Despite the wrong measurements for understanding: do you now only want to hear how we find it? Or did you want constructive criticism?
Of course, constructive criticism gladly . But as you rightly say, things like privacy and openness are very personal arguments. That is very different for everyone, and we really like openness (the first thing we did in our rental apartment was to remove the door from the kitchen ). It’s also stated in our initial post that we like the openness in the design. Privacy for bedrooms, children's rooms, and bathrooms is essential, but the office with the PC does not have to be closed off. I don’t think that’s so unusual either; nowadays many floor plans are designed quite openly.
I would remove the sewing corner on the upper floor.
It only disturbs there. I would go crazy if the machine rattled in the hallway.
I can understand that many people feel that way. As far as the noise level is concerned, I indeed find it hard to assess. Ytong generally does not insulate sound very well, and I already have concerns that it might be too loud in the children's rooms if I sew in the hallway. But do you think it would disturb downstairs while watching TV if a sewing machine is rattling in the hallway upstairs? Of course, we have already played around with the idea in our minds to integrate the sewing corner in the downstairs work area or in the bedroom, closed off with a wall or something. The latter is opposed by the fact that I don't want to sit in a small closed-off room when sewing. I feel so isolated there, and I don’t like that (--> open spaces basically ). I also don’t like the office in the bedroom; for me, it thematically belongs to all the paperwork, file folder stuff that accumulates. Many people have that in the bedroom, friends of ours as well. But in my feeling, it doesn’t fit thematically. I also don’t like having big screens or technical stuff in the bedroom. So you can see: basically, the floor plan as it is now fits our needs exactly. Maybe I shouldn’t have even asked that question.
But exactly such details as the
staircase or the
window arrangements are still open and improvable, in my opinion.
A staircase with a 24 cm tread is a sham. Go ahead and measure the tread depth of every staircase you find. Is there any with a 24 cm tread? No, right? Ask yourself why! Even with an overhang, they are hardly walkable. Going up might just barely work, but going down from shoe size 36 on you need a safety rope every time. Around the curve it gets really funny.
About the
staircase: I actually did that (though not at many stairs). The one at my parents’ is 18.5/24.5, but with undercuts. As far as I know, the DIN standard specifies stride lengths between 59 and 65 cm. We are pretty well within that, and we are both small with rather small feet. But it is true, I also find my parents’ staircase quite steep, and ours would be even steeper... I don’t want an experience like either . How can that be solved? The bedroom shouldn’t become any narrower.
[*]To get 25 cm tread depth, it might be enough to simply move it 10 cm closer to the front door. Upstairs you could still leave the ceiling cutout as it is.
[*]Lower the ceiling to 2.60 m, then you would save a whole step and the staircase would be more comfortable.
[*]A completely different stair shape? If I reconsider the double-winder... Do you know a good tool to calculate stairs? Our planner is currently on vacation and might not be too happy calculating x different stair shapes for us (first a straight one, then quarter-winder with 14/3, then quarter-winder 13/4, then again 14/3).
About the
window arrangement: , I actually hoped that the current 2nd draft of the south facade would look much more relaxed due to the offset of windows. I actually like it quite a bit. We find it difficult not to make the upper windows floor-to-ceiling, as they are supposed to convey a balcony feeling when opened. Maybe only a single-wing window on the far left? Do you have an idea?