Single-family house with split-level living area

Good morning,

they are still coming ;-) soon, sometime, eventually...
In case the question is regarding Splitlevelstufen.
We are already planning in advance a kind of playpen attachment for the steps....

Oh, so the children are not there yet, then I have a few points to reconsider:
- open living area: noises from the living room travel upstairs and disturb the children while sleeping. And vice versa: children have visitors, make noise in their rooms, listen to music, and you can hear it throughout the house. That is not desirable in the long run either
- wardrobe: with children you need a lot of space: muddy pants, rain jackets, sports bags, kindergarten bags, music bags, rubber boots, etc. I didn’t know this before I had children, but children have a larger wardrobe of jackets and bags than I do myself.
- bathtub in the parents’ bathroom then quite inconvenient since the way between the children’s room and the bathroom is too complicated.

Toddlers need a bathtub. Yours is hidden in a labyrinth, the path is long. You will carry a lot of laundry far through the house.

The wardrobe is also not child-friendly, much too small. And besides, the path to the toilet is blocked, which is probably used 20 times a day.

The two staircases take up a lot of space, and then also two entrances to the living room. Why?

Two staircases also take up a lot of space.

I would forgo the pantry in that size, from my own experience.

Split-level: Does not scare me at all, it is okay for children too. But it is a tripping hazard, especially if toys are lying around everywhere. Better to have the step outside.

So I'll give my two cents too :) Splitlevel, if you like it. It's perfectly fine if it appeals to you. I assume you have thought about all the pros and cons.

An access from the garage to the house can definitely make sense, but to the pantry?
1. Exhaust fumes might get in when you open the door – food...
2. The pantry then becomes a dirt trap. Where should you put your clothes and shoes? In the garage or only later in the cloakroom?
3. The passage is simply too narrow with a shopping basket and especially with a baby carrier, toddler, diaper bag! Better to plan a generous roof from the front door to the garage or mirror the ground floor and plan access in the other rooms.

The cloakroom gets cramped. With 2 children there are tons of shoes, jackets, sports and school bags hanging there... In the end, everything ends up in the hallway.
Also, the cloakroom is poorly accessible – the same applies to the toilet!! – and in the end, hardly anything really gets put there. I'm speaking from experience ;)
That means things end up hanging or lying somewhere else!
And as I said, the access to the toilet is not optimal. Hiding the cloakroom twice doesn't help if every guest who needs to pee has to pass it.

If there are no children yet, placing the large bathroom is very impractical. Children need help bathing for several years, later also when showering. And on the toilet, of course, and when brushing teeth...! So why hide the large bathroom? I am not a fan of a parents’ bathroom and a kids’ bathroom. Of course I support having a second bathroom. We will have that too, but on another floor with the two older sons (8 and 12) in the attic. Nevertheless, the large bathroom on the upper floor is freely accessible for everyone – for the parents, for the youngest, and also at any time for the 2 older ones! Everyone can use it. At any time! This separating through the bedroom always gives me the impression that children are not welcome here. How will children see it later?

Long story short: a second bathroom is definitely useful, but the large bathroom should be freely accessible for all family members. Better a shower bathroom for the parents!

Otherwise, I quite like it. Views wouldn't be bad regarding window arrangements etc.

Oops, there is still a door in the pantry. That won’t do, I would say ...

Wow, many comments, thank you.

So our wish is that the house lives. Sounds and movement are desired... Regarding the noise environment, the corridor walls of the upper floor will be built with impact sound protection bricks.

We will rethink the wardrobe issue with the architect. Let's see what solution there is. The plan was, as written, to use the wardrobe as a guest wardrobe. Coat hooks and shoes should go on the left wall next to the entrance door. We'll see...

Two staircases are a waste of space? In another situation, I would agree. But for us, we are talking about 210m2 of living space. We actually wanted to stay under 180m2. But since only single-story construction is allowed and the upper floor should have a necessary size, we have to plan the ground floor accordingly large. Apart from the fact that the central staircase has a great architectural and visual background for us. We are not building our house just to be practical. Shame on us...
We hopefully will not experience old age in this house at all...

Bathtub in the kids' bathroom is unfortunately not drawn in, but it will be included and was already planned for the exact reasons mentioned.

The door from the garage to the pantry is 1m wide, after 90cm there is a sliding door with 80cm width to the kitchen. I think you can get through quite well there. Better twice a short way through the pantry than one long fully laden way through the front door. Regarding exhaust gases, the garage will only hold one car due to the shape of the lot. It will mainly be parked forwards. According to experience, the exhaust gas development in the garage is thus negligible. At least this is the case in our circle of acquaintances.

Topic parents' and children's bathroom... I can say from my own experience, it is great. With my luck, I will have two daughters (as a father) and then everyone will be very glad not to have to share the wet room ;-)