I have drawn an alternative, but I am not sure it is better. It would hide one of the pillars. The position of the WC is still a bit strange, and we're not quite sure if the playroom would get a lot of use if we position it there.

Why have a wc right next to the bathroom?

The kitchen looks like its in the middle of the house? I would put the kitchen beside the terrace at the back. Laundry could swap places with kitchen?

Does the living room open right through to the kitchen?

A simple idea for lots of space - maybe put kitchen and dining room where laundry and storage is now, and that opens up to garden. keep the bathroom where it is, lose the kitchen where it is now and make it into a smaller laundry room, and it also adds up space for big spacious living room.

It's difficult to know why you need or want a full bathroom on that level. There are no bedrooms, so presumably they are on another level and have access to a bathroom??

I would be keeping the separate toilet and using the bathroom as a utility possibly.

Also, the pantry stops you from seeing right through from front to back, which obviously makes the property seem very spacious as you walk through the front door.

Lastly, I would have to move the Utility and re-configure a larger kitchen / diner to the rear with comfy seating area to take full advantage of the rear of the house.

I think you can lose living space at the bottom, move things down a little and re-add the living space towards the top. Obviously all depends on plumbing and access to drains.

I really don't like this layout.
I think that it is weird to block up the access from the front door to the rest of the house and this changes the flow so you have to walk through the living room.
You have no upstairs bathroom so everyone will have to go through the lounge to use the bath/shower so privacy is much reduced.
The kitchen is long and thin and has to be a corridor down the house.
The way this is planned there is no view of the outside space at the back.
The playroom seems too small to play in.
The laundry is oversized and is a long way from where you produce all the dirty washing- in my opinion it should be near the bottom of the stairs (or upstairs)
I stand by my suggestion in February. Move your home office from upstairs and put it in the front of the house (to create room upstairs for a bathroom later when the budget allows), have a laundry room and bathroom at the back of the current living room- this is a shorter distance to move pipework than the architects suggested kitchen move.
Have the kitchen and dining area where the plan shows the bathroom and kitchen- personally I would put the kitchen where you have shown a playroom as I believe this is where your current kitchen is.
I would knock all the space at the back together to have one large living room with a window so that you are connected with the outside.
Do you have any pictures?

You didn't mention on your plan the orientation of the property. To me this would be a major factor in deciding where the main living spaces are located.

Thanks a lot for all of your input. We got things to talk about, for sure.

Now, on with the questions :-). The storage/laundry in the rear should connect to the yard, to store our lawnmower, garden chairs and (a lot of) bikes. We don't have any storage in the garden, nor can we install any. That's the reason for the solution with the terrace with accessible storage + a large window at the rear.

No bathroom upstairs and no feasible way to make one. Hence the big bathroom downstairs. A seperate WC is a luxury we're used to and wouldn't want to miss. I know a lot of people combine the two, but I don't like the idea of taking a shower while someone is using the toilet in the same room.

About the orientation: the entrance is North West.

We have an enthusiastic architect who has already updated the plan according to our first remarks. I'll post it in a minute.

So here's the new plan. Kitchen is brought back to the front, and because we have more room there, we can widen the kitchen island with a breakfast bar. We didn't like the small playroom he originally designed. The playroom is now behind the kitchen. New addition is a dressing, which would incorporate the W.C. What do you think?

Would it be feasible to put a shower room - with loo - accessed just via the hall and stairs - in the area currently marked pantry - so you and any house guests can nip to the loo in the night without needing to negotiate the kitchen ?

It might! Thanks for the tip, we will look into that.

I still feel that the most impressive room has to be a thoroughfare in your plan.
While my idea doesn't have a dedicated pantry it does have a kitchen space that will feel bigger than in the original plan.
I also think it is nicer to have a reception space that can see the garden.
In my opinion the bathroom being closer to the bottom of the stairs is better too.

Waw, this is a great plan. Thanks a lot, Jonathan. I will take it with me at the next meeting with our architect.

Beyone a big improvement from Jonathan there!. The other plan does not make sense in so many ways.

I am afraid the house itself doesn't make sense in many ways :-).

I am adding a view from the garden. No grand vista, to say the least. That's why we initially didn't consider orienting the house towards the garden.

I think that any outside space is a bonus.
Yours could be improved by softening the boundaries, adding mirror and making the space feel less long (therefore wider). Tall planting will also help make it feel bigger.
Having seen this space now I think I would probably put a shed near the gate where the garden is most shaded and store bikes there rather than create room in the house for them.

Even a small space can feel like an oasis

Agree with Jonathan. I'd remove the Bike Store from his plan and put that at the end of the garden. You can then have doors on both 'sides' facing the terrace, I would be interested to see the original plan for the house, it looks like it's been extended so much that it's in danger of being to big for the amount of garden left. Also, why is it an odd shape at the top?? It's a mistake sometimes to compromise the size of the garden. Is this plan not more than sufficient??

All other storage can now go at the end of the garden and you have the garden view back where it should be. I think i'll muse a little on this one. Just off to get my plane back home.

Let me stop you there. We are not allowed to build a shed by the fence. Apparently, there is a rule that a certain percentage of your lot needs to be open (= garden or unused). We exceed that percentage anyhow, but fortunately we're not obliged to tear something down :-).

I should tell you the background story of the house. It was originally planned as a wool warehouse. The huge storage area at the rear was intended for trucks. Our garden was the driveway.

The wool store went bankrupt even before the building was finished (1966). In 1967 the local tax collector had it's office here, because the building of their new offices (across the street) was delayed. That explains the strange internal division within the house.

After the tax man left, it was converted into a house (I think around 1970). It has been renovated at least twice, but never structurally. Last reno was done in 2009, by an elderly couple with a 100% different taste than ours. We bought it in 2010. It was at a bargain price for this location, certainly for such a big property. Nobody really knew what to do with it, I guess. But we saw potential.

We tore up the driveway and made a garden there. But Jonathan's idea about softening the boundaries is brilliant. We really need to do that, probably after the renovation of the house.

One thing I haven't mentioned and it's not really clear in the plan: in our pantry there is a stairway to the cellar. This somewhat limits what can be done there.

I know, I know, orienting towards the garden is what you normally do. But in our case... The building itself is very long (or deep) and the link with the garden can only be 3 metres wide... And you don't even have the benefit of the entire 3 metres because of the awkward rear wall - if you get what I mean.

I felt our architect came up with a decent compromise. The yellow (=new) wall at the sunroom/dining would be bi fold glass doors, which we would open if the weather is good. Terrace and sunroom would then become a whole, with matching tiles all the way through. And we would still have access to storage, through the terrace.

We have asked our architect for some time to mull things over, but we will certainly consider everything which has been suggested here. Thanks a lot, you guys.

I love Johnathans plan, sometimes simplifying things is better. Your architects plan just seems completely overdesigned (sorry!) as if he's trying to cram in all your requirements. This could be a lovely space. Good luck working through it, it's all consuming I'm sure but best to get it right before you start.

have you considered a internal courtyard? i agree with the other comments about linking the casual living to the outdoor space. it seems to be the laundry gets the best location in the plan, when it could be moved further into the house. if you prefer to keep the kitchen in the centre of the house, a internal courtyard could bring in fresh air and natural light. something like this.
Check out this photo from houzz - http://houzz.co.uk/sr/m=7/u=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91enouY29tL3VrL3Bob3Rvcy8yMDc2OTM3L29saXZlcmFzLWNvbnRlbXBvcmFyeS1kaW5pbmctcm9vbS1vdGhlcg==

We have, actually. I wanted to install an internal courtyard where the kitchen is (now) and move the kitchen to the right of it. We've had a contractor look at it who called the idea "insanely expensive". Another building pro told me that internal courtyards are almost never done with renovations, only in new houses.

My ideabooks were filled with internal courtyards 5 months ago. I have deleted them since.

I see the picture you shared, is actually still in my ideabooks, J. :-)