Stairs in the hallway, the floor plan is actually already done :o(

We are building a prefabricated house. The floor plan is basically already set and everything has been submitted, the building permit has been applied for.

Like so many people nowadays, we have planned a quarter-turn staircase, which starts right next to the front door and then leads upstairs (unfortunately, we didn’t have a very helpful architect).

Only now have we really become aware that every time you change floors, you have to go through this mostly rather dirty entrance area. This works especially well with children who constantly walk around in socks, especially in winter.

Since we can’t make any huge changes to the floor plan anymore (it’s also a cost issue), we are now considering simply turning the staircase around, in other words, changing the direction of ascent. We only have the ground floor and the upper floor and two full stories.

If we change the direction of ascent, this would mean:

[*]You come out of the living room and the staircase is immediately to the left of it, it then feels a bit tighter in front of the living room, but you can go upstairs directly

[*]We would have some space for jackets and shoes directly behind the front door under the stairs and wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the living room for that (where the high side of the staircase is up to now) and don’t always have to pass the front door when we want to go upstairs to the bathroom or something like that.

[*]We would lose the gallery upstairs because it would then be a passage, but it is quite tight there anyway (we would just put a cupboard in the niche there)

[*]It would be quite tight upstairs after the stairs. According to the floor plan (there would be another step upstairs), the exit would only be 1.40 m long, then the wall comes directly and you have to turn right there.

Now I would be interested in your opinions. Please no "Why did you..." etc.

[*]Would you change the direction of ascent or leave it as it is?
[*]Are the 1.4 m enough (nothing more could be changed there, then the bedroom would become too tight)?
[*]Or is it not so bad with the dirt in front of the stairs at all... (we planned a carport in front of the house, so that the entrance area is well covered, but that doesn’t change much about dirty children’s shoes and taking off shoes at the front door, it’s nothing if they are "normally dirty" anyway.)

We would also change the window next to the front door. Either a very narrow and tall one or directly a side panel for the front door. The living room door is made of glass, which also lets in light, and the front door itself should also let in some light.

Maybe someone has advice that can help us.
Thanks already and have a good week everyone.

Best regards
Steffi

I would leave it like that. I believe it simply doesn't work as well the other way around. The dirt probably won't be that bad.

I agree with that. I wouldn’t change it anymore either. That much dirt definitely won’t be brought in.

I believe there is no right or wrong answer to this question... I just find it more practical to have the stairs in the living room because then we can go directly from the entrance to the basement. But I always clean up the dirt there as well since we have the guest WC in the entrance area. It is probably more a matter of space... having a bit more storage in the entrance area can’t be that wrong.

I would definitely change it. The space at your place should be enough. How much space is there on the ground floor then in front of the staircase?

You can already brush off the biggest dirt outside the door, but it is the small grains of sand that unpleasantly stick under your socks or bare feet. I just thought about our "luck" on Saturday when we came in after a snow walk and took off our boots. And we have no children! And who has the patience to get a mop right away? You could end up doing that all day with two kids.

Regards Yvonne

I would change it, also because I consider staircases directly next to room doors (in your upper floor) to be problematic.