I wanted LP Smartside board & batten. My DH insists on brick. I'm just wondering why no brick for you? Something we need to know? I like the house plan. For me, the kitchen does not need to be close to the garage. I think that's most people's preference, though, if you might resale someday. You only have to pass through the laundry room and foyer anyway. This house is shrinkable too, so I think you can get it to the size that you want but the changes in the elevation might be a doozy.

JDex-I have a 1936 brick tudor home now. We really like the brick, but I don't like that if we wanted to add on (we would have to if we had decided to stay here) that the brick would be very hard to obtain. Plus, I really love the Cement Fiber Board and Stone look :) And I also am not fond of the brick front, siding sides/back homes. Also, we have a barn that we may match exterior color, etc to the home and have a lot of acres that we will have other buildings, so thinking about them being same color as home. In addition, we will DIY a lot of the exterior, and easier to do without brick! Just personal preferences.
Thanks for the opinions on the home. I am not concerned about resale. I think the upstairs is nice, but loosing one room would completely change the exterior, and I'm not in love with the exterior as a whole anyway. I have seen a lot of floorplans with much nicer exteriors for a 1 1/2 2000 sq ft main and 650 sq ft upstairs. Any suggestions for how you see it as shrinkable? I think the walkway in front of the foyer looks like a LOT of wasted space, but of course I like the garage/master hallways. I would probably put the fireplace on the back wall and make it a two sided so I can access from the deck, so the living room could probably shrink. Just curious before I get some good software how much I can cut off without having itty bitty rooms. I like cozy and comfortable though!

Love having views to take advantage of! Consider how you would arrange furniture in the great room for your family. It's very open with several focal points--view, fireplace, possible TV; be sure you can arrange it for the way you live.

It would probably be pretty easy to eliminate the back bedroom if you don't need it; then the other bedrooms and baths can be reconfigured for more space.

I don't know about your family, but entering the house through a galley laundry room never makes much sense to me. We come in with "stuff" that has to be set down, but what if there's clean...or dirty!...laundry laid out, or things drip-drying?

Great points bpathome! I will definitely think about furniture placement. I think the living room may be a little large. Im not sure about the laundry/mid room like this, but know with 3 kids I want a mudroom at least right off of the garage entrance. Right now we enter through a side entry that comes into what I have converted into a super small mudroom. I really like that coats and backpacks/bags get hung right up. Our laundry is in the basement now, so anything for that would be an improvement :)

On the second floor, all of bedrooms 2 and 3 could easily be removed. It would be especially easy to remove bedroom #2. The nook could be removed from the kitchen and you could just put in some kind of built in eating "booth". If you don't need an office, you could get rid of that or shrink it and slide the entire MB wing toward the garage. This is coming from a girl who coaches from the stands after never playing a single game of football in my life, so take it for what it's worth. I just mean that I can see some things that can be done to remove some square footage if the house is too big. In reference to the exterior siding issue, I also love the hardie and stone look but DH and builder are against me on it, so I said "No prob, how about smartside?" The builder had never heard of it and said that if the price was anything like real wood, it would be cheaper to use brick. That's all DH needed to hear to settle the matter. I don't mind brick, it's just not what I envisioned when we first started making plans to build....sigh.

We had also looked at this plan, but would have eliminated the 2nd floor and had a ranch with basement. The main things that swayed us from the plan were: 1) no large mudroom. Do not care for entering the house through the laundry. 2) I like the garage near the kitchen. For me the kitchen, laundry, mud room, and powder room all need to be on the same side as the garage 3) I only wanted one eating area as part of the kitchen. We no longer do very formal dining, so this was a waste of space for us. Our great room is almost identical to this one but is 22'X22', and furniture arrangement can be a challenge depending on where you want the TV. There is no wall space to speak of, so all the furniture is pulled in a bit. I'm currently looking for new furniture, and am so frustrated about what is right for this room. It is our main TV watching room, and DH wants his big lounge chair directly in line with the TV. We do not have French doors in the great room, only in the dining room. Our kitchen is also quite similar except for the placement of the sink and appliances. Our kitchen is also about 5' larger in both directions. Too big!

I really like the master bedroom area. It seems nicely sized and private. Are you planning to build the house on a slab? Will you have enough storage?

JDEz- how funny!
Originally I was thinking about no formal dining room. After spending a month drawing some floorplan ideas, I came up with this idea of dining in front followed by large pantry and butlers pantry and then a small booth incorporated into the kitchen...funny that you turned this plan into that without me mentioning a booth! An office isn't necessary, although it would be really nice having a main floor room that can get messy for crafts and storing papers, etc...with 3 kids, I try to stock up on school supply stuff! If it wasn't on the main floor, it would be in the basement. I think a lot of the main floor rooms are just bigger than the they really need to be. I agree that the upstairs would be easy to move around/change...Im thinking that the layout upstairs could be used to give me the exterior I want if that makes any sense. I want my 2 girls upstairs and a bonus room for them, so it doesn't really matter if the rooms are to the right or left or whatever.

My husband wanted brick too, but I told him it was too expensive :)

This post was edited by nostalgicfarm on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 16:25

I'm not crazy about the exterior. I really dislike the garage-in-front thing, but that's personal opinion.

I would absolutely build in brick. It's one of those "you get what you pay for" things.

As for the plan, I'd simplify the complicated jigs and jogs around the edge. For example, you could chop the master bedroom off "flat" with the back of the house with no loss of usefulness in the room, yet it'd save money to have a simple flat wall. Since you're questioning whether you want two eating areas, you could do the same thing with the nook: Just chop it off flat, and you'd be left with enough space for a small booth or table for two.

I don't mind entering the house through the laundry, but I would want another door in that master closet. Why? Because as it is now, you have to tote clean clothes through the bedroom, through the bathroom, and finally into the closet. A door (or even a pass-through) could be placed in such a way that you could go straight into the closet. It'd be worth the loss of those shelves on the end of the closet.

The master shower is a very odd shape. Why would you ever want that little weird cubical in the back? I'd chop that off and make it into a tall cabinet or small linen closet. You'd still have a plenty-big shower.

You have plenty of space in the kitchen, but it is laid out inefficiently. The sink and refrigerator are very far apart, and the island blocks your way. This could be made much more efficient.

The upstairs looks highly adjustable, depending upon how many bedrooms you need and whether you're interested in the bonus room or not. The bathroom towards the front could be built or omitted. You could build as much or as little of this as you want now, and you'd have the space later to expand, if you wish.

MrsPete, Thanks for the advice. Out lot calls for the garage in front, and I love this look anyway. Plus, we will be blocked by trees from the road, so it doesn't really matter. We will have huge trees behind the garage, so I envision our driveway area will be pretty magnificent.
I'm not crazy about the exterior with and have seen much better in story and half. Mostly just concerned about overall floorplan at this point. Not even atthe point of thinking about the kitchen layout yet either. I agree that the mmaster bathroom in This plan is a little odd. Easy enough to move around though. Definitely see your point on the laundry!
Any other suggestions for rooms that are oddly placed or hallways that could be eliminated, etc?

Also, how do you determine how many rooms to bump out? I understand cost, but also don't want a nearly three story flat back (walkout basement)

I think what dislike about the exterior is that it's quite "busy". So many zig-zags, so many dormers, all converging in the middle. This could be simplified.

How to decide how many rooms to bump out? I don't think there's a magic number, but at the cheapest end of the spectrum you'd have a simple rectangle. This is cheap to build because the builder starts . . . and just keeps going. No need for adjusting for corners, less measuring needed, no wasted materials as he makes cuts. On the other end is . . . well, this plan. Lots of bump-outs here and there -- for no discernible reason. Just bump-outs to avoid a simple, straight wall.

My personal opinion: You probably don't want a plain rectangular house . . . but for each and every bump-out, ask yourself WHY it is there. Does it serve a purpose? Did that room need to be a little larger, or does the bump-out help capture more light or a view? If the answer is, "No real reason", look for a way to cut it out.

Looking at your plan, I'd say that the bump-out in the master bedroom serves no purpose. The room has large back windows, which serve as a focal point. The bump-out costs money but doesn't deliver any value. In contrast, consider the bay window in the dining room. This provides "visual space" to the long room, and it brings in more light than the smaller windows on the side. I'd say that it is worth keeping.

Most of us have a limited budget to spend on our house, and every zig-zag takes away money that could've been spent on nicer tile, energy-efficient windows, or built-ins. I think those things add a great deal to the house, whereas no one will really notice a complicated footprint once the house is built.

This post was edited by MrsPete on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 20:41

Thanks MrsPete...Im trying to figure out how to cut nearly 600 square feet from the main floor and still keep the flow of this floorplan.
Has anyone seen any floorplan with a similar flow but closer to 2000 sq. Ft.? I can see chopping off just about the whole nook to the kitchen for starters...but not visualizing how to minimize the expansive hallway by the foyer. I also feel that the living room is rather large...along with the dining room seems rather large?

Thanks MrsPete...Im trying to figure out how to cut nearly 600 square feet from the main floor and still keep the flow of this floorplan.
Has anyone seen any floorplan with a similar flow but closer to 2000 sq. Ft.? I can see chopping off just about the whole nook to the kitchen for starters...but not visualizing how to minimize the expansive hallway by the foyer. I also feel that the living room is rather large...along with the dining room seems rather large?