Planning is almost complete - Your opinion is wanted

Hello house builders,

my developer has, in my opinion, implemented our ideas, wishes, etc. quite well, and I ask for your opinion and suggestions for improvement, as I am not a born architect.

First some data and wishes that we have so far:

- Single-family house with a granny flat (for the parents and later for rent) main apartment approx. 160 sqm, granny flat 55 sqm
- no basement, but storage space under the stairs on the ground floor, under the roof, larger garage and garden house
- development plan provides for 2 full floors (roof pitch I believe up to 28 degrees) so there is a hipped roof
- built solidly with 36 cm T9 bricks
- KfW 70
- heating: gas condensing boiler,
- floor heating
- orientation of the house: not shown on the floor plan, but north at the top, south at the bottom :) so the conservatory is facing west.
- definitely wanted a walk-in closet and master bathroom in the bedroom

we had difficulty planning the living room/kitchen arrangement in the ground floor main apartment, we think the arrangement is okay so far, but I find the living room a bit small??? what do you think?

Note: we removed the window on the north wall in the living room from the floor plan; it is still shown in the picture -> don’t be confused!

we tried to plan window sizes considering north/south orientation (they say in the north as few as possible, and in the south as many as possible windows due to heat/energy loss).

the bathroom of the granny flat is a bit out of place compared to the other bathrooms, ideally everything would be more or less stacked!? Is that a problem? The developer says no... but I think that will cost accordingly?

what do you think about the current planning? Are there any suggestions for improvement?

oh yes... the whole house is supposed to cost around 320k EUR

thanks in advance for lively feedback :)

Karismasen

I am not an expert and don’t see many things that others recognize immediately, but here are a few suggestions from me to get started: ;)

1. You have many corners and projections on the house. Why? Regardless of the aesthetics, it obviously makes everything unnecessarily more expensive.
2. On the ground floor, the first thing I notice is the hallway. You have to walk through the entire corridor to get to the wardrobe. When the little ones come in with dirty rubber boots, good luck with the constant cleaning.
3. I personally find the living/dining room furniture arrangement unfortunate; given the overall size, you could certainly do something different. Do you really want the sofa standing in the middle of the room?
4. On the upper floor, the first thing I notice is the huge hallway. In my opinion, you are wasting a lot of space there. You could almost make an entire room out of it.
5. Overall, I’m not really happy with the placement of the rooms on the upper floor. I find the bedroom and utility room facing south rather suboptimal.
6. The dressing room is certainly okay in size if you really want to have it.
7. For children's room 2, I would move the door slightly to the side, for example to the south, so that you have more wall space facing the hallway.
8. The utility room is certainly sufficient for technology/washing machine/dryer, but what do you do with all the other things that should be in the house? I mean vacuum cleaner/broom/shovel/cleaning supplies/drink crates, etc...
And is the extra space under the roof/in the garage enough for all sorts of things? Especially when children are around, so many things accumulate, and I don’t only mean the typical vehicles ;).

What I find positive, unlike many who have two bathrooms on the upper floor, is that your main bathroom with bathtub opens from the hallway and is therefore accessible to everyone, and your "bedroom bathroom" is the smaller one with only a shower. Do you really need two sinks in "your" bathroom?
Of course, it would be ideal if the bathrooms were more or less stacked above each other, you’re right about that. A lot is possible, but it usually comes with higher costs.

That’s all from my side for now. Others will surely notice much more than I do.

The door in the conservatory is unusable. Therefore, the only exit to the garden is the south side. If that is enough for you, it is okay. In the granny flat, I find the TV corner very oppressive, but I wouldn't know which wall could be moved to improve it. How have you planned the access to the granny flat? Behind the garage? Have you planned a parking space for the granny flat? The hallway upstairs is also very large. Overall, I find it is a successful floor plan.

Where is the technical room then? Meaning: where do the connections go? Laundry room for washing on the upper floor is okay, but you sometimes need quite a few things quickly on the ground floor (cleaning supplies, shoe polish stuff, beverage crates, garbage bags, waste paper, hammer + nails, wrapping paper, broom, ladder, step stool, should I continue?) Where should all that go? All under the stairs? Besides, the person also has a few seasonal shoes... with 4 people that would be about 13 pairs (man has only 2 pairs, woman 4 ;)) Where is the seasonal wardrobe stored (winter jackets in summer???) The way to the kitchen is too long... a hallway into the dark, then turn right, then through the living room, which is actually meant to be a retreat. The rest was mentioned, the sofa is too small, where should the family members sit? If the chimney flue also gets a wood stove, you can’t get through at all :( The granny flat: not barrier-free (for parents?), I wouldn’t want to put up with such a dark living room without windows - not at 20 and not at 60. Where is the personal claim here??? From the outside, the house also looks more like an uncharming box, my opinion. No variation in the window areas, it doesn’t smile at you from the front or back and invite you to visit. I like the kitchen arrangement*, two equally sized children's rooms, a family bathroom, and the laundry room on the upper floor. Bathrooms should not be a problem. *However, the stove must go on the sink side! Developers build everything for you - even very nonsensical houses - as long as the cash register is right. P.s. one meter left + right of the sofa, then the sofa would be about 200... I need that alone ;)

I don't think it's successful either. The many forwards and backwards have already been mentioned. Likewise, the long and not very inviting hallway.

A simple building structure without frills like the conservatory probably allows you a generally wider house. This gives you more possibilities. I myself didn't think it was possible, but such a west-facing room with lots of window space gets WARM! We have 2x2 m window surface and in summer, when the sun comes around 2 p.m., it shines quite strongly into our room.

Where the technology should go is also not clear to me yet. We have 12.5 sqm and that just fits with technology and storage area. It shouldn't be smaller.

With two bathrooms, I find 12 sqm for the "main bathroom" already really big. We have 8.5 sqm for 3 people and downstairs another bathroom with 5.11 sqm. That's more than enough.

The children's rooms are of course nice and big, but somewhat smaller would also have been possible. Especially since you have the full height on every wall. I find the upstairs hallway MUCH too big. 15 sqm of wasted space. I would consider 7 - 10 sqm at most. Especially since you hardly have any storage space.

Therefore: start over from scratch. With 160 sqm, you have the living feel on the ground floor like in a 70 sqm apartment.

The living room is too uncomfortable and too small for a family of four. On the left a dining table, on the right a door, behind it the kitchen - you can't really relax here. It feels more like sitting at a train station.
Where will you put the technology? There are clearly not enough storage options in the house.
The kitchen is poorly placed. Maneuvering full shopping baskets through the hallway and the narrow living room is like an obstacle course.
How do you want to get to the terrace? Push the chairs away every time?

I find the upper floor quite okay. Nice large children's rooms. However, I would swap the children's bathroom and the utility room. I find the utility room located between the sleeping areas an unfortunate choice. The utility room already produces a certain noise level due to the washing machine and dryer, and the children's bathroom is too far away from the children's rooms.
I also find the master bathroom a bit too cramped (tubular). My idea would be to take a corner from the children's bathroom and create a nice shower niche.
I also like the large hallway on the upper floor. You can put a nice wardrobe for jackets and a large shoe cabinet there. Also, a large hallway always has a touch of "luxury" (but not the small living room).

So, overall, to put it briefly: upstairs good - downstairs bad :-) - No, it's not quite that bad, of course, but there is definitely a need for action in the small living room. However, I don't see any possibility to move things around much here. Possibly replace the current winter garden with a larger bay window and swap the dining and living areas.