Seems like a LOT of closet space for such a small area. Also a lot of bathroom. Do you absolutely need both a tub and shower in MBR? Do you need a shower in the 3rd BA? Could the BA off the BR1 do for guests as well, taking out one whole (expensive) BA.
Other things to think about -- it's a fairly long distance from the garage to kitchen with the groceries. Where will daughter and friends put their muddy boots if they come in from the back yard?
And if this will be a retirement home, you might want to widen the interior doors to at least 3 ft, just in case of wheelchair need (one never knows).
Are there any nice views? I would put larger or more windows in the MBR. Which side is south, is there any opportunity for passive solar? or solar hot water?

Since we only have one child we wanted her to have her own vanity so we thought about a jack and Jill with second opening in the hall but we would still want a powder room in garage area. The den could be used as 3rd bedroom is we sell then they would need ba. We would love to have a mud room and thought about closing off laundry, bath, and closet area so would be separated from entrance. Does it seem like lots of closet? I guess where we are now the closet space is terrible. The back of the house faces north.

Just taking a quick look, I think the closet space is fine--when you have a "smaller" home, I think you need to have alot of closet space because there are fewer places in main living areas to put your stuff. On that note, I don't see a pantry anywhere. I do agree the kitchen is a long way away from the garage. I have 4 questions for you that would more than likely affect the rest of my comments--

1) Where did the design come from? (i.e. did you fall in love with the exterior of a house & this is the layout of the interior or did you design the house, etc)

2) 20 acres is alot of land to build a skinny house on IMO. This plan looks like it's designed for a subdivision where all the houses are on skinny lots butted right up next to each other.

3) What are the most important elements you are looking for? (i.e. minimum room sizes, powder room near rear entry, open family room/kitchen design, maximize views, etc)

4) Are you planning a basement and if so will it be finished or unfinished and how will you use that space?

Well.....we were working with one designer and was totally disgusted with everything and after 3 months of not being any closer we went to another designer. He drew up a plan that was OK at best. I then was down in Texas and looked at the Perry Homes and loved them. I like that when you come in the front door you can see the living room and out the windows. I told him if you can do one of these houses in 1800 sq feet I will take it. Again, I have been totally unsatisfied with everything else we have seen and really want to get moving. The room dimensions are after many measurements of visiting model homes. All the elements listed are important to us. There is a pantry right next to the den closet. I really wanted a corner one in the kitchen but it would decrease counter space. Yes, we are planning a basement but it will be unfinished at this point. Initially I didn't want the long skinny house but when you are in the house it doesn't feel that way. If you or anyone else has an idea that is not so long and skinny I would love to hear it.

By the way, the windows and doors are not in the places we want at this time. I don't really want a patio door and the designer said we would work on doors and window next. The doors are 30inches though.

It's a very amateur work for a so called professional. Too much space devoted to hallways, traffic patterns, and closets that are the wrong size and shape to store very much.

The garage is the obvious worst offender here. It's inexcusable. A pro did this? Yikes! With that much room, there is absolutely no excuse for having a front loading garage sitting there forward of the home looking like a giant boil on the house's face. And that's just the aesthetic objections. Bringing in groceries will be a PIA because the garage isn't anywhere near the kitchen. It forces the laundry room to be on the front of the house!?!?!And it isn't even really big enough for a true two car garage. Garages are cheap space to construct because they aren't heated or cooled. They should be as big as you can manage without looking like a garage with a house attached. It should swap sides to be near the kitchen, be pulled back from the home's front plane, and be side load.

The kitchen looks like a lot of space, but it's in the wrong spots, therefor it's wasted space. The actual prep space you will end up using is the corner between the range and the sink. Square up that space wasting island, add a prep sink and shorten the overall dimensions. It will become more compact, but work much bigger.

All in all, this isn't even an acceptable first draft from a professional. It looks like someone who is only familiar with "house mill" plans and who is unable to actually think outside their limited boxes. I'd keep looking for someone more competent.

12'x12' is too small for a screened in deck unless all you are putting in there is a small round table. If you want a small seating area also, it should be at least 12'x 20'.

Ughhh....I feel like we are at square one again. I love your idea about the garage. We never even thought of that. It makes so much sense. We live in a small town so we don't have lots of options as far as designers go. I do want an island that has nothing on it.

Here is the look we like as far as the kitchen goes. I just didn't want a sink in the island. Of course these homes are in the south and we have modified it quiet a bit.

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Your inspiration kitchen is a poorly laid out huge space waster and would be very inefficient and unpleasant to work in. Some builder who doesn't cook obviously threw together something they thought would look "upscale" but it really isn't. It's missing too many important details. It's faux to the core. You can do SO much better. Siphon some of the aesthetic ideas from it if you like the dark/dark look, but if you try to interpret it literally, you will hate how your kitchen functions.

Sorry to be so harsh, but I design for a living, and 99% builders and architects don't have a clue as to what makes a functional kitchen. If you want to see how an attractive and efficient and kitchen can be laid out, you need to visit the Kitchen Forum and the Finished Kitchens Blog and look at the many successful kitchens that have been forged from the fire of many design changes. There are TONS of great ideas to absorb, and when you get your home plans figured out a little more and have more of a handle on the dimensions that will exist, the Forum can help you to put together a spectacular kitchen for that space that will be something that can have some of the design details you love about your inspiration, but interpreted in a way that actually works.

I will so that thanks. Thanks so much. I don't care how harsh anyone is. I am new at this and I don't want to waste my money. I want to not only love my house but I want it to function also.

The plan is very inefficient.

Have you looked at stock plan websites like Don Gardner, Frank Betz, etc? You could probably find a plan a couple of hundred SF smaller with the same functional area.

I have looked and looked. I never could find anything. We do not want a separate dining room, we do want our daughter to have a bath and large closet in her room. We would like to have a walk-in shower or a large shower with a bench and a separate tub. We want one long vanity and not separate ones. We want the closet in the bathroom. I want an island in the kitchen without anything on it. We don't really need a 3rd bdr but we home-school and want an office area. We thought a separate bath and closet in the office area could be a 3rd bdr for re-sale purposes only. I am a bit of a light freak and maybe a bit claustrophobic so I need lots of windows. Our property is in Nebraska so it is basically flat land but lots of trees around. So as far as the view that really doesn't matter.

Here are a few links to alternate plans to check out and think about. As you look at plans, think about how you could modify what's there to meet your needs.

Not wild about the bedroom sizes, but nice layout:
- http://www.mascord.com/plan_details.asp?PlanID=1149B&PlanGraphicID=4985&np=true

Option for a basement, open floorplan, decent sized bedrooms:
- http://www.garrellassociates.com/floorplans/high-country-cottage-08141

Don't like the garage being so far from the kitchen, but otherwise a nice plan:
- http://www.garrellassociates.com/floorplans/high-country-cottage-08141

A little unique, but nice:
- http://www.garrellassociates.com/floorplans/diamond-creek-cottage-07440

Probably the one I like the best on this site, but I would make the island completely parallel to the angled wall with the range on it:
- http://www.garrellassociates.com/floorplans/crested-butte-08070

If you could swing ~2000sq ft, this one might work--you could push the dining room back flush with the front door, then close off the doorways from the foyer and family rooms and make that a large laundry room. You could then make the current laundry room a nice large walk-in pantry. One of our neighbors built this one as shown in the plan and it was beautiful and seemed to flow well.
- http://www.frankbetz.com/homeplans/plan_info.html?pn=3896

Here's another you could modify-make the dining room a den/office/potential 3rd bedroom on main floor & leave upstairs unfinished:
- http://southernlivinghouseplans.com/plans/SL1746

Hope these help!

I just want to offer encouragement. What did that old ad say..."You've come to the right place, Baby!"

People on this forum (and Kitchens) WILL HELP YOU!

Please consider orienting your house so that it opens to the south, except for porches. Seems you could do that on 20 acres! lol

Have you read Sarah Susanka's books about designing smaller homes?

Thank you so much for the house plans suggestions. We have looked at these and will do much more thinking about this. As far as exposure, I have gone round and round with this. In previous homes in town we had the back facing east where the majority of the windows are and in the morning it is just hot. I have a friend and her windows are facing north and it is pretty light. I do want lots of light but not lots of heat. Why do you say south? I will definitely look into this book.

Zebra26, Have you checked out Ahmann Designs? They are based in Iowa and have a number of stock plans that might meet your specifications. A couple of builders in my area give them high marks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ahmann Design

Hi Zebra- There are a number of factors that go into which direction the house faces--i.e. does the house have porches and if so, how deep (porches offer door protection and shade), are you planning a pool (southward facing pools tend to be usable for a few more weeks than say a north or east facing pool as the fall and winter solstices cause the sun to shine in a southeast to southwest direction throughout the day vs. due east to due west), where is your kitchen located (most people desire their kitchen to catch AM light), etc. From personal experience, I did not want bedroom or family room windows that faced west as they always get way too hot in the afternoons, and I didn't want the master windows facing east either as I dislike bright sunlight streaming through in the AM on weekends when I am trying to sleep in. Ideally, we would've had the rear of the house face south or southwest as I'd sure like a pool at some point, but in our case our view is to the north, so the front faces south and the back faces north. I know you mentioned a lake--I'm guessing you're orienting the rear of the house to overlook the lake. So, like me, your view & the lay of your lot (since you're building a full walkout basement home) will more or less dictate your house's orientation. Just my $0.02.

Sorry about the lake & basement part, I got confused. How on earth I got a walk out basement lake lot & a 20 acre piece of property mixed up is beyond me. Let's just say it's been a looooong day :-)

Haha mydreamhome. We have at best a small creek on the back of our 20 acres. We would love to have a walkout but not sure that will work with the water table we have. We have an engineer working on that. Our best views are to the north and west. The south is kind of blah. We will have a deck on the back as we grill a lot, and enjoy sitting out in the evenings. That is really why we positioned the house the way it is. I know the bdr are on the west but I wanted our lived in area to not be hot, ie the kitchen, deck and living areas. Is my thinking OK? I so much appreciate all the help.

What about something like this? Carport could be a garage. I'm sure some basement steps could be added - maybe by reconfiguring the laundry room area?

Here is a link that might be useful: house plan

Thanks dash3108. I will take a look.

Hi zebra26- We originally wanted to turn our house slightly so the rear faced NE and the front faced SW. That would've allowed views out the back of both the mountain behind us as well as the beautiful pasture my husband has worked so hard on (it looks more like a state park than a pasture, but maybe that will change when we get the cows). When we consulted with a landscape designer prior to building, his recommendation was to line the house up so it faces N from the rear and S on the front--something about winds I think. I would definitely think about how you're going to be using your rooms and how you want them to feel as well as how much natural light you want each to have. That should help you decide your preference on where to place each room.