Floor plan for 11m x 8.25m, ok?

@Kamin: A plewa Classic chimney is planned where the wood stove is integrated into the chimney. This also minimizes space waste here. See attachment.

15 years ago I had a student room with 13sqm. So 12sqm are more than enough. What should I do afterwards with two rooms of 18sqm each? I often see children’s rooms with 20sqm and just think: what for?

I’ll just say it as I see it: if I want peace and quiet, I don’t need kids. I’m 100% a dad until the kids go to sleep, there is no peace or relaxation (2 boys, after all).

I don’t have to be representative 24/7.

But then you are 24/7 representative for the kids/teenagers, they always have to pass by you.

I know you don’t want to read it anymore and are shutting down, but there is one more thing I want to get off my chest:
In the past, a long time ago... for example, there were no mobile phones back then, yet nowadays, from a certain age on, mobile phones are a great advantage when it comes to communication within the family, when you want to keep informed.
In the past there was no seatbelt obligation either! ...

1. Regarding children’s room size: between cramped 11sqm and decadent 20sqm there are also normal sizes

2. Regarding the 100% dad and peace: no one here is talking about peace, but about privacy. Even a couple with small children deserves some time out, e.g. a few hours. Also a private weekend should be taken by a couple, once the time is right.
You argue with me using too black-and-white thinking. Now the boys are 2 years old... but at 6? (have to guess a bit now) they develop personality and don’t necessarily want to realize that they are being controlled. So they prefer to hang out somewhere else, where it’s not like that, because they also develop a sense of freedom.
And the respect for privacy towards children who also grow up (the “growing up” probably starts around teenage years, so from about 14 or so) is completely missing here, in my opinion.
Therefore, regarding the building style (pro open staircase) retreat possibilities have to be created, not always just think about yourself and the NOW.

That’s it from me, really, on this topic.

The feng shui comment would please my wife, do you have details? That’s not really my thing.

No, I have no idea either. I just heard that feng shui beds are not placed crosswise in front of the door.

I dealt with Feng Shui about a generation ago. So that was a long time ago. There are different basics.
What I always stuck to was the Bagua (my mother once drew one for me, ignoring the cardinal directions on it at first)


Simplified it looks like this:


So you place the template on your ground floor plan so that the bottom side of the template fits the entrance side.
In your case the guest WC would be in Helpful People, the dining area in Health, and the stairs in Children.
Since water flows away in the toilet, the helpful friends could “flow away” as well, so it could be helpful, for example, to always close the toilet seat down here.
Now comes the aha effect: if you look at Health and Partnership, it would FIT SO MUCH if you switch the living room and kitchen - at least for Feng Shui.
Of course you don’t have to arrange everything according to Feng Shui, because that’s very difficult, but sometimes it helps later, if the planning has been somewhat controversial, to follow the further Feng Shui rules and thus support or weaken wrongly positioned rooms. Explaining the individual components with different possibilities - for that I’d have to look into my books...
Also deficits in the rectangle/square would have to be compensated.

Basically, the Chi, the energy, must flow - preferably through all rooms. It should also stay and not escape. If it does escape, then please not with your own energy.
The energy comes with you through the entrance and hugs corners to then fill the room. How Chi would flow in your house, I don’t know - maybe directly straight through, out through the chimney and a wall through the window. Maybe also around the chimney to the sofa.
Where the kitchen is, it will be relatively calm, the living room, if part of the Chi goes there, very lively.

The Bagua can be applied to lots, to floors and to rooms. The entrance side is always the door or gate side.

Now to the bedroom:

Basically, it should be avoided that door and window face each other because of the Chi that would immediately go out of the room again. Worse yet is to lie in this stream. Many people, even without knowing Feng Shui, feel uncomfortable when the door is at the head of the bed... this also has something to do with the caveman (enemy from behind)
....

Enough words. I did not orient my house according to Feng Shui. I belong to the not few people who can imagine quite well or strangely, even in plans. So I intuitively planned well. The rest I can support or weaken room deficits with pictures, accessories or simply with color, even without studying the book again. Because in Feng Shui much has to do with coziness and comfort.

If your wife is interested, surely much of what I wrote here is not unfamiliar to her.

The fireplace is a thing. I planted the idea in my wife's ear and can't get it out. The fireplace is actually like the shower downstairs in the guest WC, a kind of emergency object. For me, it was primarily about having a backup to be able to heat if the air-water heat pump needs support in winter (we like it warm - the type of heat doesn't matter) or fails.

Neither of us are fireplace people, meaning the fireplace is not to impress but to heat. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oh, whether the money for the fireplace (especially with KFW 55) will be spent sensibly and thus the fireplace makes sense for us, I do not know yet.

Actual experiences on this would be interesting?

We are both not fireplace people, i.e. the fireplace is not for decoration but for heating. Nothing more, nothing less.

Then just imagine placing an appropriate pellet or wood chip stove in the heating cellar. It can then be connected directly to the hot water supply/underfloor heating.

Hello, today I visited our future building site again. 1. Unfortunately, it is quite high up on the hill. The wind is blowing really hard. Do you have any ideas how we can block the wind from the terrace? To the west and northwest there is only farmland.... There might not be enough space for a windbreak with various bushes or hedges. On the ground floor, there is practically a kind of single-story extension planned behind the garage, probably the kitchen. Today I was thinking whether we could shift the two-story house a bit to the north towards the street and practically use the extension as a windbreak for a protected terrace. What do you think about that? 2. A professional friend says I should definitely hire an independent architect even though we are building with a general contractor. Do you think that would add that much value compared to the previous designs?