I would consider shifting the garage 4' or so to the left. It will likely cost a little more since it likely complicate your roof design but that little breathing room by the front door will help. That would give you the opportunity to put a window in the mud bath if you like also (however I would probably switch the laundry with the mud bathroom, I prefer more separation from bathroom and kitchen/eating/entertaining areas.) If you do decide to get rid of the office, I would shift the kids bath to the end of the hall where the master closet is and put the master closet where the office is, I am not a fan of having to cross the room while getting ready in the morning but again that could be me. If you did put the bathroom at the end of the halls, you could just do two walk in closets between the bedrooms and possibly a hall linen closet which would let you pull the rooms up and skinny it up. I would also consider bumping one of the bedrooms out 2', to add some architectural interest (again adds cost though) If you do bump on the rooms out, I would switch it to have 2 single windows instead of a double, I noticed all the windows on the front of the house are double which may seem a little redundant. Good luck! As a side note, I completely understand on debating the square footage, we are also planning a full basement so it is constantly a question of how much is too much? Adding 300 square feet of finished space upstairs adds a total of 600 sf of heated space - always a factor we're thinking about!

Are you going to build this house with a basement? What climate/state do you live in? Which direction is south? I really like this plan, but have the following suggestions: It looks like the plan has 42" between the master bath shower and vanity. Could be better, but that's sufficient. However, I'd add 2 to 2-1/2' through the middle of the house in the following areas: --laundry/utility, with perhaps some of it in the e-space if you will be using that as an office. --right side of the entry from the garage opposite the stairs--for a bench, cubbies, and mail sorting/"to go" shelf. --dining room. I would make the dining room serve additional purposes, especially if you are not having a basement. In addition to making it longer by adding the 2' or more, I'd add another foot to make the other measurement 13', and put short walls on the foyer end of it with double pocket doors and a pocket door to the kitchen. With this 13 x 15'+ room, you could have bookcases/storage, a couple of comfortable chairs in one or both corners by the windows, as well as a buffet/credenza. That way, if someone is doing noisy activities in the great room (or a TV program/video that others don't want to watch), there is an alternate quiet area that can be closed off if necessary. The 2' added to the dining room would extend to the foyer area, where you could than add 6" to each closet. The existing closets are only 2' wide! That means their doors are maybe 18" wide??? I think I'd be tempted to give up their symmetry, shift the window, and make one larger closet with a wider bench (which picks up 4-1/2" by getting rid of the wall). Anne

Sorry for the confusion mel- My cost to build comment was more referring to macv's photos and other photos of houses. I was simply saying I could in no way see a photo of a random house online and tell you what I think that house would cost to build in my particular area. Obviously that is something best left to professionals. It is not in reference to our particular project. We have determined our budget, and will have 25% of that in cash. My builder had given me a ballpark figure based on a larger houseplan we had considered building, but we scrapped the plan for various reasons including the garage layout, the bedroom schematics, and upon closer inspection felt like a lot of wasted space. Our situation has been a little stressful for another big reason- Within a span of a few weeks a couple events transpired that changed our circumstances. My parents bought 74 acres of land (40 tillable, the rest very hilly and wooded) within city limits. Its property boundaries are defined by the main highway running through town, and a gravel road that leads to a development. We contemplated buying 10 acres from my parents and building on that land so we could be 1 minute from town vs. 10 minutes. We then got a cash offer we couldn't refuse for the 14 acres we owned that we had originally intended to build on. So now we have a new build site. Now I am sitting here weighing the pros and cons of this change in build site. My parents are also building at the same time as us, so we are sharing a well. In addition, they are covering the cost for our soon-to-be shared driveways- a blacktop drive accessible from the highway that is about a half mile, and an access drive cutting across the ridge of our build sites that will be graveled. This alone will save us a minimum $50,000 once you factor in blacktop and the well. The bad: Our acreage will border their acreage, we will have easements for the driveways instead of owning the land adjacent to the highway, and my father will probably develop the other large chunk within a few years (the 74 acres is literally bordered by 2 different developments, so it is ripe for that type of endeavor). I guess in the end we figured the shared benefits were too great to pass up. So yeah, we will be living next door to my parents. I know this may sound like a nightmare to some people but my parents are awesome, and this will not be their full-time residence so I think it will be okay.

If you do get a nice big lot, as you hope, are you sure you want your garage in front? I wouldn't call 3/4 - 1 acre a big lot, but still it's big enough not to have the dreaded garage-out-front situation. The garage is rarely a particularly attractive part of a house, so unless you're building on a lot so small that it's listed in feet instead of acres, why put the worst part of the house out front to set the tone of the whole house? Can you elaborate more on why I need to have a lot first? You certainly have ideas already about the type of house you want, but the specific lot -- especially when you're talking about an acre or less -- may dictate the type of house you'll choose. Examples: - If you choose a corner lot, you may opt for a side-opening garage placed at the back of the lot so that it'll provide some privacy for the back yard ... whereas that layout wouldn't work at all if you choose a typical lot. - If you find a great neighborhood that happens to have narrow/deep lots (or a neighborhood with large set backs), this house plan you've drawn could easily be too wide. Or vice-versa, you might fall in love with the last lot in a neighborhood, and it could be wide and shallow. Or, yet again, you might choose a cul-de-sac lot that'd necessitate a rather narrow front dimension. - The neighborhood you choose may specify what you can and can't have in a house; for example, the neighborhood in which we're going to build specifies only all-brick or stone and at least 1900 sf. Some neighborhoods require that the house plans are approved by committee, others require very specific items such as a specific roof pitch, a garage of a certain type or size, insist up on two-stories, even mailboxes of a certain type. - You may find a great deal on an oddly-shaped lot, and this fairly predictable rectangular house may not work on it. - You may find that very simple lot that you think has no real distinguishing characteristics and can accomodate pretty much any house plan, and your builder may tell you that because of geographical features of the lot, the driveway /garage MUST be placed on the left instead of the right ... and that throws off what you wanted to do. So until you know where you're going to build, it's absolutely not a waste of time to go through plans and develop a strong sense of what you want ... but don't get your heart set on anything specific until you've chosen your building spot. To get the square footage down, I think the size of your bedrooms are way too large. My master is 15 X 16 and it fits a king size bed, two end tables, GC stand, a dresser and a recliner. I think the rest of the bedrooms could be sized down to 12 X 12. It really is enough room. Your guest bath could also bescaled down. Just don't skimp on the closet sizes. Agree. Your bedrooms are all master-sized rooms, and that's not really a plus in a house -- it just means you need more furniture and your heating bill will be higher. Also, ask yourself if you need a walk-in closet in the guest room; I think this, like the upstairs walk-in storage, is a space that just fell into existence -- you want to control the rooms, not allow them to control you. I think you've defaulted to "oversized rooms" throughout this plan, especially in the bedrooms ... but in other areas you're skimpy. For example, you really don't want to build a study that's only 9' wide; by the time you account for wall thickness, this is going to be a massively tiny room -- it might work if you open it towards the foyer and use double French doors, but in its current rendition it's essentially the same size as your closet. Note, too, that once you allow walkways on three sides of the great room, you're going to have a fairly small area for seating. Yet in the dining room you've allotted space for a long table, yet really too much width -- the proportion of the room's going to feel "off". You might say "elegance" instead of proportion; an elegant room is properly sized, fits well into the grand scheme of things, enhances the house ... this first-draft house plan feels more choppy and haphazzard than elegant. Back to bedrooms: I also agree on fairly large closets; large closets allow rooms to be smaller and keep rooms neater. With that being said, all of those components, no matter their layout requires a decent amount of footprint. I don't want to have to compromise on these spaces because of the land. Consider that an average house in America is between 2000 and 2400 -- you're looking at building something significantly larger. Is this realistic in terms of budget? Not just building, but also maintaining, insuring, cleaning? If it is budget-appropriate, do you really want to dump this much money and this much time into your house? Is this over sized house going to fit on the rather modest sized lot you're anticipating? If you needed to sell it, would a house of this size sell easily in your area? I'm in no hurry to do this and would rather find the perfect land that would accommodate a house with these spaces. I agree that "right" trumps "fast", and I have the impression that you're very much still in the "developing ideas" phase. Don't rush through this. So with all those constraints are we talking 0.5 acre, 0.75 acre, or more for minimum? More. If you want a large house, an over sized garage, a pool and a garden, you realistically can't do that on 1/2 an acre. Test it. Go onto your county's GIS system and look at lots and houses -- pick houses that have pools -- you can easily see the lot size, the square footage of the house. You'll find that 1/2 acre lots can support a house of about 2000 sf and a medium pool ... but they're really tight. At an acre you can include the larger house, the deck and screened porch ... but not with a whole lot of room between you and the neighbors. Upstairs: the kids will not use the kids study. They just won't. Those are long, dark, narrow hallways. They separate the boys from one another, and from the action downstairs. Agree and agree. No reason the kids can't study in their bedrooms. I agree that this floorplan has excessive hallways. Why not just give each bedroom its own bathroom, or let them share one bathroom with hall access? Again, agree. This bathroom is overly complicated with too many doors. What it doesn't have is storage space by the vanities. I suggest a plain and simple 3-piece bath opening on the hall. Not set on 2 staircases. Husband wanted that....I think to have an easy access to the bonus room. Staircases require more square footage than you realize, and they are a very big line item in the budget. Other thoughts: - Pay attention to all your doors. For example, note that once you place a table in your dining room, you won't be able to comfortably reach that door. You also don't want doors that open towards the outside ... think about the hinges, think about what's going to happen to the doors in the rain. - Look, too, at where the interior doors "park". The study has it right: When the door is open, it lays against a wall. Now look at the master bedroom -- the door is in the middle of the room, meaning you have an uncomfortable spot "behind the door". You want doors to open into the corners of rooms. And look at the guest bathroom: When you walk in, you're looking at the toilet -- nicer to walk in to a view of the sink/mirror; it makes the room feel larger. Also, if this door is left open (and it will be), it blocks the hallway. - Note that you could easily use the guest bathroom as your downstairs powder room. It's in a private location and is accessible to guests. This would be a very big money saver. - Pay attention to sizes in bathrooms; for example, neither the guest nor master bathroom has a vanity of adequate size to support two sinks ... and neither one has any storage at the sink. In both places, you'd be better off with one sink and a stack of drawers for your necessities. Note, too, that the toilet closet in the master bathroom is minimal in size; it'll be uncomfortable to use and impossible to clean -- since the 2'6" door barely opens into it, I'm thinking it's smaller than code. - You say you're not clear on "good flow". Consider the pathways you'd take through the house to complete daily tasks. Here are two examples: Look at the red line. It's the flow between your master closet and the laundry room. It's awful. Look at how many turns, how many rooms you must walk through, how many doors you must open -- all while carrying a laundry basket. Don't miss the "pinch point" formed between the coat closet and the island. This is too complicated a line. On the other hand, you have very good "food flow". Look at the blue line. You come in from the garage, and the pantry is located near the door. You put your food away before continuing on into the house / no interruption of the cook, no traipsing through the kitchen. Then when you're ready to cook, the food comes out of the pantry, moves to the sink, is cooked nearby and it moves straight on to the table for serving. This keep-things-moving-in-one direction is what you want. Consider other daily patterns. Think through your return home from work, your kids setting up their materials to do their homework, washing the dog. In all cases, you want to arrange the house so that you have space and storage where you need them -- not too far, not too close, no backtracking. Often houses with good flow have a circular pattern, which allows people to move from one area of the house to another. For example, look at this oh-so-simple houseplan:You could use the foyer to reach any room, or you could "circle through" the butler's pantry to reach the rooms. Everything's close together and accessible. This is what's meant by "good flow". - What's the elevation going to look like? And the roofline? I'm not able to visualize a roofline from these drawings. - You've placed the two first floor bedrooms on the sides and a screened porch on the back ... the result is that your living spaces, the places where you'll spend most of your waking hours, are squished into the middle. They'll have less natural light than the bedrooms. You could alter this by moving the guest room upstairs (and it could use some of that walk-in storage or the bonus room). This would allow natural light into your kitchen. - Consider, too, that you want to attempt to "stack" your walls and your plumbing in a two-story house. Two-story walls are easier to build, and electrical and plumbing can be run "straight up" to the second floor. This is a big money saver. - I'd move the dog cubbie to the mud room. It'd be quieter for the dogs, and it'd get them out of the way when you have guests who don't necessarily want to be around the dogs. I'd also move the coat closet out of the kitchen and into the mud room.