Yeah, go ahead. Nothing makes a plan more understandable than its "history" (in the poetic sense as well as in the historical one).
Maybe you could also post a drawing of the house you have lived in so far, with explanations of what you liked about it.
P.S.: "the world is a village" - I just noticed, there are two people from Forchheim in this thread.
Alright then.
We have already lived in quite a few houses... currently on 70m2 under the roof as an interim solution. Everyone has their own room there. There is no bedroom and no living room. Bathroom and kitchen are shared. I'd say it's somewhat like a shared flat. A few months ago we sold our farmhouse in Western Pomerania. Built in 1840. 200m2 of living space plus an attic used as a studio. And as old houses usually are... the rooms were quite unconventionally arranged. The old folks didn’t always know exactly what they were building. The kitchen was to the north, for example. We don’t like that at all. My sleeping room was 9m2. More than enough for me. But I don’t have a bed. I sleep on a futon on the floor. We now know: 77m2 is just a bit too small and 200m2 is way too big. And we know: 25m2 for a living room is plenty (if it’s just a living room and nothing else. Living means: hanging out together, listening to music, watching TV). We both want our own bedrooms, call them chambers, and if one cooks and the other lounges in the living room, then the one doesn’t want to hear the other’s clattering pots, and the food should smell good in the kitchen and the incense stick in the living room. Both at once is less good. We both need our retreat spaces because we are not professionally employed in the sense of working away from home but spend most of our time together at home. And if my wife plays piano downstairs in the hallway, I can calmly do something upstairs in the studio. Not the other way around, I don’t play piano.
No folks, the modern mantra, open, big rooms, few doors, it’s not a dogma. There are also conservative people who want kitchen to remain kitchen and living room to remain living room, with one wall in between, and eating takes place in the kitchen.
And that has very little to do with being conservative. It is exclusively about personal experiences and preferences. If someone wants to offend me, they call me, or us, conservative. I simply refuse to go along with any nonsense just because it’s currently trendy. THAT would indeed be conservative. I’ve also lived in completely open apartments and found it totally impractical. And yes, it’s true, I don’t want someone who rings the doorbell to immediately see the whole house and I find a dirt lock and a vestibule extremely practical. That’s where shoes and coats belong. The planned vestibule is big enough for all shoes. Even a wardrobe for all my wife’s shoes fits in there. And that means something. If I want, I can also work a lot with glass and create airiness inside the house. If I want.
I designed the kitchen like this because I thought eating there would have a kind of conservatory feeling, being surrounded by glass on two sides.
Tell me, why does the kitchen have to be at the front and where should the stairs go? I drew the guest toilet there because I thought it would be better to have all sanitary facilities together. Kitchen, utility room/technical room/bathroom/toilet all on one side seemed sensible to me.
Although the house is surrounded by two streets, there is almost no traffic. Very few residents, no through traffic. Like I said: rural. That’s why my wife’s bedroom faces east (morning sun?), because the street is not disturbing. By the way, I find it interesting that everyone here criticizes the room sizes. I’d be curious how big your children’s rooms are? One “chamber” is over 9m2 in size and has an additional dressing room of over 4m2, meaning no closet is necessary. Just a bed. Or rather a futon. Nothing more.
So tell me, how big are your children’s rooms and what do you do in your 50m2 living rooms, and have you ever gotten upset trying to watch the news while your wife absolutely had to unload the dishwasher?
I think a house with so many rooms is not feasible on one level. I also once saw a bungalow floor plan from a prefab house manufacturer - there they were just small chambers, so even the pros didn’t do much better. Just not really my thing. Especially when building a bungalow to live barrier-free, it seems you create additional barriers in this way (many corners, narrow passages). Better a stair lift to the upper floor.
We agree on this: It’s not YOUR thing. In your opinion, bungalows shouldn’t exist. You surely don’t mean the stair lift seriously. For example, my parents are 81. They are both fit, can still climb stairs but it’s tiring and they don’t want to do it every day anymore. But they would never in their life get on a stair lift, not if it’s possible otherwise. Understandable, right? But they don’t need one anyway, since they live on one level... with just as many rooms.
Doesn’t fit. The little pictures really look like “playing around” and are supposed to serve as a basis for building a house? It all looks more like playing with building blocks or in a sandbox. Sorry, unfortunately not suitable as a basis for discussion.
Thanks for that extremely productive and valuable contribution. That helps me incredibly. Of course, I play with building blocks in the sandbox. I’m an artist. I’m allowed to do that. No need to apologize. But I accept it.
So.
And thanks to those who really have something to say: for example, pointing out the lousy guest toilet or the convoluted bathroom access. I can do something with that. And if some find the chambers too small for their needs, okay. I will think about it. But I also tried to explain the “why.”