Floor plans for a two-family house

Hello everyone,

a few weeks ago, I shared our self-drawn floor plan ideas here. After you gave many good suggestions, the rough drafts from the architect are now available, which I would like to discuss again.

It is about a two-family house, one living unit on the ground floor (for my parents, later for rent), the upper floors for us. The house will have a flat roof. The somewhat unconventional layout of the upper apartment (common areas upstairs, quiet rooms downstairs) is our intentional design.

Looking forward to your comments.

Thanks, Jim

I have to admit that I don't find it that bad. Maybe the entrance to the pantry in the upper apartment through the kitchen can still be discussed. Otherwise, the path is quite long.

What I don't like so much is the hallway on the mezzanine, where you have the bedrooms. It's as dark as a dungeon, you always have to turn the lights on there.

Hello Jaydee,

I completely agree with you - the pantry must be accessible from the kitchen, which can also be easily changed.

Hopefully, the hallway on OG1 can be acceptably brightened by adding transom windows above the doors of the utility room and the cloakroom. However, it still won't be the brightest place in the house. To achieve that, everything would have to be designed a bit more open, for example by leaving out the wall to the cloakroom. But that wall is quite important to us because it allows you to pass by the children's quiet rooms undisturbed in the evening when you have visitors. During the day, the door between the hallway and the cloakroom is probably always open, so more light will come in then.

Yes, the room is quite narrow. The left part of the north wall could be moved 20cm further north. But then the floor plan becomes more confusing. (What you don't notice when you're inside, but from above it just looks ugly and maybe costs a bit more). Whether a child will actually live there remains to be seen.

Hm, when do you use the sauna? Probably not when the sun is at its highest?
I don't find the north-facing location attractive; rather, I think it will become overgrown and mossy in the shady position.
Also, in the evening, when you are in the sauna and the kids are at the movies or sleeping, you can quickly walk through the living room to the beautiful wellness lounge on the roof terrace... those are not distances to be covered...

By the way, I have nothing to criticize about the concept. Of course, it wouldn’t be my way of living, but you have to adapt to the circumstances and situation.
The only thing I find very unusual are the slanted walls... also the partition wall in the hallway on the sleeping floor.
I wouldn’t want to do without the pantry here (I’m not a pantry lover) because the ways to the basement can be long... and that’s usually where the second fridge and everything else necessary, which is not exactly decorative (vacuum cleaner and such), is kept.

I don't find the apartment on the ground floor very appealing. The kitchen is very narrow – if two people are in there, you really have to squeeze past each other – not exactly a dream kitchen. There's not even enough space for a bathtub in the bathroom – okay, maybe a deliberate decision. The wardrobe is tiny – also a squeeze. No more than one person should go in or out at the same time. Personally, I would just find it constantly too cramped.