Floor plan - opinion and improvement suggestions...

Hello everyone,

first of all, compliments to this great forum, I haven’t been here long but have already discovered many useful things. ;)

We have been planning our single-family house for quite some time and are already quite far along with the planning. Since we are quite young and inexperienced, we have to rely a lot on our architect. That’s why we would like to hear a different opinion and look forward to any suggestions for improvement.

Maybe a few details on which we have based our planning.

• The garage or shed should have a passage to the house/utility room. For groceries, to have another entrance to the yard, etc.

• The living room was designed to be open and provided with a gallery above. The freestanding fireplace should become the focal point in the house.

• The staircase should be closed, creating a storage room underneath the stairs.

• On the upper floor, there should be a separate master bathroom and a dressing room.

• The possibility of converting the attic or adding another level for the children is being considered.

What we don’t like so far is the garage/shed positioning. Another option is being worked on.

Either separate the driveway and garden with an additional fence or place the garage driveway on the side street.

We would be grateful for further ideas and support.

Hello,
could the garage be rotated? Towards the side street? That way you save yourselves the large paving ;)

I would place the access to the bathroom or dressing room at the front, so the paths are not so long, and you don’t have to walk through the whole bedroom. Accordingly, redesign the shower and toilet (do you have 2 of them in one bathroom?).

For the wardrobe on the ground floor, make sure the depth is generous enough, otherwise you’ll always brush past your jackets when going to the WC.

I find the hallway/corridor a bit too spacious. Other than that, a quite appealing floor plan (I would feel comfortable :))
Maybe open the kitchen a bit more towards the corridor?

Something different. I don't think it's so bad, only the entrance to the office through / in the cloakroom could be problematic. Does the visitor park in the north? If they park in the yard, they have to go all the way around the garage to get into the house. Maybe a passage / spiral passage could be planned next to the shed?

For my taste, the living room is too big and the dining room too small, but that’s a matter of personal preference... I find the ground floor floor plan generally okay, but is the wardrobe big enough for 4 people? Jackets, shoes, hats, scarves, etc. in multiple copies? We wouldn’t have enough space there. And the office is seriously supposed to be 16 sqm? What is planned to go in there?

Upstairs, I find the master bathroom at the back very unfortunate. When the children want to bathe – and small children almost exclusively bathe – you have to go all the way to the back. And isn’t there too little space between the bathtub and the washbasin? Do you have 2 toilets in the bathroom? The walk-in closet will be too tight to have wardrobes on both sides. Being in there together would be a complete disaster.

And the open space: well, if you like it. But so big? In my opinion, wasted space, but if that’s what is wanted... Just remember that when the children have to sleep, everyone must be quiet. For us with our children that wouldn’t work. They are not noise-sensitive, but I think about myself: it would bother me if I couldn’t have peace in bed. But as I said, with the open space, to each their own.

Looked again:

The living room could benefit from shifting the office a bit to enlarge the wardrobe area.
Upstairs, I would enlarge the children's bathroom by the area above the stairs. It seems to be a dead corner in the master bathroom. Possibly place the washing machine and dryer in the children's bathroom since laundry accumulates upstairs.
The panoramic window upstairs will bring you a lot of heat inside; it looks elegant but consider whether you might get overheated due to the sunlight.
The dining area also seems too small in proportion to the kitchen, possibly open the partition wall.
The gallery, as mentioned above, could be a distraction for the children.

I think this air space is totally ridiculous. From the outside it might look great, but the utility value is zero. Besides, it is expensively bought with this huge window area and the corner gable (so the "L" shape of the house).

How is this window area cleaned?

If there is already consideration to convert the attic into another room (whether that even works is questionable anyway), I would rather plan another room on the upper floor than waste space through this air space.