Floor plan planning of an old building from the 1930s

That in this forum most people can hardly do anything with old houses is nothing new. There is rather little practical advice, and it quickly tends to recommend demolition instead. One can also live very comfortably in houses that are older than five years and don’t have more glass than an aquarium. :D
(I immediately fell in love with the Mudroom and the wood stove in the kitchen.)
Considerations about the floor plan are nice, but without a structural engineer rather difficult.
And you also have to let such houses sink in a bit to find the right floor plan for yourself and the house. A huge open space is not always THE solution. Sometimes it makes sense. Often not, and that is exactly why you have a great house that doesn’t look exactly like every other one in every new housing estate.

That it is difficult for most people in this forum to relate to old houses is nothing new.

I wouldn’t reduce the problem now just to the topic of house construction. In new construction, you start on a greenfield and can more or less easily adapt everything accordingly. In existing buildings, you have to accommodate what is there, which makes solutions much harder to transfer. Added to that is the problem that many things are hard to assess from a distance. I don’t just mean points like structural integrity and building fabric (which often still hold surprises even on site) but also how the rooms are. In the virtual tour, it sometimes seems extremely convoluted and super cramped, for example in the kitchen and in the house entrance. I suspect the camera distorts strongly there, but I can’t read anything to the contrary from the plan either because it is not properly dimensioned. Sure, old building stock, maybe it was done differently back then or the original plans got lost once. But that also makes it hard to contribute anything meaningful with a remote diagnosis.

(I immediately fell in love with the mudroom and the wood stove in the kitchen.)

What is a mudroom?

I don’t understand the hocus-pocus about secrecy at all. Here, every house on the net is listed with the address, it doesn’t bother anyone, why should it. My suburb Port Kennedy, check on realestate dot com dot au. A house here also doesn’t have the same value as in DE, you move when circumstances require it but don’t expect the “dream home” every time. Not to mention, people here don’t have the sometimes very exaggerated demands like in DE.

Are you afraid someone will snatch it away from you? Then I probably wouldn’t put my plans up for discussion here. You can also buy a house without x unknown people presenting their opinions to you. Everyone who responds has a different motivation that doesn’t necessarily concern you.

A house can never be worth so much that you make it your life’s mission. Your child will live on a construction site for a long time, the parents are occupied with things other than the child.

I totally understand that you don’t want to keep living where you built, that would be hell for me too. But I wouldn’t chase the dream, the main thing is to get away, where it’s quieter, definitely not another new development, the trouble is guaranteed. On the other hand, it’s not fun to share the surroundings with long-established oldies, they are very set in their opinions and new, unfamiliar things often cause neighborhood trouble. I’m 70+, but not the grandma type, don’t live like one either, my parents weren’t either.

That most people in this forum can't really do much with old houses is nothing new. There’s rather little practical advice, and people quickly tend to recommend demolition instead. You can also live very comfortably in houses that are older than five years and don’t have more glass than an aquarium. :D
(I immediately fell in love with the mudroom and the wood stove in the kitchen.)
Considerations about the floor plan are nice, but without a structural engineer, rather difficult.
And you have to let such houses settle in on you a bit to find the right floor plan for yourself and the house. A huge open-plan space is not always THE solution. Sometimes it makes sense. Often not, and that’s exactly why you have a great house that doesn’t look just like every other one in every new developement area.

“Fell in love” is the right word.
Falling in love with subordinate details that you didn’t even know five minutes ago could become important to you. That leads you astray and clouds the view of the long-lasting, exhausting, expensive, possibly unaffordable renovation projects in structurally weak regions.

Where the actual driving force was the noise disturbance. You’re romanticizing, and Kati too.
What of that contributes to the original problem? The main thing is just to get away?
Sorry, yes, here comes the amateur psychology.
Because that’s the real issue (although better not discussed in an online forum or similar platforms).

Floor plan fantasies get destroyed by the structural engineer anyway, there’s little we can do about that. Are you ready for such a project?
An old building means compromise, sometimes very short-term in nature. Will that work for you?

That it is mostly difficult for people in this forum to relate to old houses is nothing new. There’s rather little practical advice and people quickly tend to recommend demolition instead. You can also live very comfortably in houses that are older than five years and don’t have more glass than an aquarium. :D

That’s a good point and I honestly wasn’t aware of that.
Our new build isn’t exactly the aquarium type either, but I know what you mean. :)

(I immediately fell in love with the mudroom and the wood stove in the kitchen.)

Funny, my sister did too. She said right away that if we throw out the wood stove, we should tell her where we’re throwing it. ;)

In the virtual tour it sometimes looks extremely convoluted and super cramped, e.g. in the kitchen, in the entrance area. I suspect the camera distorts a lot there, but I can’t read anything to the contrary from the plans either because they’re not properly dimensioned. Sure, old building, maybe they did things differently back then or the original plans got lost. But that also makes it hard to contribute anything meaningful by remote diagnosis.

In reality it feels much more open than in the 3D plan. You get a better impression when you look at it as intended, namely in 3D. We viewed the house remotely with the Oculus Quest 2 before we went there. It feels completely different then. But that only works until you feel nauseous. :D

I don’t understand the fuss about confidentiality at all. Every house is posted online here with its address, nobody is bothered, why should they be. My suburb Port Kennedy, just search on realestate dot com dot au. A house here just doesn’t have the same importance as in Germany, you move when circumstances require it and you don’t expect a “dream home” every single time. Not to mention, people here also don’t have the sometimes very exaggerated expectations like in Germany.

Are you afraid someone will snatch it away from you? Then I probably wouldn’t post my plans here for discussion. You can also buy a house without having x unknown people pitching their opinions to you. Everyone who answers has a different motivation, which doesn’t necessarily concern you.

A house can never be worth so much that you make it your life’s mission. Your child will live on a construction site for a long time, and the parents are busy with other things than the child.

I completely understand that you don’t want to stay where you built, that would be hell for me too. But I wouldn’t chase the dream, main thing is to get away, where it’s quieter, definitely not another new development area, that trouble is preprogrammed. On the other hand, it’s not fun either to share the environment with long-established old-timers, they are very set in their ways and new, unfamiliar things often spark neighborhood disputes. I’m 70+, but not the grandma type, I don’t live like one, neither did my parents.

The fear of it being snatched away was actually only a very minor factor. I just find it desirable from a data protection perspective not to have my real address linked to an internet pseudonym. There are just very, very crazy people out there and you don’t have to tempt fate. You can kind of see this a bit from the fact that people make the effort to find out the address of a property. Everyone can see it how they want, I still find it creepy. Especially since finding out the address brought no added value for the discussion (which was already largely off topic). Having the address instead of simply “Saarpfalzkreis” gives only marginally more information about – well, about what exactly? That we might live opposite a bakery (which btw no longer exists)? – Wow.

Sorry yes, there comes the amateur psychology.

Yeah, I notice that. Unfortunately, I can take amateur psychologists a lot less seriously since I met a trained psychologist for a few years. You learn a lot about yourself. And about amateur psychologists. You should try it sometime too.

I don’t see any tighter spaces than in many new buildings. The entrance with the vestibule, the transom window, and the hallway area is a nice detail that gives a clue about the original idea of the builder. The house leans a bit toward the reform architectural style. And that is a very beautiful, well thought-out architecture that can be adapted well for modern living. You have to imagine away the post-war developments, then you see the potential. Connecting the annex can be a bit difficult. But even with poor substance, I would be pain-free for a demolition. I also really like the upper floor. It is, of course, not the 08/15 city villa 2021, but as mentioned, lots of potential. And blah blah old neighborhood. Every neighborhood carries risks. Idiots can live anywhere. New development areas carry much more neurotic potential. A building plot in a solitary location is not realistic, we all know that.