kats - thanks for your suggestions. Nope, we're no where near finalizing anything, unfortunately. I've actually told my designer that I'm taking a break for a few weeks to reconsider everything. This plan just does not wow me at all and if I'm going to spend a bunch of money building my 'dream home' I want to really LOVE it, kwim? I have been rethinking the steps to the master, and I think I am going to nix them. I love the idea of something different like that, but I think it probably should be eliminated for practical reasons (I really hate being practical though!) I don't really care too much about resale at this point, because we plan to be here for at least the next 15ish years. And we're on 10 acres of land where land in our area is a definite premium and highly sought after. But even so, I'm not going to build something totally undesirable for the next person. chisue, we are building in central IL. weedyacres, thanks for your thoughts about the bathroom. I do like your suggestions about rotating the shower. I'm still undecided on a j&j bath. Some people love them and others hate them. So I'm not sure... I definitely agree with you on the storage issue! I need to add LOTS of closets and built-ins. Unfortunately, we can't dig the foundation lower since we're so swampy around here. We're not in flood plain, but our sumps run CONSTANTLY in our current house. So we were thinking of other ideas on how to still have a basement (we need one due to tornadoes) but possibly not going down as far. any other ideas? My dilemma is what to do with the center of the home. Most all plans I've seen have the great room in the middle of the home, but we want ours bumped off the back with lots of windows. We don't need 2 great rooms, so what do we put in the middle? I also need to have my kitchen on an ext. wall because I want lots of windows above my sink. I do agree with you on the choppiness though, so I'm probably going to nix this plan and start over. ugh. the e-space is more of a homework/blogging space for my 3 kiddos and I. I don't want them to have computers in their bedrooms, so I need for this space to be centrally located so I can keep an eye on their computer use :) thanks again for all the input! I keep surfing house plan sites hoping I'll stumble upon the perfect plan, but after 3-4 years of searching I'm not very hopeful...

Wow MrsPete thats a lot to think about! I was not expecting to have to request so many changes to this plan. Considering we hired a professional designer to do the plan. I will do my best to address all the issues mentioned. Again thanks for everyone who has chimed in.. Great point on the double entry doors. I did not even think about turning the lights on. It looks like the master bathroom has double entry doors too. I am not sure I want to shut two doors every time I go in the bathroom. So if we flip the washer and dryer to the kitchen wall and make it come off the mudroom. What about the door entry from the mudroom ? Looks like the washer and dryer would hang out some past the doors edge. But I think this may be ok if they are placed on down the wall verses right beside the door. With the fridge I actually like it where it is for the most part. I like that when you look back towards the kitchen from great room, you dont really see the fridge. But this is also one thing I told the wife she could make the call on the layout of the kitchen. Also as far as all the plumbing goes I will be running everything. I have done a few houses that are rental properties and have all the tools to run pex and the drains. Ok, so maybe we need to make plans to eliminate a bathroom and add on for the pool area. When you say you would build one nice bath between the two bedrooms and having into opening into the hallway for a guest bath, do you mean the bath will have 3 entry doors, 2 from bedrooms and 1 in hallway? It seems like this would also put it really close to the half bath. Also what are the thoughts on a jack and jill? On the closets this is one thing I requested. I want some space for myself!! Otherwise the wife will take it over! I thought the divider wall would actually give you a little more room to hang things also. I do like the idea of putting the shower in the corner and moving the toilet. But at the same time I like the privacy of it being on the outside wall away from everything else. With the windows in the closets I am not sure what to do on this. I do agree its not the best scenario. I also do not know if I want a large window in the toilet room. I know the designer said he had a very difficult time making the windows work on the front of the house. We do plan to make changes to the doors leading out to the porch. I am concerned about furniture placement with all those doors. Also if your looking outside from the great room who wants to see the backs of outdoor furniture? I am kinda at a loss on how that will look. You all have been a great help so far, I am sure we will get this all worked up and build pics will be coming before you know it. I will also try to attach some pics that I gave the designer for ideas on what the wife and I liked. We basically gave him some pictures and he had us fill out a 3 page questionnaire.

Updating this thread. Builder provided updated drawings, addressing a couple of concerns. Bedroom 2 Dormer is now larger, a 5' window. He said we could put a window seat there, bookshelves, whatever we wanted. We asked about skylights too, and he said when we get the final roof lines we will see what we can do - you don't want to see a lot of skylights from the front elevation of the home. Rear bedroom got 2' deeper, which makes that a huge bedroom. I asked if any of that extra sq. ft. could become part of the study loft, basically moving the Mechanical Closet and WIC back some. Architect would investigate this - all about how the doors line up. Not exactly what we imagined for the 'kids floor' when we started, but I'm liking it a bit more now. On to the basement ! :)

Thanks, Kate's. I will definitely get the pads for next washer. And will look into barn mats. Thanks We have two as well. Now the downstairs Duet sport is displaying "Sd" ...think pump needs to be cleaned... has never been done....why would they put behind panel needing to be lifted and Unscrewed! Never ends... may need TWO Washers!