If you've been reading here you know what I am going to say! LOL There's no powder room near a family entry to the house and no closets for all the 'stuff' that accumulates in what I call a 'back hall'. Picture your children trekking through the house with muddy feet to get to the toilet.

Your porch is too shallow for a table and chairs; need 12 foot depth.

Do you like sleeping under a window? (MBR) I would tire of crossing the BR between bathroom and closet.

Your secondary BR's need additional windows.

I'm thinking about what you've said about using the house and FRONT yard. I'd probably want a front-facing kitchen. I'd want more space near the kitchen for children to play, too. It will be a long time until they'll use the basement, away from Mom.

Could you build a house with more space on one level and a smaller (or no) basement? With two acres, I'd prefer to 'spread out'. What appeals to you about having a lower level?

Um, first issue I see is your staircase between the main floor and walkout basement. Unless you plan to have a VERY low ceiling in your basement, I'm pretty sure you haven't allowed enough room for a staircase that will meet code.

You need about 3 feet of that 13 feet of allocated space for a landing at the bottom of the stairs. (Otherwise you run smack dab into the wall when heading down the stairs.) More would be better. That cuts your available space for the staircase itself to only about 10 feet at most. Assuming 10 inch treads (pretty much the minimum allowed by most codes), you only have room for 12 treads which means 13 risers. If each riser is 7.5 inches high, your floor-to-floor distance has to be no more than 8.125 feet. That sounds okay until you remember that floor-to-floor height INCLUDES the space required for floor joists plus the basement ceiling height.

You probably need to find at least another couple of feet to devote to the staircase run.

Oh, and there is no way you can tuck that large basement bedroom closet under the stairs like that. I've have closet storage tucked under my staircase in both previous home and my current home. You don't get enough headroom UNDER a staircase to stand up until at least the 10th step.

To approximate how long the linear run of your staircase needs to be: first decide how tall you want your basement ceiling. Add at least 12" (16" to be safe) for floor joists to get the floor-to-floor height. Then multiply that number by between 1.35 and 1.58 to get an approximation of how long the run of your staircase run needs to be. (1.35 assumes risers that are slightly less than 7.5 inches and treads that are 10 inches long which is pretty much the steepest allowed by code in many places.) 1.58 allows room for a much more comfortable staircase with risers that are only about 7 inches high and treads that are about 11 inches long.

And, if you decide to make an L shaped staircase, add a length equal to the width of your staircase for each midstaircase landing.

When designing a two story house, you HAVE to provide enough room for the staircase right from the start. It is just way too difficult to move things around on two floors of a plan to fix a staircase.

My initial reaction is that the living room and kitchen/dining room are disproportionately small compared to the amount of total finished square footage, especially considering that the living room must be passed through to get to the rest of the house.

You've minimized the use of hallways, which is good when trying to watch square footage. But when have to pass through rooms such as the living room to get to other parts of the house, I think the pass through rooms should be a bit bigger to accomodate that traffic flow.

I obviously don't know what your priorities are, but for me, I would think about nixing half of the two car garage to significantly expand your living room and kitchen/dining room area. Personally, I'd rather have more space inside my house for me and family than for a car - and trust me, the car won't complain to you if it is forced to sit outside.

Alternatively, have you considered the possibility of having both floors of the house be above ground? With the same footprint (and even keeping both stalls of the garage), you could move all bedrooms to the upper level and have a very spacious first floor layout.

Sticking with the plan you have:

1. Is there really a need for back to back entry doors? Could you eliminate the interior entry door and just make that a wide cased opening? How about moving your coat closet up to left side of that entry area and changing the door swing on the outermost door to a RH swing?

2. Your first floor baths both have windows by the shower/baths. I'd keep windows away from baths if possible for privacy purposes and to keep water away from the interior side of windows (and therefore, the inside of the walls). Can things be adjusted so vanities are closer to the windows?

3. You've got some wasted space in the laundry room. If you eliminated the door between the kitchen and the laundry room, then added a wall+door running left to right to square off the laundry room, then you could put your pantry (or another pantry) at the end of the hallway (the dead space currently behind the open door to the garage). Alternatively, you could just put up some shelving in the laundry for additional pantry storage.

Good luck with everything!

I agree with the comments of previous posters. Many preferences comments are based on personal preference, and you should really build to suit your lifestyle and habits. That being said, if I were to be building for me, I would try to reconfigure the bedrooms. The one bedroom that has its only small window on the screened in porch is going to be sad. Not only will it be dark bc of the small window being under a covered porch, but if you hang out on that porch all the time, that person will never get any privacy and will always have people sitting literally right outside their window. Also, I know that people put 2d refrigerators in their garages bc they don't have space inside for it, but since you are building a custom home, why not plan to house the 2d refrigerator or freezer in the house instead of the garage. I'd try to design the house like I intended to have a 2d fridge, rather than put it in the garage bc I couldn't figure out a proper place to put it. I think you could reconfigure your laundry room to put it in there may be. Your living space seems too small. It doesn't even seem like you could put a coffee table in there without it being wall to wall furniture. I agree with a previous poster that you need to allow room to walk around. Also, some of your doors are awkward--e.g. your master bathroom door opens onto the shower, and the entry door into the living room opens onto those built ins. I think your living room will be really dark, unless you add some skylights. The only window is under a covered porch and the only other window is a small kitchen window that will be partially blocked by the wall between the kitchen and the living room and may be that door to the rear is a french door. Plus, all you get through that kitchen window and door is northern light. Anyway, good luck. It's a lot of work, but in the end, I'm sure you'll love the result!

Ditto on the stairs- there's not enough room there. You can turn 90 degrees and continue down, but you need 80" minimum headroom, to which you have to add the thickness of the floor joists and flooring. Stairs are a major pain to put in a house design- I've been struggling with that for years!

Thanks for the input so far! Here's a little insight into how we live and a couple answers:

I am planning on a 90 degree turn in the staircase. I didn't know there would need to be special considerations for this. We are doing SIPs walls and are meeting with them tonight. They'll also be doing our stairway so I'm sure they'll tell me all I need to know about it. I'll be sure to mention it. Stairs sure are a pain!

If you've been reading here you know what I am going to say! LOL There's no powder room near a family entry to the house and no closets for all the 'stuff' that accumulates in what I call a 'back hall'. Picture your children trekking through the house with muddy feet to get to the toilet.

The extra space you see in the laundry room will be where we hang coats and take our shoes off/throw bookbags, etc. We just won't be doing lockers (at least right away). I am planning on doing a drain in the garage with hot and cold spout near for muddy feet/dog/etc.

The closet in the hall was my "stuff" closet along with storage in the basement.

The one bedroom that has its only small window on the screened in porch is going to be sad.

This made me laugh. :) How I picture this room being used: nursery for 2nd baby, then kids can share a room and this will become the play/toy room upstairs. At some point another kid can move back in if they want or move downstairs, etc.

Could you build a house with more space on one level and a smaller (or no) basement? With two acres, I'd prefer to 'spread out'. What appeals to you about having a lower level?
I like one level living for the majority of my time. Basements are the norm around here - we live in tornado alley.

1. Is there really a need for back to back entry doors? Could you eliminate the interior entry door and just make that a wide cased opening? How about moving your coat closet up to left side of that entry area and changing the door swing on the outermost door to a RH swing?

The entry is this way because my DH's two desires when planning this house: That people don't see the kitchen from the front door and that randoms that do come to our front door can't see into the house. I do plan to have coat hooks there inside the entry for when guests come. Our guests are very casual.

Your porch is too shallow for a table and chairs; need 12 foot depth.

Good to know. Thank you.

2. Your first floor baths both have windows by the shower/baths. I'd keep windows away from baths if possible for privacy purposes and to keep water away from the interior side of windows (and therefore, the inside of the walls). Can things be adjusted so vanities are closer to the windows?
I've nixed the one in the secondary bath. I think I might like a glass block one in the master shower though. This may be backwards and sound dumb but we currently have one in our shower and we just hang a clear shower curtain along the back wall. Light in and no water on the window :) I'm open to suggestions on that room though.

The closet in the basement for the bedroom....maybe I can jut a closet into my craft room/office. I think that is what I'll do :) I didn't figure I'd get as much room under there as what is drawn.

The kitchen is actually decent sized in my mind. There are cupboards along the south wall in there if you didn't see those. They can hold all the sometimes used stuff. There are more in there than at most of my family/friends houses and my current house. Our current dining table is a 4 seater and when we need to get a bigger one I'm actually thinking I'll be a bench along that dining wall so the table can sit closer to it.

The living room could be a little bigger but hey, such is life when you are sticking to a budget I guess. My current living room is 12x11. There isn't a pathway through it though so that will make a difference. If we need to spread out we'll go to the basement. I live in 1000 sq ft now. I'm good at organization and stacking things to the ceiling of closets, etc. 3000 is a mansion to me. :)

Thanks again!

Oh and I'm attaching the plan that I tweaked to make mine if you feel like taking a peek.

Here is a link that might be useful: Original house plan

I see that you need *some* basement. Many people would kill to have enough land to build their living space all on one level. It's also so much more pleasant to live 'above ground'! LOL

Please try to eliminate a 'turn' for the stairs. Picture wrestling furniture, etc. down the stairs.

Rinsing muddy feet isn't the only issue. Kids (and adults) need access to a toilet without crossing the whole house. The most used one in our house is the one in the back hall. The family entry area can't be too big, IMO. Picture three kids coming in from outdoors or school -- or getting ready to go out. Hard to see now when it's just you and DH and a baby, but this 'staging area' gets pretty congested.

I'd be most concerned with how a house suits the family living in it -- less so with visitors, although I agree the BR under the porch is too public and will be gloomy.

I think you'll want to play around with the plans a lot more before you start in on the building. It's so much easier and less costly to get it right on paper.

The problem with your house design is that there is too much thought about making the individual spaces right and not enough thought to the way the spaces relate to each other. I suspect this is the first time you have done this and learning as you go on your own house is probably not the best approach. The best advice I could give you is to get a design professional to assist you. Good luck with your project; I hope it goes well.

I can't offer any advice but you are getting a lot of good stuff from others. I came here for advice on building my home a few years ago and I got so much helpful info, that I am now back for more. Good luck with your build.

Siting the home on the lot is the most critical aspect of any home design, and putting it all the way to the rear is a BIG BIG BIG mistake. Just because it's the highest elevation doesn't mean that's automatically the best spot to build. Think about nesting the home into the elevation so that it looks like part of the land rather than an unnatural eruption sitting on top of it. (The "pimple" effect.) It also makes for very uncomfortable living to have your whole life "on display" in the front yard with very little private space available. A back yard is a place for gatherings and a shed for puttering and swingsets and other house "accessories" that don't belong in a front yard. With two acres, you have the opportunity to really do some interesting space planning using that two acres, and your plan doesn't take advantage of that either with it's position on that land or the design itself.

I think I would want the pantry closer to the kitchen. Is there a way to put it in the laundry room? Or could you incorporate the pantry into the kitchen?
Good Luck!

The basement stair opening will have to be at least 3 ft. X 10 ft. in order to allow the code required headroom of 6'8" at the lower intermediate landing. More headroom will require a longer opening. Open the stair wall and add a guard with balusters. Put a door at the bottom of the stair if necessary.

An 8-0 wide individual garage doors will inevitably result in unnecessary damage to your cars; make them 9-0 wide or use a wide single door.

Swing doors against walls when possible to avoid people walking into the edge of them.

In most US towns, if the clear opening sizes of the windows do not meet the minimum code requirements, an outside fresh air ventilation system must be installed. Opening sizes for all bedroom windows would also have to meet he minimum requirements for "emergency escape and rescue openings" (usually indicated in the window catalogs) and the stools cannot be higher than 44" above the floor. If the grade level outside the window is lower than the normal grade, there must be a 36" X 36" exterior areaway.

Don't enter the house through the living room. Let the family members using that room have some peace and privacy.

Don't put a window in a shower enclosure unless the stool is no lower than the shower head to avoid the inevitable mess and deterioration from soap and water.

Allow more space for a toilet than the 30" minimum width. Even an additional inch each side makes a big difference.

"Elongated" toilets used to be standard toilets and the smaller ones were called "compact" or "cadet" models for small powder rooms. They were renamed for marketing reasons; don't use them for full bathrooms. Avoid Kohler toilets no matter how good they look.

Don't put a post or window meeting rail directly in front of a kitchen sink. A large awning type window works well.

The cabinets between the kitchen and living room will make a better pantry/storage zone than the little closet over the stair landing.

Place the bathrooms back to back if possible.

The current plan looks as if the house had been added on to several times creating unplanned room relationships. Be bold. Reconfigure the footprint/layout to shorten the hallway, resolve the awkward relationship of the kitchen, dining area and living room, provide a better proportion for the living room, and provide a more private front entrance. In short, make it a more traditional layout.

I agree with a lot of what has been said above; however I think the size of your front porch is more than adequate. I just measured my dining room and it is 10' 11" with a 54 inch round table. Your 10' 6" porch will be plenty big enough for a table. It's really hard to say about the siting on your lot without seeing it and seeing where your house will sit in relation to neighboring homes. I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing to orient the living spaces toward the front of a house. I think it is a good thing to want to sit out front and watch the world go by! Since you'll have small children playing, you will want space in between the porch and the road where they can safely play. Although with 2+ acres I'm not so sure how much of the townsfolk you will actually be able to see if sitting on the back half of your lot. Good luck.