(Can you tell I'm having a quiet day?) In this one, made the house an L-shape instead of a T. It added no square footage, but did add more space. Here's how: It creates a central passage way from laundry to kids' wing, without skirting around LR chairs or kitchen island. And it removes the utility areas out of the living areas, making them more useful and the living areas more, um, livable. You can use the whole space, instead of leaving passage room. And, it takes the stairs out of the living space. It brings the kitchen forward for more light at the sink. I have a north-facing sink under a porch roof, and it gets dark in the winter (nice shade in the summer, though). So as not to lose the porch, I added a window facing the porch and front door. The dining table in the bay window is a bit further away. You could move it closer, but at any rate you could use some of the new wall space for display space, shallow cabinetry, etc. Does give you more room for high chairs, though. Little kids take up a lot of space! The master suite changed up a little, and here's why. It's nicer to walk in by the foot of the bed than right into the nightstand with lamps, cords, books, etc., and who wants to look up from reading to see the bathroom? So I slid the bed over to under the window. (I love my bed under the window! But if you don't, you could change to a window on either side of the bed.) Well, that meant that someone was having to walk around the bed to the bathroom/closet, so I flipped THOSE. Also, I remembered that you originally had the commode in a little room, so I added a bit of wall (also shields it from the closet and bed). You could make it a pocket door if you like. Side benefit, all the plumbing is closer to the laundry plumbing, equals less pipe = less $$. Also, if it freezes where you are, the pipes are better insulated. And the seat isn't icy in the morning :> Okay, enough from me, I'm getting back to work :) edited to add: if you really, really, want a walk-in pantry, you could add it off where the little kitchen porch window is, enclosing part of the porch. But really, you'll have LL's laundry room storage and the basement right there for extra storage, and wouldn't you rather be able to see who's at the front door, and have a nice porch for decorating? (grin) This post was edited by bpathome on Fri, Oct 24, 14 at 13:41

As I look at it again, I notice something. It's a small house that's trying to incorporate all the features that're considered "must haves" in a bigger house: eating bar with stools, walk in closet, laundry room instead of laundry closet, separate shower/tub, fancy staircase, fireplace with raised hearth . . . But those things require space. As a result, the space is stolen from the living space. If you had this same square footage in a simple ranch instead of this fancier plan, it would "live" more spaciously. It's not a bad plan at all, nor is it an uncommon layut, but I think you can find it in "medium" rather than extra-small. Finding its first-cousin in a larger size would probably be more cost-efficient than having this one drawn up larger. This post was edited by MrsPete on Thu, Nov 7, 13 at 21:45

Yardvaark, thanks for your comment. I wrote a reply earlier that ended up in the internet ether, so I’ll try it again. I am beginning to think that scale is key in the look I’m searching for. Large trees rather than small (especially small ornamentals) and large shrubs as specimens, or large, mass plantings, are found in acreage (country) rather than on suburban lots. I suppose what I’ve been focusing on is my experience in Central New York, where we lived for several years. Most of it is rural, and houses are old (sometimes several centuries). Invariably, those houses originally had very large deciduous trees planted quite close to them, obviously for shade, in an era sans air conditioning. What we’ve found is that contemporary homeowners often are terrified of trees, and dislike deciduous trees and plantings as well, so the old, majestic trees are cut down, or new ones that are planted are taken out as soon as they get to be roof-height. (One of the most common phrases we heard in CNY, I think, was “that tree is too big”.) Then, to correct the lack of green in winter, evergreens are planted, including trees, and also in the form of the ubiquitous yew hedge to serve as a foundation planting. It seems to me that these things may have to do with a difference in tastes as well as knowledge between people a hundred years ago, and those today. I do think that very few people realize that there are wonderful varieties of large trees that can be planted close to a house –not all trees are the same! People used to plant trees with tap roots and ones not susceptible to breakage. Those trees not only protected the house from sun, but “ensconced” the house, often to great visual advantage from the outside, and to a wonderful effect from the inside as well. And: Overall, I think there’s less appreciation for the various forms of natural beauty that many deciduous plants can give; whereas, most folks I talk to today think only about green leaves and colorful flowers. I love evergreens, but they seem somewhat out of place, or at least a preponderance of them do, in regions outside of the Northwest and upper reaches of the entire U.S. In summary, I suppose I associate certain plantings, especially evergreens, with the suburbs due to my experience in New York, where all the rural homes had an emphasis on the deciduous. Also, I think scale, as you mention, and type of trees, such as the small, ornamentals, are to be avoided in the look I’m going for. My vision is a classic sort of looking house (such as Georgian or Greek Revival) without a lot of the detail that I associated with a “city” look, set off amid some well-placed enormous trees. (Unfortunately, I likely won’t be around long enough to enjoy them as “enormous” trees!)

I think that this new layout give you some very custom features that would be unexpected in a modular home (things like that shelf that allows the inset fridge to make it look built in in the kitchen). I love the window placement in the rear of the house public spaces. I might consider moving the service / side door so that you are forced to go through the mudroom (encouraging a stop there...) and not necessarily having a straight shot out the hallway. Echo the concerns about the mudroom being too small, and passing through the mudroom to get to the laundry. HOWEVER - if there is a garage in the plan for the future - it would be an easy extension to convert a connector to a mudroom and then have the current combo room become all laundry (and separate the functions) Perhaps this was contemplated with the existing design, as I do see the "future garage" / driveway listed. There is really good privacy between the bedrooms here and good access to the full hall bath - I think that design element will really pay off for you in the long run. Looking good!