I wonder if you can swap the living and dining? The only thing is, you might have to be vigilant about people not using the piano as a landing spot for dishes! I do love the view of the piano ahead of you, but it could be equally nice, and maybe safer, for it to be to the left as you enter the house.

Will me kitchen face the road? Are you okay with that, with the tall windows? They are fabulous, but I imagine you will have blinds in the evening, and I'd want sheers for daytime.

Bpathome - thank you for the great feedback. The short side of the house with two full length windows into the kitchen: they will be looking into our parked cars. It's pretty private but the length of the windows means no counter or sink space underneath :-/

I like the house a lot. I like the whole feel of it and think it fits the German aesthetic really well. It is elegant in its simplicity.

I would not bother with a formal dining room. Where you have the dining table now is a far walk with food and plates and probably will not get used much. I agree to leave the piano where it is as it's a wonderful spot and something wonderful to look onto as you enter the house.

Instead of a formal dining room, move the dining table into the kitchen, hang a nice chandelier over the table, maybe put up a pretty wallpaper on whatever walls are in the dining area and call it a day.

In the area you now have the dining table, that will allow you to create a second seating area, or maybe make it a table and chairs for game night, or a couple of club type chairs or???

The bedroom that will be up against the master bedroom? Are you planning on putting some sort of sound buffering between the two spaces? Where are the closets in the upstairs bedrooms?

The black frames help give some character to the home. In contrast to 90% of what I see for sale every day where blah is the guiding aesthetic.

If your architect's differences of opinion relate to resalability, neighbourhood compatibility and typical homebuyer expectations, I wouldn't dismiss them.

@cpartist, I am not the OP, but wanted to chime about closets in Germany. Most often they are not built-in but are "wardrobes". When you move, you take them with you to the next place. This is extremely common. At first we hated this concept as we had to make many, many trips to Ikea to outfit our rental home. Then, the installation ....

But in the end we loved the idea as it allowed easy furniture placement. I wish more American homes had this flexibility.

What was odder though is how the lighting and the kitchen (yes!) go with the renter/owner to their next place. We only saw one or two places when we were house hunting that the kitchen and lights were still there. On our look-see, the current renter and the landlord actually argued over the toilet and whether it would stay or not. The renter put it in himself to replace an ancient one. The renter stored the horrible one in the basement and threatened to put it back in. Our realtor insisted that the landlord pay back the renter and leave us the new one. It was crazy.

I loved the experience and would not change a thing!

LOL. I had heard about that with kitchens but didn't realize closets also traveled. While I can see closets traveling, I don't get kitchens traveling since each space is different.

Moving the kitchen is weird for US citizens who view apartments as transitional living spaces.

It is related to Germans staying in an apartment very long. Often a lifetime. Therefore kitchens are viewed as a customization and if someone moves in they bring their own kitchen.

My grandmother in Austria moved into her apartment in 1946. My uncle in 1980. They both installed the original kitchen and remodeled their kitchen even though they rent.

@cpartist I'll have to check once I've planned the kitchen if there's enough room to have a distinct, more formal dining area in it like you suggest. That could work well if so. I'll have to ask the architect about what type of wall separates those bedrooms - good point! The bedroom closets don't yet have their sliding doors drawn. Just the side walls (angled) are drawn.

I think it will look great (I lived in Germany for a few years - in Nürnberg) with the exterior you've selected. The rendering and photo are both striking! The main thing I see is odd door-swings in your bedrooms. You might want to revisit the placement of the doors in the walls, then figure out the best way for the door to open. :)

Edited to add: my apartment DID have bypass closets in it! I was really surprised that I didn't need wardrobes. :)

@worthy I love the look with black windows, I find it sharpens the house and stopped it looking too old, but I'm worried they'll looked dated in a few years as I see so many newer homes with with them esp over here. Also if they look too trendy and industrial for the style of house outside and inside.

@mobuddy89 we're currently living in a rental with light wires hanging from most ceilings. And with the time required for getting planning permission and building totaling around 15 months, it looks like we'll be looking at them for a while. At least the kitchen came with (30 year old) cupboards ;) Furniture placement is easier with moveable wardrobes you're right, but we are fans of built-in closets as I find you can fit more in, have less dusting, and they're generally cheaper than a decent wardrobe. I think they also help with resale. At least I hope so as we're hVing to get the sliding doors custom made - doors slabs which aren't pre-drilled/fitted with hinges can't be bought here...

@imstillchloecat which doors do you mean in particular? I want to get that thing right. Also any suggestions about whether to keep the glass doors on the left as you enter dining room from the front door?

Well, I was talking about the bedroom entry doors, but when I downloaded your floorplan and really LOOKED at it, I realized you have no "sound buffers" between your rooms, so I moved your closets so they no longer "stick out" in the room. The red lines are new closet walls, and this doesn't show the bypass doors, but it does show where the bypass doors go.