Two things I see off-hand: The master closet gives up a lot of space due to the door layout. A closet that size with a door centered in each short wall would have over 20 linear feet of hanging space. I like the idea with connecting it to the laundry room, but I would play around with it more.

If you are going to take care of elderly parents (and yourselves, someday) make sure most if not all of the house is universal design, so that partially disabled people can safely maneuver. My SIL had ankle surgery, and found much of their beautiful new h0me was off limits until she was out of the wheelchair.

Overall works pretty well. Here are a few suggestions:

-Mudroom: having the door open in to the gararge is really annoying. I would have the door open into the mudroom againt the right wall. I would put a wall of lockers on the left wall in the mudroom.
- Or better yet, you can combine the mudroom and laundry room into one big space and incorporate some of that wasted hall space. Fewer doors too.
-make sure that master bathroom works.
-I would put a full bath in the basement & create a bedroom down there with an egress window. You can use it as an office for now; Once you have 2 children, the basement bedroom will be useful as a guest room.

Unfortunately I see alot of problems and concerns with the plan. You walk in the front door you look right into the kitchen. The kitchen is smaller and will be very tight to work in I believe. I dont like the cooktop on the island( splatter grease, heat, not enough work space) Foyer space is gracious but not where I want space spent in a smaller plan. The dining is smaller side but the doors show swinging out and in midwest you dont swing doors out. The door swing in will make that space even tighter.If you lay out furniture in family room I suspect you will find it tight as well. 5 feet wide halls are bit over kill but I understand the desire. Spare bedroom on front has little space for bed on wall not in front of window. That bath is very tight especially the toilet tub area. No linen space at all. Door swings take up space and are shown to close to corners. I know this isnt finished drawings but just a note....Closet over stairs is small but may cause headroom problems. Master bath is very tight and again now linen storage. You have small /short vanities at angles making it tighter. You have to walk through the shower to get to the toilet which is in a very tight space. The closet is cut up with doors and at very least move door to laundry straight ahead of the one in bath. This frees up space in closet and laundry on end walls. I would walk in from the garage in the hall not the mudroom which will be mostly tyraffic flow and little actual storage. Doors swing in not out to garage. 1/2 Bath is tiny and shaped in awkward fashion. Sink is in corner that is mostly inaccessible. I would not build this house as is. Not saying it cant be fixed but it will take some work. Resale if ever desired on this house will be very difficult. Good luck

Critiques... Too many bathrooms (more significantly, way too many sinks). This adds to costs and is generally unnecessary or at the least is a cost that would be better served elsewhere in more durable or ling-lived construction materials or techniques. The bottom portion of the house as the plans are presented is a labarynth. Not a good idea for a "small house" better to have efficient layout and openness when possible. Essentially looks as if the designer used "big house" ideas in a small house. I'd recommend designing the house more toward rectangular. This is a less costly way to build a house and, in a small design, gives you more usable space (or a perception of such). Down the road, it will result in a roof less prone to leak and more simplified and less costly maintenance on the siding, interior and roof. Open it up, simplify it and dump the idea that a house of this size needs so many toilets and sinks. Needless complexity in a house is a blah, old tired fad of the last few decades. Simplify and you will have a more efficient and distinctive house.

Am I recognizing a PUNCH CAD drawing? I used Punch when designing my own house. Hope you're enjoying it as much as I did.

I think your drawing is a good start for showing your architect what you had in mind as far as genereal flow and sizes of rooms but it needs quite a bit of work before it'll be ready for building.

Among other things, for a relatively small house, you have an awful lot of space devoted to the two hallways and foyer. By my estimate, not counting the space devoted to the staircase, you have nearly 300 sq ft of hallway and foyer space. That is over 15% of your total square footage.

Even though you mention possibly taking care of elderly parents someday, this house probably wouldn't work for that. None of your bathrooms is designed for handicap accessibility. And, if you can't easily get a wheelchair into/out of a bathroom, there isn't much reason (in a small house) to make the hallway any wider than is necessary for getting furniture into/out of the bedrooms so that 5 ft wide hallway going off to the one bedroom doesn't really make any sense... unless you're planning to line it with bookcases and make it into a quasi-library.

Even for a non-handicapped person, all of your bathrooms - even the master bath - look like they would be extremely awkward to use. It might just be that your program is drawing in large spa-sized tubs instead of standard 5ft alcove tubs but, as shown, there just isn't room in either full bath to use the toilets. (BTW, if you are using a Punch CAD program, you can change the size of the tubs and showers it draws.)
Just for use by non-handicapped folks, most codes require one has to have at least 15 inches from the center line of any toilet to the wall or to another fixture (tub, sink, etc.) Thus, the toilet area has to be at least 30 inches wide. Then you need a minimum of 21 inches of clear space in front of the front edge of the toilet for standing room. That is the bare MINIMUM. Anything less than 24 inches feels cramped. To feel reasonably spacious, you need about 28 inches.

You also need a minimum of 21 inches of clear floor space to stand in front of a vanity sink and beside a tub or shower. Again, anything less than 24 inches feels really cramped. The clear floor spaces can overlap. That is, you can have a sink and toilet face each other with 24 inches of space between them and you'll meet code. I think you can allow doors to swing into the clear space so long as there is room to step around the door. And that is clearances for just a normal bathroom. If you're wanting one of the bathrooms to be handicapped accessible, you should read up on accessibility design. Among other things, it is suggested that an accessible bathroom needs a 5 ft diameter circle of clear floor space to allow room for a wheelchair to turn around.

You slso don't have enough room for the staircase to fit under that closet. You show ten risers before you reach the edge of the closet. If every step down is 7 to 7.5 inches (anything more tends to be uncomfortably steep), at MOST you will have dropped 70 to 75 inches from floor level by the time you reach the closet. Subtract about 12 inches of that for ceiling/floor joists and you will see you simply don't have enough headroom. The staircase would need to stick out into the open area between foyer and kitchen at least 2 or 3 steps further.

Even tho you haven't yet shown all the doors, you already have loads of "door conflicts" (i.e., places where two doors either open into each other or open so that when one is open it blocks someone from coming thru the other door.) The only time a door conflict is acceptable is when the door that is blocked is a seldom-used closet. And even then, you should try to avoid the conflict if at all possible.

Your design also has LOTS of exterior corners. (16 in all!) This isn't actually a design problem per se, but it can be an "expense" issue. Bear in mind that the more corners your house has, the more expensive it will be to build because the roofline will be more complex and the framing will be more complex. The least expensive house to build is one that is a simple rectangle with four corners. Every bumpout from the simple rectangle adds cost. I would consider pushing the bathroom on the right out so that it is even with the exterior wall of that bedroom. Although this would add about 20 sq ft to the plan, it would probably actually be cheaper to build.

You mentioned that you are building in the mid-west. I assume you already own the lot on which you will be building since you said that the house will face west.

You didn't mention whether your land is a suburban lot or whether you have acreage with any "views."

I ask because you don't seem to have taken the views or sunlight or prevailing wind conditions into consideration when placing windows. In a cold climate, windows toward the south help maximize solar gain and decrease your heating bills. In a warm climate, minimizing the number and size of windows that face south or west helps to decrease air conditioning expenses.

Of course, if you have great views in what is otherwise a "bad direction" for a window in your area, you might decide to put windows there anyway. But that decision should be made knowingly... not just because one has a spare piece of open wall.

If you're in a cold climate, you might also want to avoid placing plumbing against an exterior wall - especially the north wall. Of course you CAN run plumbing pipes in the north wall, but if you want to avoid having them freeze, you'll have to insulate them like crazy.

Keep in mind too that bedrooms on the north side will be cooler than those on the south side of the house and that folks who like to sleep late in the mornings might not appreciate windows that face east. Likewise, those that go to bed early probably won't want west facing windows.

Thank you everyone for responding thusfar. I never doubted for a moment that someone would hold back. That's exactly what I came for.

The land is large for our area (90 x 190) with the exception of farmers. The perk is only one neighbor to the north and a country road in the rear of the home. Not a whole lot of views.

I'm not really sure there's a whole lot I can do about the kitchen being the first thing people see when they walk in. You'd want the kitchen off the mudroom. Any thoughts?

I fixing the door swing issues. Thank you everyone for pointing out the left (north) side of the home. I didn't really realize it was a maze, but it was!

I appreciate pointing out I came make the mud and laundry bigger by combining them, but I am not a fan of going through my current mud room with clean socks on to do laundry. Gross. But, I have changed it up a little for better flow.

The builder will be putting in a rough in for the bath in the basement. The office will def be an optional bedroom.

I have changed the hallway to be smaller. Added the sq ft to the front bedroom.

The basement will have 8' ceilings. There'll be 1 foot of headroom probs by back of the closet. Builder already said he'll take care of that and build a shelf in.

There won't be that many exterior corners (maybe more than we want though). There will be a covered porch in the back and we have evened out the wall as suggested. In addition, the roofing will go straight across the porch area.

Here is my updated Punch CAD if anyone would care to continue their wonderful and honest thoughts and ideas, I truly appreciate it. I love this site.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sorry but I'm still not lovin' it yet.

1) You still have door conflict issues in the secondary bath. To get to the toilet, a person in the front bedroom has to go into the vanity area of the bathroom, step all the way up to the vanity so he has room to close the door behind himself then backtrack to go thru the pocket door. Not something I'd want to negotiate doing in the middle of the night. And if the person in the front bedroom happens to leave their bathroom door open, a person in the back bedroom has to move that door out of her way before she can get to the toilet. (BTW - if you run a search on this forum for "Jack and Jill baths" or for "J&J baths" you'll find lots of discussions re the pros and cons of such arrangements. Lots of cons to J&Js where the sharers are kids.

2) Do you REALLY want your masterbath to open up to the foyer??? Do you want to have to travel thru the master bath to get to the bedroom? Imagine you're getting ready for a party and running late (as we all sometimes do). You're in the shower. DH is getting dressed. He is almost ready but still hasn't got his shoes on. A couple of guests ring the doorbell. DH goes to greet them and fixes them a quick drink. He then excuses himself to run back to the bedroom and get his shoes on. Whoops, they're standing at the kitchen bar (where guests always seem to congregate) with a perfect view into your bathroom. If DH opens the door to go to the masterbedroom, he risks exposing you in all your newborn glory! Is he supposed to remember that he needs to circle aound thru the mudroom and laundry to get back into the bedroom where his shoes are waiting?

3) Once you have kids, most of your trips to the laundry room will be coming and going from the kids bedrooms and the kitchen. You'll still have to go thru the mudroom in your clean socks - unless you want to make every trip via your bathroom and thru your closet. The laundry is just too far from where most of the dirty laundry will originate after you have kids.

4) You still have way too much space devoted to entry foyer and hallway. Your foyer is bigger than your secondary bedrooms!

5) The master bedroom isn't really isolated. Although the kitchen cabinets may serve as a partial sound break, the kitchen can be the noisiest room in the house. Toddlers just adore turning pots and pans into impomptu drum sets. Is daddy going to sleep thru that when the pounding is going on just on the other side of the wall?

Sorry for the all the apparent negativity. You'll get there. Trust me, I went thru about a thousand iterations of my own plan before I got it polished! All I can say is, its a darned good thing Punch is so much fun to play with! :-)

I would put your cooktop on the master bedroom wall and if you really want something on the island, put your sink there. It will a lot easier to have an exhaust vent over your cooktop if it's on a wall.

I would also try to incorporate some of the foyer space into the master bed/bath area. Having a little foyer into the master is probably nice, but I would want some way to shut off the bathroom from everywhere else.

You might think about putting fiberglass insulation (at least), if not true sound insulation, between the bedroom and kitchen. In another house we had, the kitchen backed up to the master bath, and I could hear the compressor on the fridge (and it was a new home with a new refrigerator!). I would have as few pipes as possible in walls that are shared with a bedroom as well.

You'll get there, it will just take time.

If you make an L-shaped kitchen by extending the wall next to the oven towards the stairs and make a rectangular island, you could use some of that foyer space for a pantry on the new short wall. Also, the view of the kitchen would be blocked from the foyer and directed toward a nicer view through the window (widen it) through the family room. You'd now be able to use some of the foyer space for a better entry into the MBR and master bath.

If you move the front door & side lites further to the front of the house, you could gain enough space to have the mudroom door open into the foyer. This would block off the view into the powder room from the family room, and free up a wall for better flexibility in reworking your master bath and WIC.

Take a look at the Kitchen Forum and some of the advice given for the many kitchen plans there.

Anne

You really don't want more space in the foyer, so cancel what I said about moving the front door forward. Instead, move the toilet room/mudroom wall forward about 3'. Now you can put the mudroom door so that it faces the foyer closet door, and you can reconfigure the mudroom, laundry, WIC, and master bath however you wish.

Anne

Thank you everyone for your replies! You've helped immensely.

I believe I am content with everything but the bathroom/master entry. We would be willing to keep it as drawn, but for resale (which would only come up due to DH getting a promotion) we are a bit dissatisfied. Any suggestions?

I think this is our last round. Once we get this set, I think we'll be done and be able to break ground!

Here is a link that might be useful:

I've sketched out the changes I'm going to explain below (can't post the sketch, but I think everything works), but you can play around with my suggestions to get everything to fit to see if it all works for you.

I'd shift the MBR back so that its E wall lines up with the E wall of the family room, and the opposite MBR wall lines up with the open side of the stairs, except don't shift the MBR door. Then shift the garage/laundry/mudroom wall E so that it lines up with the bedroom and bath wall. Should be about the same square footage, but makes the roof line simpler (cheaper to build), and the family room/kitchen/stairs area look better.

On the wall next to the ovens, you can put a door into a 2' deep pantry; the pantry will be just to the right of the MBR door, extending over to the foyer. To the left of the MBR door on the back side of the MBR wall, put a double sink vanity. To the left of the vanities put the tub where the shower used to be. Put the shower where the toilet room was. Put the powder room where you had the double vanities, with the door opening opposite the back of the new pantry wall. Extend the MBR/oven wall across to the powder room wall, put in a pocket door, and make this the new entry to the MBR/bath suite. Put the master toilet room where the powder room used to be.

You'll lose the present closet in the mudroom. On the back side of the new powder room, I think you'll have room for a closet facing the mudroom. In the mudroom, I'd move the door to the garage over to the left side; it's better to have a garage door closer to the center. I'd put a window in the laundry as well as opposite it in the mudroom. In the mudroom, you can have cubbies along the wall to the right of the moved door, a bench under the window, and storage cabinets along the wall to the opening to the foyer.

The 2 other bedrooms and bath still bother me. I'd put another window in the south BR and put the bed on the south wall. Also, if you move the door about 3' into the hall, it will give you more space in the BR. I don't think that the closet is going to have as much space as you think over the stairs. I wish I could think of a better way to do this setup, but nothing is coming to me right now!

Anne

Just realized that the powder room really needs to open into the mudroom. So, instead of what I said above, put the master bath toilet room where you had the double vanities--with the door opening to the north, and keep the powder room as it is in your most recent drawing. Also, keep the door to the MBR suite where it is, and ignore what I said about extending the MBR/oven wall across.

In the mudroom, you could have a closet instead of cubbies to the right of the garage door, and cubbies/hooks on the other side of the window/bench instead of storage cabinets.

Also, you probably will want a window in the toilet/tub room of the other bathroom. If you switch the toilet and the tub, you could probably put an 18" deep linen cabinet opposite the toilet. I'd make the vanity in that bathroom 48" across, with drawers down each side.

It looks like your foyer is 8' wide. If you narrow it down to 7', that will give you another 12" to put into the bedrooms/bath area. Also, closets only need to be a finished 27" in depth, so you can pull a few inches out of the foyer and W BR closet into the bedroom complex.

Anne

If you might be caring for your parents in the future, I guess I'd leave the toilet and tub where you had them in case either of them would have a walker or wheelchair. In that case, I'd put a linen cabinet on the south wall perpendicular to the tub.

Anne

Hello matt_n_dess! I am a longtime lurker, but your post has succeeded in bringing me out of the woodwork. I feel compelled to give you some advice because you and your hubby sounded like us 5 yrs ago. I know that everyone's needs/wants are different, so I'll just tell you our situation and maybe you or someone else can glean some insight from us.

We built our house 5 years ago in the Midwest also (indiana). We had been married for 5 years and just had our first baby. We were living in an 1100 sq ft, 1 car garage house. (Man do I miss those $500/mo mortgage payments!!) We were ready to move up in size, so we decided to build on our dream lot- one acre on a quiet, dead end street. All we could afford at the time was what we built- 1864 sq ft, 2 car garage. We were supposed to have a basement, but when the builder started to dig, we discovered that we are apparently on top of an underground spring. Contract to build had already been signed, so the only option we could afford was to add 2 bonus rooms over the garage/master wing. (First lesson- make sure a basement is do-able before buying the land or starting the build.)

We have since had 2 more children, and let me tell you- 2000 sq ft (with the now finished bonus rooms) disappear quickly when you have 3 little kids running around! Trust me when I say that you will use EVERY bit of that house when you have kids. We have tried to find ways to expand. Unfortunately, because of numerous reasons that I won't waste your time on, we are unable to expand anywhere. Can't even build another garage or a shed. So this means that I have to creatively use every single sq ft that we have. Here is what I have learned from this:

-Half bath is a total waste of space. I don't even like to pee in it because I get so mad at myself for building it! LOL Everytime I'm in there I think of all the "could have beens."
- Our kitchen is small like yours will be. The only reason it is functional, is because we have a small (but still decent sized) pantry to put to put all our food in. The cabinets hold our pots/pans/plates,etc and the pantry holds our food. I don't see one on your plan. Maybe instead of the half-bath you can put a pantry there? Trust me, this will be a MUCH better use of your space.
- We have a decent sized foyer too (I'm guessing 10 x 5?), and again, I wish we didn't. If it doesn't contribute to the functionality of our family (and a foyer doesn't), it's wasted space.
- One thing we did right, was to leave the whirlpool tub out of our Master Bath. We just have a large shower. If you like a tub, just go with the standard tub/shower combo. A plan of this size can't afford luxuries.
-I think you will quickly dislike the small bedroom to the far right of your plan. That's about the size of our kids' bedrooms, and it is cramped. Their closets are also small, so we have to utilize dressers for their clothes. And since you have 3 doors in that room, there is only space for one piece of furniture. As your kids get older will you have a different place for them to put a desk? Do you plan to have a playroom in the basement, or will they also be playing in their rooms? Also, maybe I'm just a worry-wart, but having a window over my kid's head would scare me to death. I'm not sure where you are in the Mid-west, but I know most states in this area are prone to tornadoes and severe lightning storms and Murphy's Law states that they will always pop up in the middle of the night or during nap time. (At least that's how it seems for our family, anyway!) :)
-Is your TV going to go over the fireplace? That's another concern with that bedroom. We have the same situation. The TV shares the wall with the baby's room. It was okay for the second kid, because she slept thru everything. But Baby #3 is a light sleeper, so now I have to watch Desperate Housewives on the tiny 19 inch TV in my bedroom. :(
-Make sure you have PLENTY of storage room. Anywhere you can stuff a closet, do it! You'll never regret having too much closet space.
- Biggest lesson learned: If you want this to be your forever home, don't waste your beautiful land like we did. Leave yourself plenty of options to change things around, or even add on to the house, in the future. The house we built was perfect for our family of 3. It is now way too small for our family of 5, and there is no room for any ailing parents to move in with us. I wish we would have waited until we had more money saved up to build the best house possible for us, instead of rushing to build, thinking/rationalizing that 1800 sq ft would be plenty. I'm not trying to say that this is your situation, so please don't take what I am saying the wrong way! But this was definitely our situation, and I sure wish someone would have told us to stop and breathe and think about all phases of our life when building our house. The regret and burden I feel now is heavy. We have already started looking for our next "forever" house.

Ugh! Re-reading this post, I feel like it is heavy on the negative side, and could come off sounding like a personal attack. But please don't take it that way, because that is not my intention at all! Just wanted to share a little bit of our story in the hopes that it may help someone else somewhere along the way.

Good luck to you and your family and I hope you enjoy your build!!

I am sorry to say It's still got some serious problems Im sure others have mentioned but I failed to read so forgive me if so. I would never walk into the bath to get to my master bedroom I just left a client who has that and its bigger and nicer and less obtrusive than yours and they hate it. The toilet in the kids bath should move to beside the toilet and put a linen cabinet where toilet is now. I would eliminate the wall and be sure the sink has room ITs so tight it will be useless in that room by itself DO NOT DO THAT PLEASE. Let the kids share that bath or wait their turns. It is too small to try and make 2 spaces in. Your Mast. Closet is basically too small but you will basically achieve 6'-6" double rods on each side in what should be about 7 feet wide. corners will be wasted if you have a rod on the end. The cooktop in the island you will regret.

Have you looked into Donald Gardner plans? He has some very smartly designed, efficient plans for almost every square footage you can imagine. They are pretty well designed and look nice and wont make you struggle so much to avoid the numerous problems you are continuing to try to solve. Good luck either way

http://www.dongardner.com/

No I dont work for him lol.

Please don't get in such a hurry to break ground! The biggest mistake in building is lack of planning, and your plans are not anywhere close to being a final. Don't let haste lock you into expensive regrets. Making major changes in the middle of the build is money thrown away and living in a badly designed space is even more frustrating. Even if this isn't a "forever" home, it's awkward use of space would leave it less desirable upon resale, which will affect any monies you would hope to take to your next build.

Haste is waste in many many ways. Stop. Breathe. And plan more on paper first.

Everyone has politely offered constructive advice but I could not find any aspect of the plan that I thought could be salvaged with that approach. I am struggling, as so many others have, to find the words to convince you to scrap this design. Yes, it's that bad.

I strongly recommend getting a professional designer involved or finding a plan from the internet and bringing it here for improvements. I am not a fan of internet plan mills but at least the plans make sense.

I know how much fun it is to design your own house but in the end it is too large an investment to not do it well. This plan will be a very bad investment.

I wish you luck with with your project.

I agree with the others that this plan is definitely not anywhere near ready to break ground. I spent some more time on trying to make it better BECAUSE you said you were going to break ground, but it still has major flaws.

I spent several years designing our house, and in retrospect my early designs are laughable, although I didn't realize it then. I read several design books by architects--some several times, took a 2-week intensive class in home design (12 hours a day solid!) taught by 2 architects, and still wish DH would have let me have an architect (instead of the designer we worked with) look at my final plan. The layout is almost perfect, but there are a few things that I know someone with more training would have caught, particularly in the exterior appearance.

So, lots of us have designed our own houses, but please listen to the advice on this thread, and SLOW DOWN until you've got a GOOD plan!

Anne

In his inimitable manner, MacV speaks the truth.

While a layman CAN design his/her own home, it takes a lot of time and effort and STUDY to do it well. Sadly, you simply are NOT there yet. Your plans are still a long long way from being at the final tweaking stage. Never-the-less, you seem to want to rush forward and break ground.

Designing your own home - and not making an absolute mess of things - REQUIRES that you educate yourself with all the knowledge that good architects learn in school and on the job.

Yes, there are a lot of bad and mediocre architects out there who also design disasters. So, just going to an architect is not going to ensure that you wind up with a lovely, well-designed home that is comfortable to live in.

If you want to build a custom home, even if you eventually wind up using an architect, you need to educate yourself to some degree on the fundamentals of good design.

If you want to design it yourself, you HAVE to educate yourself well beyond the basic fundamentals.

I do think any reasonably intelligent person can do it. You CAN do it. But, you are NOT THERE YET.

Have you read any books on home design? If you want to design your own home, you probably need to read and digest at least a dozen or so good books. I would recommend you start with the following:

* Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design by Max Jacobson.
* Designing Your Perfect House by William J. Hirsch Jr.
* Designing Your Dream Home by Susan Lang
* Home Plan Doctor: The Essential Companion for Anyone Buying a Home Design Plan by Larry W. Garnett
* What Not To Build: Do's and Don'ts of Exterior Home Design by Sandra Edelman, et al.

and then, since you want a smaller home, you really should read all of Sarah Susanka's various books on "Not So Big" houses.

Many of these are probably available in your public library so you don't have to spend a mint buying them.

Have you looked at a thousand or so house plans on the internet yet? Internet house plans range from middling bad to fairly good so in looking at plans, you have to think about what works and what doesn't in each plan... and if you're going to design your own home, you need to get to the point where you understand WHY some plans work well and others simply don't... even if you can't really express it in words. Having read some books on architectural principals will help you identify the good, the bad, and the indifferent.

Have you walked thru at least a hundred or so model homes similar in size to the one you plan to build? In walking thru them, have you collected copies of the floorplans (model homes often have copies of the floorplans available that you can take with you). Have you gone in with a tape measure and measured the rooms and how high the windows are from the floor and how big the windows are, etc., etc., etc., and then made notes on the floor plans of the rooms that felt too large or too small, rooms that were too dark, hallways that were too narrow, doors that blocked other doors, floorplans that seemed "awkward" to move about in? etc. Looking at real houses will help you understand and will reinforce the architectural principals you read about in the books. And, when you start designing your own plans, will help you avoid some of the most common kinds of mistakes (eg., door conflicts, putting wall switches behind doors, hallways that are too complex to move furniture thru, kitchens that turn cooking a major chore because they are tooooo large or one has to scurry AROUND an island to travel between stove and refrigerator; bathrooms that are too congested; bedrooms with no good spot for a bed, windows that don't line up on the exterior, etc.)

Based on the plans you posted, I would lay odds that you have not yet done ANY of these things.

When you have done ALL OF THEM, you'll be ready to begin designing your own plans. Then, after you sketch and scrap about two dozen ideas, you'll eventually come up with something that is ready to be tweaked into shape. But I cannot say it strongly enough, you are NOT THERE YET.

If you're not willing to do all of the steps I've outlined about, at least read one or two good books on architectural design, look at a hundred on-line plans, and walk through a dozen model homes. Then, go hire an architect. You'll at least be able to tell if the design he comes up with is worth building or is a piece of junk.

Or, as MacV suggests, just go find a plan online.

Dare I ask what the outside of this house looks like?

As many of you know, I am frequently appalled at the tendency of DIY designers to design houses one element at a time without trying to coordinate the whole design. For this reason I can drive by a house and tell if it was deigned by a professional or an amateur. I know that sounds like just a boast but that information jumps out at me as if it were a flashing neon sign. I'm not talking about taste or design style but the coordination of design elements and what I call balance, for lack of a better word.

The current plan for this project is a rabbit warren of corridors and spaces that don't relate well to each other. An architect could straighten the plan out quickly but it would take a bit of discussion in order to keep the aspects you like and to modify the exterior design to work with the new layout.

At this point I believe further modification of the plan without coordinating it with the exterior would be unwise. I know it's difficult to accept criticism of a design effort but if you are an amateur designer the most important skill you can learn is to recognize good advice and follow it even when it hurts. That's what happens in architecture school; it's only after you get raked across the coals by practicing architects in front of your peers (it happens a lot in 3 1/2 years) that you start to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are and to do something about them. It's no coincidence that school project reviews are called "juries" and the guest architects invited to comment are called "critics"; they are simply brutal.

Show us the design of the house, not just the plan, and maybe someone can think of a way to pull it all together and eliminate the awkward twists and turns.

One thing I should mention is that I do not believe anyone can design a house effectively on a computer and I know of no architect who disagrees with that opinion. Computer drafting and Computer-Aided Design developed in the practice of mechanical/aerospace engineering and has never quite found it's place in the design of buildings, except for contract drawings and perspectives.

Frank Gehry uses an unusually sophisticated custom CAD system to document his complex buildings but he designs them with cardboard and paper. His primary design tools are a pair of scissors and glue. I know you're not looking for a Gehry-designed house, but trust me, forget the computer and buy a roll of yellow tracing paper and some Pilot Razor Point pens. You're designing a single-family house, not a jet plane.

Here is a link that might be useful: Franks reveals all

I wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts, experiences, opinions, and knowledge.

Despite what many of you had mentioned, this is not rushed. I had plans with a builder last April, and I hated them. They just didn't work for us. I have spent about 18 months looking online. If something online worked, I would have chosen one of those plans instead of wasting 18 months.

I do not intend to be the best architect. And yes, I am very concerned about a house not having a style. There is no exterior design. Unfortunately, even our high end builder (who we will not be working with) said to start out this way.

We will be living in a subdivision in a VERY small town. The town is a farming town. Surrounded by pig farms. Yup. Cottage-like, but not screaming country is what I'll try for. Everyone in these little communities thinks McMansion is ok in the middle of a farm town, but I'm not so convinced. Somehow, my subdivision is a mix of mcmansion, plastered, craftsman, and who knows. I just need to fit in. I still feel cottagey is the way to go.

As far as the plan . . . my exact plan will not be set in stone. However, the general flow and logistics I hope to see developed further.

Just so everyone knows, this plan is actually based on a builder's in town, which we walked through. Walls inside were changed on the left side of the home. That's about it. Really, not a drastic difference, but enough where's its mine.

Anne - THANK YOU! You have been an amazing help. I couldn't have got the plan to something acceptable to have the builder work on. Really!

Bevangel - Thank you for your clearance info. I didn't know those codes. I am not a an architect, but you allowed me to put something on paper that the builder and designers can work with.

Kelhuck - thank you for coming out of the woodwork! I appreciate your advice. No worries, it was not negative. It was a word of warning, and duly noted.

I unwittingly designed the complete floorplan of our house. Thinking a well defined draft would help the house designer take the project to the next level, they simply translated my work into CAD and did little to improve it. My plan is pretty good but it could have been better.

I do think now that one can constrain their creativity with too many boundaries. Find a good designer and let them create your vision. The extra cost for a good detailed set of plans will be saved during the build.

The biggest glaring thing is the kitchen, and how even you can't figure out a way to hide it from seeing from the front door. The simpliest thing would be to switch walls that the kitchen is on! Put the fireplace on the old kitchen wall. This will also give you space to put in a pantry.

I have to agree with all the others though, the use of space is wasted and chopped and you will regret those bedrooms once you have kids. I have 3 myself and I would NEVER have three doors in one room on 2 walls that way. Where the heck are you going to put things, and those closets won't hold anything.

My rule of thumb is, if you can't put a full size bed on two walls longways AND sideways, the room is poorly designed.

You are talking that this is your forever house, I guarantee you will be selling it within 6 months of the 2nd child being born. And there is no way a set of parents can move into this.

Take that door leading into the masterbath off that hall.

You should be asking yourself "What is the purpose of this here". And if you can't answer that about every design detail, it means that is is wrong.

Your best advice is from MACV. If you have been hanging on the site, you will know his supreme experience and knowledge about everything! If MACV tells you to gut it, then gut it. The only thing salvageable is the placement of the master bed.

Just because this is a better plan than others in the area, doesn't mean you should build it. You will get honest opinions here, no one is out to be rude, just honest. And many of us have experience in living in many houses, what works, what doesn't. Sometimes a plan looks great on paper, but in reality is crap. And sometimes on paper it is crap............

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/cottage-house-plan-69013am.asp

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/cottage-house-plan-3172d.asp This is a good one, very similar to what you currently have. Close in the dining and make it your laundry/storage and the utility can be your mud room area. This house is only 1,790 but the space is used well.

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/cottage-house-plan-5196mm.asp This one you can put a door into the hobby room from the garage and make it into your mudroom. There are a couple of versions out there.

Now, don't tell us you can't find something better, because I found these in 20 minutes while I was watching tv. These are functional houses none of them over 1,850sf. Pay attention to how they did the hallways, doors, closets and bathrooms. There is no wasted space but each room is useable in several ways!!

Architectural Designs is one of my fav sites, lots to choose from and can get great ideas. Get on it, put in your perimeters and have a go.

Keep us posted with what you are doing, we would love to know what route you are going.

Remember, to make a plan your own, you only have to change 3 things.

Best of Luck :-)

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/cottage-house-plan-5188mm.asp

Have a look at this plan too, it is also 1800 sq ft and if you mirror image it, it gives you the Master away from everyone in case hubby goes back to nights. You can close off the "Flex" room and turn it into a very large laundry/storage room, believe me, you will need it. No one needs a formal dining these days, unless they have lots of family close by and your house is the place for Sunday dinner. When you are building small, you need to capitalize on your space usage. The current Utility room can be a mudroom (so you are not walking thru the laundry to the mud in your clean socks, lol). You can leave the upstairs bonus room to be finished off later, when you can afford it, so the kids will have a playroom later. And turn the garage into a front load instead of a side load. Although with your land size, this should not be an issue.

If your parents do move in, you can build an extension off of bedroom 3, with entry via a hallway built off of the great room.

I also like the size of the 2nd bath, plenty of room for guests (non-overnighters) to feel comfortable using, and when kids come along, plenty of room to bathe that toddler in the tub.

Consider using pocket doors wherever possible. They are worth it.

imwonderwoman - Thank you very much for looking at architectural designs for me. I find it quite funny the plans you came up with. We came up with those too last April. The plan below might be the exact plan we were going to use. We made some modifications are were about to sign with a builder. We had everything done, we just needed to find some land.

We're happy it didn't work out with the builder. It wasn't a good working relationship. Lesson #1. Looking back, we're happy we didn't go with the plan for multiple reasons, we were already 20K over budget and didn't even start building and we weren't getting everything we wanted. Lesson #2. I know we have more lessons to learn . . .

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/cottage-house-plan-5188mm.asp

-We didn't like that there wasn't room for an extra half bath. We didn't want guests walking through the house just to use the washroom.

-Laundry/Closet configuration didn't work for his 12 hour shifts on night and my cleaning during the day.

-Wanted a mudroom to close off. Although I have mud/laundry now, I love that I can close the door. There is a HUGE temperature difference from the rest of the house.

-Pricing with previous builder made us drop the flex room and get an office in the basement

-We now have land and I want the south wall open to the common areas

Below is my updated plan that I've been working on. I have been tossing the idea up of putting the kitchen on the right (south) wall.

I have too many doors. I've given up my dream of walking into a laundry room off of a hallway, because my plan was too cut up.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Today is the one day a year that I have at home without the kids, because school is in session and my office is closed. I sat down at the computer with a cup of coffee hours ago and I am still here. I was caught by your story.

Many people have tried to help because it seems you are really rushing into this and they are trying to stop you from making a mistake. I know it sounds mean but your plans still don't seem to flow.

I admit I have no professional experience and know no more than you about creating a floor plan but to me the laundry, mud and master seem to be the biggest problem. I've been playing around with the space that you have and came up with this. It still needs some work but I just wanted to show you what you could do if you eliminated some of the unnecessary hallways in the master bath/laundry. You gain a much larger walkin closet in the master as well as a more generous vanity area. I'm sure that my plan has some glaring issues that I've missed but I thought I'd try anyway.

Maybe someone else can figure out what to do with the large area in the center of the house.

Door openings are not to scale. Although I think most could easily be sized to fit a wheelchair.

Okay I just realized that I was planning away and didn't take the original footprint into consideration. I added about 8 feet!

So much for trying to help!

Good luck.

Trying one more time. Would you consider moving the entrance to the master bedroom?

I think switching the location of the kitchen would be a good idea, then the kitchen wouldn't be seen from the front door. That's how we have ours and love it.
Good luck with your plan.

Matt N Des: Your new plan is better, but still needs work. That whole master area is still to hodge podge. Trust us on this, you are wasting alot of space. You have a VERY SMALL house, but are not using the space very efficiently.

Where is South on this plan???? The rear?

I would suggest pocket doors on the entry doors to the shared bath, that will give you some more room in there. Definately put one on in the closet on what I call bedroom 2. It will drive you nuts, or at least have the door open into the closet. The room is much more functional now that you moved the door. Doors should almost always open in.

Your foyer doesn't work because you can't move or do anything until your door is closed, either way you hang it you are covering another doorway.

Trust me, once you have kids, all those doors will drive you nuts. We once moved out of a 6 year old 3200 sf house (4400 with finished basement) for the sole reason that the doorways drove me nuts, once we had a couple kids in the house. And I moved out of a 2 year old 4400sf house (5600 with basement) because I hated how my kitchen was laid out, very similar to yours, because kids where always walking thru to the eating area and it was not safe.

I URGE YOU to switch your kitchen, it will work out much better. No one wants to walk into your house and see your kitchen, staring at them, especially once you have kids and the kitchen is always a mess. It is not a warm, welcoming environment you are creating. The kitchen is the noisiest room in the house, you really don't want it againt the master when someone needs to sleep during the day.

Because those stairs go down, close off the wall and you can get a wonderful "L" shaped kitchen that will be safe when you have little ones about. You actually don't even have to close the stairs all the way. Although, I am not sure why they aren't already, with a door, for safety sake. Right now, it's an accident just waiting to happen. If you plan on entertaining like you say you are, once you and all your friends start having kids, that stairway is a design disaster and someone is going to get hurt. And just think of the noise factor, coming from the "Man Cave".

The whole Mud/Laundry is also still a mess. Again, trust me on this. My last house I built had 3 laundry rooms, but it was also well over 10,000sf. Maybe you can build recessed cubbies into the garage? I have done that in 2 of my houses and doing it in the one we are about to build. They are custom done, very functional and beautiful. In the current design of the new house, I made part of one wall of the garage (took space from walk in pantry) to put the cubbies in deep enough to not take space away from the garage.

It is easy to design a house with what you think you want and need, at this stage of your life. But once you have kids, EVERYTHING changes, it really does. I was one of those that always thought "Oh, no it won't, not to much ~ I will still live the way I currently do". What a laugh, my life is completely different and now mine are 11, 12 & 14. My oldest will be out of school in 2.5 years and then off to college and my youngest is homeschooled. I know you are way away from this, but it sneaks up on you.

I am finalizing my plans, a 3200sf house, 4 bed, 4 1/2 baths, one laundry (massive) & one walk in pantry (also massive) and office. The girls are upstairs with their own lounge area. Everyone has their own bathroom, walk in closets, built in desk areas, window seats with cabinets for storage under the window seat and along the sides. I have maximized space by using pocket doors where needed. I have another 600sf in the Patio & Alfresco areas, which can be closed in (via automatic Cafe Blinds) so that the areas can be used in all weather and furniture can be shuffled around to be able to entertain huge numbers. In the States I regularly held parties for 50 or more. In this new house there is NO wasted space. There are 1 or 2 things I would like different but here in Australia the lots are very tiny (8910 sf, and I have a big one!!) so on some things, I have had to give. ALL my biggest points (and there were tons ~ trust me on this too!!) are covered, so I can't complain that the door into the house from the garage opens into the kitchen, but I have angled the door so it's not so bad. And anyways, the pantry is right there and so is the office, so maybe all the mail (bills) will actually make it into the office instead of 5 seperate places around the house, lol.

I have been married for over 19 years, and in the first 6 years together, we lived in 11 different places (due to corporate transfers) so I have lived in LOTS of different floor plans. I know where I need space and where I'd like it, but don't really need it. We are currently in our 17th home (a corporate rental because we are out of the US), yes, I said 17th!!!! I consider myself an expert at this point on what a house needs and what is just silly fluff.

You are building a very small house that is NOT going to be a starter home so therefore your space HAS to be maximized, down to every inch.

HomeAgain: Your layout is wonderful, great use of space and cut out the waste. It opens everything up. :-)

wait a minute....are those stairs going up or down? You stated you have a basement but there is no mention of upstairs so I am assuming those stairs are going down. If that is the case, why aren't you using the space over the stairs for either the family room or the hallway into the bedrooms???????

ok, never mind, LOL, I must have been having a brain drain (before my morning tea here in Aussieland). Duh, you can't put anything over the stairs because then you would have no room to go down them.....hahahahahaha. :-)

I still think they should be closed off though, and a door installed. On my massive home, one of the staircases going down to the basement was right next to the front door. I had a glass door installed so that some natural light would get thru.

New Plan: http://www.garrellassociates.com/floorplans/manchester

It is 1606sf, but if you mirror image it, switch the garage with bedroom 2 & 3, you can add 200sf with a mud room/laundry room. The Master is away from it all and the master bath is between the family room and master so makes a great sound barrier.

This way all the bedrooms are on the same side of the house, which helps balance your flow.

You will need to add a stairwell for the basement.

Not to be mean, but I would start over from scratch.

The front bedroom..it looks like you have to walk in sideways to enter the bath. There isn't room for a bed larger than a twin size unless you put it up against the window.

No window in second bedroom?

The master bath. Eek! It seems like when you walk in the master door, you will be looking at the bathroom. It looks so cramped too, the bathroom. Plus, the toilet is off in an area that appears like it was put there in place a linen closet because there wasn't room for it to go anywhere else. Do you really want the master toilet on an outside wall like that?

The master closet to the laundry is taking up valuable closet space. It seems like a good idea in theory, but I would definitely scrap it. I would get rid of the laundry room altogether (move it in the basement) and expand that master bath and closet. Then you can get the linen closet in where the toilet is and have room for bath things. As a woman, I would go crazy with that bathroom the way it is. There's no storage.

As another said, the stove in the middle of the room like that, looking at it when you walk in the house etc. I would place it against the wall. Unless you don't cook much and don't have the need for a vent. But still, I don't think I'd like to see it every time I walk in the front door.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone for the insights. Everyone has really helped along to make our plan flow and be workable. Something we've been asking people to help us with for the past 18 months. Thank you for your honesty. I appreciate immensely.

imwonderwoman and homeagain - you've been the best. I can't thank each of you enough for your guidance. I thought maybe you'd like to see where we took your ideas and plans, so I have provided the new plans. I have to agree that the space has opened up a lot! And thankfully a lot less doors!

I will probably tool with the kitchen some more, and probably post it on the kitchens forum. I need something workable. But, I at least need to keep walls in one place first!

DH is really starting to get upset, but I know its a process. He's at his wits end and we haven't even started construction. I just don't want a bunch of change orders once we get started. I truly believe that if we built this, I'd be pleased. I know I can't have everything in 1800 sq ft. But, I have something similar in 1220, so I think that I can be happy in 1800.

Overview:

Close Up:

Here is a link that might be useful:

Yes, scrap it and go ultra simple. You can achieve the same utility in a home of this size with this number of bedrooms. You will thank all of these posters in years to come.

matt n des,

Looks like you are totally decided to design your own home. You have a nice attitude; hopefully we can help you to get there.

If you have a builder, please do not allow him to rush you.

I'd assume that the last floor plan that you posted is what you want so I will base my comments on that specific one:

-Did you check the size? I know your goal is 1,800 s.f. but that plan is 2,000 s.f.
-I suggest placing the kitchen closer to the mud/garage area
-I'd try to reduce the amount of square footage wasted in hallways, specially the one on the left of the entry.
-Maybe this is a personal taste issue but I do not like the island across the entry door.
-The bedrooms area is not too bad.
-The guest bathroom is not ok. It needs to be totally re-arranged.
-You should not build this home with the master bathroom as is.
-The entry setting worries me.
-There are ways to improve the laundry/mud area.

If you post the elevation (or one that you like) someone might be able to sketch something for you.
If you are totally set on this plan, I could sketch over it the very basic and minimal changes I'd suggest.

Good luck

marthaelena,

I have known since I was a little girl that I wanted to build my own home. I began buying books of homes 7 years ago. I always thought out of those thousands of plans something would fit the bill.

We have been at this what seems like forever (but I've noticed some folks have been at it even longer - best of wishes). I guess it seems like we're rushing, but our house sold and we're moving into a studio this week. We close on our house next week. We purchased our land in a subdivision last August and we are required to have a home built on it within one year of purchasing. . . maybe that's where the "rushing" comes from.

Unfortunately, no builder is rushing us! Our elevation will be a simple ranch with a couple of gables to give it character. It won't be a hip roof, just simple.

We're not trying to see the island from the entry, we tried hiding it, but clearance issues has pushed it back into sight. We attempted toying with it to the other side (south) of the home, but then you walk over carpeting to get to the dining area. We want to be able to walk into the home from the front through to the back door and use the main bath without walking on carpeting. Putting the living room on the left (north) side of the home makes it small (although then the kitchen is a dream)!

I'm not thrilled with any bath layout, but I know they need to be tinkered with still.

I have spent some more time trying to turn your plan into a good one, but I just can't get it to work. I can improve on it some more, but it still has too many problems. The biggest problem is the extreme waste of space in the halls. Since no one else has come up with anything, and since you said that you'd tried the kitchen on the right and left corners, I thought I'd take a different approach.

I copied and printed out for myself the plan you mentioned earlier that you said you had previously liked:

http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/cottage-house-plan-5188mm.asp

Since the room sizes are reasonable and you were happy with most of it, I cut that plan into 5 basic sections:
1--BR 2, BR 3, bath, closets, hall, and put them on the N side;
2--garage, util, storage, and put them W of BR2/BR3/bath;
3--kitchen/breakfast, and put them S of BR2/BR3/bath--obviously, the kitchen will have to be reconfigured;
4--great room, foyer, flex, and put them S of the kitchen/breakfast;
5--fit the master bath room corner over the flex space (covered flex space completely) so that the master bed room is facing S and W;
---stairs to be determined.

Now, this is my starting starting point--we can slide rooms over, move closets, add and subtract inches and feet, etc. until the stairs, a powder room, mud room, and laundry fit.

You said the lot is 90' wide. What are your side setbacks, 15'? What is the widest your house can be to fit, 60'? You said that there is a neighbor to the N (about how far from your lot line is his house?), that there is a street to the rear of your 190' lot (is it busy?), that there are not a whole lot of views, but that you want the S wall open to the commons area, and that 1800 sf is what you can afford.

Since the bedrooms all seemed to be problematic, and one goal seems to be to walk into the house and have a nice view through to the back, switching them as stated above let me move the kitchen to the north. This makes the view from the foyer much better, and you still have the prime SE corner for the family room, and E for the breakfast/dining room.

I can't post a picture (I need DH's help--it's complicated for reasons I won't go into, and he's doing taxes now so I don't dare ask!), but if you think my rearrangement of the 5188 plan as stated above or something similar has possibilities, you could do as I did and print it off, cut it out, and move the pieces to where I have them (or where you'd prefer them), and we could work on fitting the other rooms in and getting the space to work.

Let me know if you want to pursue this approach to your plan. I have an ancient 3DHA program that I can draw it on, even though I can't post the drawing for you here.

Anne

A decent designer could have solved your needs in about 6-8 hours not 18 months. I am sorry to say you are killing yourself for a lousy plan. You have seen many many people advise you to scrap this plan and start over or find a simple plan from one of the many plan services that work well and are planned to work. Either that or find a qualified professional. You are trying to continue to put lipstick on this pig. The problem is you are running out of lipstick. I don't understand your need to design your own plan when its not working. Do you really want to spend the most money you will most likely ever spend on this home??? People here are trying to save you from wasting your money. It takes to long to make and save it to throw it away on this plan. What will you do if you ever for whatever reason have to sell this home ? You will lose money or not sell. Please listen to reason and scrap this plan. You have worked on it 18 months...have little that works well and you dont have any elevations or details to price and build it. Every time I run into someone who wants to build their design that doesn't work well I politely try to correct their isssues on their plan and then show them some alternatives. People get emotionally tied to what they have worked on and can't see past the fact things simply dont work no matter what. Nobody here is trying to insult you or hurt your feelings. But I see a strong resolve to ignore the real advice to kill this plan and keep plastering on lipstick. For gods sake listen to reason and save your money. You will regret so many things in this plan an its many variations.

Good luck

You "bought books" ? You would have spent your money and time better if you had enrolled in some architecture classes at a local university. You need basic space planning theory. Some people have a gift for space planning. You don't. That's being very blunt, but you are getting ready to throw thousands of dollars away.

If you are so set on wasting so much money, go dig a hole in the back yard and put in 100K and come back every couple of months and dig it up and see how it's decayed. Eventually, that 100K will have rotted away into nothingness. There will be nothing left of your hard work except fertilizer.

You think that's a silly course, right? But that's exactly what you're doing here by inisisting that you can design your own home better than a professional can do! But, we're talking even more money wasted than 100K. You've had several professionals offer advice and assistance on your "plans", and you've tried to take some of the advice. Good! That shows you are somewhat open. But, obviously NOT open enough if you really think you have something that you can build with. You just don't have the gift of getting the things you want in a home put together in a pleasing and functional manner. So, what's the harm in paying someone who DOES have that gift to take your ideas and turn them into something workable? They will still be your ideas and your home? It will just be functional and not burying 100K in the ground.

Sorry to be so blunt, but if you are under a deadline, then you need a very strong wake up call. You don't know what you're doing here, and it shows. If you had 10 more years of planning time, you might be able to absorb enough theory and practice to design your home. Right now, you aren't even close to understanding home design or architecture. Get a professional who DOES know what he's doing and pay him to do it. IF you want to meet your deadline and end up with a home you can LIVE in that is.

Hey Ann! I use that ancient 3DHA, too! I love, love, love it. I've bought several other programs, but keep going back to my old 3DHA. I bought that program back in 2000, when I started my houseplans. We broke ground last March, and are just finishing moving in. So for the last 9 years, I have tinkered and moved rooms and even started from scratch a few times.

OP, I know you are trying to come up with something unique, and fit some kind of parameters that we don't know or understand, but it's super important to walk through that plan in 3D. It doesn't work if you are walking through it.

I don't know how old you are, but some of the input you are getting is from people that have lived in a whole bunch of different houses. That kind of experience is invaluable. Sometimes you can improve on an idea, or a floorplan. Sometimes it just doesn't work.

Picture you worst kitchen day. Multiply it by 10. Double the kitchen stuff you have right now. Then picture yourself without a shower for...say...3 days. And your trash can is overflowing. That's how your life will be with children. LOL, I say that with all the love I have for my children, which is a lot. But they are messy little creatures! That little twisty hallway will just be a mess. It makes me itch, just picturing myself trying to make it useful.

I'm sure you feel pressured to come up with something quickly, but in the long run, your investment is better spent on a standard plan.

matt n des,

A good designer, architect or drafter can put on paper your own ideas. It will be like you designed your home - they just put it together.

There are some drafters out there that are very talented. I am helping someone with the elevation of his home and when he showed me the floor plan, I was very impressed. There was nothing wrong with the floor plan -I tried hard to find something :)
This person gave the drafter all the info and how he wanted the home and the drafter just did a remarkable job. It was his design, not the drafter's design.

Hey Matt n Des:

Sorry I haven't responded this week, I sent hubby and the 3 kids away for the week so that I can clean. I loved Suzycentri's comment's, because she is soooo right. Do you know that I rented a 4 cubic bin just to throw away all the garbage, broken toys, old clothes (not the ones good enough to giveaway to friends). And the darn thing is almost FULL!!!! We have only lived in this house for 3 years but thats what it is like with 3 kids.

I like the kids rooms in the new design, but you are still way off on the master. It is a total waste of space, sorry hon, but it is. You really have got to close that door off of the main hall/room into your bathroom. There is no need for it, the house is only 1800sf.

And if you are so worried about crossing carpet, lay down hardwood floors throughout the area. They will last longer and much more kid friendly. Trust me on this one. One of our houses had 6,500sf of hardwoods, no carpet. The one we are about to get started on has hardwoods in all living areas AND my son's room. Why anyone would give a very "male" boy carpet is beyond me, lol. And we are doing reclaimed timber so that all the new dings just blend with the old ones. I have given up having beautiful floors (maybe in my next house, once all the kids are gone). But with kids, you have to have a big dose of reality and reality to me is not having to worry and yell at the kids all the time because they might scratch up the floors or ruin the carpet. And unless you are going to buy top of the line wool carpet, you will be replacing it about every 7 years, because it is going to get trashed. Wood flooring will be cheaper in the long run and will last the lifetime of the house (and you won't have to hire carpet cleaners every 6 months to get those icky stains out that magically keep reappearing in the same spot).

Ok, so what I want to know is:

1) "What is it you are trying to accomplish in the master bath??"

2) Are you willing to compromise on the carpet issue so that you can move your kitchen to the other side? It will open the area up and still allow you to see out the back. I dealt with that issue myself, I have a straight view over the golf course and can see the ocean, downtown Melbourne, Australia and sweeping over to the right the mountain ranges. I ended up moving my kitchen in such a way so that I can be at the sink and look out. Actually, everyone of the living areas (beds, family, eating, kitchen, office) all have the same view (except my sons room, but we have given him the biggest room in the house to make up for it, and he still has a view out at the other side of the golf course. It has taken over a year to tweak it around, but we are getting there.

3). Have you asked the development for an extension? This is normal that people are not ready to build within a year and there are always concessions that can be made. What are they going to do ~ take your land away????????

I agree with the others above about hiring a professional. You put all your ideas together and tell them where you want things and approx sizing you want it and "Viola" they magically create YOUR house. I have done this twice now, (17 homes, but only 2 custom builds)and it still amazes me how they can put things together in ways I never thought about doing, even after months of looking at it & trying to make it work. Professionals are there for a reason. It doesn't make your house "not your design" just because someone made it work. Someone is going to have to draft it out for the building plans anyway, and boy, are they going to be offering suggestions immediately.

We hire kitchen designers, space designers, decorators, aesthetic designers......why not house designer?? I would never NOT hire an expert to put my ideas together. My current plan is based on several designs I found on the internet and of a house that I walked thru and loved the kitchen, eating, family area. The architect put all these ideas together and we are putting the final touches on the house. I could never have done it myself, even with all my experience. I am not a degreed expert, I came up with the basic layout but the professional put the puzzle pieces together. :-)