I did a stream on Inkagafar: The Beginning at the start of 2015 and in it I showed off George's house (the starting area). While designing George's new house I decided to stick with the old layout as best I can, using the stream as a reference.

One thing to note is that yes, the new version is smaller. This is mostly for simplicity as I don't want the player to have to walk twenty miles just to enter, do what they want to do, and leave. Also the upper floor isn't there because it isn't needed. In The Beginning (which was never finished) the story was going to star a younger George living in a house with his mother and sister, so the upper floor was needed for George and Sophia. George doesn't have a sister anymore, as Sophia was turned into a completely new character.

I'd also like to add that some other aspects of I:TD are being taken from The Beginning, so some of the concepts and story elements are inspired by/direct recreations of things from that game. Not like anyone would know though, seeing as Beginning was never finished. For example, Tenebris Dominus' endgame is based heavily around The Beginning's endgame (plotwise and design-wise). I can't go into any more detail for obvious reasons, but I loved the planned ending to Beginning so much I just had to work it into the plot for TD.