This is why I love these boards, THANK YOU pps7, I never would have thought of switching the stairs for the office. It's really something I am going to give some thought to. Pros: - it really takes a bite out of that loooonnng upstairs hallway and it would provide 2 walls for windows in an office Cons - on resale, if it is converted back to a dining room, it makes it far from the kitchen area if it is moved to the far end of the house. And also, I like the central location of the office as I work from home and I go from the kitchen to my office, back to the kitchen, back to office, to the great room, to the bathroom, back to office, etc etc all day long. You get the idea. I will also have frosted french doors facing the south great room side of the house, so even if closed, I will get some light from 2 sides. It won't be a bright room though, as there is a covered porch in the plan in front of that north window. That makes me want to move it to the corner of the house hmmm... I will mention that to my architect. As for the full vs half bathroom, you are right also, and I know it, but I really struggled to get the room to put in a powder room there, as the plan called for just a closet. Adding an extra 30 or so inches for a bath just takes more space and $$. But, you are right, DH's cousin just had to move her elderly mother into her house and she had to gut half her garage to make a shower area on the main level for her because she only had a powder room and the lady can't climb stairs. 30" doesn't seem that bad compared to what she had to do. And my DH was in a wheelchair for a YEAR because of an extremely badly broken leg about 10 years ago, and we were young couple with a baby at the time, not elderly at all. Luckily our house was/is a bungalow, we would have really been in a pinch. Very much food for thought. As for point #3, I actually like NOT having the master bedroom in the corner. I don't want more windows in the bedroom. It's bad enough the master faces the south side of the house and calls for big windows. I own a rental cottage which has an almost identical master bedroom and bathroom and corners on the south and east side of the house with a 9 ft patio door facing south. We stay there in the summer and my face is about 3 ft from this huge patio window. Even with drapes, it is just soooo sunny and bright in my face, I keep waking up from 6 am onward grrr. I have pictured it below just for fun. Also, coincidentally, the master bath is almost identical too to this house plan. I designed this cottage master bedroom and bathroom 3 years ago as an addition, and I guess that's why I like this plan I found, reminds me of my cottage!

Please be aware that if you are having your designer "modify" the Field of Dreams plan without having purchased a license to do so from the Field of Dreams copyright owner, you and your designer could be liable for copyright infringement. The Field of Dreams Farmhouse IS a beautiful design but, legally, there is a world of difference being "inspired" by that plan as you design your own UNIQUE farmhouse and making an infringing copy of that plan. Your design does NOT have to be identical to be considered infringing. Nor is there any hard and fast rule regarding how many changes you must make to a copyrighted plan before the new plan will be considered different enough NOT to be infringing. You can't just say, well, we moved the screened porch and made it bigger so it isn't infringing. The test for infringement basically comes down to: 1) Did the alleged infringer have access to the original work? And 2) Is there "substantial similarity" between the two works? I would urge you to spend some time researching architectural copyright infringment and maybe talking to an attorney about your potential liability before proceeding. Here are a couple of links to get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_in_architecture_in_the_United_States http://www.scribd.com/doc/19578521/Architectural-Copyright-Case

Am I missing additional bedrooms? Or is this a 2 bedroom house? Since you have a powder room, I would make the second bath ensuite to the second bedroom by bumping the wall out flush to the hallway. You would then need to change the entry to the laundry room. Stacking the stairs would free up floor space. I also don't think you allocated enough space for your stairs. There are a lot of windows on one side of the porch, but none on the other side. That asymmetry may look odd from the outside. Consider a window in the laundry room. Maybe consider a half wall to separate the dining room from the entry. I think you will want something there to help delineate the space.

Thanks mrspete! I will revisit the eating area and add some space around it. Pointing it out like you did gives me a chance to really look at it, and it needs to fit our family with space to walk around behind the chairs. You've pointed out something that I need to look at closely. Yeah, laundry chute....for dirty clothes to fall down from our Master to the laundry in the lower level. But for our adult clean clothes, I can haul them upstairs once they are laundered. But the laundry will be done in the lower level where the kids clothes, bedding and towels rule the washer these days. As for the great room, with 18'10" by 18'6", if we are smart about furniture choices (we will have our only couch set planned for the lower rec room - its old so the kids can use it) and layout, we will definitely be considerate of walkways - another great point. Thank you mrspete, this is new to us and although we are using a designer - this website and feedback I've read on other sites just goes to show that you can't think of everything....and best not to leave it in the hands of others. Much appreciated!!