Floor plan of a single-family house without basement/bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor

Is there a reason why the storage room is oriented to the south?

The children's rooms are very large but have few windows.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know how else to arrange the pantry. We might plan a small darkened window (set high), so it can be ventilated sometimes - that would be facing east, right?

The children's rooms are supposed to be large; that is very important to me. I understand that toys will sometimes be lying around downstairs, but this is more about the later years when the crib is gone and the soda, TV, and girlfriend are coming in.

Also, if I personally want to live downstairs and have space upstairs, why should I reduce the size of the rooms and create another room that I don't need? I'd rather give the space to the little ones. Each room has two double windows, isn't that enough? We don't want skylights because of the heat buildup and cleaning.

By the way, I read here that raising the knee wall with our preferred home builder is quite affordable. So we are considering this as a standalone option but haven't decided how high it should be. According to the preliminary offer, the knee wall is only 70 cm high.

Thanks to all of you for the great tips. My head is spinning.

And one more thing: yes, I know that you build the house according to the plot. Still, one dreams and thinks about it. And I prefer getting suggestions from you and thinking for myself rather than making quick decisions later that I might regret.


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An external access with an outside staircase can apparently be added later without any problems given the way we want to build, so we haven't planned one.

If your stair dimensions don't fit, then you will have to redesign your floor plan anyway, so I would start with the stairs.

Best regards
Sabine

The door in [Küche/Essen/Wohnen] is somewhat like a salon door

* Master bedroom on living room wall: Sounds from the living room can reach the bedroom. Annoying if someone wants to watch TV and someone else wants or has to sleep because of shift work.
* Bathroom: I would summarize here: Separate shower bath with shower + WC. Combine master bathroom and children's bathroom in the attic. Then place this one on the floor above the shower bath. Possibly plan a niche for a washing machine later.
* Office on ground floor: An office possibly with a pull-out couch on the ground floor. Room large enough so that one person can sleep downstairs later.
* Tip: A walk-in closet in the attic can later be converted into a mini office (if sockets, lighting, network are prepared). This way a planned office on the ground floor can be converted into a bedroom and an office is not lost.

Oh, the storage room is supposed to be a pantry? Can't it at least be swapped with the office? The south wall will also emit heat. I was concerned about the children's rooms because, in my opinion, there are quite few windows for the space. But I could be mistaken.

Oh, the storage closet is supposed to be a pantry? Can't it at least be swapped with the office? The south wall will also emit heat.

My concern with the children's rooms was that, in my opinion, there are rather few windows for the room. But I could be mistaken.

Sorry, my mistake. I must have misread that.

Of course, the room above is a storage room. My sewing machine should also find space there. But shouldn't it be warmer in the storage room rather than in my husband's office? He is currently working permanently from home and is allowed to continue doing so after corona. We are people who generally prefer it cooler. His office under the skylight is currently a horror for him.

Bauenmk2020:
We definitely want our bathroom on the ground floor. Constantly running upstairs to the bathroom is terrible, in my opinion.

Are salon doors good or bad?

I find all the rooms in the basement too narrow. Especially the pantry, in my opinion, is not usable in a practical way. With 50-60 cm shelves for canned goods, etc., you then have to squeeze along with your back to the wall to get deeper into the room on the left. After all, these are raw construction measurements, and a few centimeters must still be deducted for plastering. The fact that it is planned as a passageway does not make it any better. I only see space for shelves on the end faces perpendicular to the room axis.

Carrying a laundry basket or anything bigger through the bedroom would be unpleasant. You barely have space between the bed and the wall—especially if a TV is actually supposed to be hung there. Of course, you don’t have space for a dresser or mirror either. I find the space for clothes in variant D borderline.

The office again has a very elongated shape. Living space is less than 4 m, which is considered the minimum at least here.

I also imagine the windows in the exterior view to be very haphazardly arranged.

My recommendation would be that you let go of the idea of parents downstairs, children upstairs and let a general contractor/architect do the work. If bathroom/bedroom move upstairs, office and storage go downstairs, and the pantry is completely omitted, you might be able to create a more spacious feeling.

Have you ever met with a construction contractor together? Their drafts are not always optimal, good, or even beautiful—but they often work quite well. And you get input from outside. Especially the idea of living, sleeping downstairs—I would seriously reconsider that. I haven’t read about any lasting damage to you, have I? Broken legs shouldn’t happen that often, and you only have one pregnancy underway. Do you really want to optimize the whole house for this extreme situation?

Rather, make the staircase a bit wider for a stairlift later. Is it really a realistic scenario that later, when you are old and your children have moved out, you will take in tenants? Before my parents sold their house, I always found it quite practical to just stay overnight in their old childhood room. You won’t have that option anymore. Just saying....