You've obviously put a whole lot of thought into your floorplan and how to make it meet the needs of your family. I like it a whole lot but I do have a few questions and concerns. Not sure what you mean by "maximize light coming in from the bathroom off the mudroom." Are you wanting light from that bathroom window to spill into the mudroom and provide natural light there? If so, I don't think there is anyway to get very much light to spill over and still give the bathroom the necessary privacy, You CAN put an interior transom windows up over the bathroom door which will allow some light spillover. And, you could use a frosted glass door for the bathroom door. I'm not a fan of the latter except in masterbedrooms where there is less need for a total "sense" of privacy. You might also consider putting in a light tube to bring natural light into the mudroom. I have another concern about the bathroom by the mudroom tho. Not sure if that is a shower or a dog-shower or a utility sink in the lower right hand corner but with it there, you have no space in front of the vanity sink to stand while washing hands. What is that room between the staircase and the office? I can't read what is says and, at first, assumed it was your pantry but then I found the pantry down next to the dining room. I agree that a larger pantry would be nice. As your kids get older, you're going to have bikes and other sports equipment to store in the garage. It would be nice to have room for the second freezer inside the house so that the garage space could be dedicated to that other stuff. The hallway on the children's side may be too narrow to easily move furniture into their bedrooms. There is an indication that it is 3'4" wide (which would be plenty wide) but based on the grid background, it looks like the wall to wall width may only be about 2'8". Does the 3'4" measurement include the 4" deep walls on both sides? If the actual wall-to-wall hall width isn't at least 3'0", you might want to consider bumping the left exterior wall out another couple of inches. Given the overall size of the house, a few more inches won't make a noticeable difference in the cost to build. But a too narrow hallway will bug you forever! To maintain exterior symmetry, you would probably also want to bump out the exterior wall on the garage/masterbedroom side of the house as well. But, a few extra inches on that side could be useful as well. The only thing about the design that I really really don't like is the powderroom that opens directly into the living room. Guests will be squemish about using a PR that is so centrally located...too much concern that others will hear them as they go about their business or, even worse, if their business tends to create a bit of a stink, the smell will waft out into the living room before the bathroom vent fan can take care of it. And, do you really want to be looking at a toilet when your babies leave the bathroom door open while there are guests in the house. IMHO, that bathroom REALLY needs to be moved to a location further from the center of activity. The closet for bedroom III seems a bit small - especially for a girl who will eventually get to be a teenager! Also, be aware that your dryer needs to vent to the outside. It is easiest to vent a dryer that is on or very near an exterior wall. Given the location of your laundry room, I've linked below to some info that you should probably read regarding venting a clothes dryer. Just a thought but, have you tried putting the playroom in the middle of the left wing then having two short halls leading off of it with two bedrooms at the front, and two bedrooms and the laundry room at the back? And the guest powderroom tucked in to the left of the study so that one must go down a short hallway from the living room to reach it? this is really really rough but may give you some ideas Here is a link that might be useful: dryer vent info.

cyn, good point about the window treatments. oly and others, thanks so much for the idea of a wall of built ins along the north wall. Annie's visual sure does help. rnmom, this is my daughter's bedroom, and even though she's in college now and will have her own place soon, she definitely needs the closet space. She would have preferred a walk-in, but my husband and I are attempting to downsize. That concept seems to work better for us in theory than in reality!

Thanks, Jan! I just snapped a couple additional photos showing the area at the front entry in relation to the front hallway where the runner is + a length shot of the runner. I measured from the door to the wall where the hallway starts and it’s 72 in. The length of the door across (not counting the molding on the sides) is 36 in. exactly. And the widest I could probably go without interfering with the air vent is 48 in. But i’m afraid to get one too big so that its too close to the hallway runner. shouldn’t there be some space? what’s the recommendation there? I also measured the width of the hallway and it’s 43.5 in. Given those measurements, do you have a suggestion on which entry rug and runner sizes would work best? Thank you!

Curious to know what you all think of this. I made it using a virtual exterior paint tool, which really isn't the tool for the job. It was, however, one I had access to. I basically drew it all for a rough idea and wasn't able to fully edit out everything I would have wanted. I also couldn't choose quite all the color variation I would have wanted in my decor here simply because all the colors except black were translucent. The house and door colors are actual colors I am considering as well adding the shutters. Anyways, very curious to hear what you think. Also I would probably do something to hide the basement window...just not sure yet. Again this is a general idea made with, let's face it, a very poor tool. Thanks for all the help you've given me on this!