Floor plan single-family saddle roof house with basement, approx. 200 sqm

: My husband and I would first like to thank you for your detailed feedback. Many thanks! Here is something fundamental: We have quite clear ideas about how we want to realize our house. That is why we tried a DIY approach to visualize our ideas in a draft, which of course is not set in stone (otherwise we wouldn’t be active here in this forum). What we have often experienced in our circle of acquaintances: an endless ping-pong with the architect until he gets fed up and just "slaps something together," as long as the client gives peace. We want to avoid exactly this endless loop and at least do some groundwork so that the architect can make modifications and doesn’t have to redo the entire plan from scratch. And that is the main question for us: Could the architect take the plan as a starting point and work with it?

Thanks to many useful hints here, it at least seems to us that we have not made any significant mistakes regarding distances or inefficiently used spaces. For some, the currently typical window seat might be a highlight or the laundry chute... For us, other aspects matter, such as the short route from the kitchen to the basement, a spacious and always tidy cloakroom, the short dry-footed path from the car into the home, or the fact that you can park two cars side by side under the carport. Just to name a few highlights from our side in the draft... This may seem boring or a no-go aspect to some, but every planner has their own ideas, wishes, or priorities, so every design should be seen as individual and not immediately stamped as a fail...

Now to the concrete draft:

- Window widths and arrangements: Yes, they look extremely unfortunate. But we hope for the architect’s expertise here.
- Basement access from the living room: For us not a no-go, as we store many supplies in the basement and mainly use it to bring up supplies. For garden tools, car tires, tools, etc., there is the outside basement access.
- Terrace roof: A terrace roof is important to us because we will often use the outdoor kitchen, even in winter. And we know all too well from our parents the constant annoying covering of garden furniture. The view is rather secondary to us. What has made us think, however, is whether it really gets too dark!? We have actually planned two double-leaf balcony doors facing south. Shouldn't that be enough?
- Balcony: Honestly: We probably really need it. It just made sense. We originally wanted it for hanging laundry. However, we could probably also do this on the garage roof.
- Carport: Planning a corner lot with driveway, parking options, a garage, and a proper house entrance including everything else is not easy. For us, the presented solution is actually quite good: 2 dry parking spaces for the cars + garage. If the whole thing costs an additional +30k due to structural engineering, we will reconsider it.
- Northern side exterior: Yes, we were also unsure here whether it looks shabby. Therefore, there is the idea to shorten the bay window on the north and align the entire north wall (ground floor + upper floor). Then we would also have the necessary width in the bedroom (that would be a total of 7-8 sqm more, and not 20-30 ;))

Maybe we will get some constructive criticism based on our approach and reflected feedback on whether the floor plan is livable or where we still made major mistakes.

Many thanks.

: My husband and I would first like to thank you for your detailed feedback. Many thanks! Here is something fundamental: We have quite clear ideas about how we want to realize our house. That is why we tried a DIY approach to visualize our ideas in a draft, which of course is not set in stone (otherwise we wouldn’t be active here in this forum). What we have often experienced in our circle of acquaintances: an endless ping-pong with the architect until he gets fed up and just "slaps something together," as long as the client gives peace. We want to avoid exactly this endless loop and at least do some groundwork so that the architect can make modifications and doesn’t have to redo the entire plan from scratch. And that is the main question for us: Could the architect take the plan as a starting point and work with it?

Thanks to many useful hints here, it at least seems to us that we have not made any significant mistakes regarding distances or inefficiently used spaces. For some, the currently typical window seat might be a highlight or the laundry chute... For us, other aspects matter, such as the short route from the kitchen to the basement, a spacious and always tidy cloakroom, the short dry-footed path from the car into the home, or the fact that you can park two cars side by side under the carport. Just to name a few highlights from our side in the draft... This may seem boring or a no-go aspect to some, but every planner has their own ideas, wishes, or priorities, so every design should be seen as individual and not immediately stamped as a fail...

Now to the concrete draft:

- Window widths and arrangements: Yes, they look extremely unfortunate. But we hope for the architect’s expertise here.
- Basement access from the living room: For us not a no-go, as we store many supplies in the basement and mainly use it to bring up supplies. For garden tools, car tires, tools, etc., there is the outside basement access.
- Terrace roof: A terrace roof is important to us because we will often use the outdoor kitchen, even in winter. And we know all too well from our parents the constant annoying covering of garden furniture. The view is rather secondary to us. What has made us think, however, is whether it really gets too dark!? We have actually planned two double-leaf balcony doors facing south. Shouldn't that be enough?
- Balcony: Honestly: We probably really need it. It just made sense. We originally wanted it for hanging laundry. However, we could probably also do this on the garage roof.
- Carport: Planning a corner lot with driveway, parking options, a garage, and a proper house entrance including everything else is not easy. For us, the presented solution is actually quite good: 2 dry parking spaces for the cars + garage. If the whole thing costs an additional +30k due to structural engineering, we will reconsider it.
- Northern side exterior: Yes, we were also unsure here whether it looks shabby. Therefore, there is the idea to shorten the bay window on the north and align the entire north wall (ground floor + upper floor). Then we would also have the necessary width in the bedroom (that would be a total of 7-8 sqm more, and not 20-30 ;))

Maybe we will get some constructive criticism based on our approach and reflected feedback on whether the floor plan is livable or where we still made major mistakes.

Many thanks.

I have now been in this forum for 10 years. Honestly? I can no longer read these justifications about why people would rather have it more bad than good. It's always the same or similar naive arguments. "I want it individual, I am different, I am special, no (architect) will understand me or you don’t understand me."
The house has the same room program as almost every family house for four people. You are not special in that. That can be explained to the architect in three sentences. And a covered terrace, a bedroom, a bathroom or a basement access can also be done "well."
And also the distorted view that drying laundry requires over 30 sqm, then please properly with access from the utility room and without the neighbors' eyes.
How do you imagine that? You give the architect the draft, and when he starts to straighten out the static challenges and improve everything with capable eyes, you get stars in your eyes and say to yourselves: see, he does not understand our draft.
And if you still haven't understood: no outstanding architecture is possible with your budget.
By the way, the ping-pong game you are playing without an architect for over a year is very good.

What we have experienced often enough among acquaintances: an eternal ping pong with the architect until they, exasperated, just "slap something together," as long as the client gives peace. Exactly this endless loop is what we want to avoid and at least do some preliminary work so that the architect can make modifications and does not have to redo the entire plan from scratch. And that is the main question for us: Could the architect start with the plan and work with it?

Maybe, based on our approach, we will receive constructive criticism again and get reflected whether the floor plan is habitable or where major blunders have still occurred.

We adapted an existing draft from an architect to our needs.