It looks like I can't edit (or I haven't figured out how, at least!) but I spoke too soon about the bedrooms being perfect. I think the size of the master is fine (though am open to suggestions about ANY of the rooms!), but I would like to bump the bedroom closest to the rear porch out a few feet, since two children will be sharing this room.

I could bump it up to be flush with the bathroom's back wall, but this would eliminate the window to the right of the toilet. Would a window over the toilet suffice?

Thanks!

RE: Making one of the bedrooms larger, this is what I was thinking. Please excuse my obvious lack of photoshop skills. It isn't apparent, but I added a window over the toilet. Do you see any issues with this modification?

(usually, you don't want to respond to your own posts, as it moves your topic down into the forum. But, no worries, I found it)

Yes, it is possible to do as you suggest, but it will result in an unusually long room. I know you say more than 1 kid will be in there, but that closet is also the smaller of the 2 rooms. Will there be 2 kids in the other room too? What about extending the right wall to be even with the garage wall?

What you suggest is totally doable, though I would also add a window on the left wall as well.

As for modifications, once you know this is the plan for you with modifications, then, contact the company/designer of the plan to purchase and get an agreement to make changes or work through their company to make the changes.

Some other thoughts on this plan: There is no entry closet/hall closet. Is there enough room in the back entry for your needs? (ie, how many kids/what age/what climate)?

What orientation will the house sit with regard to the sun? I ask this question, because a lot of the time, an interior kitchen like this will feel dark/be dark (esp depending on the type/color of cabinetry).

I like this plan. It seems like a very reasonable plan for a family.

I have 3 very young kids. An important feature I insisted upon in our new house is to have a large kitchen window above the kitchen sink, and the kitchen sink had to be on the rear wall of the house. I insisted that I needed a clear view of the kids playing in the back yard while i was prepping snacks and meals. I couldn't believe how many floorplans I tossed out because of this. Having a kitchen in the center of the house can be good for some people, but it wasn't going to work for me. I have no idea how old your kids are and if they're still at the backyard swing set stage, but I thought I'd toss the idea out there.

Thank you both so much for your feedback!

kirkhall, you make great points. I think extending the far right wall to be even with the garage wall is a good idea, widening the larger bedroom a bit more. The smaller room will be for just one child (we have two now, planning for one more in the next year or so). A storage area toward the foyer, is also a good idea to add. We're in North Carolina, so a relatively mild climate.

Mom23Es, you make a great point as well about the kitchen. My two kids are 3 years old and 7 months old presently and I do want to be able to see them in the backyard, but I don't know that I need a back-facing kitchen, necessarily. If not, I'd want enough large windows to be able to see them from anywhere toward the back of the house.

Maybe, where the breakfast area/windows are, could be a sink/countertop space, but I'm having a hard time envisioning where the rest of the kitchen could go while keeping a good flow into the kids' bedroom area. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears! I'm completely open to the entire center layout shifting, as long as it remains open and makes sense.

Well, actually with as many windows as are shown on this plan in the back, you could actually have a pretty good view, *if* you got rid of the wall "above" the sink in the drawing separating the kitchen space from the great room. My kitchen is not right AT a window, but from my sink, I can see through a large window and 10 lite double french doors to the main play area of the backyard. I can't see as much as I could if I were standing right at a large window, but I can see a lot. So, it depends a little on how well your backyard will be contained, and how "tall"/deep those windows will be (sill height). ;)

I was thinking the same, kirkhall. Lots of nice rear-facing windows, which I love. But it leaves me with two separate eating spaces, so I'm thinking the kitchen has to move. I played around with the layout in Photoshop a little and it was a disaster. I am ill-equipped!

Would need to flip left/right, but seems like this version might be closer to what you want, or easier to adapt.

Here is a link that might be useful: stonemore

Thanks mjlb! I'll take a closer look at it. Though one thing that plan doesn't have that I love about Stonebridge that the plan you linked doesn't have is the Jack and Jill (?) bathroom for the kids. It's also about 400 less sq. feet.

love3blue--this may help with all of your requests--dining to the rear, lots of windows to the rear allowing for seeing the kids play in the yard, open dining/living/kitchen areas in center of house, larger kids' rooms (~12'x14' each)--plenty of room for 2 kids to share, Jack & Jill bath for the kids, nice size study with it's own bath so it could double as a guestroom/bedroom if needed, similar shape to the plan you have posted & comes in as drawn around 2400sqft. It's actually a home drawn modification of an existing plan by Alan Mascord that we were considering building at one time. (We opted to go with a different plan in the end, so we never took our modifications to them to have professionally done.) If you are set on having the garage on the right, then the plan would be flipped to mirror image. It has both a patio outside the family room and a large covered porch outside the dining room that can be removed if desired.

Hope this helps!

Hi mydreamhome,

It's a great help, thank you for posting it! It definitely has the open living flow I'm looking for, but I don't know that I love the kitchen being in the front of the home. In the case of that plan, I think I would, if it's possible, put the kitchen where the living room is (top right corner), the dining room where the kitchen is (bottom left corner), and the living room where the dining room is. So a counter clockwise spin? But it is the closest to what I want that I've seen anywhere, so thank you so much for posting it!

2400 sq. feet is about 200 more than I'm comfortable with, max, but shrinking the rooms a bit (and eliminating the bathroom next to the bonus room, as well as shrinking the hall with the media room leading to the children's bedrooms) wouldn't mess with the plan too much, would it?

Anyone else have any ideas or floorplans in mind that are close to what I'm thinking of? Thanks!