Bathrooms: as others have pointed out, you should have a full bath on any floor where there might be sleeping rooms. If you intend to ever sell this house, there should be a full bath on the 2nd floor and in the walkout basement. (Currently, it looks as if the master bath is the only full bath in the plan.) The laundry location will be very annoying to anyone who has more than a single couple in the house--they go up/down stairs, **across the house**, up stairs and then into a laundry room. Stairs: How do you go downstairs? Do you really want the stairs between the great room and the kitchen? The stairs take up a lot of room in the middle of the house--especially considering you don't intend to use them often. Accessibility: By adding stairs to the master bedroom, the master bedroom will not be accessible to someone with limited mobility. As others have pointed out, that negates some of the advantages of a first floor master. Kitchen/Hearth area--there's a lot of space there but I'd be concerned about the actual cabinet layout before I started building. Since the back wall is primarily windows, that will influence how the cabinets are laid out. You'll also want to be sure there's sufficient room for a large table, since that is your only eating space--at least, I assume there will be eating space in there someewhere! Although the space is large, it is fulfilling 3 functions: kitchen, dining, "hearth". Entry way: The entryway looks as if it's over 160 square feet. At even *cheap* construction costs, do you really want to spend $16,000 for an entryway? It is large and will be a huge empty space when you enter the house. What is the purpose of having it so large? I guess you could put a large sculpture in the middle. Flows: The pathways from the garage to the kitchen or garage to the bedroom or garage to the great room are all filled with turns. I think the flow could be improved. Pantry/Officette: What exactly is an officette? How would furniture be arranged here? Pantry shelves don't need to be very deep--the room is too wide to just be a pantry, but isn't really big enough to be an office. Also, does it make sense for one of you to have an 'officette' in an INTERIOR room when the laundry room and mud room both get windows? Office: At that size, it should be big enough to share. If you don't want to share it, I'd consider making two separate offices. For that matter, I'd consider making them "bedrooms" with the intent of using them as offices. That would mean putting in a closet--and turning the powder room into a full bath (or adding another bath). Master bath: There is a lot of wasted space here--it looks as if it's about 11' from the vanities to the shower--that's an entire room--all empty space. The tub gets a back window, but there's a lot of unused space in front of it--on top of all the empty space in the middle of the master bath. Master closet: Some people don't like walking through a bathroom to get to a closet, but that doesn't bother me. What does bother me is what you're gong to do with an 11' wide closet. I *like* big closets, don't get me wrong. But closets are most valuable along the walls--what are you going to do with that space in the middle? Some people put dressers and benches in the middle, but if you're going to do that, what are you going to put in the 16x18 bedroom? Foyer to master bedroom: It is big enough to walk through, but not really big enough to put furniture in. You said your girlfriend was interested in making it a sitting room, but given that you have a HUGE bedroom, a great room, and a hearth room, why would you consider putting a sitting area in an interior, private space near the laundry? Owners Suite to bathroom: I can't tell if there's really supposed to be a door there--it looks too big for a pocket door--and most people do want a door to their master bath, since couples don't necessary get up at the same time. I admit that a 4.5 car garage would be fun to have :-). I'm afraid I don't like this plan--it doesn't use space well, I don't think it'd be easy to live in--even looking at it as a two person house, and you'd be walking through a lot of open space. This house is big and would take a lot of money to build--and I don't think it's a particularly livable plan. I think you ought to look at a lot more existing floor plans or find yourself an architect.

I'd bring the master bedroom closet in to the middle of the house. This will allow you to have windows on two sides of the bedroom, while also forming a sound barrier between the great room and the bedroom. I also agree that the closet needs to be wider to be useful. Is that the washer/dryer in a closet in the master suite? I'd hate that. With no place to keep laundry baskets or to fold clothes, you're constantly going to have piles of dirty stuff right in the master bedroom doorway. I like the idea of having it NEAR the master, but not in that space. Also consider how you're going to vent the dryer. I can't see the master bathroom well, but it seems to be very spread out ... for no real purpose. For example, you have two sinks crammed together in a small vanity, which means no drawer storage ... and then acres of empty space leading to a windowless toilet closet. With this much space, everything should be comfortable -- what you have now is just lots of floor space. I'd look at eliminating the square-footage-gobbling hallway. The kitchen is over-sized. When people say they want a large kitchen, they usually really mean they want a highly functional kitchen that'll make cooking easy. Lots of counterspace doesn't = highly functional. Consider how many extra steps you'll have to take in this kitchen to prepare a meal. Consider, too, that you're planning a monster-sized pantry, which is the best and cheapest way to store your stuff -- you don't need that PLUS all those expensive countertops. I'm assuming Bedroom #2 is for your son, whom you describe as medically fragile? Is that bathroom adequate? I'd consider taking in some of the butler's pantry to allow more space for his special needs. Note that this bathroom has no storage space -- I'd want at least a linen tower. The jack-and-jill bath also has no storage space. Also, you'll want to flip the door in the bathtub/toilet room so it doesn't prevent someone from entering the tub. This room is very minimal. In the other hall bath, with the toilet on one side and the sink on the other, how can anyone enter the shower? Since all the bedrooms are already served by a bathroom, do you really need this shower? As a powder room, this'd be comfortable -- as a full bath, it's too crowded. Overall, I think the secondary bathrooms are really quite lacking. All of them need storage, space for a clothes hamper and a trash can. I'd give up the flex space and enlarge the bathrooms. Note that in the girls' bedrooms, with closets on one side and window seats on the other side, the girls can only place their beds in one spot. Finally, I don't like a garage-shoved-out-in-front of any house, but an oversized garage will really overshadow even this fairly large house. Honestly, I think you can do a whole lot better than this house plan.

Thank you for the reply cpartist, I value your input and you have a lovely home and are so talented! Thank you. I hope you can get the house you need and deserve. The projected cost did factor in 15% for any overages. Good because it's rare the budget is under. Do yourself a favor and no matter what you decide, choose every single thing before. Don't work with allowances because allowances will mostly come back to bite you, you know where. We had allowances, but it was AFTER I spent many a day shopping with our builder's designer pricing out appliances, floors, tile, etc that I liked. I had almost no surprises with things like that because we had enough in the budget for them. The room labelled “Office“ is actually going to be the dining room, they forgot to change the label. It is 15’7” by 11’7”. The room off the kitchen labeled dinette will actually function as a sunroom, but looking at the yellow space perhaps we need more windows. I think that's going to be an issue. Do yourself a favor and draw the path from the kitchen cooktop to the dining room. Now imagine carrying full platters of turkey, or casseroles, or whatever other hot stuff you serve. See where the problem will lie? I’d love advice on how to make the kitchen more efficient. we will have a pot filler on the stove, so that will help. The plans don’t show it but the sink will be a large farmhouse sink with two separate faucets. A large farmhouse sink still means two butts right next to one another with not enough space to prep. If you do go with this house plan, bring your kitchen over to the kitchen forum for better advice. Your needs are unique and a cookie cutter house is not going to be functional for you. The garages are positioned as they are to cut down on the cost of the concrete apron, concrete work is very expensive in our area, Many builders this far north position garages like this to act as a buffer for the prevailing western winds in the winter and cut down on heating costs. But I know this isn’t the only way to accomplish this. We also like having the two distinct garage areas as one will be a workshop with storage. Building a seperate workshop would be much more expensive. But sunlight is also a big an issue here as you point out. The foyer and living room do have higher ceilings and windows to let in more light, but it seems like it won’t be enough. I’ll have to think about this. You need to have your house oriented so the main windows are on the south side. The north side is probably the second worst in terms of passive solar heating/cooling especially as far north as you will be. My beef with the garages are not that they're positioned on the west. That's a positive. It's the garages on the south that are the issue. The pantry does include a washer and dryer and freezer fridge. we currently have an extra freezer and fridge in our garage, and I’m tired of leaving the house to fetch items. I didn’t factor in the added humidity, I will have to see what solutions might be available. Our current laundry room is doubling as a pantry, and it doesn’t seem to have any moisture issues. We also have a washer and dryer upstairs, so the washer and dryer in the pantry will by be used for everything. Your needs are different than mine. I personally prefer my washer and dryer closer to my master bedroom since most of my laundry is generated there. You have an upstairs washer/dryer for those living upstairs, so the question then becomes where is most of the downstairs laundry generated? Some people say they prefer it by the kitchen since they spend more time there, but personally I'd rather walk back and forth to the laundry by my bedroom without carrying baskets of laundry, than having laundry by my kitchen and having to carry loads of laundry, sheets, towels, etc. I agree about the upstairs layout, it seems poorly designed to me and I’m at a loss for how to improve it. This is what is bothering me. You're choosing a house only because it's larger and not to enhance the way you live. It could be so much more and I do realize that you have a tight budget. Sigh. I don't know what the answer is. The basement is not a walkout, but it is a ”daylight” basement, and so the elevation slopes down to the back allowing for daylight windows. The bedroom in the front of the basement is the only window with a window well, the others are at ground level. How will you feel about one of your children being in a bedroom where if there was an emergency they'd have to climb out up through a window well? We blew our “design budget” hiring a designer last fall who created a custom design for us we could never afford to build. He was a friend of a friend who came highly recommended and he did very good work, but it did not work out for us. That is why we’re exploring other options. Talk to architectrunnerguy. We might be able to afford to go through the custom design process again if we wait couple of years and start again. But we are anxious to sell our current home while the market is still “hot.” I can't disagree with you on this one except by the time your house is built, the market may not be so hot anymore. Thank you again for your time and attention, it is an amazing privilege to be able to solicit advice from such a smart and talented pool of people! Even if you decide not to take our advice, it's still a pleasure to help those like yourself who are willing to truly listen. :) While still on paper, it's so good to really think through all comments, even if you ultimately disagree.

Start with a site contour map. The rise and fall and run of the property determines a lot about what shape home fits on it. You fit the house to the property, not the other way around. A fixed in the mind shape just plopped onto a site leads to cost overruns to make the house fit the site, and doesn’t take advantage of any special conditions. Think about the approach from the street. The parking and home access for the family, and for guests. Which way the traffic approaches. What you envision the home saying. That could be “welcome”, or it could be “Go away, we like privacy”. Think about the sight lines and views. Good and bad views, If the best views are in the worst direction for energy efficiency and comfort, (west) what is going to be your strategy to minimize the negative effect of western exposure, while still framing the view? If you have cold winters, and the house faces that way, what type of windbreak or berm can be created? What’s the solar path through the seasons? Where are the utilities going to run for entrance into the home? Where is the logicsl place for a outbuilding? What materials for paving are allowed? What are the native materials on site? Rock? What size and color? Lumber? Timber framed? Mud for Adobe or brick? How can you incorporate locally sourced and native materials so the the home fits its surroundings? Think of what the immigrants 200 years ago had with which to build their shelters. Start with the site. Not the house. Understand the site over the seasons before you ever think about a structure on the site. A house is not a layout. It’s a living breathing 3D response to the site. If you want eastern morning light for your bedroom, the push and pull of the volume as a whole demands that some other room not get that eastern exposure. The roof and foundation shapes and volumes only stretch so far before becoming hideously misshapen by a floorplan. Think of a house as a big globe of silly putty. You stretch this here, and it takes away there. You push and pull the whole glob, with every change that you make. Sure. you can buy and add more silly putty to get the shape that you want. It’s only money. But creating a pleasing silly putty sculpture out of only so much silly putty is a really really hard thing to do. The floor plan isn’t done in isolation of the effect that it has on the whole volume.