Floor plan for a 150 sqm single-family house with a living room facing north

Hello everyone,

in the meantime, we have a plot of land in sight and have given more thought to the floor plan. I have already created several versions, all differing in details. Uploaded is the current version of our considerations and an attempt to fit the floor plan into a somewhat smaller area. Unfortunately, when reducing the size on the upper floor, the only idea I have is to slightly set back the doors, so the rooms get "warts". Maybe there are other suggestions for this.

Because it is hard to see: The staircase in the normal version is quarter-turn and leads to the north on the upper floor. The staircase in the smaller version is half-turn and leads to the east.

Development plan/restrictions: no development plan, i.e. according to the neighboring development
Size of the plot: 800 sqm
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: no specification
Plot ratio: no specification
Number of stories: 1.5
Roof shape: gable roof
Orientation: living room facing north

Requirements of the builders
Basement: no basement
Number of persons, age: two adults, two kindergarten children
Space requirement on ground floor and upper floor: as shown in the floor plan
Office: home office
Guest nights per year: 30 nights p.a.
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no
Number of dining seats: 4 in the kitchen, 6-8 in the living room
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: no considerations so far
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should not be: Living room facing north is desired, as we want a connection to the terrace and it should not be in direct bright sun. Office in the south also fits, as it is used during the day.

House design
From whom is the design: own planning as a mix of many floor plans from catalogs
What do you particularly like? Why?: space in the living room for family celebrations (putting two tables together...), kitchen and living room connected to the terrace
What do you not like? Why?: house might be a bit too big for the budget limit -> reduction without major compromises possible?
Personal budget limit for the house, including equipment: 300,000 EUR
Preferred heating technology: gas + the essentials for the 2017 energy saving ordinance

If you have to do without, on which details/features can you dispense:
- you can dispense with: guest room on the upper floor could, if necessary, be integrated into the office

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?:
Could the floor plan be reduced further without making major compromises?

P.S.: The bathroom fittings are for now just placed without care, only so that it can be recognized as a bathroom. The planning is not that far yet.

Hello, I can understand the desire for a north-facing terrace, but not why the entire floor plan has to be subordinated to it. It’s nice that the office is used during the day, but lighting the main LIVING rooms, where the family will regularly spend time together, only through north-facing windows is simply far too little daylight for these rooms!! Why exactly can’t the office be placed in the corner of the kitchen and the remaining living space get at least some south and west orientation?! (which personally would still seem unbalanced to me if the guest WC is better located than the living rooms...)

Is this also a dining area in the kitchen or where is the main place to eat? One dining area should be enough. For me, the route from the kitchen to the dining table next to the couch is too far. The way over the terrace is almost shorter.

The exterior view will take some getting used to. In the south, there is no window on the upper floor at all, in the east only on the upper floor, in the west 1 window on the ground floor and 2 on the upper floor - no idea if that will look good,... Especially in autumn / winter / spring, the living room will not be particularly bright. A window facing west would be quite good.

Thank you for the feedback so far.

: To the north is the garden and therefore also the best view. But I will make a second attempt where the rooms are arranged completely differently. Then the west would probably have to suffice, because the south side is the street side and I wouldn’t find that attractive.

: Yes, two dining areas are planned. One in the kitchen and one in the living room. We have had it like that so far. The one in the living room is always used when guests are there, and for family celebrations the table from the kitchen is added. So we would have to store two tables somewhere anyway...

: The outside view is somewhat different than one might imagine based on the pictures. To the south and north are the slopes of the gable roof. That is why most of the windows on the upper floor face east and west. Only in the guest room does the bay window interrupt the gable roof on the upper floor and therefore has an extra window. An image search for Helma single-family house Berlin shows how we imagined it...

I'm not going to go into north orientation etc. (if someone prefers sitting facing south on the dish rather than on the couch, I don't have to understand that...), but in the last post there was again a sentence you often read here and every time I want to tear my hair out:

"We've always done it this way"

Often also in alternatives like: "We'll do it that way now too; it works, doing it now as well," etc.

In my eyes, that's the completely wrong approach. What I have now is usually a rental situation where I have to come to terms with given conditions.
Now you're building a house, YOUR house.

Create the optimum, your dream, and then make compromises where necessary.
Listen to experiences and weigh them up: for example, a north-facing terrace is cool at 35 degrees, no question... In spring/autumn the situation looks different... And then the question arises: do I get sun on the north terrace? NO. Do I get shade on a south terrace? Yes!
The same with the living room: in summer a shady living room is certainly pleasant, but do I want to live in a dark hole for 3/4 of the rest of the year? If I want sun/light there, do I have to go to the crap? Well... you can do that....

What I want to say is, there are a few basic rules in planning. They have proven valid over the years, despite all trends. Seems to have stood the test. You can't always implement all of them, but you should definitely understand that most have their justification.

Regarding sun phobia: in new houses, appropriate shading is mandatory, otherwise you really bake in summer. So that shouldn't be the problem. On the other hand, solar gain in winter helps with heating. Isn't it silly not to use that?
Moreover, we all know that sufficient sunlight is essential for health and well-being. That's definitely something I would consider in planning.

Two dining areas close to each other cost space and what's the point?
30 overnight guests a year, so I assume a guest-friendly household. That means there will be more people at the table than just the family more often. Do I then want to pull out a second table from the basement every time and create a makeshift situation that's neither fish nor fowl? Wouldn't it be more sensible to create ONE somewhat larger dining area that can also accommodate a few guests without major modifications?

Just my 2 cents...