Floor plan of a townhouse 150 sqm with gable roof 6 rooms

Dear forum members,

we have completed a preliminary plan for our house together with a company and are now at the beginning of the detailed planning. Therefore, we would be very happy to receive suggestions for improvement, critical comments, further ideas, and tips regarding the floor plan.

Unfortunately, a site plan is not yet available, but the floor plans for the ground floor and upper floor at a scale of 1:100 as well as drawings of the house are included.

Thanks in advance!

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 700 sqm
Otherwise development according to §34 Building Code; in the neighborhood, almost all types of houses, sizes, stories, roof types, etc. are represented. A positive building preliminary inquiry for a two-story city villa up to 200 sqm is available.

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: flat gable roof, townhouse
Basement, stories: no basement, 2 stories
Number of persons, age: 2 adults, 1 child (1 year), possibly a 2nd child planned
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: 150 sqm
Office: family use or home office? Home office for both adults, average 3 days/week
Overnight guests per year: parents-in-law several times a year
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen if possible with cooking island
Number of dining seats: 4-8
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: yes, one parking space including shed
Utility garden, greenhouse: possibly
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be:
- larger guest room on the ground floor with space for a double bed since the parents-in-law visit frequently
- guest room on the ground floor must also be usable as an office
- light-flooded rooms / gallery
- open entrance area with open rooms and view of the garden (a sightline)
- straight concrete staircase to the upper floor because of dogs and parking space underneath (built-in closets)
- office on the upper floor should be an additional utility room or laundry room
- facade stone gray with wood cladding elements

House design
From whom is the planning: planner of a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?
- very practical room layout and good size of rooms
- barrier-free access to guest shower on the ground floor
- additional storage space in the roof as storage binder
- lots of light through large windows
- laundry room on the upper floor near the sleeping/children’s rooms

What do you not like? Why?
- kitchen could be too small / cramped
- question whether passage to kitchen is necessary
- house entrance not barrier-free (also terrace exit not)
- the gray elements in the facade should be replaced by wooden claddings so that the house makes a special impression from the outside.

Preferred heating technology: heat pump

If you have to do without, which details/extensions
- can you do without: second washbasin in bathroom upper floor, round window in dressing room (can have another shape), cooking island if it doesn’t fit
- cannot do without: straight concrete staircase, windows, large sliding door, larger guest room, gallery, guest shower ground floor, walk-in showers, laundry room upper floor

Why did the design turn out the way it is now? for example
Individual first draft, so far without adjustment from our side. Explicitly desired were gallery, larger guest room on ground floor, storage space in the roof, and laundry room on the upper floor. This was implemented accordingly.

I'll start

Stairs ... approx. 340 cm without specifying the rise ratio. It will definitely be steep with quite a shallow tread depth.

Kitchen 3 m raw dimension .. it is not generous.

Living room, if furnished as planned in the drawing, then good luck reaching the sofa.

Wardrobe???? completely missing or at most the space under the stairs, which is not much when you think of seasonal jackets, shoes, etc.

OG - Bedroom .. one should better plan the closet room first and then the sleeping area. There is little space on the right and left of the bed, the door right next to the head position. The closet designs with their frequently used corner cabinets are not great either.

The windows
Child 1 has a floor-to-ceiling window by the desk. And at the other window there is not enough space to the wall to place a normally deep cabinet.
Office and bathroom have basement windows, so much for that

- Lots of light through large windows

Bathroom
It had to be a T shape, right?
If you have a proper washbasin and a nicely framed bathtub, the passage between them will be super tight

Office on the upper floor should be an additional utility room or laundry room

I don’t believe it, why not rather use the "empore" space for that?

Barrier-free access to the guest shower on the ground floor

I don’t believe that either, shower door and bathroom door will always be in competition.
You have used barrier-free several times now, what is the thinking behind that?

Additional storage space in the attic as a storage binder

How is that supposed to be reached? Pull-down stairs? What is supposed to be stored?

Thanks for the quick feedback

You can ignore the drawn-in furnishings; they are just placeholders by the draftsman.

Stairs ... approx. 340 cm without indication of the rise/run ratio. It will definitely be steep with a quite small tread depth.

Do you have a good idea or a suggestion for adjustment here?

Kitchen 3 m rough dimension .. it’s not generous.

One possibility would be to have the kitchen flow into the living/dining room. Do you have an additional idea?

Wardrobe???? completely missing or at most the space under the stairs, which is not much if you think about seasonal jackets, shoes, etc.

It should be under the stairs. Do you have another idea / suggestion?

Upper floor - bedroom .. it would be better to plan the closet room first and then the sleeping area. As it is, there is little space on the right and left of the bed, the door is right next to the headboard. The closet drawings with their frequently used corner cabinets are also not great.

An alternative idea would be to omit the dressing room, place the bed under the round window, and put a long wardrobe on the stair side.

The windows
Child 1 has a floor-to-ceiling window at the desk. And at the other window there is not enough space to the wall to place a normally deep wardrobe.

Good point regarding wardrobe depth. We need to reconsider the desk in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Office and bathroom have basement windows, so far so

What do you mean here by "so far so"?

Bathroom
It had to be a T, right?
If you have a proper washbasin and a somewhat nicely framed bathtub, then the passage between them becomes very tight.

T is desired. One could slightly move the wall of the washroom (currently still office).

I don’t believe it, why not rather use this space "gallery"?

What do you mean? Our idea was that it is practical to have the washing machine upstairs near the bedrooms and at the same time a room to dry laundry. We don’t need a second office.

I don’t think so either, shower door and bathroom door will always compete.
You have used barrier-free several times, what is the idea behind it?

Correct. The door is not properly drawn in the ground floor bathroom. The idea of barrier-free was related to the possibility of "living" on the ground floor in case of an injury or similar, when one can’t use stairs or is not mobile for a longer time.

How should that be reached? Pull-out stairs? What should be stored?

Pull-out stairs would be our first idea. What should be stored is everything you would otherwise keep in the basement (suitcases, seasonal items, etc.)

What do you mean here by "soweit zu"?

Read my post again, I then included a quote from you regarding rooms flooded with light. Why don't you plan the rooms with the planned furnishings?

An alternative idea would be to omit the dressing room, place the bed under the round window and put a long wardrobe on the stair side.

The wall under the round window is 3m wide, there will be narrow passages to the right and left of the bed.

What do you think? Our consideration was that it is practical to have the washing machine upstairs near the bedrooms and also have a room to dry laundry. We don't need a second office.

No, you wrote

Home office both adults on average 3 days/week

Wouldn't two separate offices be sensible, especially with teleconferences/online meetings? I enjoy that no second person is in my home office. And I still don't really see the double bed in the lower office. You write

Do you have an additional idea?

Do you have another idea / suggestion?

etc. You can't change individual details like that directly; if the stairs are too steep, they have to be longer and then the layout no longer works. And that applies to some of the points I criticized.

Do you have a good idea or a suggestion for adjustment?

What is your story height? Either live with a steep staircase or make the staircase longer and mess up the floor plan. If the staircase is to stay as it is, I can only advise you to see and walk through one with a similar incline.

An extendable staircase would be our first idea. Everything that you usually store in a basement (suitcases, seasonal items, etc.) should be stored there.

How high is your attic or do you have a house cross-section? From a rough side view estimation, I think the height is very limited and you will have little space.

The idea regarding barrier-free was related to the possibility to "live" on the ground floor, in case you cannot use the stairs for a longer time due to an injury or similar, or are not mobile.

With the narrow bathroom on the ground floor, there will be very little fun. My better half spent some time using a walker around the house after a spinal fracture. You would have to go in backwards, because turning around with a walker forget it.

Unfortunately, a site plan is not yet available,

But you must have a sketch where the property can be seen as a rectangle with dimensions and with the house and parking area drawn in?

you can't do without: ..., larger guest room, gallery

What is the purpose of the open space here? I don't see a gallery.
You can't just furnish the guest room with a double bed like that. I don't see any furniture that is age-appropriate in the guest room or in the shower toilet!

You can disregard the drawn-in furniture; they are just placeholders from the draftsman.

But they should fit you, right? It’s understandable that the planner uses their templates. But your task as future residents should be to draw your own furniture in there and see if everything actually fits.

Laundry room on the upper floor.

Where is it?

What do you mean? Our thought was that it is practical to have the washing machine upstairs near the bedrooms and at the same time have a room to dry laundry. We don’t need a second office.

The washing machine is drawn in on the ground floor. Is that enclosed space with the porthole supposed to be the laundry room? If yes, where is the closet planned? But even without the washing machine: you can’t really use the dressing room properly, at least not with common wardrobes. These corner cupboards hardly have enough space... meters to accommodate more than a meter of hanging rod length.

The idea regarding barrier-free was related to the possibility of "living" on the ground floor in case one, due to an injury or something similar, cannot use the stairs for a longer time or is not mobile.

As I said: I don’t see that here.

Without quoting: there is hardly any walk-in storage space under the roof, you have nothing from the open space except acoustics on the upper floor and some lack of space, the planner did not plan a laundry room and if so, it competes with the dressing room, the bathroom is too narrow for the tub/sink/T-shape, floor-to-ceiling windows compromise privacy in the children's rooms. In the bedroom, the bed is enclosed on too little space.
Three meters wall-to-wall in the living-dining area is simply 10 cm too little.
A wardrobe (at least 50/60 cm wide per person) is not planned at all, the utility room of 8.x sqm is sufficient if there is additional accessible storage space, I personally find the kitchen painful and not modern as desired.
For the WC, I wonder why a rectangular design isn't chosen (the guest room would appreciate it) and the shower planned at the back, with the window facing north.
In the living room, it makes sense to place the sofa against the wall, but the location of the side window at the house corner is then questionable.
I also find the exterior views unsuccessful. I find the porthole as an accent great, but then centered in the gable. I personally like the two narrow windows in the gable too, but not in combination with the porthole. And I don't see any added value of this extravagance inside a "gallery".
I find none of the four facades successful—I don't see any thought or sense in the colored accentuation at all. Because this would actually be meant to support guiding lines and not to plan more in an already confusing arrangement.
What is interesting here at the house is the carport/parking situation.
I don’t yet see the perfect solution, rather the round holding spot.