Mom- How far is your farmland from town? I ask, because I too, live on a farm, and shopping is 30 minutes away. If you're going to be in a similar situation, I would recommend a MUCH bigger pantry and a really big freezer! :)

Also, I see that you have a mud room, from the garage into the house, but I don't see ones for the kids to use, when coming in from outside. Will they always be entering though the garage?

My suggestion (and it's just a thought) could you make the study into the office...and perhaps make the office into a much bigger mudroom/pantry/freezer area?

If you're going to be gardening, have animals, or any other farm type of activities, you'll definitely need more space for that, too :)

Hi lavender lass - thanks for your response! We are only 10 minutes from shopping - the town has moved closer and closer to us. I do plan to have an extra fridge and upright freezer in the garage. That set-up works well for me now. We put away lots of corn each year and have at least one deer in the freezer at a time, so we already use a lot of freezer space. I am sure as the kids get bigger, that will continue to grow.

I hadn't given much thought to the entrance to the mudroom. I do plan to have a laundry sink in the garage for gardening and other purposes.

I am really stuck on the office being out of the way (out of sight) since I work from home and don't keep a very neat office. My husband's desk is even worse - that's why his desk can't be seen from the doorway at all. :)

When you talk about gardening, animals and other farm type activities, specifically, what other spaces are you referring to?

Thanks again for responding so quickly. I am so excited to have found the forum - you guys give such valuable feedback.

Mom- Do you have other outdoor spaces for these activities...barns, greenhouse, potting shed, etc. If you do, then you won't need the space in the house, but if you don't...then you'll need someplace to store pots and potting soil, small garden tools, gardening boots, etc. We have horses and while we do have a barn, I keep the grain in the house, to keep it from getting damp and moldy and the horses' medicines, etc. We also end up storing a lot of the hand tools and extra wire, insulators, etc. in the mudroom, since fence repair seems to happen at night or needs to be done ASAP and we can just grab a few tools and go.

Of course, that's just us! LOL Many people have separate buildings for all these things, but we inherited the farm, the horses are our pets and we also have indoor and outdoor kitties to store food, medicine, etc. and if we had dogs, we'd need even more space.

As for your house plan, I did have a question. How much space do you have between your sink and shower in the 3/4 bath, by the garage. It looks a little tight, but I'm not sure what you're scale is...1 square = 1 foot?

One other question...where is your view? Is it pretty on all sides? Do you have better views out the back? Are your windows (especially in the master bedroom and playroom) taking the best advantages of the views?

Finally, have you thought of putting a bonus/teen space above the garage? I know you have a playroom (great idea) but your stairs look like a natural to go up into that area...just a thought :)

Your kitchen is for 2 to 3 cooks. I like the size, but you might want to visit the kitchen forum and get a few ideas there, too. Those people really know their design/function/materials. Best of luck with your new home!

You've obviously put a whole lot of thought into your floorplan and how to make it meet the needs of your family. I like it a whole lot but I do have a few questions and concerns.

Not sure what you mean by "maximize light coming in from the bathroom off the mudroom." Are you wanting light from that bathroom window to spill into the mudroom and provide natural light there? If so, I don't think there is anyway to get very much light to spill over and still give the bathroom the necessary privacy, You CAN put an interior transom windows up over the bathroom door which will allow some light spillover. And, you could use a frosted glass door for the bathroom door. I'm not a fan of the latter except in masterbedrooms where there is less need for a total "sense" of privacy. You might also consider putting in a light tube to bring natural light into the mudroom.

I have another concern about the bathroom by the mudroom tho. Not sure if that is a shower or a dog-shower or a utility sink in the lower right hand corner but with it there, you have no space in front of the vanity sink to stand while washing hands.

What is that room between the staircase and the office? I can't read what is says and, at first, assumed it was your pantry but then I found the pantry down next to the dining room.

I agree that a larger pantry would be nice. As your kids get older, you're going to have bikes and other sports equipment to store in the garage. It would be nice to have room for the second freezer inside the house so that the garage space could be dedicated to that other stuff.

The hallway on the children's side may be too narrow to easily move furniture into their bedrooms. There is an indication that it is 3'4" wide (which would be plenty wide) but based on the grid background, it looks like the wall to wall width may only be about 2'8". Does the 3'4" measurement include the 4" deep walls on both sides? If the actual wall-to-wall hall width isn't at least 3'0", you might want to consider bumping the left exterior wall out another couple of inches. Given the overall size of the house, a few more inches won't make a noticeable difference in the cost to build. But a too narrow hallway will bug you forever! To maintain exterior symmetry, you would probably also want to bump out the exterior wall on the garage/masterbedroom side of the house as well. But, a few extra inches on that side could be useful as well.

The only thing about the design that I really really don't like is the powderroom that opens directly into the living room. Guests will be squemish about using a PR that is so centrally located...too much concern that others will hear them as they go about their business or, even worse, if their business tends to create a bit of a stink, the smell will waft out into the living room before the bathroom vent fan can take care of it. And, do you really want to be looking at a toilet when your babies leave the bathroom door open while there are guests in the house. IMHO, that bathroom REALLY needs to be moved to a location further from the center of activity.

The closet for bedroom III seems a bit small - especially for a girl who will eventually get to be a teenager!

Also, be aware that your dryer needs to vent to the outside. It is easiest to vent a dryer that is on or very near an exterior wall. Given the location of your laundry room, I've linked below to some info that you should probably read regarding venting a clothes dryer.

Just a thought but, have you tried putting the playroom in the middle of the left wing then having two short halls leading off of it with two bedrooms at the front, and two bedrooms and the laundry room at the back? And the guest powderroom tucked in to the left of the study so that one must go down a short hallway from the living room to reach it?

this is really really rough but may give you some ideas

Here is a link that might be useful: dryer vent info.

I did not read all the posts but what if you put the walkway into the dining area between the bathroom and pantry. It would give you more light into dining area. Do you really neeed a wet bar? I see it so close to the kitchen that it could easily be incorporated somewhere in there.

Thank you so much for the feedback. Hubby is very against bedrooms and bathrooms on the front of the home, even though we will be very far away from the road. I will show him the revised plan. I really like the flow and it seems to have less "unused" space. I will double check the hallway width. My intention was 3-4 ft.

Do you guys have any feedback about kitchen size? It seems large, but I like the shape/layout.

The room b/w the stairs and office is a coat/utility closet. Doesn't everyone need room for a vacuum, card table, tools, flags, flashlights, cleaning supplies, and all the other stuff that doesn't have another "home?"

I will definitely consider moving the powder room for all the reasons you mentioned.

Keep the feedback coming please!

Your kitchen is bit bigger than mine but it is laid out very similarly. You have an island whereas my sink is on a peninsula. But, if you took your island and moved it down 4 feet (getting rid of the walkway to the living room) and also moved the fridge and that bank of cabinets down to close off the walkway to your mudroom, you'ld have my kitchen nearly EXACTLY - right down to the placement of all the major appliances. I think even your cabinet runs are all nearly the exact same length as mine. Actually, I guess my stove is moved about 18" to the left so it isn't crowded into the corner but otherwise our designs are very similar. The door to my pantry is even in the same spot as yours and my breakfast nook and great room are in the same location as yours.

Your kitchen is very open to traffic tho while I purposely made the "work area" of my kitchen rather difficult to get into. My brother was burned very badly as a child when he got in the way of my mother carrying a hot pot full of spagetti to the sink to drain it so I have a horror of having extra people in the kitchen while I cook. So, when we have company I want to visit with them ACROSS the serving bar and not have them coming into the work area of the kitchen while I'm cooking. So far it seems to work pretty well.

After using my kitchen for 9 months, the only thing I would change about it is that I'd move the dishwasher closer to the sink. I was concerned about having standing room in front of the sink when the dishwasher door was open so I put a 26" cabinet between angled corner and the edge of the dishwasher. If I had it to do over, I would put a 13" cabinet there and another 13" cabinet on the other side of the dishwasher. As it is, the dishwasher is a bit too far away from the sink which tends to result in lots of water dripped on the floor.

Other than that tho, I LOVE my kitchen. I have plenty of countertop to work on...enough that I can dedicate various sections of the countertop to specific purposes. I have all the cabinets I could ever wish for. (By the way, I used almost all drawers instead of doors on my lower cabinets and am so glad I did. No more getting down on hands and knees to find things!) I'm very happy with the distances between my sink, range, and fridge. In fact, I think if they were further apart, the kitchen would be less comfortable to work in.
This is going to seem like a silly suggestion but, find some open space in your current house (even if out in the garage) and get a whole bunch of cardboard boxes and "mock up" your kitchen design in full scale. Then, carry some pots and pans out there and walk thru the entire process of making a full meal. This will give you a better idea than anything else of whether your kitchen design will really meet YOUR needs.

Thank you for the feedback re: the kitchen. I have my sink at a 45 angle now with the DW to the immediate right and I do not have enough room. It is great to know that you prefer just a small cabinet/drawer b/w sink and DW instead of a full 26. On paper it looks so big, but it is only 8 ft distance from the sink to stove, sink to fridge, and fridge to stove - for me only 3 1/2 steps. When I look at it that way and step it off in my current kitchen it seems much more reasonable.

I think I do prefer to keep the kitchen open - not sure which side I would close off - either way would affect traffic flow a great deal. And the wet bar, I have dreamed about for years. At this point, I don't really care whether it is practical or not. :) It is also the location of the second sink when needed. I do plan to use all drawers on the lower cabinets - even plan to keep dishes down there so the kids can effectively unload the DW sooner, and set the table on their own.

I think I will try the mock up in my garage when it gets a little warmer. :)

Bevangel - how does the traffic flow work coming into your kitchen? closer to the breakfast nook?

Anyone else out there, please continue to give me your input.
Thanks!

I have worked on the left wing like bevangel suggested. My son will be in the front BR, so privacy is less of an issue. I also think this will provide the girls a little more privacy in the back, too. It also improves the br and closet size in each of the used br. It also improves the light in the bedrooms, especially the one in the right rear. The laundry is now on the outside and has a window - yipee! It is also larger. The downside is that the playroom dropped from 22x24 to ~22 x17 - and now there is traffic flow through it. I want to have both "entertainment" space (aka - movies, wii, socializing) and play space and toy storage for the little ones. The powder room is moved to this hall, too, so that it is more secluded and my pantry grew. :) (not pictured) I made a small coat closet where the powder room was and bumped the back wall of the pantry.

What problems do you see with this or do you like the other plan better?

I think you're asking how traffic flows on the non-sink side of the bar. Right?

Well, where you have your door to the deck, I actually angled off a short section of wall so that I could have a window directly in front of my sink. From the edge of my bar to the wall is 68 inches. (I just measured!) Looks like you've got about the same distance from the edge of your bar to that corner. I don't think you'll have any traffic flow problems. We had a party New Year's Eve with over 70 people in the house all at once.

I put snacks out on the breakfast nook table and we were dancing in the great room so people were going back and forth all the time. No traffic jam ups at all!

I think the new design is great! Of course I would think that. :-)

While you do have "traffic" thru the playroom, it doesn't go thru the TV watching area and that is where traffic would tend to be a problem.

Instead of having that big closet by the table in the play room, have you considered leaving that space open to the play room and wrapping kitchen style cabinets around it in an L? If you make the upper cabinets 15 inches deep instead of the standard 12, you can store an amazing amount of stuff that much cabinetry. Plus, if you put in a sink, you would have a countertop for temporarily stowing those kinds of kiddie activities that just can't be put away immediately. I'm thinking half-finished jig-saw puzzles, in-process science fair projects, art projects that need to finish drying, etc. When your kids get older, you could easily add in a microwave and an undercounter fridge and they'd have a place to fix snacks for themselves and their friends instead of mucking up your kitchen.

Wow Bevangel - Love the idea of a big set of builtins - right now one kitchen cabinet and half of my pantry below the waist is dedicated to children's art supplies - I hadn't even given thought as to where their "home" would be. I am even thinking of an end cap or built-in bookcase nearby, too.

You are awesome - and brave to host 70 in your home at once. :)

Here is the left wing with a few tweaks. Thanks for your input. Keep it coming.

Any more advice guys? I appreciate any feedback.