We started with a stock Garrell plan and made many modifications. The garage is too small in both directions. As pointed out 20 feet barely gets sedans and small SUVs in. Forget about ext cab full size bed pickups and large SUVs. A suburban (my yard stick for biggest possible) is about 22ft long. We did 24' deep in ours. 28 feet wide is also narrow for 3 cars. The bay nearest the front of the house won't allow for a car door to open to that side, the garage door is at the same place as the wall that's not bumped out. Make that 2 ft more to open a door. And you're door from the house can be a problem. Are you going to have steps down? If you're on a slab, no problem, but a crawl or basement and you'll have 3 or more steps (protruding into that bay) and if you have more than 4 or 5 you may want a landing which would be even more protrusion. I'd make that dimension at least 33ft, 2 more for a car door and 3 more for steps into the house.

che 1sea, We are looking for something simple, that is easy to maintain. We have three children. I wanted something that would allow us, within our budget, to have a full basement. Which I want to finish into a play room/media room for the kids. I felt like the Colonial was simple, yet had a style about it. We live out in the sticks though, not sure if that style would work. It is different than anything you see around here. I actually already have a set of plans for the Adrian, I bought them about two years ago, and just recently found this other one. That is one thing that concerns me, the estimate I got for the Adrian from a GC was $154,000. I don't know if the Colonial can be built for that. It is smaller though.

Okay, since you're proposing building what is essentially a three-story house, I'm going to go off the deep end here and suggest that you SERIOUSLY consider adding home elevator to your plans! Lugging groceries upstairs from the garage is going to get old in a big hurry. And, if someone in your family ever gets hurt and is on crutches, it is going to be really really difficult for them to get in/out of your house. And, if they are wheelchair-bound - even temporarily - it will be absolutely impossible. In a few years your sons will likely be playing sports and it is not that uncommon for athletic teenagers to wind up with a broken leg or needing knee surgery at some point. Are you or your husband going to carry a 180 lb 17 y.o. son up/down all those steps??? You can get a 3-level home elevator installed in a new build for around $30K. I know that is a LOT of money. But, with a new build, people often spend that much and more just upgrading from standard to top-of-the-line appliances and putting in fancy granite countertops. With a 3 story house, an elevator would be at the top of my priority list. I would put an elevator right where you have that downstairs powder-room. Upstairs it would fit into the right-hand half of the "office" and in the garage level it would fit beside the left parking bay. With your design, you would need to get an elevator that opens up in different directions at the different levels. At the basement level you would probably want it to open toward the "south" and on the upstairs level it would have to open toward the "north". At the main level, the elevator could open either direction but you would need to remove the closet if you wanted the elevator to open toward the dining room. Personally, I'd probably have it open towards the south on the main level. BTW, if you close in a portion of you garage - to create an entry room around the stairs, you can get away with removing the door in the dining room that leads to the basement stairs. Not having a door swinging in toward the top of the basement stairs would make that area safer. Next, I would completely remove the laundry room from the main level and remove the remaining portion of the "office" so as to leave the staircase open along one side (railing instead of wall). That would allow you to have a very nice "entry foyer." As your house is currently designed, guests arriving at the front door must walk down a relatively narrow hallway past the staircase, past your laundry room, and past the powderroom before finally getting into the heart of your home. That is NOT going to feel at all welcoming.... especially since they first have to climb a fairly lengthy set of exterior stairs/steps just to get to the front door in the first place! You really need a transition space. You NEED a spot where, when you answer the front door, you can step back and say "come in" and actually welcome your guests BEFORE you have to turn your back on them and lead them down the hallway. Getting rid of the laundry room and opening up the staircase would give you that welcoming space. Plus, you'ld have the added advantage that, while coming down the stairs, you would have a view of those windows to the deck instead of being in that tight enclosed stairwell! Next, if it could possibly be done, I would move the front door to the spot where the three windows are (across from the current laundry room). This would require having the exterior stairs/steps lead up to the deck instead of to the side of the house. But, if that side of the house faces the street, it would make the front door more obvious and therefore make the house more welcoming. You could still have lovely windows surrounding the door. Moving the front door so that it opens out onto the deck would also allow you to incorporate a portion of the deck into "transition space" from outdoors to indoors. Upstairs, I would definitely make the two bedrooms a lot smaller and put in third room to serve as a SHARED den/playroom/study room for the two kids. IMHO, kids should be encouraged to play and spend time together and with the family. They should be discouraged from spending too much time holed up alone in their individual bedrooms. Giving a kid a huge bedroom seems to me to send exactly the opposite message. Plus once kids reach their teen years, you sure don't want them entertaining friends in their bedrooms. Far better for them to have to do their entertaining in a shared space where they know a sibling (or Mom and Dad) can be expected to walk in at anytime without knocking! Besides, with a murphy-bed along one wall, the boy's den/playroom could also serve as a guest room when you need one. (Don't the grandparents ever come to visit?) Or, if you should ever have another child, it could become a permanent third bedroom without requiring you to do extensive remodeling. Unfortunately, with an elevator where the powder-room is and the stairwell opened up to create a foyer, you really don't have a good spot left on the main floor for a guest powder-room. Instead, I'd put a powder-room upstairs and probably add a shower in it as well so that overnight guests don't have to use the boy's bathroom (ugh!). I'll admit that upstairs is not the best location for a guest powder-room but, with an elevator to use to get up/down stairs it's not a terrible option either. I find my guests all want to take at least one ride in my elevator anyway. LOL! Finally, move the laundry room either down to the basement or up to the second floor. With a home elevator, moving laundry up/down stairs ceases to be a horrible chore. I'd probably put it in the basement b/c that eliminates noise issues and reduces potential flooding problems. And do make your laundry room bigger so that you have room to sort and fold clothing there and room to hang things to dry. I know you said you fold laundry in the living room now - but as the boys get a little older, don't you want to teach them to do their own laundry? If so, there are going to be times that they start the job and then wander off and forget about it for awhile. You can "nag" but it is usually far more effective to just allow their laundry to sit there undone until they realize that THEY have to finish it themselves b/c Mom won't! That means there may be "piles" that sit around for days. You will find it a lot easier to hang tough if those piles of laundry are NOT right next to your front door. LOL! Oh, one last thing. You show a sink in the basement. Why not add a toilet as well so that, when you're outside it it not necessary to come all the way indoors to use a bathroom? You have plenty of room. If you want, I'll spend a little time this weekend fiddling with your drawings using my paint program and show you the changes I would envision. p.s., no I don't work for an elevator company but here is a link to the company that makes the brand I got. I will admit, we had quite a bit of trouble with it when they first installed it - turned out to have a bad mother-board or something like that - but once they finally figured out what was wrong and got it fixed, it has been wonderful! There are other companies that make and sell home elevators as well. Just do a google search and you'll find them. Here is a link that might be useful: ThyssenKrupp home elevators

This plan is one of the few house factory plans that has given thought to the design and appearance of each exterior face of the house. All sides have a pleasant variety of projecting and receeding planes, and avoid the boredom, massiveness of unbroken planar walls and the inherent large, bulky roof masses that go with such walls. If you "square-off" any of the elevations you will be losing what makes this plan special and appealing. Builders will tell you that you will pay more for more corners. What they won't tell you is the price you will pay for a visually boring and uninspiring "box" house! The revised kitchen with the enlarged island looks very large to me, causing a lot of walking and travel, since the kitchen "triangle" is so interrupted. I hope your feet, legs and back are such that excessive walking on hard surfaces with hot and cold items is not a problem. Your revised garage is located too close to the house for access to one of the garage bays. Turning it the way you have means: 1) it will have to be placed further from the house than the original plan; 2) your garage doors will be a major visible element from the front of the house and be what guests and visitors see, since the doors will be so large and numerous as to catch and hold one's eye. Garage doors are always the single largest item on the elevation of any house. More so with triple garages! It will be better design to return to the original plan configuration and hide the garage doors from view from the front of the house. Adding the bedroom and bath on the first floor results in a much longer corridor and "tunnel" from one end of the house to the other. Is this of concern? Finally, the stair is highly decorative and will be a major visual feature when using the dining room. Does such a stair work for your style of living? It will be beautiful, but quite expensive. Good luck with your project!