Thank you all for your comments. 1) The square footage of the garage is not included in the 2000 square footage requirement for the main floor/living space. 2) We are unable to switch sides for entry to the garage due to the lot size and the width of the house. We don't have enough room to have a driveway large enough for a turn-around if the entry is on the east side. Our only options are the courtyard or front entry. We do agree that the size of the garage can be reduced. 2) there is a large covered deck (18'5" X 16') with the access doors on the right side of the nook. 4) We have considered moving the fireplace to the full wall and having floor to ceiling windows on the back wall. Does anyone have any suggestions on a fireplace and TV on the full wall without having the TV placed over the fireplace? 5) yes, there is a view of the water. We have requested larger windows in the master bedroom, nook and the great room. 6) yes, we have water access from the back yard (private dock); the boat ramp is a few blocks up from the lot. 7) Agree that a larger vanity/counter space is needed in the master bathroom. The layout of the master suite is what is giving us the most problems. Also, I do not like the 'wasted space' between the hall and entry into the master bedroom. Any suggestions on how to better improve the flow? These are preliminary plans so we can move walls and placement of any rooms. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Your ideas are greatly appreciated!

I made a couple more changes and updated SF. Total SF is a little under 3600. bpathome, I moved the sink to the front of the pantry. My wife uses the Keurig every morning so it probably makes more sense to have that at the front of the pantry adjacent to the sink. Does the pantry look good now? I also decreased the offset between the kitchen and the foyer by a foot (adding a foot to the south for the kitchen), which added a foot to the pantry and allowed me to move the island a little bit farther south so it doesn't block the walkway from the garage to the great room/master suite. I added a foot to the north for the great room and dining area, which decreased the depth of the covered patio to 11 feet. Is this deep enough? We want to have a sitting area on the covered patio, but also don't want it so deep that it severely limits natural light in the back of the house. I could add a foot to the north for the laundry room and sitting area if the patio needs to be at least 12'. Jackson, We appreciate the suggestion, but I don't think I want the laundry room directly behind the great room (in case the laundry is running while watching TV, etc) and would prefer the W/D to also be a little farther from our bed. We're not concerned about having to walk through the master suite to get to the laundry. Other than kids bringing dirty clothes in there, my wife and I should be the only ones using that room. We would love to have more suggestions for our floor plans. We have incorporated most of the suggestions from our first thread into the updated plans, but would love to hear more ideas! Thanks again! Updated floor plans:

Your floor plan is very similar, even the room dimensions, to the house we have built twice, including the two staircases. Our second staircase is a straight shot up rather than an L shape. Given the bonus room, that might not work for you. Our kitchen is different but in the same location. In the first version we built a mudroom very much like the one shown here. It was really too narrow and lacked space when myself and the two kids were coming/going and dealing with coats and shoes, etc. I don't see the dimensions on your plan but am guessing it is a similar size. I would consider eliminating the powder room in that area to gain space for a bigger mudroom area. You have another main floor bath. I would also suggest eliminating the door between the bath and the guest suite unless it's going to be used regularly. This would allow you to enlarge the closet and it's really not far to the bath from the door into the room. The guest suite is a living room in our version of this house. It's open to the foyer and brings in lots of light. You could have the guest suite open to the foyer by using double doors. That gives the room a bit more flexibility in how it functions. Some might want to use that space as an office and use the study as a guest suite.

I love the exterior of the plan and many many things about the interior. But I do see some potential issues with building it "as is". First the stairwell. On the first floor level, notice that both ends of the staircase say "up". Based on the staircase shown on the basement level drawing, I THINK the "up" nearest the kitchen is supposed to say "down" to the basement. However, if you look where the staircase ends in the basement, you'll see that there is no room for a lower landing. You would basically step off the bottom step smack dab into a wall that is about 12 inches away. That is going to have to be fixed. I'm also not totally into the idea of an open "well" running from basement to second floor... especially in Wisconsin. Much of your heat will sink into your basement making it harder to keep the bedrooms reasonably comfortable. I do think however that keeping the space available for a future elevator is a great idea. You never know when someone in your family might become wheel-chair bound. Without an elevator, 2/3 of your home - and all of the bedrooms and tubs/showers - would instantly become inaccessible. Plus, with a U shaped staircase, it would probably cost you more to put in a chair lift alongside the staircase than an elevator. And, an elevator would both look nicer AND be more useful. Perhaps as chapnc says, you could close the "well" between the basement and first floor and tuck a desk or something in there for now. Know however that if you ever do build an elevator, it will block much of the light from those front windows from reaching the rest of the house. Next, the kitchen. I love the idea of all the windows but wonder if you've considered whether you will have enough "above the waist" storage space. I don't see ANY upper cabinets nor any spot to hang some open shelves...unless that dotted line along one edge of the island indicated upper cabinets? (It isn't clear whether that means upper cabinets or a raised bar section). Really think about whether you would want to have to bend down and pull drinking glasses and cups and spices and cereal boxes and cookies and all the other stuff that typically gets stored in upper cabinets out of you lower cabinets instead. I love the idea of a built-in booth breakfast nook. (I'm actually putting one in my own house b/c DH and I always choose a booth when we eat out so I figured we might as well have one at home!) But I'm not sure if the one on your plan is wide enough so that you won't be stepping on the toes of the person sitting across from you. Based on a comparison with the stairs - which have to be at least 3' wide - the booth is only 5 foot wide at most. I picture fights breaking out among the kids over who stepped on who's toe or which one kicked the other. :-( I also agree that you need some countertop beside the refrigerator as a staging area - even if it is only 16 inches wide. When you need to pull a gallon of milk out to reach behind it for something else, it is nice to have someplace handy to set the milk jug down temporarily while you get whatever else you needed out. Next, I don't think there is nearly enough closet space for the master bedroom. For resale value in a house this size, I would expect his and hers closets or at least a 7x10 closet so that each partner would have 10 ft of wall space in their closet. I agree that opening the secondary bath to the hallway is a good idea. J&J baths can be a pain in the neck with kids locking one another out. My last thought is that, building in Wisconsin, a plan that had a lot more windows on the south side would let you take better advantage of the sun. But I can understand wanting to orient toward your best views on the east. Still, it is something to think about. I do think most of the issues I see with this plan could be resolved without changing the exterior... at least not much. Will try to post some drawings later but have to go fix lunch for DH now!