I'm not a 'craftsman' fan, so don't know: Do they typically have arched entries? Seems a bit at odds with the heavy, grounded pillars.

While the fireplace at the rear of the nook makes a statement, you might prefer a view. (Fireplaces are attractive in cool weather when you have a fire going; infrequent at our house.) Might you like a fireplace between the nook and great room? Is there a view to the right from the great room? Where is North on your plan?

The plan has a lot of 'hallway'.

Odd to walk down a 'bedroom hall' between garage and kitchen. Long haul for groceries.

Is the stairway *outside* the house?

That's a lot of roof? What's upstairs? What's the purpose of the shed dormer?

Why have you shifted the rear half of the house off center -- to the right? I'd extend the master bath/closet flush with the side of the front half. I don't like to access my closet via the bathroom. Might you have a doorway centered in your MBR with bath on one side and closet on the other? I agree that your bath lacks appeal.

Are there no windows on the sides of the house (except the secondary BR's)? The single window in the office is really tiny; 'office' itself is tiny.

I'd refer you to the "Kitchens" forum for help on that layout. I see several things there that wouldn't work for me.

I really like the large foyer and the lower-ceilinged DR flanked by the two cathedrals. You've shown nice restraint on the front elevation -- just wonder about the arch!

I do love craftsman, but I'm not an architect nor a designer, these are just my humble opinions from a very personal perspective. Doesn't mean they are right or wrong.

Your exterior has some craftsman elements, but overall it needs some tweaking to be called craftsman. I don't think the arch, nor the transoms around a basic door fit the bill. I think a gabled entry with beams would be more suitable, and a beautiful craftsman door with mission style glass. Are you missing some gable ends on the left side of the entry? Craftsman windows are usually 3 over 1, or something like that. Or the bottom pane would be larger than the top on a double hung. Also, the window trim could be beefed up a bit. You often see craftsman trim painted a bold color contrasting with the siding, and the beefier trim accentuates that nicely. I'm a bit confused by the columns. I see that you are trying for symmetry, and maybe the angle of the elevation makes it look odd. There are several different types of roof lines, and they don't seem to compliment each other. The windows to the left of the entry, specifically the small office window, could be made larger for a more balanced look. Again, maybe it's just the angle of the elevation. I love the use of the shakes with the siding, and the stone, too.

As to the interior, I love the great room and the nice large entry. Do you live in a climate where people will have coats? Kitchens are very personal rooms, and I'm definitely not an expert in that area, but I'm not a fan of a corner pantry. It takes up a large amount of counter space. I would prefer a nice big window. Make sure you can open that refrigerator door. Sometimes fridges in the corner can be a problem. Another very personal preference is that I don't like having to go through the bathroom to get to the master closet. Most people love that, but not me. Laundry way too small. Mud room area would be way too small for our family. I'm not a fan of the bedroom right at the garage door. Nice big garage!! A door (other than front door) might be nice off the front porch into the garage. Depends on your lifestyle. I would just love that 4-season porch!!!

Good luck. I see a beautiful home in the making!

Where is this house being built? City or country? I ask because an alternate "dirty" entrance would be nice directly into the garage without opening one of the big doors.
In our new build (on a few acres) we have a "dirty" mudroom directly off the garage and side entrance. Then into the main house "clean" mudroom.

I like your elevation!

Thank you everyone for your critique so far!

chisue -

I agree with the arched entry. We originally had a gable, but it interfered with the dormer. Arches are typically more expensive so when our builder did not charge us any additional for it, we decided to keep it.

The main thing we wanted in our new house was to have 'one' continuous open room between the kitchen, dining room, and living room. By moving the fireplace between the DR and LR, I agree that it would give us a good view, but it would kill the one reason we went with this house. Plus there is already a fireplace in the LR;

There's not a 2nd livable story on the house. The stairs are in the garage because it's for the storage space above the garage.

The foyer is actually vaulted into the dining room so the dormer is there for looks and as function by letting in natural light into the dining room;

We made the back of the house sort of off-center because I personally don't like sides of houses that are just straight without any personality. I think too many people think of the front of their houses, but aren't thinking of the sides of their houses. Since we have an L-shaped house, I thought it was even more important to have some kind of feature instead of an endless expanse;

I also agree about having the master closet within the master bathroom. The reason we went this route is to enable us to have longer wall space. I do like your idea of having 1 door in the middle that access both the bathroom and closet, but this would essentially split up a wall in half;

I'll check out the kitchen forums as I'm not too happy about the corner pantry, but my wife insists on it!

joyce -

I should have mentioned that the elevation isn't final and we fully intended to do the '3 over 1' windows that are located in the Den and the Garage. Depending on the budget, we're looking into the mission glass for the doors and sidelites. We are also planning on doing a 4 or 5 inch white trim.

I agree with you on the laundry room. I have a question out to the builder to see how much additional cost it would be to extend the laundry room another 2 feet into the garage area since I feel the garage is big enough for our needs;

kbncan -

This house will be within a community of about 35 houses on 1.5 acre lots overlooking a lake, but in the 'country'.

I do like your idea of a 'dirty' mudroom. Are you suggesting that it should be in the garage, but before you go into the door into the house? If so, I'm sure I could easiliy build some type of system for dirty coats, shoes, etc.

Thanks!

Warm climate? Cool climate? Which way is North? I presume your main view is to the rear, but I see no side windows other than the (VERY small) ones in the two BR's. (Fewer, smaller windows = builder profit.)

Only your (left side) neighbor will look at that side of your house. Consider the no-jog savings and more room in the house over the small two-foot offset. (Maybe we need to see the rear and side elevations. There may be another way to break the expanse.)

The roof seems high for a craftsman (ground-hugging) house. Our rather 'French-y' house has a 10/12 roof. We built to live on one floor but have an attic that could become another 3000 sq ft of living area with the addition of dormers. More roof is more expense. Could you have the shed dormer on a lower-pitched roof and still have cathedrals high enough enough to suit? How high are they?

Your MBR has two unbroken walls. You have walk-in closets. What do you plan to put in the room in addition to your bed and side tables? I'd like to walk into the room and turn left through that left wall to get to closet(s) and bathroom. Hmmm. Might you want your MBR on the corner with two exposures and the closet and bathroom beside the kitchen?

Since you got some good info above, I just wanted to point out one thing that seems tiny but would make me nuts: shorten the wall next to your refrigerator, or consider putting a broom closet/cabinet between the ref and the wall. (I've seen great pullouts that hold a bunch of stuff even tho they're only 4" wide. Pic below.) With the ref right next to that wall, you won't be able to open the door wide enough (past 90 degrees) to remove the drawers for cleaning. (My old ref was in a corner and I hated it.)

I'd highly recommend posting your kitchen layout on the kitchens forum. The layout pros there will help you get the most functionality out of your space. Oh and may I just add: drawers drawers drawers (instead of pullout shelves for your lower kitchen cabs.)

Broom pullout only 4" wide:
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Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on drawers in kitchen - some good pics

We love our corner pantry - very functional, lots of storage, very accessible
and not a lot of floor space.

I 'm wonderig is there's a way to get to the Back Hall/mudroom from the outside?

Not loving the placement of pillars on the front porch. Why are there pillars in front of the den and garage ? To support the overhang? Isn't that going to look strange? Sorry, I'm just having a hard time picturing this.

Also the garage pillars are smack in front of the bathroom window.

chisue I beg to differ with you on that only neighbors will see the side of the house. That is true on smaller lots, but since this is 1.5 acres there is the potential for it being visible from the road also depends on the road and trees/bushes blocking the views.

I know in our neighborhood the road curves around and on several of those lots (~2-3 acres) you can see pretty much all sides of at least the roof lines and sometimes the house depending on trees/bushes.

lyfia -- Boon granted. lol Everything is relative, eh? We're on 1.3 acres, but with so much landscaping that nobody sees much of our house from the street. My bigger 'sides' concern is that there are zero windows except for one 'dinky' in each of the secondary BR's.

But then...we may be talking to ourselves.