Two-story house, half-timbered, 180 sqm on a 624 sqm plot

We are about to submit the application for our house. It was designed by an architect on an already existing 624 sqm plot.

Attached are the site plan and floor plan of our house. We are planning without a basement but with 2 full floors. We especially like the spacious living area with the stove as a central element both in the living room and in the kitchen/dining area. We also really like the open timber framing as an airy room divider (from the farmhouse of my wife’s deceased grandparents) between the kitchen and dining area. We don't have any direct criticisms regarding the ground floor.

Upstairs, we like the large children's rooms and the location of the master bedroom in the north. We find it a bit unfortunate that the dressing room is not directly accessible from the master bathroom. Drafts in this direction did not appeal to us or would have conflicted with the position of the staircase or the location of the bedroom in the north.

I hope you still have helpful tips, ideas, or suggestions.

We are about to submit the application for our house.

Well, then you better hit the brakes, there are going to be some points of criticism.

On the upper floor we like the large children's rooms

As child 1, I would rather have the office. In general, the doors are too close to the walls for me, meaning no closet space behind them.

What is the recess in the living room supposed to be good for?

Parent bathroom drains above the living room are also not ideal.

I find the draft already pretty good. I especially like the living area with the fireplace - great! I also have some criticism:

On the ground floor, I don’t find the entrance area successful. You feel cramped and run into a stupid corner of the utility room. Cloakroom space is really only possible to the left of the entrance - then it gets even tighter. It’s sufficient for walking through, but everything feels a bit lilliputian. Surface area for placing things is rather limited. Also, I don’t like the door from the garage to the cellar room. It would be better to end up in the hallway where you can take off your shoes.

Therefore, I erased this small utility room and widened the hallway. For that, I make the cellar room slightly bigger overall and separate off a new narrow utility room under the stairs. I would probably also move the stairs a little forward on one side.
In addition, I relocated the door from the garage and immediately drew in two cabinets for odds and ends.



Unfortunately, I don’t like the upper floor at all. The children’s rooms facing south – yes, that’s nice. But somehow that has led to a shoebox for the bedroom plus dressing room. The bathrooms are also completely off – narrow and cramped, and when you enter the master bathroom, it’s just uncomfortable.

Attached is an alternative sketched out. The office seemed ridiculously large to me. If that really has to be, you can still move the wall of the children’s bathroom.
However, you would now have to look where the chimney ends up – but that should be manageable.

Edit: Oh yes, for the kitchen door I would take a standard door with a glass insert. It would have to open into the hallway so that it is not in the way. But I think that's better than having the smell of food rising straight up the stairs opposite. Basically, the smell wouldn't be a problem for me – a proper ventilation system can handle that – but if I can manage the situation much more effectively with such a simple door, then I'll put the door in. Next to it, another glass insert in the wall for more light in the hallway. :)

We also really like the open timber framing as an airy room divider (from the farmhouse of my wife's deceased grandparents) between the kitchen and dining area

That is really a nice memory, but I find the placement more than unfortunate. You are blocking movement space and also the possibility of enlarging the dining table.

I would rather see it somewhere else... where exactly, I don't know. Maybe between the living and dining areas and half-filled, or just simply against a wall.
Upstairs, you could easily shorten the hallway a bit and add that space to the dressing room/bathroom, at least connect everything.

And what about this?

First of all, many thanks for the feedback. Very constructive overall, really great. I will try to explain myself a little...

The pipe running through the living room also caught our attention, but according to a plumber friend it’s not a problem, though we will check again...
Swapping Child1 and the office makes some sense, our intention was to give the children the biggest rooms.

Kaho, I really like your ideas for the ground floor regarding the hallway and basement replacement. We will probably make some changes there. The hallway ended up the way it is because we initially planned a vestibule, but then the wall of the vestibule was removed altogether. However, we basically like the idea of a vestibule, and in the existing ground floor it could be relatively easily retrofitted as a glass partition. But the last word hasn’t been said yet...
I know your upper floor design. :-D We got exactly that from our architect as well, we just don’t like the continuous bathroom-dressing room-bedroom design. The office is actually a bit large. There might be a room divider with a sofa bed for guests...

ypg, regarding the movement space I agree with you, but I won’t be convinced otherwise. We really like the half-timbering there. It looks great and you don’t have a direct view of the “kitchen chaos” after cooking from the dining table. Expanding the dining table might possibly go towards the living room through the double doors. Still, a good hint.

I will take care of the questionnaire over the weekend.