Opinions on the house floor plan wanted

The kitchen is important to us, but not in that form, rather that it is functional and offers plenty of workspace. I think you can almost always achieve that

That's exactly what I meant: even the right surfaces in the wrong arrangement create long distances.

I can't show you the previous plans, I'd only get into more trouble...

With the entrance (or if not as an entrance but only as a passage to the garage) next to the garage, a small hallway or short corridor is probably not possible, no matter how small I make the garage. Sometimes I come up with a few ideas on the way, but as soon as I want to put them on paper, I quickly realize that it was just theory .

Unfortunately, I can't find any floor plans on the internet that have such a passage with a front door. However, I have already seen a few new houses nearby with this. I will drive by, ring the bell, and introduce myself. Maybe I will be allowed to take a look inside some of them.

Well, it was worth a try . Thanks to those who gave constructive criticism or suggestions.

Take care
Martin

I can't show you the previous plans, I'd just get even more flak for that...

I actually think: even less.

With the entrance (or if not used as an entrance but only as a passage to the garage) next to the garage, a small vestibule or short corridor is probably not possible,

No, the accessibility and sizing certainly do not suffer from the side entrance here.

Sometimes I get a few ideas on the go, but as soon as I want to put them on paper, I quickly realize it was only theory .

Yes, literally put them on PAPER. Without scale, otherwise the knot won't untangle. Think in contexts, not in chains of dimensions.

Unfortunately, I also can't find any floor plans on the internet that have such a passage with a front door.

You don't need the whole internet right away. This forum is enough for me to find a draft—even from the current quarter—that reminded me immediately of exactly this detail: (incidentally also because of the equally clumsy dimensions). And then go to page 1 there and compare the jump between version 1.0 and 2.0 with your evolution—does it "click" now?

I somehow don’t find the floor plan well thought out. You absolutely need to work on that, but an architect will tell you the same. Consult one.

Basement:
In your area, you first have to go through the entire storage room to get to the laundry (I assume the washing machine and dryer are in the utility room). And you have to do that carrying laundry baskets. The path is inconvenient and way too long for a room you use so often. In the granny flat, there is no possibility to place a wardrobe in the bedroom. The only options are the wall with the window or the wall right next to it. And then you can’t even get to the other side of the bed. And where is the kitchenette supposed to be? The living room has such a strange shape that you are almost forced to put something in the walking paths, but it would be doable.

Ground floor: The living and dining area is really XXL. I think the kitchen and dining area will be nice, but the living area doesn’t work. I assume there will be a TV on the wall opposite the sofa. Since there is a window behind the sofa, it will always reflect in your eyes. Also, the area is too narrow. It’s just 4.6 meters. Then if you move the sofa one meter forward, you only have 3.6 meters left. That is way too close to the TV wall. Put a small table in front of the sofa, and it will look really cramped. And I can’t see clearly, but the area for the WC seems way too tight. Plan the WC width (usually about 40 cm) plus at least 25 cm of clearance on both sides. That makes roughly 90 cm.

Upper floor: The walk-in closet is definitely too small. Cabinets for hanging clothes are about 60 cm deep and for folded clothes about 40 cm. Hardly anything will fit in and you’ll barely be able to move inside. A bathroom of nearly 20 sqm is quite large, though I find that nice. I like big bathrooms. Then I just want to point out one thing: for such a generous house, the kids’ rooms are tiny. These will be the most important rooms for the most important people. If I had that much space, I would have made the kids’ rooms as big as possible and the rest as small as possible. But of course, that’s up to you.

Hello again,
we sat down once more and tried around a bit, also regarding the advice (thanks again to Schnuckline for the nice tips ) from the post. We also tried to place some furniture everywhere (at least boxes approximately the size).

UG: The objection about the washing machine is definitely valid, the distance is quite long. However, we are considering whether we could find another place for it or move it to the basement after the stairs on the right. In the EWL, the kitchen has moved to the top left corner and the couch with TV to the center. The bedroom is now next to the bathroom, so that with strong pressure on the bladder you don’t have to walk through the entire apartment . The storage room is small, it could be a bit bigger or omitted entirely in favor of having one more closet. There is no access to the utility room, basement, or corridor for the apartment. I am still clarifying this with the KfW because the situation regarding such a door is not yet entirely clear...

EG: Now, looking at the whole house, we have become over 20 square meters smaller. We have slightly redesigned the entrance and placed the guest room behind it. When you enter, to the left is the wardrobe and opposite the storage room. I think that should be sufficient for a small freezer-fridge combo, a small shelf, and the vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies. The bathroom is now bigger, but we still don’t like the corner above the bathroom facing the large living-dining area. We haven’t come up with the right idea for this yet . The windows behind the couch are fixed windows, although we will probably still use terrace doors there in order to be able to open them sometimes. However, these two doors will not be used as passageways. This way, for example, the shutter can be cleaned from the inside if necessary. The right door to the garden is still not confirmed.

OG: We turned the entrance into a balcony, which is awesome . We both actually thought that we didn’t need a balcony upstairs (when do you really use one up there), but instead of putting a roof on it, we might as well make a balcony out of it. The children’s rooms are now almost the same size, the study has become smaller. However, we think that even if we had two unequal children’s rooms, the older child would simply get the bigger room. That’s how it was for us back then too and I didn’t beat up my parents for that . The walk-in closet is bigger than before, the bathroom a bit smaller (the overall external dimensions of the house have become smaller).

Basically, we still have the following questions:
- There will be no direct access from outside to the garden. You have to go either through the house or through the garage. We are not sure yet whether this is good or bad .
- Washing machine upstairs in the bathroom, where all the laundry accumulates, we are also still unsure. But there will be no children’s bathroom, we do not consider that necessary. An extra room upstairs for laundry would be possible, but it is also unclear where that should go.

We are open to suggestions and criticism (also sharp ones ).

Regards
Martin

I wanted to stay out of it, but I’d like to point out that the long hallway in the first draft has now been completely botched.
It has become a slalom corridor. I also don’t understand why the guest should have to walk a perceived 12 meters to reach the bathroom.

Overall, the problem arises because you are approaching the planning without an expert.
Surely you are thinking about it – it’s not as if you are the only ones who have individual wishes for their house and its planning – but you are approaching the long hallway in a standardized way and with only limited knowledge.*
I would crumple everything up and start over – or of course write down the requirements and take the list to an architect.
Requirements that _you_ have. Not the requirements dependent on the property, because that’s what the architect is there for.

I thought you had a planner? Either he is "just" an employee or you drew the plan for him that he then refined.

*Example: in your second drawing, for shorter distances the main entrance would be close by if placed on the right side next to the stairs. That would save a corner of the zigzag path through the house.

Regards, Yvonne