New construction: approximately 280m² plus basement - your suggestions

Why is such a large open space important to you? What do you expect from it? Especially if the budget could become a problem. The square meters hardly impress, but the functionality does.

I can only agree, we are close to 200sqm, renovated old building. The children of the OP are 13 and 9, they won’t sit downstairs with the parents for much longer. I would now plan a house of that size so that the ground floor can be separated as a granny flat. K1 is 13, still 5 years and K1 is at university, 4 if you only move in in 2022.

I can only agree, we are approaching 200sqm, renovated old building. The children of the OP are 13 and 9, they won't be sitting downstairs with their parents for much longer. A house of this size I would now plan so that the ground floor can be separated as a granny flat. K1 is 13, still 5 years left and K1 is studying, 4 if you move in only in 2022.

Thank you, but the open-plan living area cannot be big enough for us, because this is where we will also be spending time with friends when we are older. We have already lived in many houses and this large open-plan living area has always impressed us. Regarding the space, we have thought it through carefully. We have also been out of the house for some time and regularly drop by grandma and grandpa's place, now with three families and children. We look forward to this every Christmas, Easter, birthday, etc. when the whole extended family is accommodated in the house. So we don't have to worry about the use of the rooms.

Our layout is similar, parents on a different floor than the children, which is great, but for us it's the other way around. We are at the very top, the children in the middle. It has the practical reason that they don't have to pass us with friends, at night, or again to the fridge. When I look at a floor plan, I often start when entering. Entrance area, 5 people, shoes, jackets, gym bags, moped helmets, but hardly any space for a coat rack, instead 5 doors in the hallway. With the terrace, you won't be happy in the end without a fixed roof. You can't leave anything standing there in the wind and autumn, so every year you have to carry terrace furniture up and down to the basement or garden shed. Of the exterior style variants, unfortunately none are mine, but it doesn't have to please me, but you. However, these gimmicks have to please you even in 10 years. I once had an apartment with a porthole in the hallway, I hated it, it brought no light, you couldn't put anything in front of it, couldn't put a plant in it either, and it was a pain to wallpaper when moving out :D

We have been going back and forth about the porthole the whole time. What would you suggest?

We look forward to it every time at Christmas, Easter, birthdays, etc. when the whole extended family stays in the house.

That is currently not allowed at all. ;) Joking aside, but how does an estimated approx. 20 m² free space aka dance hall between the dining and living area help you? Planning 10 m² less there wouldn’t restrict its use.

That is currently not allowed at all. ;) Joking aside, but how does an estimated approx. 20 m² open space aka dance hall between the dining and living area help you? Planning 10 m² less there wouldn’t restrict the use.

My parents also have a similar 10 m² open space.
At parties, a second large table is set up there.
The grandchildren come to visit constantly and romp and play in that space.
And I hope that when the currently romping grandchildren grow up, then our future children will come and continue to romp there :-)
No one has ever regretted having that space.

Of course, you’re right that one can also do without the 10 m².
But with 900k, the extra 20k for the additional generous space is simply worth it.
If the development plan had allowed it (and the budget...), we would have it like that too :-)

I think the solution to move the bathtub closer to the children is good!

Only you can decide which style of windows you like best. If you want to build in a traditional style, I would still enlarge the windows and have shutters everywhere on the east side at least. I don’t understand why those would be missing there.
My parents-in-law also have a traditional Bavarian house with shutters on all windows. On the ground floor on the south side there are floor-to-ceiling windows without shutters—so they don’t have to be everywhere—but then not these round-arched windows.

I find the round window purely a matter of taste. My parents have that and we like it a lot, but it simply depends on the overall concept.
We don’t need decorative display space in that window because the window itself is decoration enough for us ;-)

My parents also have a similar 10 sqm of open space.

However, the original poster is even planning 20 m² here. It is clear that you might need a bit of extra space. (We do too.) But from my point of view, the principle "more is better" does not apply here. Eventually, the marginal utility also approaches zero.