More info. The plan I posted is 3082 sqft as is.

I forgot to mention, we're trying to figure where to put a staircase to access unfinished future bonus/bedrooms upstairs.

Just a few thoughts...
1) Have you considered srorying the clothes in a larger laundry area? Rugged style. We are renting right now with most of our stuff in storage and I have all clothing for us and my 8,6, 3 year old in my room. It is being done out of space and not wanting to haul umpteen dressers in and out of the rental house . However it has saved me so much time! I'm not saying I won't have kiddo closets in their rooms, but talk about a time-saver and space-saver!
2) Did you see that thread this last week about kids beds in a closet nook? I could see a rectangular boys rooms with nooks for the beds making such an awesome space! You could even line on side of each of the nooks with a bookshelf for their books and treasures! This would leave a nice space in the main area for play. Plus you wouldn't have all that around the bed walkways!

A few thoughts on this plan: I would knock off the breakfast room and sitting room and add that square footage back elsewhere if needed.

The breakfast room is really too small for your family. You could then use the entire back wall for windows and more cabinets. I think this would give you enough space to place a large island in the room.

Not knowing what the exterior looks like, I would extend the current utility room to meet the front of study. I would move the garage door into this area, and use the larger space as a combined mudroom/laundry room.

The guest room doesn't seem large enough to serve as the extra large room for three boys and closet space is minimal in that room.

Congrats on a new house AND a new baby! How nice!

Nostalgic, great idea about clothes. Ever since my boys started wearing almost the same size I just want one closet/dressing room for them!

Hhwiseman, reconsider shrinking the dining room,p, it's barely big enought for your family, let alone when you have company.

That's a terrific pantry. I suspect you'll be walking through it a lot. If you build it with cabinets instead of open shelves, you could eliminate the doors.

While the sitting room in the master is probably expensive real estate, I think it's invaluable for nursery and, later, parental sanity space and one-on-one time with kids.

Do you think you need good space for outerwear and gear? Just looks like there isn't much space when you come in from the garage, without mom and dad stepping over boots and people looking at it from the dining room.

To nostalgicfarm:
1. I've read about large families using a combined closet. I can see some definite benefits (easier and faster to put everything away), but there are some drawbacks too. Where would you locate the closet? Near the laundry room (opposite side of the house from kids' rooms) or between all the rooms? My husband and I don't have very many clothes, so we might be able to fit everything in our closet. But that would mean the kids would be in my closet all the time. Not cool. Also, it seems with little ones that we are often needing to change them in the middle of the night and I'd want clothes in their bedrooms. Not sure if our family is large enough for the time savings to outweigh other drawbacks, yet.

2. I did see the thread on closet beds! They were cool and I've thought about that too. Not sure how that would look with 3 such beds though or how to lay it all out. I'm a very visual person, so if I could see how it would look and work, I might go for it.
I actually prefer the kids to play in more public spaces so we don't keep toys in their rooms. I do want their rooms to be large enough to move around in and have a few options for arranging beds, but don't need them to double as play space. The "guest" room is 11 x 12, which isn't quite big enough, but 13 x 14 might be okay. I need to try one of those furniture arranging programs.

Thanks for your input. You gave me some things to think about.

Your bedroom needs made me think of this bedroom. This blogger shared a lot of details from their build.

Here is a link that might be useful: Boy's Bunk Room

neroselover - thanks for sharing the link. That's boys room is awesome and could totally work for us.

To rrah:

I do think we could lose the breakfast room bump out=or at least most of it. I know that bump outs cost a lot of extra money. I want to switch the kitchen and dining room though. As long as my main counter space & sink face the back windows, I'll still have a good view of the backyard. (I have to be able to see the kids playing outside while I'm making dinner).

rrah said: "Not knowing what the exterior looks like, I would extend the current utility room to meet the front of study. I would move the garage door into this area, and use the larger space as a combined mudroom/laundry room."

I fully agree with aligning the laundry exterior wall with the study. I'm attaching the front elevation for you to see, but I think it will work fine.
I'd like to have a separate mudroom though. Right now our laundry is between the kitchen and garage, and it's not great. I'm hoping to not walk through my laundry room. I think I might steal some space from the garage for a mudroom. We could live with a 2 car garage.

bpathome:
We don't want a smaller dining space (quite the contrary!) -- we just want one single space. I figure if we get rid of one, we'll be able to enlarge the other.

You were reading my mind with this statement: "While the sitting room in the master is probably expensive real estate, I think it's invaluable for nursery and, later, parental sanity space and one-on-one time with kids."

I am planning on squaring it off, to save a little on those extra angles, but want to keep the sitting room and put a door between it and the master so I can use it as a nursery. I could keep baby there for 2 years or until another baby comes (not sure if that's in the cards or not), or until I just want the space for my own sanctuary.

Also: "Do you think you need good space for outerwear and gear? Just looks like there isn't much space when you come in from the garage, without mom and dad stepping over boots and people looking at it from the dining room."

Yes! We are trying to figure out how to incorporate a large mudroom between garage and main house areas. Maybe stealing some space from the garage. The coats, jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, and various styles of shoes add up very quickly.

the plan shows a kitchen that's not very open to the rest of the house. did you want to keep the kitchen somewhat closed off? or did you want it more open to the great room for example?

that will help as we think about how to ditch the breakfast nook, have a single eating space, and keep a large pantry.

This post was edited by maggiepie11 on Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 11:37

I get you on the closet thing. However I do think that 6 kiddos is enough efficiency of scale to make it work. While I will keep at least non-school clothes in my kiddo rooms, I am considering putting their nicer school clothes in a main area. I only have 3 kiddos and it is way more efficient to have everything in one spot :). I can't get over the concept of eliminating a closet altogether, but if you can, more power to you! When my kiddos were babies (and needing changes at night) I had jammies in their dresser/changing table. Right by diapers. Strange that they weren't in the closet with clothes. If you are like me, you are in your laundry room as often as in the kitchen. Make sure you like where it is located :)
I think a nice sitting area in the master like you are planning will be so nice for a nursery!

I think you can eliminate the master sitting room (and the expensive angles). Since you don't want a huge master bath, you can steal space from there. Access the closet from the bedroom, pare down the bath (also accessed from the bedroom), and keep a nice rectangular sitting room in the corner.

Our bedroom is 12'x14', and we have room for a king bed, a chest of drawers, and a 58-gallon aquarium. Your bedroom is already big enough for furniture other than a bed.

This is just a very quick sketch. The details need some work, but hopefully it's close to the overall idea :)
{{gwi:1413069}}From Kitchen plans

Oh, and stair location will depend on where you want the attic. Over garage and kitchen? Kids' bedrooms? Other?

This post was edited by lavender_lass on Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 11:55

will the guest br be the boys room? if so, then it appears they will be using the bathroom that your visitors will be using. are they neat enough for that (or are you prepared to clean up after them if you are having guests)?

I like LL's version with some more thoughts. For a bigger boy's closet, you could use that built-in space from the girls room and just extend the current closet. You could extend the boy's room out a couple of feet as well and line it up with the girls room for less bump outs. Your master could be squared off too and losing the bath and toilet closet would allow a smaller better designed bath.

Great job Lavender Lass! You are always spot on!

Some changes I would add:

1) Extend great room wall into porch area. They are little for only a short period of time. Consider where you will have computers, toys, etc.

2) The fire place will take up a considerable amount of floor space - 2-3'. Move it to the back wall, recess it into the adjoining rooms or remove it.

3) Move the utility room wall on the front of the house down to be equal with the study.

4) I would lose the pantry and add it to the mud/laundry area. Moving that wall gives you about the same square footage.

5) Expand size of kitchen by removing pantry. Post the kitchen on the Kitchen Forum. Lots of great people over there that can help with layout. With 6 children you need dedicated work areas. When my adults kids and spouses come home, our kitchen is perfect them to work without running into one another.

I am not a fan of the angled counter. I think those areas can become tight. If you keep it, angle both the counter and the wall across from it to give more openness.

Also remove angles on dining room - more cost and loss of usable space.

I reread your post about home schooling. Can Bed 5 be your home school center? What about the lower level?

I would definitely expand the great room to be equal with DR as Lav Lass drew. Think of the Duggars (if you have seen the show). They have a long farm table that seats several people. If the dining table is horizontal - you can make it as large or small as needed.

Lavender_Lass: you are awesome! That is definitely the direction I wanted to go. Like you said, there are still details to clean up, but your work is great. I like the mudroom addition and basic idea of the kitchen/dining space. Nice work on the J & J bathroom too.

I'm undecided on where the stairs should be. I think an over the garage bonus room is the obvious starting place, but additional bedrooms I'd want to have over the kids' bedrooms and/or laundry and study area -- not the master or kitchen or great room. I think it would be wise to position the unfinished bathroom over a bathroom on the main floor (probably the Jack & jill bath).

frozenelves8: I was thinking the same thing about the boys' closet. We don't need the "desk" area for the girls, so that'd work great for extra closet space.
We can square off the sitting & dining rooms for sure. I think I need to post the bathrooms in the bathroom forums, but I see what you're saying. Thanks for the suggestions!

motherof3sons: Thanks for your great ideas! I do need to take the kitchen over to that forum. But, I know that I want close access to a large pantry for the kitchen. You make a great point about the dining/great room flow.

Thank you all for your awesome insights and suggestions!

Hi, congrats on the new baby and new home. We now have 6 boys (I have not figured out how to change it on here). I think LL did an awesome improvement on the plan. I was wondering a few things....

Are you planning to use the master sitting area for "mom and dad's office?" That is what we have done in ours and think it will work out great.

Where will the home school area be? The game room? If there, it does seem rather far away from the most used areas (kitchen, laundry etc). Perhaps that is a good thing.

If it were me...I would open the wall between the study and laundry area in a heart beat. I would close off the doors shown into the study sides and have just the one door going into the room. I would use that area as a large laundry/flex room. You would need to define spaces between that area and the home school area or just use it for home school. Assuming again that the master will be mom and dad's office. We have a long narrow laundry/flex room now and it could be twice the size and I would love it even more. We do crafts, computer work, etc all in there while keeping the laundry moving.

As shown the bedrooms and closets look rather small for sharing with siblings. Especially the closets seem on the small side. We have 2 boys in each room with nice walk in closets for each room. We keep all clothes and "more" organized nicely in the closets. I do not use bunk beds (have always had a fear of them). We as of this Friday will have 2 twin beds in each kids' room. The middle 2 boys have used a queen together. I think they might end up in a twin together during the night ;). We have separate his and her closets in our master and believe it or not we use the one for the nursery and share the other closet. He will be 2 in April and it has worked out well having the nursery attached to our room, yet separate. Someday we will have separate closets with our items spread out. The closets really are larger than we need.

I would square off the dining room and master sitting area walls, unless that is a look that you have been wanting. You will gain a little room and cut down on cost related to the extra corners. And personally I think it is a nicer look:).

We also have 1 eating, table area besides the island. It is located off the kitchen to the back of the house too and we LOVE it. Ours is just over 12X18...so great for an oversized table 4X10. For large parties we can add another table in a T off the main table and have room to seat 10 more easily. Our dining area has a 10 foot arched entry to give it a little separation from the kitchen. I would work on straightening out the angled area in your kitchen plan. Actually I would definitely try to steal some square feet for your kitchen and have a larger island too. I'm sure you have lots of little helpers and cookie makers that love to gather around the island.

I just reread the suggestions above about moving the pantry to the mud area or utility area. That is a great idea, I really think you need that extra kitchen space too. A mud room really doesn't need to be that wide. You can organize a lot of coat/shoe space in a narrow area. Wide hallways work great for this...cubbies etc do not take up much space (but, help out so much).

Sorry if this is a scattered post with random thoughts. I'm having a case of insomnia and desperately need to try to get back to sleep.

Another thought, I wanted to mention...the laundry/study combined fleas area could also easily have a half bath and then you would get your bath by the mud/garage entrance. I must agree IS high on the priority list of must haves.

Hello from another parent of 6, 3 boys and 3 girls. I've been designing our own floor plan in anticipation of building in a year or 2. We also homeschool. Our current home is actually set up wonderfully for our lifestyle, but we'd like it be 40 minutes closer to the big city where our church and homeschool coop are located, thus the thoughts about moving/building.

I just wanted to post the plan I've been working on lately to possibly give you some ideas about layout. We have our bedrooms on the second floor in our new plan (similar to our current home), but it does have many of the other features you mentioned. We wanted to have a simple roofline and as few angles/corners as possible to minimize costs. We also keep all the children's clothes in our guest bedroom on the main level. This has worked out so well for us, and so I am incorporating a big closet off the laundry room in our new floor plan. The children get their clothes and go change in the guest bedroom, half bath, or even the closet. My husband and I keep our clothes in our room.

Congrats on #6. :)

As usual, L-Lass has hit the nail on the head.

Except for the kitchen, I think. I'm not loving the "trap you in the C-shape" layout. Aside from that, it looks pretty good!

Thank you pookie and momto4(now6)boys for sharing your insights, suggestions, and floor plan! It's given me different/new ideas to consider.

We're early in the planning phase, so I'm just soaking up as many ideas as I can from these forums. I really appreciate everyone's input.