I’m not going to get exactly through the discussion loops about the bay window declared as a bicycle pantry cellar or the too short carport etc. For me, this still does not feel like a coherent, JOINT project, but an endless tug-of-war, and the architect is probably trying to somehow do justice to each side somehow; this mutuality of your entrenched wishes cannot have escaped him. What I still don’t understand is that you were given several really functional and space-efficient floor plans as a gift, only to now work through completely unnecessary problems probably with your wife and also the people here. This apparently deeply rooted desire to finally have a bay window in life, and now the Tetris-like and considered clever shifting of it as well as the simultaneous reclassification as a bicycle kitchen anteroom by cleverly omitting a drawn-in wall still eludes me. Of course, you might be able to build it like that, it’s your house and your money, but you are devoting yourselves here one after another to unnecessary substitute conflicts, because the deeper reason seems obvious to me, that you and your wife do not seek an agreement or a truly mutually agreed and sensible solution, which has already been discussed here. This is no accusation, how could I, but an observation from what I have read so far. The problems will come by the dozen during construction, and mastering them without a common strategy will be difficult. This is expressed particularly in:
Since the upper floor is pretty clear, we are currently only planning the ground floor.
Either it is CLEAR or it’s not. This tendency towards eventuality, which can be read throughout here, will be the source of later drama. Why is the upper floor not fixed and fully planned, including consideration of the necessary lines, toilet, shower, furniture, etc.? This can have profound effects on spatial planning later on in individual cases. What is the advantage of not finishing it?
The hallway is a bit too big and open for my taste, but my wife is looking forward to it.
If it is too big, then it must be smaller, ergo replanning. Of course, it is too big compared to the rather narrow all-purpose room, but why is it still like this or are you building something you don’t even like? In a “normal” house one does not need such a size unless one wants to create a specific design goal or a recognizable individual living situation. Here there is only space that seems to have fallen from the sky and gives no sense. I already asked the same: Why is your wife looking forward to this small sports field in front of the then narrower all-purpose room? What exactly does she like about it? Does she want to furnish/use it individually or achieve something specific with it, then yes, but then it should also be concretely indicated and dimensioned. Or it’s like the bay window she simply wants just to have a bay window?
In an emergency, one can of course just close a wall further and possibly a double door.
You are building new and already foresee the “emergency.” Plan this now mutually or not at all, because one cannot just “simply” make a wall in the “emergency.” This subsequent wall costs significantly more than a built-in one and after the again “possible” wall comes “possibly” a double door. Before/after that you need, for example, light switches at the correct place that you did not plan without the wall, so it goes on and on with some botching to undo the previous non-/misplanning. I really tell you this not because I want to appear smart, but because I have made such botch work one after another in my first house myself—leave this out, wait there, and then do the other somehow afterwards. You can do it but it will cause you unnecessary problems and holes in your wallet; at least that’s my own painful experience in this regard.
From experience with my parents, I know this door is virtually never closed.
So you are building later an unnecessarily expensive wall with an even more unnecessary double door because your parents do it like that? Do you really do EVERYTHING like your parents or are you perhaps individually different; your parents you have already named as a model in the bicycle pantry. Ergo the wall as well as the door is totally irrelevant. Why then does it still get into your plan (for later) if it’s complete nonsense as you say?
A dresser or similar could also find a place at the “T-wall” on the right side between hallway, office, and living room.
A dresser “could” find space. Do you have one? Do you need one? If yes, which one with what dimensions and is that enough for your things or will something just be placed there because the space happened to be there? First clarify the individual need and THEN plan exactly accordingly.
We haven’t committed to a kitchen yet.
On to the potpourri of eventualities. Of course, you must (should) commit and at least plan a kitchen basically now so as not to have to implement more unnecessary and expensive botch solutions later. As the kitchen is currently drawn, it also looks like clueless slapdash botch and not a sensible or individual idea.
I’m moving further away from the kitchen island, as I usually find the exhaust solutions for these stupid.
Am I moving away or not … yes or no? Every decision has consequences or brings new possibilities that must be considered. Both are understandable and doable, but it must be determined.
It should not be in front of the window either, so it basically only remains by the wall to the pantry.
Here too, it should be planned first and then other things depend on it again. Currently you look like in Tetris where you can still shove it.
The door to the pantry should possibly be planned as a “hidden door.”
Aha—hidden. Why hidden or what do you want to achieve with that? Of course, again as an eventuality.
Next to the door I would have a large American fridge.
Would have or have? If the latter, why not drawn there like all other necessities so you know exactly where the door must go. Why don’t you want to commit there?
Exactly where the pantry door goes we will plan soon; it can be quickly moved.
Why don’t you plan the room completely so that all rooms are gradually concretely furnished and it is also clear where the door must go and what may not fit? We have already written here once and therefore I believe/hope you don’t feel attacked and recognize some winks, even if serious in substance. For me, as mentioned a while ago, it is really noticeable that you two cannot find real agreement and so each tugs at some corner to enforce his wishes. This can lead to the result that everyone got their right to something, but the things themselves were not necessary if you had looked for and found mutual and above all sensible solutions in advance. If you repeatedly receive criticism here you should not defend it more, but rather deal more deeply with the criticism because the people do not want to make your construction more difficult but want to help you. Don’t start building too early because you get frustrated by the back and forth. Wait until you both feel completely satisfied, without these lazy compromises, without these endless emergencies and eventualities, or because the parents have always done it that way. And plan your carport so that your car fits in, everything else is just a fool’s errand.