Nice plan. LOVE the exterior!!!

I assume you meant to have a door by the fridge! However, the fridge needs to be moved away from the side wall so that the fridge door will open far enough to allow for the drawers to pull out for cleaning.

I would want more space in the laundry/garage entry area.

Anne

Anne, thanks!! I think I'll really leave the final details to the kitchen designer - good eye for noticing!

I think the front foyer has a bit of wasted space... wondering if I can steal some and move the dining room over to make the utility room a bit bigger. It's a bit challenging scaling down in size!

I think that the toilet in the Master Bathroom is too far away from the bedroom. As you get older, you wake up to use the bathroom more at night. That is really quite a distance from your bed.

Also, unless you have a very small table, the breakfast room is a bit small especially with the doors going outside.

Yes, you want to be able to enter the kitchen from the back hall without making an end run through the great room.

Do you USE a dining room? Friends have this setup with an open DR off the foyer. It's a 'walk around it' room -- a display for Grandma's dining room furniture. You need the space elsewhere: in the back hall, and in the eating area you will use daily -- the 'breakfast' area.

I'd make the breakfast area larger. The back porch is too shallow -- it will look like a long, skinny ribbon. I'd go out 3 more feet for both porch and breakfast area.

I'd tire of walking around the peninsula in the kitchen. I'd want the refrigerator (most visited appliance in the kitchen) near the eating area.

I'd skip the 'pantry'. How much lineal shelf would you lose by having upper and lower cabinets in that corner? More convenient to reach up and open a cabinet door from within the kitchen than to go into a cubby hole where *I* take up half of the space.)

Do you need a dresser in your MBR? All our clothing is IN the closets. You'll want a door between the bathroom and the closets, not between MBR and closets. Sliding doors are a pain, IMO. The only place I have them is ON the closets. MBR only needs to be large enough for the bed and side tables, with enough open floor space for two people to pass one another easily. IMO the whole MBR suite needs tweaking.

Yes, this is a pretty exterior, but...you'll be building a lot of roof, three dormers (more in the rear?) and side windows -- for an attic? (Or is that where the 'bonus room' will be? Will it have a bathroom?)

You would hate the way your laundry room is set up. My current one is very similar and it is a nightmare. Squeezing past the washer and dryer to get in the house is never easy, but becomes nearly impossible when you're in the midst of "laundry day".

We decided for our family that we didn't need 2 dining spaces. So we got rid of the breakfast area (using that space to get a pantry, computer desk for the kids and 1/2 bath), opened the dining room up on 2 sides, and will use that for our daily meals. I got an 8 place square table to accomodate family meals and still have room for guests. We also have a bar on our "floating" peninsula.

IMO your bedroom isn't too big at all. I like having a dresser and a king sized bed in the bedroom. ;-) With a little tweaking, I bet this plan could be great. I love the outside!

V

All great suggestions!

I do see that the toilet may be pretty far in the masterbed room area, and the pass thru laundry area is a little tight.. I'm going to try and tweak them and make the breakfast a bit larger, and make the porches a wee bit deeper.

I do need/want and have to have a dining room. No, we don't use it a lot.. but we do have a larger family and holidays it is always filled, plus.. for resale value. I know, I know, people build a home to live in, but we have built and moved too many times to know what people want when looking for a home, and in the area of homes, a formal dining room would be a must have.

My Master bedroom is a LITTLE larger than I planned, but I needed the width for the bathroom.. PLUS, we all live differently, and my bedroom is my retreat! I don't need a dresser, but I need my Armoire that holds my TV.

The bonus room will be over the garage, and I plan to use the roof area as attic space for storage. Here in FL we have no basements and all houses lack storage.

Keep the suggestions coming, as I'm going to play around with things more and tweak some areas!

A nice start and some great advice.

Agree entry from garage is tight. W/d's tend to stick out quite a bit for vent/water/drains so if the configuration stands, allow for clearance. Personally I'd make the whole area a mudroom and relocate laundry upstairs but everyone has their preference.

We've got a 10'6" deck and it's barely deep enough. 12' would be much better.

If you're thinking of resale, wouldn't it make more sense to have the stairs go up to the main house area where those lovely windows are so that it might be possible to add bedrooms if someone wanted to, and plumb for a bathroom there? If you moved the stairs, and bumped the laundry area a little into where the vanities are (you could push them to the left if you give the smaller WIC a few inches from the larger WIC), you could enlarge the laundry room. Also, as you indicated, you should be able to take off at least 12" from the entry (maybe more--depends on the width of your front door and side lites) and add it onto the laundry.

I think your MBR is the perfect size--the same as mine! We planned ours that way in case one of us is bed-ridden when we're older, or if we need two beds with one a hospital bed there is space. We have a recliner for DH to read, and room for a TV if one of us were ever to be confined to the MBR for an extended period of time.

I'd want all hallways to be at least 39" to 42" wide, and all doors into rooms to be at least 32" wide.

I found it very helpful when drawing up my plan as you are, to put all of the furniture in all of the rooms. I think your program lets you change the sizes of the furniture, so you can measure what you own and fit everything very realistically. Can you look at your design in 3D? That also helps alot! I mention this because if you center your dining table on the windows and doors as drawn, where will you put a buffet? Putting your table and chairs in the design in the breakfast room will also let you know if 10x9' is sufficient. If the table has leaves, enlarge the table(s) to see if you need to enlarge either of these rooms.

Also think about how you will use the front and back porches to be sure you have the correct sizes. We have a 10' deep covered front porch facing the SE that I sit on the most, which chairs for 3 others--but hardly anyone ever joins me there, even though is is always cool, gets a great breeze, has a wonderful view as does the back, and seldom has mosquitoes! The back patio is 12' deep and is perfect for the furniture we have there for a larger gathering.

Anne

Here is a modified version! I enlarged the breakfast room, got rid of the corner pantry, porches are bigger, laundry area in larger, foyer is smaller, and I played and played with the master bathroom, and couldn't configure a floorplan that would work.. and be attractive.

Wouldn't want the laundry upstairs.. don't want to be lugging loads up and down now at age 49.. 60 would be a killer! I did look into other layouts with a more formal staircase upstairs, but I was unable to keep this basic footprint and make it work. But again, here in FL it is different than other areas of the country. 95%-98% of homes have no upstairs at all. Our current home has a hidden staircase to a bonus room, and we are fine with it... but by all means, if some designer can show me something - I'd love to see it!

Well, tell me what you think of the changes, good and bad. I may not get back to this post for a week or so.. having major surgery tomorrow..ugh :/ {{gwi:1482648}}From Drop Box

LOVE the exterior! It's beautiful.

Your back entry/laundry room is still too tiny, and your main entry is still too huge for my taste. Granted, you don't have coats, boots, etc., and all the outerwear than most of the country has to dump inside your back door, but I still think it's WAY too small. And where will you hang clothes you take out of the dryer? Where you gonna sort your clothes?

Are you a two-cook family? Or just one? The entrances into the kitchen seem very tight, especially if someone is trying to get something out of the pantry while someone else is trying to get through. I'd call that a one-butt kitchen. It just seems small.

I like your master bedroom and bathroom and LOVE your porches.

lol.. a "one butt" kitchen.. kinda funny! WE aren't really cooks - either one of us. Currently, I have a nice big kitchen, but it is just wasted space. We are trying to down scale, and this size kitchen seems very common in many stock plans... guess I need to go visit a few local models and check them out.

hummm.. personally I just don't see the need for more space in that area.. maybe we do laundry different..? I never hang laundry to dry, just take out of dryer, fold and put away. My laundry room is a room which is different than this pass thur, and I have a counter top over the washer/dryer for folding. On a few occasions where I needed to hang something, I hung in in the shower or spare room closet. We take are shoes off in the garage.. and we don't have boots, jackets, hats, gloves, etc.. to deal with. Again, a visit to some models will help me visualize the area(s).

The main entry is just wasted space, no doubt.. and pretty much exactly what I have now.. which is wasted space. ANY ideas what to do with the area that would keep the current footprint? (entry door balance by 2 windows on both sides). We don't want to change the exterior at all.. so the door and widows need to stay in position.

Am I the only one to notice? That 2nd closet is a cruel joke to your hubby. Especially with no dresser in the bedroom. I've had 2 closets once and they were each 6x8 or so - just enough for 1 person (and I'm a guy who is not into clothing).

Armoire for TV in the master? You are showing your age. I'm pretty sure that you can't find these anymore but you probably have your own. A flat screen is far cheaper than an armoire - that is generally big and bulky with very little clothing storage area.

I personally think the master is too big for a house this size with so many cramped spaces elsewhere. We have a similar size master in 4000 square feet and I would have made it smaller.

I think the 2 vanities are too close and I'd give up a tub to fix it.

Hope your surgery goes well!

OK, I give up. You are doing a lot to maintain the exterior appearance of this house, but that's up to you. If you WANT a bonus room I'd make use of the 'attic' with its dormers and side window and add a bathroom up there. You wouldn't have to finish out the whole space; leave that for a future owner. Make a formal staircase to the 'attic'. (Is there a two-story plan that goes with this exterior or were the dormers always just 'pretty'?)

I just realized that there's no powder room near the family entry. How did I miss that; it's my most basic requirement! (Maybe not yours. LOL)

David -- I did think 'his' closet wouldn't work, but there are *important* issues to deal with first. LOL

I am very familiar with SW Florida. That is an attractive house, but I would not build that style house down there.

I would build a stilt house with shaded parking underneath it, a small first "floor" big enough only for stairs. elevator, and garden tool storage.

It would have a hip roof, absolutely not a gabled roof with dormers. You are in hurricane country. Hip roofs are much less susceptible to wind damage.

Getting off of the ground does wonders for ventilation during the non-summer months, minimizes flood potential, and dramatically lowers the bug problem. You also get a view.

You do need to plan for an elevator at some point, just in case.

If you haven't been in a stilt house yet, see if you can arrange to look at a few of them. There are reasons for their popularity in that part of the world.

The plan looks very nice. Something close to what I would want! I am not sure what one poster said about the rest of the rooms being cramped and the master large - the spaces in the other rooms seem quite adequate, especially considering that the OP is downsizing. This is more than enough for a retired couple.

One thing I notice people forget about in utilities is places for shoes! There is a big pile of shoes near our backdoor right now and I hate it, I wish we had a utility room and somewhere next to the door that's not in the way to put the shoes. Maybe others are more organized but not us. I suppose the part to the left when you first enter the utility room is for shoes? Other than that the utility room looks plenty big to me for a retired couple.

Chisue, I'm not sure why you love powder rooms to be so close to the utility room and family entrance. I don't understand it? We use our powder room mostly for our own selves when we are sitting in the living room...living, and for guests, so they don't have to use the full bath for the guest rooms upstairs. I would not want guests walking through a utility room or back hallway to get to a powder room.

I love the plan though and the kitchen and breakfast layout make more sense now. Good luck!

P.S. Even though the entrance/foyer is wasted space I still love it! It's so grand! A little wasted space as an indulgence never hurts :).

I actually do not see a whole lot wrong with your tweaked plan. The laundry area actually looks adequate, and I see nothing wrong with the master bedroom. I never understood the so called concept that a master bedroom and bath had to be "proportioned" according to square footage. This is your home, you know what you like and don't like, and it should be how you like it. I also understand why you like an armoire for your TV. TV's are not attractive. Quality furniture is.

You may be able to swap the tub and toilet around to bring the toilet closer to the bedroom. As far as closet space goes, my husband would be fine with a closet the size of the smaller one. He likes having most of his stuff in his dresser. Closets are personal, and each person has differing needs.

You may be able to do something clever with your foyer. I've seen pictures of foyers that had nice desks, built in bookcases, and such in them. It made for some interest when entering the home, and actually became useful space. Sort of a mini library or bill paying spot.

One caution that concerns the laundry room. I had a laundry room once where the "brilliant" builder put the door swing smack into my dryer whenever someone came through. It was a fire door embedded in a concrete block wall, so it would have been a major change and I wanted to get into my house. I hated it until the day we sold our house 13 years later. Keep on top of whomever you have build your home.

Large kitchens can be totally inefficient and hard to cook in, so if you feel this particular kitchen will suit your needs, it will be fine. Just make sure you have enough pantry storage so you aren't running to the store every other day. I had a similar peninsula with the sink in it as you have in your plan. I liked it a lot, and am thinking of doing one again in my new house. However, my stove, like yours, was across the kitchen from the sink. I would have liked my stove in the same counter run as the sink, and not too far away. It was awful carrying pots of pasta water, etc. across the kitchen to and from the sink. My refrigerator was opposite the entry aisle by the sink, (sort of "north" where the stove is in your layout), and that was convenient because I had almost five feet of counter extending out. It was a great prep area.

Unless you live in a flood plain area, I wouldn't want my home on stilts. What an absolute pain it would be to bring things in and out of the house all the time. If you build your loft, and orient your windows into the prevailing wind, you will get plenty of air circulation. A worthwhile book for you to get and read is "Classic Cracker" Florida's wood frame vernacular architecture written by Ron Hasse. It will tell you everything you need to know about how a home should be built in Florida. We've also spent several months driving around and looking at the many at least 100 year old homes still being lived in, and how they were built. They knew something about how to build their homes as they didn't have air conditioning. We're in North Florida, and drawing up blueprints for a cracker style home with full wrap porches.

I also wouldn't worry about the "someday" possibility of not being able to use your loft. (sooner or later you'll hear that from someone). You may be fine as long as you live, and visiting grandkids will love it. I had a neighbor in her nineties that still is using her lofted bedroom, and loves it. After much debate, we are putting in a sewing loft for me. I will enjoy it as long as I can. We are having our master bedroom on the main floor though. The loft is just for me.

Sandy

Are you going to have a door to the toilet area? In a master bath that big I would definitely want a private toilet space. I'm not interested in brushing my teeth while my husband is doing his business IYKWIM. Also, have you considered changing the placement of the bed in the master bedroom? I would put it on the wall where you currently have all the windows, so that it will be opposite the TV armoire, then you could put a french door where the bed currently is and the master could open to a private patio or deck. I also agree that "his" closet is a bit small - it's not deep big enough to be a walk-in. Your wil have to have either a slider or bi-fold doors. You might also want to add some wall space to the great room, rather than having it be all open to the dining room/entry. Maybe a large arched opening.

Haven't read through all the posts but just wanted to point out that your windows are now off center in your dining room because you made the laundry larger - this is a big pet peeve of mine :)!

I think your foyer is as narrow as you can make it and still have a door with sidelights. We have a 7 foot foyer in our current house and only have a 3 foot door with small sidelights and there is barely room for the light switch on the side of the door.

You say you must have a formal dining room but yours is not very big. Be sure it is wide enough for your table and perhaps a sideboard. It may not be!

You also need to take into account the size of your great room. Although 18 feet sounds fine, you have the entire fireplace in the room and the hearth which is probably 4 feet or so of the width, plus you need to leave at least 2 1/2 feet for a walkway at the end of the room by the kitchen (and that is pretty skimpy). so you don't have much room for furniture placement.

krycek -- The OP's plan has a hall bath convenient to the LR for both family and guest use.

We have a shower bath off our library for guest use. It has little family use. The most used toilet in our house is in the powder room in the back hall (between garage and kitchen w/access from back yard). Laundry is at one end of the back hall w/a window. Coat, mop and general storage closet is at the other end, opposite the powder room. Door to yard is half glass.

I like all of terriks' suggestions.

Re: 'His' closet. A fitted walk-in closet needs room to have hanging space and drawers; a place to sit down and remove shoes is also nice. The OP needs to enlarge 'his' closet unless her DH wants only a reach-in closet accessed from the MBR and a dresser in the MBR. (Creates some 'traffic'.)

"Armoire for TV in the master? You are showing your age. I'm pretty sure that you can't find these anymore but you probably have your own."

I thought this comment was a little rude. Also, it is not accurate. Pottery Barn sells about 10 armoirs for TVs that are gorgeous and completely popular. I am not surprised a guy said this. My husband doesn't mind a big, ugly TV showing for all the world to see. I'd much rather cover it up (flat screen or not) with a pretty piece of furniture that also doubles as extra storage.

I'm 28, btw.

As for the floor plan, I like it a lot. The home we are building is split like this. 1 side master suite/ laundry/garage, the middle is dining/great room/kitchen and the other side is bedrooms/bathrooms.

Someone in the kitchen forum commented that my master was too large for my overall plan (2600 sq ft... master is 20 x 14, I think) But..... it fits US. It's what we want. It's where we will spend most of our time when we are home, and I didn't want to feel squished in there like my last home. Do what is right for your lifestyle :)

What I would change for me is the kitchen layout. It looks a bit closed off, and I am not a fan of walking around peninsulas. I would leave cabinetry/the fridge along the the wall adjoining the master, remove the lower wall and put a large island in. (The island would be parallel to the large wall and overlooking the great room.) This is exactly what I did with our plan (which again, is similar to yours, in general.) For me, that would have a much more open feel and make the house seem larger. If you want a closed off kitchen and/or peninsula..... to each their own!! :)

I think there's a real shortage of storage space in the house. I know you're downsizing but it still seems as if there won't be room for "stuff".

Where are you going to put your holiday decorations? Your office supplies? Your folding chairs? Your craft supplies? Toys for the visting grandkids (if any)?

My last house had 1600 sq ft and everything fit just fine. I don't think there is a lack of space in a house of 2160 sq ft for two people. We are (and likely always will be) only two people in our home. If you are downsizing and there are only two people, this house has plenty of space (the extra bedroom and office have closets for office supplies and holiday decor, as does the garage and bonus room!....)

Hi everyone, I'm still in the hospital, but feeling better and good enough to read through the new posts.

I appreciate all the good and bad comments, some make sense and others don't.

I have a 2 year old, beautiful bedroom set.. very high end and the Armoire holds the TV. We went furniture shopping in NC and Armoires re not out dated (they are often in model homes - at least here in FL. I totally would hate a tv hanging from the wall.. my Armoire holds a nice, big flat screen tv. {{gwi:1482649}}From Drop Box

For 2 of us, I don't see the shortage of closets, but we'll have attic space and an additional shed to some things. However, I'm not a collector of junks, most of my stuff is stored in a small attic.

The plan that goes with the outside of the house is William Pooles Eastern Cottage. I would be option to other exteriors, but DH isn't budging on this, and because I do have it high on my list, I'm letting him have this and building within the floor plan that went with this home.

Hubby currently has a 5 x 6 closet and mine is 6 x 12, we are both down sizing our closet, I wish they could be larger, but we're suppose to be downsizing, and we both are compromising some things.

I would have liked a half bath, but again.. the house would have to be larger to make it work. I rather have 2 Masterbed room closets than a half bath. We current have 2 baths down, and it works fine, we never even think of a half bath.

With the bonus room, we most liking will add a full bath, the bonus will be over the garage, and the other area will be under the pretty dorms, but not be finished, but will be an attic space for storage. *IF* we ever decide to sell, the new owners could easily convert it to more living space.

Whoever mention the front windows off center.. it would bug me forever, so I need to do some more tweaking in a few more areas! Tweak windows, kitchen, foyer, dining room and master closets and bath..

lolauren, do you have a photo of your kitchen?

It's being built currently. :) I can find photos of my floor plan for that area... before and after, if you want. :)

It was similarly laid out to your second photo above (with the two entry ways into the kitchen and the peninsula).... (I saw this finished kitchen in a house by the same builder. It was not bad, nor was it too tight... but it made the house seem smaller. I have a few photos of that house's kitchen also, if you want those.)

I removed walls and changed the whole kitchen layout to open up that space. I also had a breakfast room/nook area, but ended up extending the kitchen into that area. We opted to sit at the island instead.

Our interior was just painted and they are starting flooring. The house should be done in a few weeks, so I'll have photos then.

If you don't mind sending me your email address on a private message on here, I can email you all those photos. Otherwise, I'll try to get some of the photos on here.

Just wondering if there is a male out there who disagrees with me on the armoire vs flat screen on the wall?

I've had armoires before and finally got them out of the house - even the DW realized how bulky and outdated they look.

Another pet peeve of mine is a TV that is not opposite the bed - my neck would hurt every time I tried to watch TV from bed. Not to mention the stereo imaging is totally out of whack. If we want to play into gender stereotypes, I do find that women don't mind this as much.

I was really surprised about Pottery Barn so I had to look. Technically there are 10 armoires and many are featured without a TV (and don't look like they are made for TVs). Most are quite a bit different then the pictured item by OP. There are far more TV stands made for flat screens. And of course, there is the much cleaner look of hanging on the wall.

I live in NC and NC is not the fashion standard for furniture it once was. I have some things bought here but the vast majority of NC furniture is "traditional". I'll just leave it at that otherwise some might think I was being rude....

I'd really like to find a stager for model homes that thinks a big bulky piece of furniture makes a house look good for sale. I mean - I get the hiding the TV thing - but for staging, you shouldn't have a TV in the bedroom anyway. At least that is the excuse I gave to get rid of our armoire.

I'm impressed that you're in hospital and working on your home at the same time! I looked at the William Poole website, and have a much clearer image of the house as drawn -- very nice. Will you be keeping the vault in the great room?

I'm guessing that you did not care for closet accessed thru' master bath. You could easily access the big closet via space labeled stor. across from bedroom door. Then relocate bedroom door to shorten the hallway. I prefer the stair location as drawn. The kitchen, while compact, has that great pantry, so it probably works very well. I prefer the kitchen as drawn, or with parallel cabinet runs. The proposed angled counter has the 'point' of the wall directed at it -- something that might make you uncomfortable (and bad feng shui if you are a follower). Also it looks as though your bar top is not sufficiently wide -- it needs to be about 15-inches to be useful.

As this thread goes along we learn about the OP's wants and needs. She wants a MBR big enough to house her furniture. She wants a DR -- also to house furniture? (Can you seat more than six within 12 X 13?)

Her DH wants this exterior, although it's not very 'Florida' and has steps to enter. (Where are the steps into the house from the garage?) We know she will be raising a grandchild in this house and that it is near family in Florida.

I've learned that *my* most-useful powder room isn't her priority, and it doesn't matter to her that *my* DH and I have never watched TV in our MBR! LOL

How can we help the OP get what she wants here?

The OP does not want a shared closet in the MBR, and her DH wants only hanging space in his closet. Can we give him a reach-in closet that opens into the BR, near wall space for his highboy and a chair for putting on socks and shoes? (Lower left corner of the BR?)

Here's an application that might work: At our condo there's a sort of 'dressing room' before you reach a separate room with the toilet and shower. It has a reach-in closet opposite a vanity w/sink. This could work with a walk-in closet too.

Would anything be gained by moving the stairs interior, alongside the DR? (The DR has to move left anyway to make its windows symmetrical.) Might the stairs have an "L" shape? (I don't like long runs of stairs with no landing for safety reasons.)

I would prefer a bonus room with plenty of daylight (attic with the dormers), but the OP wants to use the garage attic. (Only one window, in the gable end.) Oops! There I go again, with what *I* would do. Sorry. Glad a bathroom is planned for the second level.

Tinker, heal fast! Wishing you WELL!

Have you worked on the bonus room level yet? In my experience, it is best to work on all the levels simultaneously, because a change on one level can often affect something on another level. Changes to a stairwell are particularly critical.

For instance, those stairs presumably go to the bonus room. As shown, they will not work. It is not possible to gain enough rise to reach the second floor without more steps.

You can probably do it if that alcove is under the stairs, but that isn't how it is drawn. Even if it that is your intent, the stairs will be off of the centerline of the bonus space. In a story and half design, that sometimes is not possible. It depends on the pitch of the roof, the width of the door, if there is one, and the width of the trim, among other things.

Going by the photo of what you are trying to achieve, it appears to me that the stairs may have to come up dead center in the bonus room, especially if you want a door up there. A drawing of both floors would help. That way, folks here making suggestions could better gauge their impact if they involved the staircase in any way.

Yeah, I've been looking at that staircase and thinking it won't work as is, also. If you add about 2 feet to the bath/laundry/stair area by bumping the garage forward so that the front wall of the house goes straight across, I think you could make a U-shaped stairs (the other part of the U would go where the 2 vanities are and it would come out in the 2nd floor where there's enough height). Then rearrange the closets (flip them?) and things in the bath, and you also should gain space for a linen closet there, and a little more space in the laundry/back entry. In your present plan, there's excess space in the bath area, so I think this will work out ok.

Anne

I can sort of answer the question on seating more than 6 in a 12x13. My dining room is 11'x11', open on 2 sides, but still only 11x11. I have a 60"x60" square table that seats up to 8 with a bench and 6 chairs. No room for more furniture in there, but I don't have more furniture anyway. LOL My mom has a 72" round table that seats 10 in a 12x12 space. It's a bit cramped, but who really cares so long as you have a place to sit and eat? :-)

Hi tinker,

I really like the overall floorplan, but I like to suggest a couple of changes. Im going to use North, South, East, and West based upon your floorplan. I actually like the first plan better.

1. Move the north wall of the master bedroom out to match the north wall of the breakfast room. This will allow you to shift your entire master bedroom/closets/bathroom north by 9'. I would put French/sliding doors on the north bedroom wall (and the bed on either the east/west wall so you can exit directly outside into what is presumably your outdoor living area.

2. With that move, you now have a nice empty space that is around 13'9" wide by 9' deep where part of your bathroom used to be. Make this space into a laundry/mud room. Put a pocket door into your master bathroom (wouldnt that be nice to drop clothes directly from the master bathroom into your laundry room?). This would be a nice big area, with plenty of room for storing linens, and other items (comforters, quilts, etc) that you dont need on a daily basis.

3. Move the door from your garage into the house slightly west so that it lines up directly with the stairway. As you enter the house, there will be a doorway (id make it a pocket door) to the left into the laundry/mud room, a straight shot up the stairs (which will be really nice if you are trying to move furniture up into the bonus room), or move to the right to enter your home. This will also give you room in the garage to put a nice big chest freezer in that northeast corner, where it looks like you have a standard fridge.

4. Make a storage area in what is currently the washer/dryer area. Looks like you have roughly 2'8" x 10'6" and that would make for a really nice interior storage space for vacuum cleaner, brooms, mops, etc.

tinker_2006 : I sent you an email with links to photos. I hope that helps, and I hope you have a fast/safe recovery.

david... perhaps it is regional? or just personal? Our local real estate does have model homes that have armoires in the bedrooms... especially in the more traditionally-styled homes. In the more modern, of course they do not. The stager I spoke to this morning says she uses them in rooms that are large enough and they are popular here (NW.) With that said, staging a home to sell is quite different than what it looks like from day to day in a lived-in house! :)

Also, "technically," PB has 11 armoires: 1 is specific for clothing... of the remaining 10, 7 are pictured with tvs on their site... and the other three have removable shelves so they can be used with a TV. I think PB does a fairly good job of staying on top of national trends.

Oh my gosh.. I can't believe I responded the day after surgery!! I just came home from the hospital last night! I don't even remember replying! LOL

chisue, don't you dare give up on me!! LOL, no - the bath by the entry is not important to us (at all) you know, different strokes for different folks! However, you always give good feedback - and it makes me think, even if I don't end up doing it.. thinking things thur help! You sound like you really have learned a lot about MY wants! Good job! I'd love bigger closets, we both have nice walk -in closets now, but we both are downsizing our current closets. I HATE sharing with DH because his is just messy - all the time. My is clean and in order. With him having his own, I don't have to clean up after him, I shut the door!

Creek side, no stilt home for me! They do indeed work great for some areas here in FL, just not our neighboor of 5 acre lots, where horses are allowed. Besides, the stairs are not something I want to deal with. We are planning on having only 2 steps into the house, not as many as shown on the William Poole exterior photo.

gwbr54, I'm glad you went and looked at the William Poole Eastern Shore Cottage ll floor plan! I went back today and looked, and now I'm thinking - he probably knows a lot more of what works well than I do... it's a lovely plan, and maybe I should just order it and go from there! Anyone else take a peek of that plan yet?

lolauren, thanks so much for the photo's!!

Like arkansasfarmchick, my dining room is pretty much like this now and we sit 8 and can squeeze 10 if we need to. I have a large family and they are the only people I have for dinner, and we are use to finding a seat anywhere we can, even if it is sometimes on the floor!

Hee-hee! I bet morphine makes for some *interesting* house plans! Glad you are home and recovering.

Glad you're planning a low-profile entry too. You only need a floor plate high enough to keep the water out where we are. (I hear what creek_side is saying though. A friend brought his MN ideas of how a ranch house should be built to Hilo, HI -- much to his dismay. He had to dig out a whole concrete foundation to let the air and water flow beneath his home.)

Maybe you'll want to start a new post?

In Florida, you have be very careful about the grade and how you build on it. In the very flat areas, they have something called sheet flow, which is a broad expanse of very shallow water which sort of moves as a unit.

Under normal conditions, the lowest level in the house, usually the garage floor, has to be above the grade, or you will experience sheet flow directly. That's why so many lots down there have additional fill, to get the building pad up above the expected water levels a foot or so.

But you also need to consider abnormal conditions, as in storm force wind driven water, especially if you are near the coast or the everglades. That means raising the building pad a lot higher than the norm -- or building on pilings.

If you are near or on a deep water canal above a Corps operated lock, you usually don't have to worry about it.

LOL.. yeah, those pain med's are something!!

This is our 4th Florida house that we will be building, and we do know about all the issue with elevations and such. We are on the SW side, and some houses are built on pilings, but far and few between. Some lots require lots of fill, but we looked for one that has good elevations and don't require much fill.

We'll be building on a stem wall.. basically a crawl space which is filled and compacted with dirt, and a slab will be poured on top. This will give us elevation we need to raise the house a couple steps.

Now we need to decide on frame or concrete block.. and still trying to think out the floor plan, but I'm leaning to William Poole's plan.. but don't care for the "his" closet... and the kitchen really looks like a 1 butt kitchen!

Don't think I want the vaulted ceiling either.. however, they show it looking very nice
{{gwi:1482650}}From Drop Box

this plan DOES make use of the bonus area over the living area, taking advantage of the dormers... {{gwi:1482651}}From Drop Box
{{gwi:1482652}}From Drop Box

I LIKE IT! Only quibbles are the small 'back hall' with its walk-through laundry -- and somewhat odd setup with only 'back stairs'. I'd even endorse the tall great room in your Florida location. You can leave the upper portion open to the great room -- or not, as you prefer.

Your grandchild might want the upstairs 'suite' some day.

I like it too, except for the colliding doors. I would change the swinging hall door into the kitchen to a pocket door. That's a door that you will probably want to leave standing open. The pantry location would make that a problem.

I'm not sure what to do with bath 2's entry door/closet door collision. That looks like it would be a frequently used bathroom. A pocket entry door might not be appropriate, although it is one possibility.

The collider in the laundry probably wouldn't be a big issue. Dryer venting might be problematic, though. It would probably have to go straight up and out the roof, not the best place for maintenance access.

Would you screen the back porch, do a Florida room off of another part of the house, or do without? I can't imagine living down there without a Florida room or screened porch.

All in all, one of the better designs in my opinion. It looks like a winner to me.

creek_side, totally agree with the kitchen door and 2nd bath entry door.. thinking it would be best to just eliminate them totally... ??

Not sure about having the porch screened in or not, guess that could be something to do if needed OR perhaps a private screened in room off the breakfast nook & master bdrm.. One of our old homes had an open back porch and believe it or not, there was only a 2 week period of bugs that bugged us! This house will be in the woods.. so the bugs may be more of an issue.

The back stairs don't bother me too much, as we really are building what I call a single, 1 story home, that just happens to have a bonus space. However, it does seem to take up a lot of space and I wonder if the kitchen depth is too short.. will it look odd?

You can eliminate the kitchen door easily enough. Pocket doors can be a bit of a pain to deal with if there are problems, so not having any door would be the way to go, if you are comfortable with that. We have no door to our kitchen area. The cats take full advantage of the fact.

Not having a door on bathroom 2? Not unless you are building in a nudist colony, methinks.

If the bathroom will be used infrequently, or guests will be infrequent, make that one a pocket door.

LOL.. I guess I was eliminating the hall entry door to the bath. I don't think my guest would like using a door-less bathroom. You're referring to the linen closet and the door hitting?

Yes, those two doors. Consider carrying linens in there from the laundry. You have to open the bathroom door, then close it behind you, then open the linen closet, just to put something in that closet. It's not too user friendly.

Ideally, no two doors should ever be able to collide. You shouldn't have to close the door to any room just to open a closet door.

One alternative to the linen closet might be open shelving. We did that in our master bath. We are happy with the result.

This is really shaping up nicely. Do consider closing off the 'loft'. Any cool air will 'settle' down into the great room while hot air from the great room rises into the loft. Condos at our complex in Maui have loft MBR's with shutters. You can't keep the output from an A/C ON that level AT that level. You might want a door at the top of the stairs for the same reason or that hallway could be hot.

Chisue, yes.. we actually are planning on not going with the vaulted ceilings. I'm torn.. like the cozy look of the lower ceilings, but also appreciate the vaulted. DH is firm.. don't know WHY he seems to be winning all the battles! LOL Our current bonus room's AC is zoned, so with zing and a door. we will not have to heat and cool when we are no longer using it.

After studying and study this floor plan along with William Poole's original Eastern Shore Cottage, 2 other plans of his, (which have almost the same layout) and using a tape measure to measure my current breakfast nook.. I think I need to make that nook narrower! It's almost 15' wide!! I think I'll make it move the width of the kitchen, 11' should be more than enough, don't you think?

creekside, good option for the colliding doors ( open shelves) or possible could have the door open from the hall..? We are definitely planning our having the William Poole team tweak the plan a bit for us, so I'm trying to get everything down that I want to discuss with them.

Re: Breakfast Rm. Would you lop off on the left side? Bring it to where the stairs start up? Not sure this would save much money.

This is an area where we *live* a lot of the time. Our 'breakfast' room is also lunch and dining for DH and me. It's 12 X 13. The table seats six (room to spread out the newspaper) and has a buffet w/small TV. There's also 4 - 5 feet of 'walk-through' space between it and the kitchen proper. French doors to a patio on the east and more Fr. doors to the screened porch on the south. Our doors open inward, not out.