Single-family house with a granny flat & garage

Hello everyone,
after reading along here for some time, I would now like to put our planning up for discussion.
Roughly, we are actually quite happy with it, but in some places we are not entirely sure.

Is the size of the utility room sufficient if it later also has to serve as a bathroom?

On the upper floor, the toilet might be integrated into the bathroom, how could this be divided sensibly? A walk-in, masonry shower would be desirable.

The situation at the passage from the hallway into the living/dining area may not be quite successful?
The living room should definitely be separable with a sliding door.

Maybe someone here has ideas on this (or other points)?

Here are the desired details, I hope this is sufficient:

Building plan not available
Location: South side = street side & driveway
West side = 1 neighbor
East side = own existing building
North side = undevelopable farmland
Plot slopes slightly from south to north

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: flat gable roof
Basement, floors: 2 full floors without roof pitch, basement possibly with a granny flat
Number of people, age: currently 28, 30, later 2-3 children planned
Room requirements on ground floor, upper floor
Office: family use, later possibly as a bedroom
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island: open, no cooking island
Number of dining places: 10
Fireplace: wood stove in the kitchen, Swedish stove in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: no balcony, terrace yes
Garage, carport: garage
Further wishes/special features/daily routine

Floors should possibly be usable later as individual apartments

Living room should be separable by sliding door

House design
Who is the planner:
Certified building technician

What do you particularly like?
Utility room with access from the garage as a mudroom
Bedroom layout

What do you not like?
Toilet on the upper floor will probably be integrated into the bathroom

Price estimate according to architect/planner: €350,000 with a lot of own work "should be doable"
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: approx. €400,000 with a lot of own work (land available)
Preferred heating technology:

Heat pump, probably air heat pump for cost reasons

No one has an opinion/idea? :-(

What I still forgot:
I find the kitchen of the granny flat very awkwardly drawn; we are also missing an idea on how to place a "cost-effective basic kitchen," as this will certainly be a crucial point later when finding a tenant...

I would really appreciate any tips!

Hello,

overall a nice floor plan.

With "normal" doors, however, it might get quite dark in the hallways on the ground floor and the upper floor - maybe one or two skylights would make sense there?

I don't have any other ideas - if it weren't for the desire to divide into two apartments, I would omit the wall between the hallway and the stairwell on both sides and also rotate the staircase by 90° in order not to have the dirty area at the entrance door right at the bottom of the stairs.

Regarding the idea of converting the utility room into a bathroom when dividing into two apartments, the door from the bathroom to the garage would bother me...

In the bedroom in the attic, I would also reconsider the partition wall to the dressing area if I were you. We omitted this wall in our home and created the spatial separation with a built-in wardrobe. This saved us money on the one hand and gave us more space on the other.

Regards,

Dirk

No one has an opinion/idea? :-(

The amount of data is not only difficult to overview on iPad, tablet, and phone. Too many dimensions that do not interest us now come into focus. Besides, it is annoying that you have to turn your head. In this respect, an evaluation is very difficult for us, or your question gets lost in the multitude of floor plan questions.

What strikes me is the 270 degrees around yourself when you want to go to the pantry. I would make the entry from further ahead. Then I don’t like the access to the living area through the living room. Maybe briefly consider whether the pantry/kitchen units can be swapped with the living area. Whether I would like the house, I cannot say – also because of the aspects mentioned above.

Regards, Yvonne

P.S. Definitely integrate the toilet into the bathroom!

First of all, thank you very much for the answers!


We have already noticed this problem as well. We also had the idea of installing a glass section/fixed glazing between the stairwell and the hallway on the upper floor. However, we first need to get information on the price. Without fire protection requirements, it probably isn’t too bad.

Since dividing into 2 apartments would only come into play later in life or in the worst case (divorce or similar), one could certainly consider "sealing" this door at the appropriate time.

I think the tip about the built-in wardrobe is great, but how exactly do I imagine that? Would I then see an unattractive back wall of the wardrobe from the bedroom side?


This issue with the long way to the pantry also gives me a headache. Unfortunately, we haven’t come up with the "ultimate solution" yet.
However, I would be reluctant to swap the living room and kitchen for several reasons. (no view from the kitchen to the driveway, worse access to the garden, etc.)
At the moment my idea was also to move the pantry door to the end wall of the room. But will that work with the fireplace?

Best regards

We have also already noticed this problem. We had the idea of installing a glass cutout/fixed glazing between the stairwell and the hallway on the upper floor. However, we first need to check the prices. Without fire protection requirements, it shouldn't be too bad.

Since a division into 2 apartments would only come into play at an older age or in the worst case (divorce or the like), one could certainly think about "sealing" this door at the appropriate time.

Yes, the problem with age...

For example, we had also considered installing a "masonry" and tiled bench in each of our showers to have the option to sit while showering in old age. After careful consideration, however, we said to ourselves, "Hey, we are building our house for now – what comes in forty (+ x) years doesn't matter to us now – we can renovate or move then without limiting ourselves for the next decades..."

Therefore, we have built it the way we like it today.

I think the tip about the built-in wardrobe is great, but how exactly do I imagine that? Do I then see an ugly back wall of the wardrobe from the bedroom side?

No, definitely not.

Our built-in wardrobe has exactly the same fronts on the back as on the front and the visible side.

Only the fronts on the back are larger than those on the front because we do not have doors there. If you are interested, I can take a couple of pictures this evening and send them to you.

Regards,

Dirk