Floor plan with no dimensions for clarity.

It's a good start, but I think you'll need to make some changes. The stairs you're using aren't up to code in the US-- you need to use straight treads (do they go up or down?).

Also, you say you want bedroom 3 to be "accessible". If you mean accessible to someone in a wheelchair, I don't think it is. How would they open the door? I don't think the bathroom is wheelchair-friendly either, but I'm not an expert on that, by any means.

I think having the nook and dining room immediately next to each other is awkward, and the nook is too far from the kitchen.

Good luck!

I agree that winders rather than stairs are difficult to walk upon, and I would make another choice.

I'm confused by the dining room and nook -- are people going to walk past a breakfast nook with a table to reach the dining room?

Is that a tub poking out from the master bath? If so, it's going to be difficult to enter, and it's going to be a nightmare to clean. It's also going to be expensive to build in a bump like that.

At 6' wide, your master closet is too narrow for comfort. You need 24" on each side for the clothing, and that only leaves you 24" of walking space down the middle.

Your plumbing is mostly grouped together, which is a good money-saver, but I think your secondary bathrooms are numerous . . . but all too small for comfort. I'd rather have fewer baths, but make them decent sized. Unless your parents will live with you full-time, I'd go with one good bath to share between the two secondary bedrooms. Or make one of them open into the hallway and serve as the powder room.

Bedroom #3 has too many competing doors, and you'll always be knocking one against the others.

I would "take in" the hallway in front of the laundry room to make a small walk-in. You could then have a nice-sized cabinet under the window for folding /storage.

I'm not sure I'd like an entrance from the garage immediately into the kitchen without some kind of transition area (hall, mudroom) in between. If you want that, then I'd at least move the garage door as far to the right as possible so it impacts that kitchen wall as little as possible.

The sink cubby for the wet bar is too narrow - I think most people would be knocking elbows against walls trying to use the sink. (Mock it up and see if you can stand in a space that narrow.) I'd pull the cubby forward so it's as deep as the recess on the other side of the GR entrance and so the sink counter front edge is even with the walls. Give the extra space to the hall closet.

Is the drawing to scale? Your entrance into the GR looks quite narrow - like 3' wide or less?

I actually wouldn't mind the DR next to the nook if there were French doors or something where I could make the entire space larger or smaller depending on how I'm using it (doors closed for most days, just family eating in the nook; doors wide open for a big dinner using both spaces.)

Draw some furniture to scale to see how you'll set it up in the grand room since you'll need walkways on 3 sides.

I think that bump out for the master tub is going to make that an expensive little area, and possibly feel cave-like (unless it's got windows on the walls, in which case it might feel rather exposed for bathing.) In general, more bumpouts = more expensive due to complicated foundations and rooflines, so you'll want to make sure that each bumpout is worth the added expense.

I think you're off to a good start but the first thing I noticed was the entrance to the grand room. People will be able to comfortably walk into the house and put their coats away but then will have to get in line to funnel through the door to the grand room. That might be more suitable for a large cased opening...

I think the nook is too narrow. Moving around a table will be tight.

I also question building out that little area for the tub in the master bath. I suspect there is a better way to build the space for a tub that does not involve a narrow jutting out. If you like the idea of having a little isolated place for the tub, I would at least suggest you turn the tub so that the long side faces into the room. Getting into and out of the tub as it currently is will be difficult. Cleaning it will also not be easy.

Your dining room is in a corner where no one can see it. Odd. Normally, we like our "pretty" rooms to show. And the nook is very small. Neither room is user friendly, unfortunately.

And it seems like you will have a lot of empty space between the kitchen and great room.

Consider putting the kitchen where the dining room is currently. That space is almost 22' long, so you should have room for an eating area. If you don't want to be so isolated from the great room, don't bump out the new kitchen area. You could always bump out the garage a bit more (well, depending on lot, etc.). I realize you will have a longer walk to unload groceries, but in every other way I think the plan will live better, imo.

Thanks for all the great feedback.

Here is the new layout with a few changes:

1. I decided to flip the stairs and the coat closet in the foyer to allow entrance from the garage into the foyer so people have access to the coat closet white exiting/entering the house. The icon for stairs is a placeholder for lack of a better icon but they will be regular stairs as per code in the final plan. Yes, that does make a long walk to the kitchen for groceries etc but may be we can also keep the old entrance from the garage near the kitchen. Any thoughts about 2 entrances from the garage?

2. I have turned the tub in the master bathroom bump out to allow better access for cleaning. The master bathroom layout still needs some redesigning though.

3. The wet bar seems a little better with the new foyer layout.

4. The entrance to the grand room allows better access now.

5. I had the dining and nook together, so in case of a big get together may be the kids can use the nook for eating. The idea was to have the dining and nook connected with an open entrance or with a wide french door. But we are still considering flipping the kitchen and dining to bring the kitchen close to the nook.

6. Altered the doors in the bedroom 3 to avoid competing doors.

Please continue to share your thoughts and ideas. I will appreciate it.

I'm confused. You said,

"I had the dining and nook together, so in case of a big get together may be the kids can use the nook for eating."

But... then why have two separate dining spaces at all, especially since they're side by side? Why not make it a larger dining room that's more easily accessible from both the kitchen and the grand room?

I would swap the two bedrooms and make the other bedroom accessible for your parents. There's more privacy and more space for a larger bathroom...with a window. What is the big closet for in that room? Could you rework that and make a larger bathroom area?

An even better idea might be to combine the other bathroom and powder room and have both of the closets in between the two bedrooms. Then you could have the accessible bathroom next to the laundry and windows on two walls in the accessible bedroom. That would be my preference :)

I like Lavender Lass' suggestion for swapping the bedrooms . . . but first I'd want to know whether the parents live with you full-time or not. If they're just visitors, I'd let the all-the-time child have the prime location.

Regardless, I'd still downsize to one bath in the hall to be shared between the two bedrooms.

Any comments about the foyer please. There is a lot going on there and I want to be sure there is no glaring blunder

For the purpose of sightlines, it would look better if the front door, opening to great room and back french door were lined up and centered. I can't tell right now if they are or just off by a little bit.

The door to the garage should open into the house.

Agree that I would just have one large dining area. The way it is right now is just odd.

Although it is difficult to read the dimensions on your drawing, it looks like the wall that the staircase will sit against is only about 10 ft long and the distance from that wall to the edge of the front door is 6 feet.

If so, unless ALL of the following are true, there is no way you can fit a staircase into the foyer as you show:

1) Your floor to floor distance is no more than 9 feet (which allows for an 8 ft ceiling height on the first floor plus 12 inches for joists between floors).

2) You want a staircase no wider then 36" (which, BTW, is the minimum width allowable by most modern codes)

3) You want a staircase that is at the MAXIMUM steepness allowable by by most codes. (i.e., 7.75 inch risers and treads only 9.5 inches deep).

If ALL of the above are true then you MAY be able to squeeze a staircase into the space you've allotted for it with your "placeholder" icon... and it will be a very tight squeeze at that. One which will probably require the bottom step of the staircase to stick out so far that the front door won't open much more than 90 degrees.

If ANY ONE of the above is false, then you will need more room for your staircase.

My guess is that you are probably planning to have 9 foot or 10 ft ceilings and envision a showpiece 4 ft wide (or wider) staircase that rises gradually enough to actually be comfortable to use. In other words, all of the conditions above are false. My guess is that you will need about 50 to 60% MORE space for the staircase than you are anticipating...which means you will have to totally redesign the foyer...and probably all the rooms around it.

Before you start putting dimensions on a two story plan, gain enough understanding of staircases (including those with L-turns, U-turns, or "winders") so you can actually figure out how much space the staircase you want will require given the ceiling height and joist dimensions you plan to use. It's not that hard to do though it does require a bit of math.

Then make sure you leave adequate space for the staircase from the start. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels because, in a 2-story house the positioning of the staircase impacts both floors and having to redesign to make extra room for the staircase usually has a domino effect forcing a redesign of the entire house.

I'm sorry if this sounds excessively negative, but since you asked about major problems with the foyer, I thought it was time someone brought the stair issue to your attention.

Thanks bevangel. Exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. In view of your comments, I have made some changes to the plan. I removed the wet bar to allow about 11 ft depth for the stairs. Also the width available now is about 5'6". The stairs will go into the basement and I think we will have to live with 3 ft wide stairs. We can extend the foyer a couple of ft to allow for more depth if needed. Please take a look and let me know what you think. May be the dimensions are more readable in this graphic.

pps7, I have aligned the main entrance and the entry to the grand room. Also changed the direction of the door from the garage into the house.

Parents will be living with us permanently and we think it is better to have separate bathrooms for each bedroom to allow the privacy to our parents and also our teenage son.

Still pondering over the dining room and nook area.

Thanks again for the wonderful and helpful suggestions. Please keep them coming

Do you live in an area where people tend to take off their shoes when they enter a house? If so, you might want to allow space for a bench or chair in the foyer.

Also, do you want a spot to drop keys, etc?

Foyer looks better. I can't tell - is there something (a niche, closet, bookcase) built in just to the left of the entryway into the grand room? Or is that just notes for measurements?

I'd have to agree on the kitchen/dining/nook configuration. It's just odd. Totally odd. Usually a dining room is very attractive and it's put on display, not hidden back in the corner. And I'd also agree that the nook seems especially small. The way it is now, people walking into your grand room will see the teeny-tiny nook but won't see the pretty dining room. Is there a great view you are trying to take advantage of by putting the dining room where you have?

If stairs go down to the basement, what ceiling height are you planning for the basement? And what size (thickness will floor joists be?

Also, will there be any other access to the basement to allow you to bring any necessary furniture to the basement without going down those stairs?

Since stairs going down into a basement are not typically used as a focal point feature, do you really want to have the top of the stairs open up into the front foyer? It might make more sense (space usage wise) to have a door going down to the basement located in the great room. That way your staircase would only need one L-turn landing near the bottom of the stairs. A landing for an L-turn on a 3 ft wide stair case takes up a 3x3 space. Straight run staircases uses available space most efficiently. Either way, I think you're still going to have an uncomfortably steep staircase but you can probably build one within code IF your floor to floor measurement between basement and first floor is no more than 9 ft.

Second issue: Although I totally understand the increased sense of privacy gained by having the twisty hall way leading to the master bedroom, have you consider how difficult that is going to make the process of moving furniture into the bedroom?

Issue 3: Is that meant to be a fireplace on the right hand great room wall? If so, it looks like the allocated space is only about 24 to 30 inches. That is not enough for even a very small fire place. Do some research on "firebox" dimensions and then keep in mind that you also have to provide enough space around the firebox for fireproof insulation. You simply can't put wood framing right up next to a firebox... not even a gas fireplace. I suspect that once you widen that space to accommodate the size fireplace you want, you're not going to be happy with what that does to your master bath and master closet.

Speaking of masterbath, those two vanity sinks are scrunched awfully close together. Most people want a double-sink vanity to be about 72 inches wide. Otherwise if two people are trying to get ready at the same time, they are constantly bumping elbows. Plus, with a narrower space, there is no room to set down hair curlers, make up, electric toothbrush, electric razor, etc.

Finally, I think you mentioned early on that you wanted an "accessible" design. If by that you mean you want at least one bathroom to be wheelchair accessible, then you need to rethink at least one of your bathrooms. None of your bathrooms, as currently designed, is at all accessible. An accessible bathroom has to provide enough free floor space for a wheelchair to turn completely around. That typically means 5 ft diameter circle of free floor space at a minimum. You also have to make sure that there is room enough next to the toilet to park a wheel chair while the occupant transfers him/herself to the toilet and room in front of the vanity for the wheel chair to roll in under the sink allowing the occupant to wash his/her hands while seated in the wheelchair. If you're serious about making the house accessible, while you're doing research, you might want to read up on accessibility design a bit.

An updated plan based on the suggestions. Here are the changes I have made:

1. Flipped the Bedroom 2 and 3. Bedroom 2 will now have accessible bathroom and would have option for windows on 2 walls.

2. Converted the fireplace in the GR to a corner fireplace. It should give more space to master bathroom and closet.

3. Flipped the kitchen and the dining area.

4. The bedroom 3 is slightly recessed to have some variation in the front elevation and to avoid a boxy look. Should I just extend it a little to align with bedroom 3? Any thoughts?

Again, thanks for all the great ideas and suggestion.

If your parents are going to be living with you permanently, have you not considered given them a bit more space? It's lovely when multi-generations can live together, imo, but it's also nice if each generation has a bit of space to themselves. You have one main living area for everyone to share, and their bedroom space is very tiny. If they want some space to themselves, they don't really have a place to go. Even just a small sitting area in their room would be nice.