I'm no expert but just have a couple questions that might help others help you.

Can you tell us a bit about your family, and about you? (e.g., Kids? Pets? Like to entertain?) I noticed that there's no closet near the front door which is a must in my climate (coats, umbrellas, etc.) but perhaps not for you. I also didn't see a mudroom, which I'm sure you'll want if you have kids or for yourself if you like to garden.

Are there views you want to take advantage of?

Since the great room is very open you might want to do some mockups of how you'll place furniture to make sure you have appropriate room for walkways around the edges of the room, and know where you'll put the TV (if one will go in there.)

The door into the M bedroom has a view right into the heart of the room, which would bother some people.

I'd also recommend posting a detail of the kitchen plan on the kitchen forum as you'll get some really good info there on your kitchen layout.

The left half of the house is nice, also the office, the entry, the powder room and the stair location.
Kitchen is not too bad.
It will be tight to enter the master bedroom once you place a table in the nook.
I find many issues in the masterbathroom and masterbedroom.
I suggest to create a mudroom or at least a back hall instead using the laundry to enter the house. You have a four car garage, a few extra s.f. will not hurt you.

You will be better off with a full basement. I do not think you will save too much as you have it.

@Chicagoans - we have 2 girls (5 & 3). No pets as of right now and we will be building on 5 acres near Indianapolis (in the country). No great views, but we planning on putting a pool in either at the same time of the build or wait a year. Where we are at is a little wet so we might have to build the basement out of the ground a little bit.

My worry is that the garage is too big compared to the rest of the house. I didn't want to build a separate barn or outbuilding so I was planning on closing off the 4th bay to put dirty stuff like the mower, ATV, etc. Might even close off the last 2 bays. I guess we were thinking we would put a bench in the garage to use instead of a mudroom in the house.

@Marthaelena - I agree about the nook and room for a table. I was thinking we obviously would have a small table and might have to move it a little out towards the great room. Can you tell me more about what you see with the master bath and bedroom?

Thanks again for everyone taking the time to share their thoughts.

Gocards,

Master bedroom - You only have two ways of placing the bed: under the window (not desirable) or at the right exterior wall. You will not be able to place a TV accross the bed - unless you and you wife do not watch TV in the masterbedroom.

Master bathroom - I think this room does not have a nice feel. You enter it and all you see at front is 3 doors. Although I love asymmetrical design, seeing this bath makes me think of the word disjointed.

Nook - That table have to be 2' so you have room for chairs on each side and for circulation at each side. Keep in mind that this IS the master bedroom entry. You need some room to enter it, ideally, 4'. I suggest to reconfigure the pantry placement.

Garage - It is overpowering.
I agree with you that it is better to organice your home in a way that you do not need an outbuilding. What about having a tandem fourth bay?
Maybe if the masterbathroom and closets are placed on the right of the Masterbedroom, you are able to place all the stuff that was supposed to go in the outbuilding where the bath and closets are now.
Imagine the garage exterior wall on the right, where the dimension line is. join this line with the new suggested exterior wall of the masterbathroom on the right of the masterbedroom. It creates a lot of space!
good luck.
Wishing you the best of luck.

Seems a long way from the entry ways to the kitchen/pantry, and a lot of steps from the kitchen to dining (but I guess this is formal dining, & won't be used often?)
Is there any way to move the stairs, so you could slide the kitchen closer to the entries?
Will you ever hang laundry outside? then you may want laundry closer to yard.
I agree with earlier posters about a coat closet at the main entry.
I agree the garage will be overpowering. It's 26 feet deep and the average length of a car is 16 ft, that leaves 6-8 feet at the end for storage (giving you 2-4 feet to walk in). Think about 3 bays.
I wondered about the cut-out in BR2 at lower left -- it makes the roofline unnecessarily complicated (adds costs). Why not square it off, have a spot for a desk?

@Marthaelena - We don't watch TV in the bedroom so I'm fine with putting the bed against the wall. I see what you are saying about the 3 doors when walking into the bathroom.

Can you describe the tandem 4th bay you mentioned? I'm not sure I understand that completely.

&Turtleshope - we didn't plan on using the formal dining room that much, but now wondering if I can't make the nook much bigger maybe we will eat dinner there instead? We won't be hanging laundry outside so that is fine with me. The comment about the cutout in the bedroom makes sense, but that would make that room so much bigger than the other bedroom. We had decided that the office would be a family office and the kids would use that for computer/desk space.

Agree completely about the necessity for a mudroom. It doesn't have to be big - ours is 5 1/2 by 9. If they are that young they haven't accumulated all the stuff of older kids - backpacks, sports stuff, etc. You could always hang those in the garage but it is nice for the backpacks to go where they need to be to head out the door at night and most of the time my boys are already in their pjs when they bring their stuff to where it needs to be.

Also, if the purpose of the 4th garage bay is for storage of stuff like that, why not put the 4th bay in the basement. I have seen this done lots and you could just continue the driveway around. Also, why 4 car garage and not 3? We have a 3 car garage on our plans and the third bay will be used to store a golf cart and bikes, etc. We have a couple of small bump outs for the rest of the stuff (one on the front and one on the rear). We have outside parking for 4 more cars (two by the garage and two closer to the front of the house at the front walkway to encourage folks to park there and use the front door). We figure our kids will park outside - we have 3. Ideally, you could do either a 3 bay garage or a 2 bay with a lower bay for ATV and mowers.

The angled garage helps, but it's still overpowering. I wouldn't object to an outbuilding; you have five acres. I've been seeing some new builds where a separate, matching, 2-car garage is across a drive/courtyard from the 2-car attached to the house.

Back Hall: You're not building in a temperate climate. I'd want enough Back Hall with closets *indoors*, not a bench in the garage. (Your children will grow; their 'stuff' will grow apace.) Glad to see the powder room there!

Kitchen: Too small. Awkward. "Pantry" placement strange.

Nook: Need at least 12 X 12 for this heavily-used Family Space.

DR: Do you want one at all? These 'wide open' DR's always remind me of a furniture store where a DR set is on display. It's also a strange distance from the kitchen.

MBR: Don't like mixing private and public spaces. (MBR and Porch.) MRB may be too large; clothing storage will presumably be in your closets. Bath large and awkward. Don't like closet access via the bathroom.

Too few windows.

You know...I'm going to stop. This plan just doesn't work for me. (Of course, I am not going to live there...YOU are!)

ditto on the mudroom.

I would widen the back hall by 2 feet so that you can add lockers/bench on the left side. I would close off the laundry room.

Also not loving the entry to the master bedroom. I would not want to walk around my kitchen/ dining area. Plus there's no real hall to the master so if the door is open anyone in the eat in kitchen can see right in.

It's a long walk from the garage to the kitchen. Maybe swap the pantry and fridge. If the kids are eating and need a drink they will run through the kitchen.

Make sure you have enough room in the family room for furniture.

I would make the middle patio area uncovered.

I love open floor plans, but this might be too open.

How do the guests reach the front door? Do they walk past the whole length of garages or you will have circular driveway?

This is a squarish house. With the acres you have, doesn't it make sense to have a wide house? I was under the impression that squarish or deep homes are built by developers to save on paved roads. To me wider homes look more impressive.

If one of the wider sides is facing south side, you can take advantage of passive solar as well.

we're planning on putting a pool in either at the same time of the build or wait a year

Will the pool be at the back of the house? I'd definitely have a large powder room with a bench and storage for big towels at the back entrance of the house to be a transition from wet to dry, and of course for little ones needing to go in a hurry. Otherwise it could be a long wet walk (or run) from the pool to the bathroom.

I'd print off your floorplan and using different colored pencils track your paths through the house. (Front door to where you'll hang up guests' jackets; garage to kitchen drop zone for bags of groceries; back door to bathroom for kids playing outside; path from the pool to inside the house for using a restroom and drying off; kitchen to outdoor grill if you use one; MB to kids' rooms in case of a late night need for mom or dad; whatever door the kids will use to come in and hang up backpacks, put away sports gear, etc.) Make sure that these paths make sense in terms of where you plan to place furniture and how far you need to go. And with a pool I'd make extra sure that no little ones have to run too far across a slippery-when-wet floor to get to a bathroom.

@aj33 - we will have circular driveway so guests will enter through the front door. I'm not sure I understand the question regarding a wide house. We only want around 2,300 sq ft on the first floor.

Most of the time we will be watching TV in the basement. My plan is to put a projection TV in the media area so that you can watch TV from about everywhere downstairs.

@chicagoans - pool will be off the covered patio. I've thought about the bathroom situation and was thinking of making a walkway to the garage door to get to the powder room.