It's a little difficult to read...but I have a concern with the stair location. You have to go past the kids' bedrooms, to get to the bonus room or the media room. So, in the evenings, if you want to grab a snack in the kitchen, you have to be careful, not to wake up the kids. If you don't entertain in the evening, probably not a problem...

I am having trouble convertingt the original pdf into something readable!

Here it is as two cropped images.

Lavender Lass, good point about the stairs, though to be honest, I have no idea what to do about it! :(

We won't use the bonus room at night, it will be more a play room for the kids when they are older, or possibly a seperate apartment for an au pair (if we decide to go that route) in the future.

I also know the mud room/utility room needs to be larger, so I'm workong on ideas for that! :)

However, we will be using the media room at night. I have no idea where else to place the stairs to avoid this, as from a space perspective it makes sense to have them together, and as we won't have a full second story they need to be close to the garage. Any ideas?

If you're still reworking the mudroom/utility area, I think I'd have one set of stairs there...for the playroom/au pair area...and the basement stairs, off the main entry. This would give you easy access from the living/dining/kitchen spaces, without going down to the kids' area, at all.

It would also be nice to have the guests' powder room closer to the entry, with maybe a girls' bathroom and another powder room, by the mudroom. Right now one child (they're both girls, aren't they?) has a private bath and the other has a walk-in closet. I would either put bathrooms in both bedrooms...or have them share a bath. Just my two cents :)

Thanks for the feedback. Regarding for our family, right now I'm pregnant with our first, and we are uncertain whether we will have a second. It is really difficult to plan what you would like to be your "forever house" before having any children! :)

The problem with moving the staircase near the front door is the right now the basement is unfinished space, so we were hoping to just have a door at the top and leave it be for a few years. My only thought is to move between the powder room/guest bath, and dining room. It really is a great idea to move it, just not sure where to move it to!

We originally wanted each bedroom to have it's own bath, but we lost one due to overall square footage. Let me think about ways of putting one back in.

As for a powder room near the mudroom, the one to the back of the house is also the pool bath, do you think that is sufficient?

Finally, regarding a powder room near the front door, I'd like that in theory, but I really like the current layout of that side of the house, and I have no idea where to fit one in. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

The European dimensions and witness lines as well as other unusual drawing conventions make it difficult to understand the the plan. Ask you architect to provide you with a hand drawn sketch with relevant notes and American drafting conventions.

Renovator8 - it is interesting that you say it is in European dimensions as everything is in feet and inches.

In either case, we are working on a budget and won't be able to pay for the plan to be sketched out by hand.

That being said, I really value your opinion as I have seen your posts on several threads. Do you have any thought to the plan as it is posted?

Laura- I'm sorry, I thought you had two girls. Maybe you will, eventually? :)

As for the bathrooms, I think the pool bath is fine and it also doubles as a bath, by the mudroom. For now, I'd make the office the baby's rooms and the other bedroom (by the guest room) the office. When baby gets older, then you can move her/him down to the other bedroom.

You're right...it is difficult to decide on what exactly you're going to need in your forever house, when you're not sure how big your family is going to be. Most people like two bedrooms and a bath, for a children's area...but that could also be guest room/office space. I would make sure both bedrooms have easy access to a nice bathroom, with tub. If you took out the powder room, maybe you could put two sinks in the remaining bath and open it to the hallway. This way it could be used by both bedrooms.

I'd move the door on the front bedroom, so it opens against the pantry. That way you don't lose part of one wall to the door opening and the other to the closet...might as well combine them...and you'd have easier access to the bigger bathroom. Guests could also use this bath or you could have a powder room closer to the front door...maybe work them into the same area you have the basement stairs?

Also, I see you have window seats in the office and closet, but not the kids' rooms. I would definitely put window seats in both rooms, maybe with short bookcases on each side, for storage and display. The French doors look nice, but aren't very practical for a child's room, but will look great in your master bedroom :)

Lavender Lass - you are right on track regarding the bedroom/office, our plan is to use the office for the time being as a nursery until we are ready for the the little one to be a bit further away. You may remember I started out wanting all the rooms on one side, but I ended up decided that while the distance will be annoying when they are small, it will be great when the older, and when they are gone (hard to imagine at the moment)!

Good thoughts about the bathroom placement. I'm going to think it over tonight and figure out what would work. Currently the door to that bedroom is to the side of the mudroom so that it can share the pool bath, but that may not be the most useful idea.

Alternatively, to give them each a bathroom, I could also turn the walk-in closet in that front bedroom into a bath, and add a reach in closet instead.

Is there a reason not to flip the master and other bedrooms? Then, you don't have the worry of walking past the bedrooms to get to the media room, etc.

What I don't like (and it seems to be a thing with these angle houses...) is the cramped angle area. As you say, you need a bigger laundry. Well, actually that isn't the problem. But, the laundry is being your back entry is the problem. You have no room for "stuff". And, as you have children, there will be stuff. (coats, backpacks, sports gear etc)

And, I don't like that the front secondary bedroom has no good bath. What bath are they to use?

Where will the child(ren) play outside? In CA, you have sun (unlike the Pacific NW). So, I would assume you'd send your kids out to play. Covered patio? If so, you have no sightlines from your main work areas (kitchen, laundry) to your outside play spaces. Maybe this isn't a problem for you, as you are considering an au pair--full time in home child care. But, for this SAHM household, I would be concerned about that.

I think your master closet is too wide to be useful, unless you are planning an "island" in the center. As is, I think it wastes too much floor space.

In general, many of your width dimensions seem stretched (foyer is wide, for no reason; hall infront of your double doors to master is wasted space; master closet as mentioned above). I think some re-drawing is in order.

Maybe something more similar to this. Straighten out as needed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Summerfield DCRanger

Great plan by summerfield! He/she did an early mock up for us, but we ended up moving in different direction. I'd love to pay him/her to do this for me instead of the drafter I'm using!

Unfortunatly though, it doesn't work for us. I know that not everyone is going to love this plan, but we are in love with the arrangement of the kitchen, dining room and living room and we are just trying to work out the rest of the kinks.

Regarding line of sight for the kids. It is a good point, and an au pair is just an idea we have considered, but day care during the week is most likely (mind you the cost of an aupair and day care isn't all that different, but I digrees). In the evenings and weekends when we are home one of us will most likely be outside until they are older as the lot is large and there would be too much trouble that small ones could get into on their own. I should mention there will also be a pool in the backyard.

For reference, here is the plan that inspired us. Our main need difference was that we needed a pool bath and outdoor access from near the mudroom, and add stairs down without affecting the square footage (much). This plan is 3165 square feet.
{{gwi:1428318}}

The idea of flipping the master and the other rooms is interesting, however the bonus room above the garage will be the play room once our kid(s) are older so we wanted to keep that at the same side of the house as the bedrooms.

I'm working on ideas regarding the stairs. I'd like to leave the stairs up where they are, and then put the stairs down between the powder room and bathroom and the dining room. I'm waiting to hear back regarding whether this will work, if so I can hopefully use some of the stair space in the mudroom.

Initially I had thought that the front bedroom would use the bath that was shared with the pool/hall. It seemed reasonable, however I see now that it needs to be reworked so it is more convenient.

Though, regarding the hallway in front of the bedroom, I don't see a way to rework that.

Finally, the front entry is wide enough for a table with chairs on either side against the wall, and the cloat closet on the other. It should also likely have double doors. Do you think this could be narrower? It needs to appear slightly grand to match the scale of the house. Does it really seem like too much?

I like the two bedrooms in the back and the laundry in the front, on your inspiration plan. Anyway can you put a door to the pool/back...maybe where the powder room is, in the plan? Close to the pool bathroom? I'd make that shower/bath the pool/bath...and have the door open from the back entrance...and turn the other bath into a Jack and Jill bath, between the bedrooms...or if you just need one kids' room...have the pool/bath double as guest bath. I doubt you'd be using it for both functions at the same time. Guest bath at night/pool bath during the day :)

I agree with Lav. The angle area of your inspiration plan is much better than your new plan. And, it would be easy to turn the one set of bathrooms there into the indoor/outdoor bathroom and get a shared bath for the other rooms as needed.

(And, I think you can contact Summerfield by email, and perhaps offer what you are suggesting here.)

Okay, let me go back to the drawing board and see what I can come up with.

One of the things I liked about the edits is that we were able to open it up so that it was possible to get from the mudroom to the backyard without walking through the house.

The American dimensioning convention is to put the dimension strings in the spaces. the European convention is to put them outside of the plan. I find the European convention with no fill on the walls to be difficult to visualize. Most of the inexpensive home CAD programs are from Eastern Europe.

A stair should have arrows showing up and down satrting from the floor plan being shown.

It's not a matter of cost. It would cost you nothing to sketch the plan on yellow tracing paper.

All CAD programs will show dimensions in inches, decimal feet, feet & inches, meters, centimeters, or millimeters.

It always makes me question the experience of the "professional" when I see a stairway stuck in an alcove off of a corridor. You'll need one of those convex mirrors in the corridor to avoid a collision. It appears that there is so much room in the stair run that there are several ways to make it better.

The placement of two toilets on a dining room wall makes me question if the "professional" has any residential design experience at all.

Otherwise it looks like a good plan. The only reason I can think of to open French doors to the exterior is if you are in a hurricane region.

What holds up the cover over the patio?

Renovator8, the placement of those bathrooms was something we had sketched out and we weren't given any reason not to put them there, though I take it this isn't a good idea?

Also, the french doors to the exterior from the extra bedroom have been removed, and the master bedroom will have sliding doors. There will be posts holding up the cover on the patio, that isn't drawn properly yet as it was just ploted in while we work out the interior concerns.

As for the stairs we, along with the designer, are at a loss of how to fit them in. I was about to follow the above advice and move the down stairs so that you don't have to walk past the kids rooms to get to them, however I was reminded that there is another reason to keep them on that side. We have to have an emergency exit from the basement, and we want it to be on the far right of the house (where it will be seen the least).

Is there any reason to stick with the angle? Does your lot work best with one?

The angle works best as it is a corner lot and there will be a driveway coming in from the front and out to the left side of the house.

Why do the stairs have to be near the emergency exit? My understanding is that the emergency exit in the basement is only for those rooms...down in the basement. On the main floor, you have plenty of exits.

If you move the basement stairs, I don't understand why that would have to line up with the emergency exit.

As for the rest of the plan...I think it looks very nice, but as you said...it's very difficult to design a 'forever' home, when you've never had children, aren't sure how many you will have, and don't know exactly what spaces you'll need. Have you visited friends' homes, who've recently had a baby or have a toddler? Are there features you like/dislike about their space? It's very different designing a home for adults only...and one for a family with children.

Do you need a separate guest room? If you have another child, will you need another bedroom/bath for guests? Will those two bedrooms by the garage be enough room? It's nice to have a main floor guest room, especially for older family members, so they don't have to climb stairs.

This is a very nice floor plan and I can see you've put a lot of thought into it...but I don't think it would be a bad idea to take a few days, play around with some more options...and see if there are any other changes you want/need to make. Better to play around on paper (for free) decide exactly what you want and then go back to your professional :)

I understand that your lot is longer east to west than north to south and that your views are toward the east but have you given any consideration to orienting the house so as to minimize heating and cooling costs? Typically, having the longest axis of the house oriented north-south allows you to place windows where they'll get maximum heat/light in the winter while minimizing heat gain in the summer. If you've thought about this and made a reasoned decision to orient the house for maximum views instead, that's fine. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to mention the possibility.

For staircases, the most space efficient designs for three floors (basement, main, & upper) is to stack the two staircases one above the other. You can't do this if the end of a staircase bumps up against a wall as you have in this plan. But, if you were to push the back bedroom backward a few feet further (and move its closet further back as well, you could fit stacked staircases between the hall and the back bedroom. From the main floor, you would enter the stairs to go UP from the hallway near where the half-bath is now and you would enter the stairs to go DOWN from the back hallway. This would open up the space between the laundry and the front bedroom for other uses and might give you a whole batch of other options on how to use the back hall space.

In fact, looking at the two staircases you've shown, I honestly don't think the one going up will work at all. I've looked at the Manitoba plan online and, if you intend your home to look similar, the roof line at the point where the top of UP stair-case ends is NOT raised. Thus, if a person were standing on the landing at the top of the stairs, his/her head would necessarily be sticking through the roof. You'll note that in the Manitoba design, the staircase is placed so that it runs to the CENTER of the garage where the garage roof PEAKS. You have it running to the edge of the roof near the gutter line. So, unless I'm totally misunderstanding how you plan to roof this house, that staircase simply can't stay where you have it.

Re the two secondary bathrooms which, as shown, both have showers and no tubs. As far as code goes, since you have a tub in your master bath it is fine not to have a tub in the secondary bathrooms. But my experience with children is that most kids much prefer tub baths until they are around 5 to 9 years old. Many little ones are actually terrified of showers. And, teen-age girls also often appreciate an opportunity to take a nice hot tub bath. So, are you okay with your little ones using your master bath tub until they're 5 to 9 years old and your teen-age daughters also occasionally commandeering your bathroom? If not, you might want to put a bathtub into one or both of the secondary baths.

BTW, once you have your baby I think you'll quickly discover that the closet in that back bedroom is totally inadequate for all the stuff he/she will wind up with that needs to be stored away. Kids tend to collect clothing and "stuff" in direct proportion to the amount of clothing and stuff their parents have. If parents tend to be shopaholics and clothing collectors for themselves (and your huge master closet suggests that maybe you are), they'll tend to be shopaholics where their kids are concerned. Trust me, once your baby is born, nothing in the store for you will look half as cute as the adorable stuff in the baby department. LOL! So, if that back bedroom is only used as a guest room, the closet size is probably fine. If you have a second child and it becomes a child's bedroom, you'll constantly wish it had a larger closet.

Speaking of clothing, it were me, I'd consider shrinking the master closet by about a third and redesigning the remaining space for more efficient storage. As designed it is totally inefficient for storing clothing although it would probably look terrific as a "dressing room." But, with a 19'x20' master bedroom, it's hard to figure why anyone would want/need a dressing-room sized closet. With a bedroom big enough to house two king sized beds plus a very generous seating area, I personally would have a hard time justifying a closet/dressing room that was bigger then either of my childrens' bedrooms... especially if I also had an office across the hall that was clearly situated to be private "adult" space.

Shrinking the area devoted to the masterbedroom, masterbath, and mastercloset would allow you to have a larger laundry room and maybe NOT have to have the garage entry into the house pass right through a very cramped laundry room. I personally dislike having to travel through a laundry room to get from the garage into the house. In a very small house, where every square foot has to do double and triple duty, sometimes one can't avoid a "pass-thru laundry" but in a house this large and nice, that sort of entry just seems indicative of a very poor design. Surely your architect can find more square footage in a better location for one of the hardest working rooms in your home! And having a drop-down ironing board practically blocking the entry would be a total no-no even in a 1300 sq ft cottage.

Just my 2 cents. Hope some of it is helpful.

I meant that I need an emergency exit from the basement, and as it is only a partial basement I would end up needing an emergency exit from the basement opening up on the back of the house, which wouldn't work with landscaping.

My DH's parents need a main floor guest room, though they won't mind walking across the house to use a bathroom as they only visit every couple years (they live in Europe) and they aren't accustomed to homes with private baths. As for my parents, it isn't a concern (though my mom does regularly threaten to build her own casita at the back of our lot to retire in!

bevangel! Thanks for the thoughtful feedback!

The orientation of the house has been a long discussed issue. Originally we were looking at passive solar plans, but in the end we decided that we bought the lot because we love the view and we wanted to take advantage of that.

Additionally, our neighbours to the south don't have a yard I would enjoy looking looking out my window at every day! (The view out the front is nice as well.)

We looked for floor plans that would enter from the less busy street to the left of the property that would still keep the view in the living room and dining room facing east, but that seemed to be a lost cause! And the street in front isn't very busy, and I don't expect it will ever be, however people do speed on it quite a bit.

We plan to put the house just forward of where the "A" marker is on the picture below, and obviously the old driveway is going to be torn out.

Here is a picture from the street to the west (in front of the house) and a satelite image of the lot.

We seem to have sacrificed closet space for hall space! In the original plan I thought that there wasn't enough closet space, and then over time I've talked myself into thinking less would be okay. But you are right, it isn't going to work.

And I have no idea how the stairs as is are suppost to work. The house will actually be mediterrean with a low slopped hip roof so you are right, there is no way to get up from where they are now!

As for the master closet, I would like it be large more due to my messiness than due to the amount I shop! I want to keep the mess confined to the closet, however it does not need to be as big as it is currently. It actually wasn't this large on the sketch I had provided the designer and I don't think I fully realize how large it is at first.

That said, much of my planning process has been devoted to ways that I can keep my messiness away from what people will see. A large pantry where the breadmaker can live without being taken in and out, two dishwashers (not shown on the plan). And originally a large laundry room and mudroom seperate from each other, and a walk in closet in the mudroom. All of which has been sacrificed.

Thank-you all for your help. I see the error in my (and my designers) ways and I'll be back with an updated plan in a few days.

Two questions before I make any modifications:

1. Where would you put the stairs down? I can deal with walking past the kids rooms.

2. We may build a second outdoor bath to save on that issue, but that said, do we need a way to get from the garage/mudroom on that side of the house to the backyard without walking through the dining room? I have never lived in a large one story house so I'm not certain!

I'd think about pushing the back bedroom back a few feet and stacking the upper and lower staircase next to the back bedroom. If you've not lived in a large 2 story house, you may not know what I mean by "stacking" the upper and lower staircase. Here is a sketch...

Obviously the revised laundry room, etc, could be done in other ways. I.e., if you have an outside bath to serve the pool area, you might want to move a bathroom into the space next to the front bedroom and have the laundry room at the rear. Having never had a swimming pool, I'm not sure how I'd feel about guests going thru the laundry room to reach the pool area. But better that I think than struggling thru the a laundry room with arms full of groceries and maybe a baby in tow.

Thanks! I meant, I have never lived in a large single story house, however I did grow up in a two story with a basement house, but usually it would be a staircase that turns and the other would be underneath, I didn't think about this option.

You are completly right about the laundry room, it needs to be on its own.

Laura- This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but it might give you some ideas. I like the guest room/study by the master and the kids' rooms closer to the au pair suite/playroom, over the garage. Maybe if you combined the best of all three plans? Best of luck with the new layout :)
{{gwi:1433179}}From Cottage house plans

Here is a link that might be useful: Web page for plan

Great plan! It has some elements we are looking for, though figuring out a way to rearrange it so that we have the main room layout we like is a little beyond me, and it appears my designer/drafter!

Do what I do! Cut and tape them together, if you can get the scale anywhere close to the same, for all three plans. It may not be pretty, but it might give you some good ideas :)

I'm actually using screen shots and cutting and pasting on my computer as we speak. Still no idea where to put the staircase, but I'm working my way there! :)

I like the idea of this home. However the dining room is huge!! Larger than the kitchen! I am not sure but if you switch the dining room and great room, you could shrink the dining room and add another bathroom to that area close to the master. The fireplace could be an issue but it wouldn't be awful to have one in the dining room either. Something is not right with that great room/dining combo. Depending on your family size, you may not be able to seat all at the island either. It is awkward for me to walk across the hallway to dining room to eat too. Just a thought. Nice bones though!

Laura- I don't know if this would work...but looking at your plan, what if you moved the front kid's bedroom to the back and changed the garage, so that it was on the front of the house? Basically, cut it off the angled end and place it in front of the laundry/pantry former bedroom area? Then you could have a big laundry room (with windows on the side) and maybe have the stairs, where you did have the bedroom. Maybe the mudroom between the laundry and stairs?

Then in the back, have the two bedrooms and bath(s), but have a back hall, between the dining room and bedroom wing...for your pool access and bath. I would also make this a kid(s)' mudroom area, for playing outside. One area for everyone's 'stuff' as they enter from the garage and another area for kids' stuff, as they go outside to play. That pool bath could be the mudroom bath, too. Would this work?

As for the guest room, that's what I like best about the plan I posted. The guest room, office and master (all the adult spaces) together. And, it has a huge walk in closet for you, a guest bath and a powder room!

For the kids' area, I'd plan on two bedrooms, even if you only have one child. The second bedroom could start out as a small playroom (without having to go upstairs) and might end up a nursery :)

Lavender Lass - that is some good advice! I'm going to play with the plan a bit more on the weekend to see what we can figure out.

However, I'm confused, do you mean have the garage come straight forward in an L as in the floor plan you posted, or along the width of the house with the doors facing forward?

No, not like the plan I suggested, the garage doors facing front...with maybe a little porch or pergola, leading to the front door. I don't know if that's your style, but a pergola (with vines) running in front of the kitchen window would be beautiful :)

That may work though we are about to meet our width restrictions and straightening it out may add to that. I'm trying to figure out some more precise measurements at the point on the property we plan to put the house before making many decisions on how to move forward. I never thought I would be concerned about setback restritions on 2.6 acres! :)

The exterior will be what I call "contemporary mediterranean" so your pergola idea may work. The interior is contemporary without being overly so, more like Crate and Barrel than Design Within Reach or Scandavian Designs (not sure if the comparison makes sense to anyone but me! :)

It's Latin to me, but I'm guessing most people know exactly what you're talking about! LOL Any pictures?

Well, you do have a lovely piece of land and I'm sure you'll find a way to make everything fit and still take advantage of your views! The garage would still work, off to the angle, if it doesn't fit in front...but I'm glad you like the pergola idea :)

Here are some interior inspiration pics: (though, with hardwood floors throughout and less white furniture)! :)

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[traditional dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2107) by photographer Elad Gonen & Zeev Beech

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[modern kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by vancouver kitchen and bath Old World Kitchens & Custom Cabinets

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[contemporary dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2103) by

[contemporary dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2103) by vancouver interior designer Claudia Leccacorvi

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[contemporary living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by vancouver interior designer Maria Killam

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[modern kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by other metros interior designer In Detail Interiors

Along these lines for the style of the exterior

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[mediterranean exterior design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/mediterranean-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2109) by san francisco architect Noel Cross+Architects

Here are a few ideas I have to use the space near the window in the dining room.

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[traditional bedroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bedroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_715~s_2107) by dc metro interior designer Sroka Design, Inc.

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[asian family room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/asian-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2102) by san francisco architect Mahoney Architects and Interiors

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[contemporary entry design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-entryway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_741~s_2103) by san francisco architect Mahoney Architects & Interiors

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[contemporary living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by boston interior designer Eleven Interiors

Wow! Very nice!!! I like the dining room furniture...very stylish. The dark wood (espresso?) cabinets in the kitchen look great, too. That last living room/dining room picture is beautiful...I like that green wall and green sofa :)

The exteriors look very nice. Is that a pergola I see, in the first picture???

I know you love your U-shape kitchen (it's very nice) but I've been trying to find something showing a possibility for a little seating area...for friends/family/baby, when you're cooking in the kitchen. Nice, but all machine washable! This isn't exactly what I've been looking for, but close. {{gwi:1433191}}From Cottage house plans

A little nook in the kitchen for something like that would be nice, but I have no idea how to fit that in.

What I like about the set up now is that it is open, but the kitchen still has it's own space that you don't have to walk through to get anywhere in the house.

I actually have a couple similar ideas book marked, but they got tossed aside. Here they are just for fun

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[traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by atlanta architect Kemp Hall Studio

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[traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by chicago design-build Normandy Remodeling

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[contemporary kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by dc metro architect AHMANN LLC

The plan is looking good! I'm wondering (if I understand the orientation) if flipping the plan and inverting the angle of the garage and house might work better, following the bend of the streets. Then there would be more space at the front of the house to put the two bedrooms there, and leave the the mudroom, laundry, stairs, and pool bath toward the back. I think you would still get good views from the porch and living areas. Here's a quick edit of what I'm trying to describe, without the service areas and stairs defined yet:

Laura- I like your kitchen/banquette pictures! A banquette is so comfortable, but easily washable, even outdoor fabrics, will give you the ability to keep everything clean and still look great. I like the extra window/light in the kitchen and the banquette is different enough (style wise) to compliment, rather than compete, with the larger dining table. Maybe keep trying to fit that into your plan, after all :)

Yeah, I love the photos as well, but I don't think it works into the overall scheme of things.

mvjc - That is actually what we started with, but we flipped it forward because we weren't sure how the elevation would work, and we are encroaching on our setback limits further back because of the narrowing of the not.

How did I miss those photos of the dining room/window seats? Those are lovely, especially that first one!

Although it's a bit tighter, one thing I like about Mvjc's plan is that it would put the media room and other basement areas (I believe) under the master suite/office area, rather than the kid's space. If you're not planning to have a fireplace in the master, could you put the basement stairs, between the living room and master bedroom? Then the stairs to the bonus room, could be over by the laundry area...and only used by kids and au pair.