I should also mention that I did not draw in the majority of the windows yet. I do plan to have a lot of tall windows along the south wall. I just don't know about the placement or measurements yet.

When will your mudroom get used? Are you going to be taking mass transit/walking most of the time? If your kids will typically be taking bikes or the car to go to school and activities, I think they'll probably enter the house through the kitchen door (via the garage), and you'll end up with a pile of shoes there while your mud room is empty.

I generally like your plan, but I think you're giving up too much prime square footage to the mudroom, and your dining room is too far from the kitchen (especially given that your kitchen doesn't appear to be eat-in.) Anyhow, the space you eat most meals in the house should be one of the nicest places to be in the house, and putting it in a corner will let you have lights coming in from two sides, which will greatly improve the room.

I think I'd be inclined to put the office where the mudroom is, move the LR up to the corner of the house where the office was, give the dining room the back corner of the house, and carve a smaller mudhall out of the kitchen near the back door.

One more thought: right now your house has a LOT of space devoted to the kitchen, mudroom and laundry, and it has a place for your husband to work. Would some of the space you're setting aside for utility space be better used as a space for you to work (doing whatever you like to do)?

Thanks, Z4N!
Those are good questions. We do walk quite a bit and our garage will be detached on the north/parking lot side of the house. When we previously lived in the house to the south (and this lot was our side yard), we parked quite often in the parking lot because our narrow driveway and unattached garage were such a hassle. I think I parked in the garage maybe once the whole two years we lived there.

I assume we will continue to park in the lot and will put a gate in the fence near the mudroom door. I would actually love to have a carport over the mudroom roof but I don't know that they will allow a variance to have the support posts in the setback. We aren't allowed to have an attached, street facing garage, but several houses nearby have carports. If we can't have a carport, I was thinking a roof like this might make unloading groceries into the pantry better in the rain and snow:

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Source: [houzz.com[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/lake-county-builders-traditional-minneapolis-phvw-vp~454695) via Amber on Pinterest

You might be right about the mudroom. We keep the whole family's shoes by the doors so we do need a good amount of storage though. Our last house was about 1800 sq ft with a 5x8 mudroom (no closet) and it was a nightmare. Maybe I am overcompensating.

I was thinking I wanted the best light in the living room, rather than the dining room. And I couldn't figure out where to put the fireplace and TV with the DR and LR switched, but it is something I can think about.

My husband works on a laptop at home in the evenings (lawyer) and he insists he only needs enough space for a long desk in the office. Right now he is working on a 6 ft folding table in the basement. I was trying to avoid putting him in the basement again because I would like him home more often. I stuck that at the front of the house because he mostly works at home at night and doesn't really need good light, so adding a porch on the front probably wouldn't bother him. We will also have a full basement for mechanicals, storage, workout room and kid's TV/play area.

Thanks again for your input. I will think it over.

Congratulations on your project! With a 55.5' lot width and a combination of 12' side setbacks, you obviously are limited to a maximum buildable footprint that is 43.5' wide.

If you are required to have a garage and driveway that accesses the street front, then the buildable footprint will be reduced by the width of the driveway, plus a minimal landscape strip on either side, say, a 10' driveway (you might be legally able to reduce this width somewhat), plus 2' on either side, for a total of 14'. If this assumption is correct, your building envelope is reduced to 29.5'

Before you do anything else, check with the zoning administrator and verify all of the requirements for building on the lot, especially the need for a garage and driveway that connects to the street.

Obviously you will have a narrow, but deep house plan. You will not be able to create a wide-proportioned house such as your first picture.

If I were you, I's start by figuring out how to organize and access the required major spaces in a narrow, but deep proportioned house of the approximate dimenstions above. Circulation on each floor, and vertically to higher floors will be a key for efficiency. Most likely there will be as few corridors as possible and maximum circulation through usable rooms.

I'd look for historical and contemporary examples of similar floor plans for ideas and inspiration. You need to first get the major spaces placed and working with the necessary circulation. Worry much later about the laundry room and the batallion's worth of cubbies that seems so prevalent these days.

Good luck!

FWIW, I currently live in a 3600 sq. ft. suburban home in Wisconsin (we get ALL the weather), and both my kitchen and my mudroom are at least a 1/3 smaller than what you've got planned, and both work quite well for our family of 5 (and I do have 12+ people over for dinner a few times a year-- I cook!). I think you would be happier long term if you reined those spaces in and devoted more of your main level to general living spaces (maybe there could be a reading nook, or some other kind of "away space"?)

Thanks! We have gone over the zoning requirements with a fine-toothed comb and talked to the zoning dept already.

We are allowed to build the driveway within the setback as long as it is at ground level. I would also prefer 8 ft to the south rather than the minimum 6 ft because the neighbor's driveway goes right up to the property line and I would like some garden beds. I assume with a fence on the north side and a 10 ft driveway, (12 ft total - we only had 8 at our last house with less than a ft margin near the building) and 8 ft to the south, that leaves us with 35.5 feet of buildable width including walls - eaves can protrude another 6 inches/ ft of setback. I have read through all the zoning minutes for the past 3 years and it looks very likely they will allow us to encroach another 4 ft or so combined on the rear/front setbacks, though I would like to plan for the actual space legally allowed and enjoy that extra 4 ft of parking maneuverability if we get it.

The plan I drew is 34 ft front and 42 ft depth. I would like a porch, but we can get away with steps and a small roof entry if necessary.

I have prioritized the living room and dining room placement and openness. I have tried switching the mudroom and kitchen, but it leaves me with stairs that are difficult to place and issues with the front door being centered. I forgot to label it on the first floor plan, but we need an entrance to the basement on one end of the stairs. With them going up from the kitchen, I was hoping they could be entered across from the office door, rather than by the front door.

Thanks for your advice!

How much sun are you going to get to the ground for any gardening beds?

I'd say you have a pretty good start, and that working with an architect will get you where you want to go.

The good thing about living in the house next door for 2 years is I have a really good idea about the sun.

During the growing season, the shadow from the house next door goes from about 2 feet north of their driveway (spring) to on their driveway for most of the summer, so the south side of our house should have a lot of sun. Of course, this means we might have to find a way to shade the southern facing windows for the hottest parts of the summer.

My garden probably won't be anything too impressive (Some tomato plants, salad greens, scallions) but our yard will be pretty small, so I want to plan ahead.

I like the downstairs and like the amount of mudroom space. It would come in handy for me. I assume part of the storage there is broom closet and a drop zone for mail, cell phones and all the other stuff that needs to be charged stored and organized.

I don't think the dining is too far away. Ours is all lined up, but about the same distance.

I would look at rearranging the upstairs though. How about putting bedroom 3 in the corner where the master bat is and move the bath to the current bedroom 3. Put the laundry and closets between new bedroom 3 and master. Might also steal some of old bedroom 3 for closet. I would go for reach in or a built in style to maximize floor space. As you have it now it really not that much closet space. Not having the hallway will take some of that square footage back and you are so close to the laundry anyways.

This post was edited by lyfia on Mon, Dec 10, 12 at 13:41

Looked at many Charleston style plans? We have lots of those around here (even in upstate SC) and they fit well on narrow/deep lots.

I think the master bedroom closet is too small. Each side is not any bigger than the closets in the secondary bedrooms.

I don't think your kitchen is too large. Because of the back door, the space to the south of the island effectively is a hallway and not usable kitchen space.

I'd put a laundry tub in the laundry room--you have plenty of space for one.

S-girl, I'm glad you have done your zoning and site development homework. It's key for a successful design. Your initial floor plans appear to be fundametally sound and workable, but there are numerous dimensional errors that will ultimately need to be fine-tuned. If you like the overall organization of the floor plan, however, it appears to be quite workable.

The challenge, when working on floor plans, is to be simultaneously thinking and visualizing the interior spatial sequences, the introduction and use of natural light and the exterior massing and architectural style possibilities. These considerations appear lacking in your very rectangular plans.

Do you plan to use an architect?

If so, perhaps you want to give a lot of thought to your prioritized criteria and what's truly important for your house, as opposed to what would be "nice and desirable". A finite list of important "needs" and a secondary list of desirable "wants" is a key for evaluating any house.

If you get too far into physically designing your house (as fun as it might be)--floor plan and exteriors--it will be very difficult for you to back up and allow a design professional to use their experience and talent in your behalf.

Connecting the dots between functional requirements, interior and exterior design and an appealing architectural style is what architects are educated, trained, tested and licensed to do.

If you plan to use an architect, don't presume that (or place them in the position so that) their role is to be a "drafter"!

Good luck on your project.

I like the bones of your plan, just needs to be tweaked for sizes like others mentioned. Great start though.