Opinions on our floor plan are welcome

I would enlarge the northwest children's room towards the south. Make the dressing room larger towards the east, but more elongated. On the other hand, significantly reduce the hallway.

Hello,

regarding your questions:
- Bathroom upstairs: Maybe turn it completely upside down once again. I like ypg’s suggestion.
- Windows:
-- Where do you want to install a corner window in the kitchen? Above the work surface? Then you have even less space for wall cabinets; at the moment only one wall cabinet is indicated, which seems very, very little to me despite the adjacent storage room.
-- Corner window in the utility room? I understood that the utility room is already buried underground and the window gets a light shaft?
-- Light bands: I could imagine them in the stairwell with this layout; otherwise, I see little possibility for use. We have planned two in our house.

General suggestions:
- Possibly do without the sliding door between the living room and kitchen, maybe replace it with a “normal” door. This would allow space for a large, floor-to-ceiling window facing south in the kitchen and possibly a large window on the west side. Then place the kitchen unit along the wall to the living room.
- Your garden + terrace are supposed to be on the north side. Then your living room does not work like that. You have to crawl behind the sofa to get to the terrace. => Swap window and door or omit the window entirely and have only the door in place of the window. Move the saved door/window on the north side to the west side => Capture more light/sun/heat!
- Move the “dormer” (or whatever that is in the children’s room) to the south side. => More light again (in the bathroom and bedroom, possibly also in the kitchen).
- What is the purpose of the partitions in the children’s room? They create corridors and about 1-2 sqm of not meaningfully usable living space due to the gable. I wouldn’t plan the cabinets in the children’s room at the currently intended locations.
- In the bedroom/dressing room: move the window or the wall to the dressing area. That way you have no possibility to visually separate the dressing area from the bedroom (e.g. with a curtain, sliding door, or similar) since the wall line runs directly in front of the window.
- In the hallway upstairs you built a dead corner (when coming up the stairs in front of the dressing area). What do you plan to put in the niche? Large built-in cupboard? If nothing, I would reduce the hallway in favor of the dressing area.
- Now once again about the “north concept” (even though I didn’t want to say anything more about it): As the house stands now, I would consider redesigning the floor plans and check whether a roof terrace can be built on the garage (possibly later).

Best regards

Michael

Is there a special reason why you oriented the children's rooms to the north? Otherwise, I would completely swap it, the children's rooms facing south and the bedroom and bathroom facing north. Then the bedroom won't heat up as much and you can walk around naked in the bathroom without anyone being able to look in from the street.

I would enlarge the northwestern children's room towards the south. Make the dressing room bigger towards the east, but more stretched. On the other hand, significantly reduce the hallway.

Thanks, I will try that right away to see if the wardrobes still fit into the dressing room as desired. Although I don’t know if I’ll like the differently sized children's rooms then. *pondering* I tried something out. Do you think it’s better like this? Maybe I’m overlooking something. I like it better this way anyway. Thanks!

- Windows:
-- Where do you want to install a corner window in the kitchen? Above the workspace? Then you’ll have even less space for wall cabinets, right now only one wall cabinet is drawn, which seems very, very little to me despite the storage room right next door.
-- Corner window in the utility room? I understood it as the utility room is already recessed into the floor and the window gets a light shaft?
-- Light bands: I could imagine that in the staircase area with this floor plan, otherwise I see few possibilities for use. We planned two for ourselves.

Wall cabinets in the kitchen are, in my opinion, not that important. The corner window would then be placed at the southwest corner. The kitchen will definitely be planned in that shape. I have an appointment at the kitchen studio later and will discuss it, but I already had something in mind there. The sliding door is also very important to us. On certain occasions, we get a lot of guests and the passage should then also be used as a long table. The passage is 2.20 m wide. The sliding door will be a full-height solid wood door from ceiling to floor, which will probably usually be closed daily and the table will certainly be placed there. But I’m not sure about that yet.

General suggestions:
- Your garden + terrace should be on the north side. Then your living room doesn’t work this way. You have to maneuver around the sofa to get to the terrace. => Swap window and door or omit the window completely and only have the door instead of the window. Bring the “saved” door/window on the north side to the west side => to catch more light/sun/warmth!

As I said, windows and doors are still absolutely not thought through, you are right. But the terrace will be placed around the corner, northwest so to speak. I’m thinking along the entire length and width of the living room.

- Move the "dormer" (or whatever that is in the children’s rooms) to the south side. => More light again (in the bathroom and bedroom, possibly also in the kitchen).
- What is the purpose of the partition walls in the children’s room? They create corridors around the dormer and about 1-2 sqm of not really usable living space. I wouldn’t plan the wardrobes in the children’s rooms at the intended spots.

That is a 3m wide dormer with floor-to-ceiling windows. It was deliberately placed in the north so that the northern rooms get more light. In the bedroom and bathroom, that’s not really useful, right? As for the partition walls, I didn’t really understand that either. I still have to ask the architect later. I don’t know it like that either. In my husband’s parents’ house, there are no such parts, and I think they will be removed here as well. We also won’t place the wardrobes there. That was the architect’s suggestion.

- In the bedroom/dressing room: move the window or the wall to the dressing room. This way you have no possibility to visually separate the dressing area from the bedroom (e.g. with a curtain, sliding door, or similar) because the wall line hits the window.
- In the upper floor hallway, you built a dead corner (when coming up the stairs in front of the dressing room). What have you planned for the niche? A large built-in wardrobe? If nothing, I would reduce the hallway in favor of the dressing room.

I tried to replan that. Do you think it turned out better now?

- Now once again on the “north concept” (even though I didn’t want to say anything more about it): As the house stands now, I would consider rebuilding the floor plans and check whether a roof terrace could be built on the garage (possibly later).

As far as the north concept is concerned, we probably won’t agree here. But as I said, we thought about it a lot and we like it this way. We also looked at some houses that are oriented similarly and still brightly lit from the inside. It’s not as if the sun can only enter from the south.
Regarding the garage, I actually had the same idea. But unfortunately, I got an absolute no-go from my husband. Under no circumstances will there be a flat roof on the garage. Apparently, you can’t properly seal those things and that’s always a weak spot, and so on… and that’s why we don’t have a flat roof anywhere.

@Panama: We had that idea too, but unfortunately, it’s not really possible because then the bathroom would be above the guest room or living room, and that is not possible or not good from the architect’s perspective. What do you think about that? Does anyone have such a setup in their house?

I had thought about the dressing room differently: Extend the bathroom wall and place the door next to the bathroom door. For that, pull the dressing room wall towards the hallway further into the hallway. Then the dressing room remains roughly the same size and the space for furniture should also stay the same, you can only "screen it off".

Aha, I see... Man, man, man... this is complicated. I just had some time and mirrored the attic floor including the dormer. I like it much better this way. The only disadvantage is that I now have to do without the laundry chute, but I can live with that if necessary. Now I don’t know if the bathroom above the guest room is possible. At my parents-in-law’s, the bathroom on the upper floor is partly even above the living room... Can anyone else comment on this?