Floor plans for a two-family house

Hello Jim,
the room sizes seem a bit cramped to me. This especially concerns the entrance situation on the ground floor and the hallway area on the upper floor. If possible, I would work here with fewer - but larger - rooms. In my opinion, too much valuable living space is lost due to the slanted wall. I would arrange the beds so that the head is positioned near an interior wall. The exterior wall is always somewhat colder relative to the room air and therefore less comfortable.

I hope I could provide some helpful suggestions.
Best regards,
Hans Max Wurth

Thank you very much for your helpful answers!

@ypg: I can understand your arguments against the N-loggia. It would be a truly unreasonable decision. The temptation is so great because we only have neighbors to the north at a very great distance. But I also see that due to the living situation on the 2nd upper floor, a pantry makes sense. Although I am not entirely sure yet whether a solution with tall cabinets or shelves, possibly with a sliding door, could be equivalent to a built-in pantry.

@HMW: Good point about the beds, we hadn’t thought of that. We will also take a closer look at the situation on the 1st upper floor. The disadvantage of all the alternative solutions that seem more spacious so far has been that you always have to pass by the quiet rooms directly on the way to the 2nd upper floor if you have visitors. If you want the additional wall/door, it automatically gets tighter. I’m afraid that both are not possible at the same time and that it is a matter of priorities.

@kaho674/HMW: I have sketched an alternative for the ground floor entrance and kitchen situation. There would be more space in the kitchen here. The entrance would be kept open and therefore perhaps feel less cramped (although it is actually smaller). Also because you don’t have to pass the wardrobe. Better?

The apartment downstairs is for the older generation - that's how I understood it! The variant with the entrance on the ground floor is better, now just remove the partition wall (which is too much and is a disturbance) from the living room, plan a built-in wardrobe and that’s fine. Then pay attention to accessibility: 150 cm width in the kitchen, so remove the upper row or use narrow cabinets, consider door width, and so on. The bedroom is still a challenge there. From experience, people can, and especially want to no longer deal with clutter in old age and set other priorities, so a simple L-shaped kitchen should be sufficient.

Hi Jim,
sorry, but I still think the whole thing looks very patchy. Does the slant in the living room really have to be there? Somehow I can't figure out the north-south orientation. So it's hard to give advice. Just a food for thought from the room layout here (you can figure out the windows on your own):

Advantages:
- proper hallway with wardrobe cabinet possible
- utility room / pantry for washing machine still possible
- kitchen of a pleasant size and shape
- living room is quieter - retreat possible
- if "downstairs" is south - terrace possible along the whole length there

Disadvantages:
- if left side is south - south side with utility room wasted
- more area - more expensive because of lost corner
- dark hallway - possible to bring in light from entrance (glass section in door with bright stairwell)?

Oh, one more thing I wanted to say: 11.5 cm walls are drawn. Is that realistic? @Bauexperte: Do you know how thick interior walls have to be at minimum? I thought nothing goes below 13 cm, or is that possible?

Me again,
I was just thinking: logically, one could of course leave out the plank wall to the bedrooms, as long as the structural integrity holds up. That way, you’re more flexible with the bathroom size and could, for example, make a bathtub possible there.
I’ve placed some furniture to give an idea:

Maybe someone has a nicer idea for the bathroom layout, I’m always completely lacking in creativity there.