Opinions on the bungalow floor plan

Ui, honestly, I don't know what else to say about this floor plan. Everything has already been mentioned. I just don't understand your argument about the poor ground. Usually, houses that have more than two floors have a smaller footprint, which means less ground work/costs. I've never heard of anyone switching from a two-story house to a bungalow because of poor ground – I only know it the other way around.

Your child is 15 months? I think you're not really aware of what all lies ahead for you in the near future. Just putting a child alone in an attic is going to take at least 10 more years. During that time, children have visitors. Then there are toys – oh dear – my youngest is 2.5 years old and still only has a 9m2 room (for now). Space for toys? No way. Baby crib, 1 wardrobe, 1 dresser, and 1 small shelf for toys. There's no room for more. Bobby car, doll stroller, bigger toys like a play shop, workbench, dollhouse, etc., have absolutely no place there. Where shall the wooden or Lego train be set up? And my youngest doesn’t even have that many toys. When children get older (starting school age), it makes sense for each child to have their own room. Then come school bags, sports bags, music cases, etc. Bookshelves, possibly eventually a laptop, a radio, and so on. If you have or will have a daughter, then at some point the desire for a "makeup corner" will come, and not only when she’s already 15. In our case, the wish came around age 4. The weird corner in the living room you will curse at some point. At the latest when you realize that having more space during children’s birthday parties is an advantage. Or when you have bumped into the fireplace standing there for the 100th time because the passage has become too narrow. What about birthday parties? You can't move the table out of the way – it simply doesn’t work – I’m just saying children’s birthday parties here. The access to the master bedroom will also be tight and dark. You’ll have to turn on the light every time you change clothes.

I'm not a fan of terraces and living rooms on the south side either, but your planning in this regard is really catastrophic, especially the argument about the bathroom and the terrace. How do you open them from the outside if you are sitting comfortably on the terrace? Or do you really go into the bathroom each time, unlock the terrace door just in case, and then go outside to the terrace? I seriously doubt that. But I can still understand your idea: I would rather make the storage room by the garage bigger and then put a small guest WC in there.

Regarding the garage problem: one could also place the garage crosswise in the northeast corner, then have the entrance on the east side next to the gate - that wouldn’t require too much yard to be cleared of snow, would leave the entire south side free, you’d only have to give up a bit of the east side. Or move the garage a bit forward or backward in the south. You could also position an L-bungalow so that one end of the L extends over the garage in the south.

About a toilet located in the line of sight and hearing range of the other guests on the terrace, I’ll say nothing – that leaves me speechless. Some distance always belongs to the personal privacy of others, and frankly, I don’t understand taking a few moments a year (shoveling snow, party guests on the terrace) as the basis for a house plan. Nice to have, but first of all, everyday life should work.

Regarding the size of a children’s room, I found this:

A children’s room (formerly also children’s chamber) is a room within an apartment that is specifically adapted in its use to the needs of children within family life.

In its function, a children’s room is both a bedroom and a living room. Equally important is its function as a playroom and social retreat, which is why it should be sufficiently large (approx. 14–18 m² per child). In the actual floor plans available, however, the existing children’s rooms are often smaller.

In Germany, there are no building regulations or other rules regarding the size of children’s rooms. Only in the GDR was there a provision that new children’s rooms could not be smaller than 8 m². Austria has a similar standard. However, some federal states set minimum sizes for public funding of building projects from which a residential construction is eligible for support. It is often (but not everywhere) the case that a children’s room for one person should be at least 10 m² and at least 12 m² for double occupancy. In general, one can observe in apartment design that as living rooms have increased in size, the space for kitchen and children’s rooms has decreased. There are also regulations regarding the type and size of windows, which vary regionally. Source: Wiki..

I like the idea of planning one room as a bedroom and the other as a playroom. Only you have to expect that at some point a child won’t want to participate anymore. When the oldest has started school and the younger is possibly still a toddler, the older child should have (retreat) opportunities, also for personal development → own room! Children nowadays start being “independent” earlier than they did 30 years ago.
They will be at least 2 1/2 years apart now anyway... Of course, you can build only one (large) children’s room, and if the second child then comes, start working on the attic conversion. (The first half-year the child is probably placed next to the mother anyway?!) However, I would basically put a staircase in from the beginning.
For a later staircase, you should plan generous space: not to end up with only a steep ladder fitting and the hallway no longer being wide enough. But that would always be a makeshift solution in my opinion (like in the neighboring thread where the bungalow became too small, just have a look ).

I don’t understand how all building contractors/general contractors ended up with this floor plan. Isn’t it rather that they all rejected your design because none of them wanted to do a proper plan? Or did you defend these ideas with the square meter theft through the two dressing rooms so strongly that they gave up??

I hope you will still get a good design,

Best regards Yvonne

We have given it some thought and partially taken your advice into account. We have now added the children's dressing room to the children’s room. =14m² children’s room. The wall between the office and child 1 will be a drywall partition, which can then be removed without much effort, creating a second large children’s room of 15.5 m². In our opinion, this variant makes us quite flexible. Depending on when the second child actually arrives and how the children then need their space. This way, we can definitely respond to them and their needs.

The garage is built over with a roof. Therefore, it will probably cost extra again if one moves it forward/backward.

We still have no solution for how to arrange the door on the west side in the bathroom.

The builders came up with the arrangement of the house and garage – the floor plan developed gradually. Based on suggestions from the builders and us.

The first variant was cheaper in terms of soil replacement than the current one. But the house itself was very costly. So, in this combination, we were not able to afford both. From an aesthetic point of view, it should not become a "normal" 1.5-story house. We find the bungalow variant quite comfortable in itself.

The first variant was cheaper in terms of soil replacement than the current one. But the house itself was very expensive. So in this combination, we were not able to afford both. From an aesthetic point of view, it should not become a "normal" 1.5-story house. We actually find the bungalow variant very comfortable.

If the budget is limited, you have to make compromises and perhaps forego one or the other "pretty" detail. Whether the current changes you are planning are sensible and will truly increase the living value sustainably, I doubt. Nevertheless, you have to live in the house in the end and be happy with it. Support has actually been provided sufficiently in the responses.

And what if you build a hip roof bungalow with an expanded attic? Then you could reduce the footprint downstairs and create a nice children's area upstairs. It doesn't always have to be the classic gable roof look

that was exactly our first idea. Unfortunately, with the hip roof at the top, you need a lot of space to properly fit 3 rooms. You also need a bathroom on the floor. And as long as the children are small, we wanted to sleep on the same floor. Unfortunately, the house then became too expensive.

We also spoke with an independent architect once. He then designed a city villa for us. The garage was also on the south side there. We were very disappointed with the architect. We laid out our wishes and thoughts to him. However, none of it was implemented. We also discussed a different parking option on the property with him, which he wanted to present in more detail in the offer... but it no longer resembled the discussed details at all. Therefore, we have been better off with the developer so far.