The only thing I noticed is that if people are most often hanging out in the den there is not a convenient bathroom.

I like it very much. One problem: there's no wheelchair accessible toilet in the master bath

Hopefully this is the right one. I'll comment on another post. But here it is for others to see.

Nice plan!

Personally, I think I'd keep the door to the patio from the bedroom . . . and I'm with you about the one large shower. We have a large walk-in glass block shower in this house and will reproduce it in our new one. My dad was here on hospice for a couple months before he died and we had a chance to test the wheel-chair friendly shower and 4' halls -- very convenient! Only problem with this shower is that there's a curb at the entrance -- we won't put one in the new house.

I like the little privacy court in front of your tub. And I love the bump-out in the breakfast area -- I wanted that in our new house but gave it up because it didn't work with the gazebo room next to it.

Can you give me a website for the "spider type solar lights" you mentioned? I'm planning to use a sola-tube but haven't heard about the multiple light ones.

thanks!

Arlene

I'd make the pantry door a pocket door instead of an inswing and move the bump out on the garage around back so you can get a crew cab truck in the garage. I say this only because i dont like the looks of the bump out on that garage wall. It looks like it was planted there imho.Beatiful home!

Thank you all, and especially lindybarts for posting the plan and elevation.

Arlene, I'll add a link at the bottom for a spyder solar tube. This one is from SunTek, but there may be others.

Rachelh, I'm not sure what to do about putting a bathroom nearer the den. Since bedrooms 2 and 3 will be part time guest rooms usually used as office/hobby space, I assumed folks could either use that compartmented bathroom or the "pool bath" off the hall near the library and master suite. Out last house had 4.5 baths and the current one has 3.5; I'm trying to cut down on cleaning. ;-)

Pinktoes, you're right about the master bathroom. That's one reason we want to rework it. Dh really likes the idea of his-and-hers water closets and sinks, but I want at least one of them to be accessible - just in case.

Sierraeast, a pocket door for the pantry is a great idea!
As for the garage, I think it will be changing. We're discussing making it a two-car, with two 10 ft. doors, plus a walk-door, and eliminating that bump out. Dh would like to have an outbuilding toward the back of the house that would be a workshop and a place for the pool equipment. Ideally, it would also provide space for a sink, mini-frig, etc. near a grilling patio.

What do you think of adding a closet to the library, on the wall behind the door that backs up to "his" closet? Then the house could be sold as a 4 bd. when the time comes.

Also, the plan calls for 12 ft. ceilings in some rooms. Do you think it would look okay to have 10 ft. ceilings in the foyer and great room, then 9 ft. everywhere else? Dh pointed out last night that perhaps one reason for the outrageous electric bills at the current house is the extra ceiling height here. Also, lower ceilings would let us use standard 6'8" doors instead of the costlier 8' doors we now have.

Here is a link that might be useful: SunTek's Spyder

I don't see any closet space off of the front entry or nearby. Perhaps if you swapped out the double doors for a single entry door, you could squeeze in closets on each side of the door.

I'm also concerned about the lack of powder room to serve the den. If you have that many siblings, plus maybe future grandchildren, that one pool bath is going to get a lot of traffice, and it's pretty far from the den. I'm sorry but I don't see an easy solution. It's not that big of a deal, and I'm sure you'll be able to live with it. (I grew up in a farm house with *one* bathroom, lol).

Another thing that pops out at me is the distance from the kitchen to the pantry. You'll probably have enough storage in the kitchen itself so you won't have to run to the pantry every time you turn around, but in my house, seems like I'm constantly needing something in the pantry.

And instead of "his and hers" showers, have you considered one shower that's big enough for two? Or would that shock the children, lol. :-)

I very much like just about everyting else, including easy access to outdoor entertaining once the pool is in.

Glad to hear you'd cut back to a two-car oversized garage. My very first thought upon seeing the elevation was that the garage wing is HUGE. Such a waste of an expensive window, too.

The house will look less grandiose if it has lower ceilings and you will save a lot of energy. But...maybe you want that bigger look. Guess you could do more roof and still have lower ceilings.

Could the pool bath be off the den instead of right there beside your MBR? (Thinking late-night bathers.) Then you could lose that too-big hallway into your MBR -- and the den would get a powder room.

When will you use the DR? It's pretty small for a large extended family. I'd prefer more DR and more "back hall" (laundry, etc.) and no butler's pantry. Put a big closet in the back hall for extra "pantry" stuff.

Sure, give your DH his own shower. He can clean it. That's how it works here. I use the air jet tub and he uses the shower. He cleans his sink and shower and I clean what I use. (Perhaps you haven't been married 42 years and haven't had time for the necessary training. LOL)

Chapnc, this is why I so appreciate getting others' viewpoints on our proposed plan. I was so caught up in the things that I love about it that I had not even noticed the lack of a coat closet near the front entry. I don't care for double doors, and so would change to a single door for sure. Whether or not small closets flanking the front door would work I'm not sure, but it's worth investigating.

At the very least, that closet marked "linen" near the laundry could become a coat closet. I'd keep table linens in the pantry. The secondary bath cabinets could hold towels, and whatever bed linens are needed in those bedrooms could be stored in their closets.

The pantry would mainly be used for longer term storage, such as stocking up on toilet paper and bottled water or shelving for seldom used counter-top appliances and seasonal dishes. The kitchen drawers and cabinets should be more than adequate for immediate use items for the two of us. The cooktop would be moved off the island. I'd like to try a 36" induction cooktop with a 42" Vent-a-Hood above. I'd prefer to eliminate the island and have a large cart/work table on casters instead.

Thanks!

Chisue, I must have still been writing earlier when you posted. You're really making me think hard about that bathroom (which is a good thing!) I guess I was wondering more about how it could serve as the bathroom for the library, should we give the library a closet in order to eventually market the house as a 4 bdrm. Perhaps we should rework the bathroom between the two secondary bedrooms so that it opens to the hall instead of directly in to the bedrooms. It may mean losing a sink.

I'd hate to give up the pantry. Maybe it would work to extend the dining room forward, to bring its front wall even with the front of the library, with a similar notch near the front porch.

Looking grandiose is the last thing I care about; as long as lowering the ceilings to 10' in the center and 9' in the rest of the house would not make the space feel cramped, I think we'll make that change.

Dh used to clean bathrooms; in fact, he did a better job than I did. Maybe once he retires, he will remember how.

Looking at the plan again, I have to say that it's not just the entry coat closets that are a concern. This plan in general seems to have a shortage of storage. True, it has a good laundry space and a pantry (though far from the kitchen, as I mentioned earlier), but all of the closets are tied to a bedroom. Even the master closet is not served by a nearby linen closet. You're going to have to keep towels, sheets, blankets, comforters, etc in your clothes closet. All that stuff won't fit under the vanity cabinets. There's plumbing there, and you have to have a place for you bathroom "stuff". Perhaps you could add a section of cupboard style cabinets to the shared wall between the pool bath and the master bedroom. This could hold towels and linens for the master bed and bath.

The great room and the family room both could get some built-ins; that would help increase the space for general storage.

The pool bath would still be a concern, though. Every family member or guest who uses the pool is going to need at least one towel. Where are they?

Badin, you also wrote "At the very least, that closet marked "linen" near the laundry could become a coat closet."

If you're still in the planning stages, don't settle for "the very least". Keep working the plan until you get exactly what you want, and will meet your needs for the way you live and entertain. You'll get lots of helpful suggestions here.

"If you're still in the planning stages, don't settle for "the very least". Keep working the plan until you get exactly what you want, and will meet your needs for the way you live and entertain. You'll get lots of helpful suggestions here."

We're very much still in the planning stages. The last time we built, I had to rush the process. Even though the house turned out well, it could have been better. This time, I want to work out all of the minor problems before we contract with a builder.

I agree that we'll get lots of great ideas here. In fact, we already have.

We currently keep bed and bath linens in the bedroom closets, because our linen closets are full of other things (mainly books from four very large built-in bookcases in our former home, which wouldn't fit in the three bookcases we have now. Most will go to the local library before we move.) I don't mind this arrangement, but do agree that the proposed house needs more closet space. My quandry is how to get it, along with the extra dining room space and any other changes, without increasing the size too much. This house began at more than 3500 SF, and may end up around 3700 SF. While that's smaller than our present home, it still seems big for just the two of us, especially since our first home was less than 1,000 SF.

If we made the door to the library a single instead of the double shown, could we perhaps put a wall closet between the library and the foyer, opening to the foyer? (Or maybe half to each side?) It would reduce the width of the library to about 10 1/2 ft. That would work for us, but I don't know if others would fine it too narrow. I suppose we could also add some width to the house there, but that would really impact the overall SF.

Maybe we lose the library altogether and carve up that space (or a variation of it) between a generous foyer closet, the master bathroom, the lower right master closet and a hall linen closet! That would likely be more useful for us. My only real concern would be the eventual resale issue of having only 3 bedrooms when the library could be made into a fourth. But, my hope is that neither dh nor I will have to deal with that problem.

I'd missed that this is a home for two. Now I know what "jumps out" at me: It's too BIG. (IMO)

The MBR is very large, with wasted space in the entry. Besides a bed and end tables, what will you put in there and how will you use it? (Our MBR seems adequate at 15 X 19 plus a 2' deep bay. It houses king bed, end tables, a dresser, a desk & chair, a chaise. There's room for two people to walk around without colliding.)

Do you need THREE public rooms AND a huge Lanai: Great Room, "Den", and Library? A room 22 X 25 isn't my idea of a Den -- maybe Family Room would be a better term, but would a 3 BR house have a Family Room AND a Great Room? How often do you have large gatherings where you need an "adults" room (Great Room) and a "kids" room (Den)? Will the Library be used only by you and your DH? Could a basement provide a rec room for kids?

I'd designate that diagonal wall in the Library for a closet. You can build cabinetry into it -- to hold books, TV, whatever -- but another buyer could use it as a closet. The Library front window goes to the floor; not a lot of furniture placement options. I really don't see anyone using this room as a BR, because of that big front window, but you could advertise "4 BRs".

I don't know if you need foyer closets. Ours is largely unused. They tend to be too small for many guests and we use the back hall closet for our own coats. An armoire perhaps? Balanced by a bench?

Would you have a pool house? That could take the shower out of the necessary "powder room" serving the Great Room and Library. The bath between the secondary BRs can serve the Kitchen, the Den and the back hall (when you don't have guests using it).

How often do you use a DR? Friends of ours have a sort of "walk past DR" at their entry and dislike it for its "furniture showroom" effect.

We use our "Breakfast Room" all the time and rarely use the DR. Friends have a Great Room that holds a long table which they use mostly as a gathering place for books and puzzles, but that can be set for ten. There is no formal DR. I could see your plan with a larger Great Room, no Den, token DR if any, but you know best how you live.

Shame to waste an outside wall on pantry/storage that could be incorporated into the back hall area.

In my quest to pare this down...I'd lop off some space at the rear for starters.