential units

Regarding the design of a single-family house: North is sometimes at the front, sometimes at the back! Could you explain that to me in more detail?

Why me? You have north in both directions… explain it to us!

Toilet outside of a washing facility is less age- and illness-friendly, I am not in favor of such a separation. There are two opinions here, we absolutely want to avoid a separated toilet in the bathroom.

In which room do you want to sleep if divided? In the guest room.

Stop! You talk about "thinking ahead," and about later times you (still) seem to have little idea. It can be a big barrier if you first have to get through two doors after coming from the toilet. This has less to do with age than with physicality. Illnesses can affect you earlier and accompany you through life. Then at least put the toilet cubicle _inside_ the bathroom… so you don’t have to slide through the hallway with a bare bottom. The guest room is too small for two elderly people.

Overall, I find it a poor layout regarding usability, considering that the dining/cooking area has 26 sqm.

Storage areas would be, on the one hand, tall cabinets in the dining kitchen, 60 cm cabinet by the stairs.

Do you want to spread everything throughout the house? Mop bucket, vacuum cleaner, crates of drinks?

I’m also not a fan of a designer staircase in the middle of the living area.

I am :D. But it’s not my house anyway.

A fireplace does not go through a wall, but is attached to it. Ultimately, a pipe goes through there. As far as I know, such a setup is possible, it requires a small ceiling breakthrough at wall level, next to the prefab fireplace the walls are erected.

Nonsense. Have your architect explain a chimney through a load-bearing wall to you. He should also tell you something about the unused or poorly divided spaces of your open kitchen and how the basement fits into the price range ;) Why doesn’t he plan as a professional anyway?

Stop! You talk about "thinking about later," and you (still) don't seem to have much idea about later.

That's how it is with most young people who plan "thoughtfully for later." There's no real knowledge yet, but examples of elderly residents in their own family or among friends or acquaintances of indivisible planned owner-occupied homes. They hardly dare to climb the stairs anymore, but they also can't bring strangers into the surplus space who would improve their pension. Where this comes together with a youth-related lack of ability to distinguish between smart and pseudo-smart concepts, the decision to want to do it better is practically already "done."

but in one's own family or with friends or acquaintances examples of elderly residents of indivisible planned owner-occupied homes.

Yes, but not 60+. At that age, people are still employed. Possibly 80+. My parents, around 80, would give me a hard time if I suggested they should take in subtenants. Very few want strangers living in their house. And children? Children are happy when they can break free and plan their own lives. Argh, always this eternally old-fashioned idea that parents have to pamper their kids.

The guest room is too small for two elderly people.

To elaborate a bit for the OP, let's calculate with a double bed measuring 2x2m. Even at a young age, you want about one meter of space on the sides and at the foot end, so 4x3m. Add wardrobes, and you're at a size of 4x3.6m for a bedroom. Mind you, this is in younger years, and that already stretches the room more than enough. Now imagine you have a walker and have to maneuver it in that 1m strip. That means moving backwards through the bedroom. For old age, a strip of 1.5-2m alongside the bed would be more appropriate.

The toilet is not usable with a walking aid and the bathroom is also not really usable

If the toilet remains separated (I know this from other countries to some extent and didn’t find it bad – so I wouldn’t see it as immediately negative), I would make sure that the door opens outward so that you don’t have to half-squeeze yourself to close the door in that room. Generally, this is also the standard recommendation for bathrooms in case of an emergency.

Otherwise, some recommendations went in the direction of "that wouldn’t be suitable for walker users," in which case I would reflect again on which sections this would be relevant for and which less so. Maybe it ultimately comes down to "separability is more important to us because it might be relevant earlier." An all-round perfect solution is usually not simple.