Renovator8/kirkall - The plans are a little rough, but the scale and dimensions are accurate. The stairs admittedly are still a bit sketchy at this point. I intend to have only a fairly narrow staircase, and may in fact put in a spiral one instead of an L or U shaped one, if it gives me a bit more space downstairs. The upstairs I really see longer term as just kids rooms...the master bedroom (+ guest bedroom) will end up in a future extension to the house. I'm just after a critique of the general layout of the house, or whether you think the whole thing is terrible and I'd be better off with some other design entirely (e.g. 1 story).

I'd bring the master bedroom closet in to the middle of the house. This will allow you to have windows on two sides of the bedroom, while also forming a sound barrier between the great room and the bedroom. I also agree that the closet needs to be wider to be useful. Is that the washer/dryer in a closet in the master suite? I'd hate that. With no place to keep laundry baskets or to fold clothes, you're constantly going to have piles of dirty stuff right in the master bedroom doorway. I like the idea of having it NEAR the master, but not in that space. Also consider how you're going to vent the dryer. I can't see the master bathroom well, but it seems to be very spread out ... for no real purpose. For example, you have two sinks crammed together in a small vanity, which means no drawer storage ... and then acres of empty space leading to a windowless toilet closet. With this much space, everything should be comfortable -- what you have now is just lots of floor space. I'd look at eliminating the square-footage-gobbling hallway. The kitchen is over-sized. When people say they want a large kitchen, they usually really mean they want a highly functional kitchen that'll make cooking easy. Lots of counterspace doesn't = highly functional. Consider how many extra steps you'll have to take in this kitchen to prepare a meal. Consider, too, that you're planning a monster-sized pantry, which is the best and cheapest way to store your stuff -- you don't need that PLUS all those expensive countertops. I'm assuming Bedroom #2 is for your son, whom you describe as medically fragile? Is that bathroom adequate? I'd consider taking in some of the butler's pantry to allow more space for his special needs. Note that this bathroom has no storage space -- I'd want at least a linen tower. The jack-and-jill bath also has no storage space. Also, you'll want to flip the door in the bathtub/toilet room so it doesn't prevent someone from entering the tub. This room is very minimal. In the other hall bath, with the toilet on one side and the sink on the other, how can anyone enter the shower? Since all the bedrooms are already served by a bathroom, do you really need this shower? As a powder room, this'd be comfortable -- as a full bath, it's too crowded. Overall, I think the secondary bathrooms are really quite lacking. All of them need storage, space for a clothes hamper and a trash can. I'd give up the flex space and enlarge the bathrooms. Note that in the girls' bedrooms, with closets on one side and window seats on the other side, the girls can only place their beds in one spot. Finally, I don't like a garage-shoved-out-in-front of any house, but an oversized garage will really overshadow even this fairly large house. Honestly, I think you can do a whole lot better than this house plan.

PT 2 Chisue Thanks for understanding what I am trying to accomplish. I want to be able to say that I love having these rooms attached to each other, I don’t want this space near this space, etc and for me, bubble diagrams do not work, I need to walk through the space in my mind and floor plans do that for me! JDS I really appreciate all your comments. I am a person that researches the c**p out of something and then is very decisive when it comes to actual decision time. This is just how I work. I want to be able to recognize the architect for me easily as I will see all the aspects of great design in their work from the knowledge I am gaining from this forum, reading all the books recommended here, and feeling the spaces are right from messing around with my own floor plans. I don’t think all architects are great or right for my needs so I want to be as prepared as possible for this expensive and important endeavor. I hope you can understand that! MrsPete You are so brave to admit to using a stock plan with modifications! Haha. Your responses are always so useful! Cpartist Good point that feelings invoked are also just as important. I mainly want to feel connected to the outdoors and warm (not huge vaulted ceilings, no unused or formal spaces). JDS/ARG Good points about the big picture items being the most important. To me, using standard spacing for cabinets and standard building methods/spacing is important as I don’t want my costs to go to difficult to build things inside the house, I would mostly want to build to get the spaces and flow done right. The finishes are not nearly as important to me or my husband. How should I communicate that to an architect? I don’t want “fancy” angles or anything really architecturally renowned. I just want a house that has the spaces we need/want without lots of waste of space. Should I be looking for an architect that works with builders for cost pricing or one that talks to cost during the design phase? Too many reports of designs that can’t be built within reasonable budgets, even on this forum! Holly Appreciate the input. I find it fun so I wont be stopping but I swear I wont bring a floor plan to a parti meeting so don’t be too disappointed in me! Chloecat Your critique on that houseplan cracks me up! Thanks for the laugh! Barginhunter I actually don’t want two separate living spaces besides for an away space (playroom when they are young, study when older) but do plan on having a plan to finish parts of the basement to provide extra living spaces for the kids when they get older and don’t want to be right under foot of their parents anymore! Haha JDS I can be cynical about licensing but good point about life-safety codes. And wow!! Loving that sketch idea! Its what I have been doing on papers during boring work meetings but for some reason I was thinking to scale and exact “drawings” would be better. I think I will go back to sketching since, as you and others have said, the fine details aren’t actually something that will make it to a parti with an architect so they aren’t very useful!

Thank you for the reply cpartist, I value your input and you have a lovely home and are so talented! Thank you. I hope you can get the house you need and deserve. The projected cost did factor in 15% for any overages. Good because it's rare the budget is under. Do yourself a favor and no matter what you decide, choose every single thing before. Don't work with allowances because allowances will mostly come back to bite you, you know where. We had allowances, but it was AFTER I spent many a day shopping with our builder's designer pricing out appliances, floors, tile, etc that I liked. I had almost no surprises with things like that because we had enough in the budget for them. The room labelled “Office“ is actually going to be the dining room, they forgot to change the label. It is 15’7” by 11’7”. The room off the kitchen labeled dinette will actually function as a sunroom, but looking at the yellow space perhaps we need more windows. I think that's going to be an issue. Do yourself a favor and draw the path from the kitchen cooktop to the dining room. Now imagine carrying full platters of turkey, or casseroles, or whatever other hot stuff you serve. See where the problem will lie? I’d love advice on how to make the kitchen more efficient. we will have a pot filler on the stove, so that will help. The plans don’t show it but the sink will be a large farmhouse sink with two separate faucets. A large farmhouse sink still means two butts right next to one another with not enough space to prep. If you do go with this house plan, bring your kitchen over to the kitchen forum for better advice. Your needs are unique and a cookie cutter house is not going to be functional for you. The garages are positioned as they are to cut down on the cost of the concrete apron, concrete work is very expensive in our area, Many builders this far north position garages like this to act as a buffer for the prevailing western winds in the winter and cut down on heating costs. But I know this isn’t the only way to accomplish this. We also like having the two distinct garage areas as one will be a workshop with storage. Building a seperate workshop would be much more expensive. But sunlight is also a big an issue here as you point out. The foyer and living room do have higher ceilings and windows to let in more light, but it seems like it won’t be enough. I’ll have to think about this. You need to have your house oriented so the main windows are on the south side. The north side is probably the second worst in terms of passive solar heating/cooling especially as far north as you will be. My beef with the garages are not that they're positioned on the west. That's a positive. It's the garages on the south that are the issue. The pantry does include a washer and dryer and freezer fridge. we currently have an extra freezer and fridge in our garage, and I’m tired of leaving the house to fetch items. I didn’t factor in the added humidity, I will have to see what solutions might be available. Our current laundry room is doubling as a pantry, and it doesn’t seem to have any moisture issues. We also have a washer and dryer upstairs, so the washer and dryer in the pantry will by be used for everything. Your needs are different than mine. I personally prefer my washer and dryer closer to my master bedroom since most of my laundry is generated there. You have an upstairs washer/dryer for those living upstairs, so the question then becomes where is most of the downstairs laundry generated? Some people say they prefer it by the kitchen since they spend more time there, but personally I'd rather walk back and forth to the laundry by my bedroom without carrying baskets of laundry, than having laundry by my kitchen and having to carry loads of laundry, sheets, towels, etc. I agree about the upstairs layout, it seems poorly designed to me and I’m at a loss for how to improve it. This is what is bothering me. You're choosing a house only because it's larger and not to enhance the way you live. It could be so much more and I do realize that you have a tight budget. Sigh. I don't know what the answer is. The basement is not a walkout, but it is a ”daylight” basement, and so the elevation slopes down to the back allowing for daylight windows. The bedroom in the front of the basement is the only window with a window well, the others are at ground level. How will you feel about one of your children being in a bedroom where if there was an emergency they'd have to climb out up through a window well? We blew our “design budget” hiring a designer last fall who created a custom design for us we could never afford to build. He was a friend of a friend who came highly recommended and he did very good work, but it did not work out for us. That is why we’re exploring other options. Talk to architectrunnerguy. We might be able to afford to go through the custom design process again if we wait couple of years and start again. But we are anxious to sell our current home while the market is still “hot.” I can't disagree with you on this one except by the time your house is built, the market may not be so hot anymore. Thank you again for your time and attention, it is an amazing privilege to be able to solicit advice from such a smart and talented pool of people! Even if you decide not to take our advice, it's still a pleasure to help those like yourself who are willing to truly listen. :) While still on paper, it's so good to really think through all comments, even if you ultimately disagree.