I'd be looking for a different floorplan, one with a detached garage: doesn't look to me like there's nearly enough 'public' space to accomodate all the people in those bedrooms. Better for the cars to live outside for a few years than crowd the family literally out of the house.

I wouldn't do two separate eating areas in a house this size, as I'm not sure either of them are large enough to accomodate the residents.

Having just one tub would help free up some room for the laundry pair...

OP said the formal dining would be family room, so there is only the one dining area...The public spaces don't bother me too much, because they are very similar to our house for 10 people. We have a larger kitchen, and a tiny sewing area, but otherwise, similarly sized dining and living rooms.

What I think would be nice is to have the bathrooms upstairs situated so that more than 1 person can use them at a time. 4 of our kids use one bath that consists of a toilet and sink in one section and a shower in an attached room. The shower area, though, also has an exit of its own, so that people can be in each of the different areas and have privacy. In the 'master bath' we have a toilet and sink, as do 3 of our boys from their room, and we share a shower in between...Again, multiple people have access and still keep privacy.

There is no linen closet upstairs in your plan, and no room for any storage in the bathrooms. I thought we could deal without a public closet, and keep individual towels and sheets in the bedrooms. It doesn't work as well as I'd hoped, so not fitting in a linen closet is a big regret I have. The vacuum cleaner lives in my closet, and I gave up some space in my wardrobe for extra blankets. Not a tragedy, but not ideal either. Closets and built-ins make small (or busy and full) houses work. We have quite a few built-ins, but against my long-held belief, I went skimpy on household closets, and it's an aggravation.

I'm actually agreeing big time with Oruboris. That garage is 336 square feet that could be put to so much more important use right now. Also, attached garages alter the whole feel of a home in important ways that are seldom counted and really should be put on the table for careful consideration of the ways they detract against their benefits.

As already posted, I'd skip the garage and convert the space in more comfortable living, and make some other changes.

Move the wall about 3' between the salon and the salle á dener so that more than six could eat at the same table. There will be occasions when you will want more than the immediate family. (Consider when the kids start bringing friends to dinner.)

Use the shortened salon for office.

Form a hall by putting a wall between doors in [ex]garage, just deep enough to permit shallow cubbies and storage shelves. If you put a sun-bay where the G doors are, the dimensions will remain close to 16x21, a nice size living area. Remove W/D and make shallow for coat closet. Remove foyer closet and change into wide arched entry into living area.

Upstairs: Plead with BevAngel or one of the other great folks to re-design the bains so that W/D could fit in.

I personally would not want that pair of steps at the top of the landing. It appears that would make the door to chambre 2 literally at the top of the long flight and lower than the doors to the other rooms. YMMV. And that landing looks rather small... be sure you can move long bureaus and box springs around.

MB: If one took away that odd wall forming the walkin closet, instead using reach-in closets as placed, the MB will appear much larger while permitting space for personal sitting area. Be sure reach-in closets don't have wasted space -- these look quite deep.

Be sure all the doors are wide enough. It looks as though the doors to the bains are each 30", much too narrow.

I have to say that we don't have a garage and miss the space for overflow storage. And not knowing where you live...what the access is or what the weather is like, it might be vital for driving in to unload babies and groceries when the temps are unbearably low or high.

I would keep at least half of it for storage, unless you're planning a basement. If there is a basement, there is more storage and more public living space. Win-win.

Can you share with us the actual number and approximate ages of your family? If you are a very young family, be sure you are considering, not only today's needs, but as many years in the future that you'll be in the house.

Best wishes.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions!

To answer a few questions - we live in cold Canada (Quebec hence the french terms on the floor plan) so I would hate, hate, hate to give up the garage - but now that you've pointed it out I could reduce the width by at least 4 feet to make it a true single car garage and I could reduce the depth as well to add room to the kitchen or for indoor storage (pantry, cubbies, etc). There is no room on the land for a detached garage.

The family consists of kids aged 1, 4, 5, 8 and 17. There is a basement which will contain a finished bedroom for the oldest child as well as a kids play room. If I decrease the size of the garage, I have to factor in the additional cost of basement space (there is no basement under the garage)

Since we live with snow 4-5 months a year, the front entry closet is a must for boots and coats.

I agree the stairs landing is very small and the 2 steps up are an aggravation.

I'll keep reading your suggestions and add my thoughts.

Thanks again!

I'd still convert the garage footage to living space, and make a covered carport right outside the side door, even if you don't finish the basement in that area.

For me, it's just not a livable plan for your family otherwise, though I need more elbow room than some people.

I'd also eliminate the hall running from the front door to the kitchen, and add that space to the living room.

Yeah, it's a pity, but a living room that's only 10ft wide and seats 5 at most is pretty worthless for a family of 7, IMO. Besides, this is actually a change that will save you money-- one less wall to build, sheetrock, mud and paint.

Given that this is for a house in Canada, the OP may need at least a one car garage in order to plug the car in overnight. I know that an outlet could be put in an exterior wall, but OP may not want to mess with that while standing outside in the wind. Just some thought - Jo Ann

With that much laundry, I'd go with a front load washer and dryer and stack them. Standard size is 27" wide. You can do 3 times as much laundry per load with 1/3 the water usage and 1/4 the laundry soap usage. I'd put them on the same floor with the bedrooms and I'd rearrange one of the bathrooms because plumbing is already there. I don't like running up and down stairs, I used to have to do that!

I played with this a little. I don't like the stairs or the wasted hallway in the original, so I turned them around to avoid the dip in the middle of the hallway upstairs. I also moved the W/D upstairs, because that's where all your laundry is going to be. I, personally, would square off the kitchen corner--it won't cost more to build (fewer outside corners, simpler roof) and will give you a little more space. Do what you want with the dining/living area. I also think you could economize the master bath a little if you wanted, but I didn't really mess with it.
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I too played around with your plans to see if there was a way to move the laundry upstairs and enlarge your kitchen enough for an island - without increasing the square footage too much.

With 5 kids, I'd definitely want two full bathrooms for them to share. Putting bathrooms back to back decreases the cost of the extra plumbing.

Figured you could probably use a mud-room too so put in a very small one.

This is what I came up with. My Punch program indicates that the heated/cooled square footage is 2125 sq ft. 925 down and 1200 upstairs.

The staircase is 36" wide and is designed assuming eight foot ceilings downstairs. If you go with higher ceilings then the staircase will need extra steps and therefore need more space.

BTW - the blue squares represent 1'x 1' if you want to check room sizes, door openings, etc.

Wow! Thanks for drawing up alternative floor plans. I'm amazed at others ability to visualize the space so differently. I'm going to print these out and review them with my husband - I'm really excited about the possibilities to improve the plan.