I don't understand the stairs tucked between garage and office?

I wanted direct access to the basement from the garage for all my dirty hunting & fishing gear so I don't have to carry it through the house. It will also aid in the moving of all those outside decorations or bigger furniture items in/out. Instead of having 2 completely different sets of stairs, I've got them meeting at a landing in the middle and then it continues on down into the basement. Basically it is 2 different access points to the same staircase.

Ok. That makes sense.

In then bedrooms, I would probably move the closets to the walls adjacent to the bathroom. It will help with sound insulation from the bathroom. As well, it gives you a nice windowless wall for bed placement. In your current plan, you would need to place a bed under a window. I know it would freak my daughter out - feared the boogey man!

I really like your kitchen on the front of the house. There seems to be some design aesthetic that says push the kitchen to the back of the house, but long ago kitchens were in the front.

I think the door from the master bath to the covered deck is odd. But I guess it depends on how you intend to use the deck. Is there a hot tub out there that you envision sneaking out to? Or will you be entertaining there and letting guests use your bath instead of traipsing thru the house?

The office layout seems a bit odd. Wondering if there would be a better use of space some how. Maybe move laundry to office, office to master closet, and master closet to laundry area? You would have outside venting for the dryer, you could keep a window in the office, and now you loose the window in your closet, which isn't good for clothes anyway.

I'm having trouble reading your dimensions so really can't comment on those.

Excellent suggestions pixie lou! Good call on moving the bedroom closets to the bathroom walls. I will definitely do that.

I also like the idea of the kitchen in front. I actually did it that way because we will have a view of our 18 acres with a pond out the back. The more windows I can get on the back wall the better it will be.

As for the door to the deck from the M. Bath, maybe some day in the future there'll be a hot tub out there. But for now, it will be mostly for allowing guests to use our bathroom while entertaining. Or for us to use if we are working in the backyard and don't want to go around.

I agree that the office space is odd. My wife says she can make it work. I know she did not want the access to the master closet through the bathroom. And she wanted a window in the office, so I can't switch it with the laundry. The builder we are going with has their own architect, and we're hoping that they can chime in on this situation.

These are the rough dimensions:

Master Bedroom: 16 x 13
Master Closet: 11 x 8
Master Bath: 11-6 x 7-6
Walk in Shower: 11-6 x 4
Water Closet: 4 x 6
Laundry: 11-6 x 8
Mudroom: 8 x 11
Office: Sort of 11 x 12
Kitchen: 20 x 11
Dining: 12 x 15
Living: 21 x 15
Both bedrooms: 10-6 x 12
Entry: 9 x 11
The main hall from one end to the other is 4' wide.

Post your plan to the kitchen forum for advice from their experts. They will probably recommend against the corner stove (if that's what it is).
They have an FAQ you should read so you can give them the background information to help you with your layout.
I like the kitchen in the front also--it looks very welcoming. I think the refrigerator would work better on the opposite wall where the pantry door is now. It would be closer to the dining room and give you more room for the stove on the other wall. The kitchen folks can help you rework the pantry.
Good luck!

You can move your MBR entrance down to the main hall and then you can have closet access from your room.

Wow! Makes our 240 sf house that we're building look small in comparison. :) Of course we will have no mortgage, one time charge of $4K for electricity (solar & batteries), no water utility (creek on property), taxes are $900/year, insurance is $500/yr. So our total payments will be about $150/mo. We only have 12 acres to play on but I suppose it will do. Glad to be giving up the 3000+ sf house, 2 story garage and barn. Actually, I will miss the barn. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabin Blog

For safety, the basement door from the main hall should swing out into the main hall rather than over the stairs.

So I have changed the set up of the kitchen. I switched the door to the pantry and the refrigerator which allowed me to square off the office space and move the fridge closer to the dining room. I think this might be the final plan. Any other suggestions that anyone has?

Do you think you could add a pocket door between the central hall and the bedroom hall? Because if company is over, and a child or another guest is using that front bedroom and pads into the hall bath, they are in full view of the LR. A pocket door that could usually be open but closed for company might be nice. And the company has the half-bath down by the utility areas of the house. Which reminds me, that might also be a nice spot for a passage or pocket door, to hide the mudroom when needed.

In that fabulous walkin shower, and it is fabulous, where do you hang your towel or robe? Since the space is so big, can it hang in there while you shower without getting wet? Because I don't see anyplace handy near the entrance for hooks.

Great idea for the basement stairs!

In the hall bath, I see you have two sinks and one is right next to the door. We have a similar arrangement, and neither boy ever uses that sink, because it's too close to the door. Not sure what it is about it, but even when I go in there, I use the farther sink. Since they are rarely, as in almost never, in there at the same time, I would rather have one sink, and more drawers on either side for their stuff.

Lay out some imaginary furniture. I can't quite tell where to put bed etc in the secondary bedrooms, and in the LR it looks like focal points and pathways will be divided what with the media wall wrapping to fireplace wrapping to view, but then there's a division to the covered porch. With the dining room behind that will likely be a buffer space, but it's a good reason to turn the window into a door to the porch.

Wondering if the laundry room door would work better entering from the central hall? It's easier to get to from the rest of the house, including the basement.

Those closet doors in the kids' rooms take up a lot of space when they open. I'd use accordion/folding doors instead.

bpathome - I like some of your suggestions. Especially the one about the sink next to the door in the hall bath. We don't have any kids yet, but I'm assuming like yours they'll hardly ever need the sink at the exact same time.

I'm not sure how I could put a pocket door between the LR and Hall without it being in the way of mounting something on the outside of the walls. (If that makes sense)

For the walk in shower I was going to put the shower head(s) on the same wall as the sinks, and I believe I'll be able to hang towels on the exterior wall without them getting wet.

I'm not sure I follow the comment about switching the window to a door to the porch. Do you mean adding another door next to the existing one or making switching the window and the door? I was planning on building an outdoor cooking area/bar where the window is now.

missingtheobvious - I agree that an accordion door for the closets would be better, but the builder we are going with hates them because he says they look cheap. I would be fine with either, and in this case the folding doors would make more sense. We'll see what he has to say about it.

I've added another picture with the furniture in there that hopefully will give a little better representation of the way it will be when complete.

Re pocket doors and hanging things on the wall: I don't know how he did it, but when we remodeled a bathroom the carpenter put in a pocket door (not popular, but it was such a tiny bathroom it worked much better), and two towel bars on its wall, without scratching the door. (Pocket doors are really more for where they won't be closed much.)

So you could do it in the hall, but I was thinking you could scoot the guest closet into the foyer more, and put the door behind that.

That reminds me: one of the things I liked when we changed that bathroom door was this: when kids are really little and in the tub and you have to be in the room with them, it's nice not to HAVE to close the door just because it takes up space. And when they're a little older and you don't have to hold them up, you want the door open and able to see them while you putter about the bathroom, letting them develop independence while you're there "just in case". Same goes for potty training. Granted, all this is only for about 4-5 years per kid (hopefully not the potty training part lol), but it matters. You could almost go with a pocket door, or even no door, or less wall, between the tub/toilet space and the vanity.

I like the swing closet doors, you can hang light things or even a laundry bag on the inside.

On the deck, is that a hot tub? Should the dining room door go right out to it? Do codes have anything to say about that? Seems like you walk out that door and immediately have to walk around something.

From experience, the sink that is by the door in the guest bathroom will be a pain in the behind. I had that sink in my old master bathroom and hated it. If the door was shut and my hubby needed to get in, I had to move out of the way. I know it seems minor, but it was inconvenient when I was getting ready in the morning. And I am greatly looking forward to having my new sink not near the doorway. But, since it's a guest bathroom, maybe it won't be that big of a deal.

Concerning the extra door in the bathroom. My wife and I both agree that having a separate shower/toilet room in the bathroom is the way to go. We can both remember times from our childhood/teen years where we needed to use the sink/mirror to get ready but had to wait because a sibling was in there. I'm not particularly a fan of pocket doors. All of the ones I have come across seem to not work properly. Maybe it's just me, but I would rather use a swinging door that might be a bit in the way rather than have to tear apart a wall to replace a pocket door.

That's actually an outdoor dining table on the deck. Not sure why it didn't show up that way. It'll be a movable object that I can place wherever I want on the deck, so there won't be any worries about opening the door into it.

DW wants to have 2 sinks in the kids' bathroom, so maybe I'll move the full height cabinet to the door wall, and then slide the countertop with sinks towards the window wall.

Nice that you have a good-sized tub/toilet room. You have room for a little stool which makes toddler bath time much easier :) and room for a little basket of bath toys.