If you anticipate using the bar for entertaining, I'd want it in between the living and dining room as a separator to the space. And the BIG reason to do that is so that you can have windows and light in the dining space. It will be dark and isn't really well differentiated as a destination currently. And the kitchen....well, angles are "interesting" but they are awkward and space wasting in real life. And cost more. That isn't a kitchen that I would want to cook or entertain in. I'm sure you've read the various poss on the negatives for giant tall open spaces. One positive in your case is that most of the home's public spaces are tall, so that keeps the mineshaft feeling to a minimum. But, it doesn't negate the poor climate control and sound transmission issues that such a space creates. Really think about if you are buiding a home or a public building here :)

Thanks for your thoughts. The laundry area is in the bathroom. Between the bath and pantry there should be a door to the outside which I apparently forgot to put in. The kids rooms are upstairs though the plan for the upstairs is very open to suggestions. Likely we would leave the space more open to begin with and all sleep up there initially. I actually have come up with some changes already, mostly to the kitchen area. I narrowed the hall between the pantry and bath and added an entryway/airlock outside the main walls. I also changed the shape of the pantry a bit to give the dining area/kitchen a bit more space. The dining table is on the wall by the pantry. On a thread I posted in the kitchen forum someone suggested basically putting the kitchen where the dining table is and the dining where the living is and the living where the kitchen is. I am having trouble deciding if I like it or not. The fireplace will actually be a wood stove which will be our non solar heat source. Possibly with a brick baking oven built into the surround. Which is of course why it is more in the center of the house. Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen thread

So I forgot to mention that we nixed the J&Js into the rec room and we don't have the plans yet on that. We do have a J&J currently and it works well. If we had 2 kids, I think I would drop it but since we don't it is only for the occ 2nd guest. I do need to check/re consider the 3 materials in front. It is pretty common around here but I certainly understand. We didn't wan't brick entirely up front - with shake in gables because we didn't want it to be brick one side. What is done around here often is shake siding which doesn't look that different from siding. We have considered cedar shake which would then be 3 totally different materials. Will work on this. Now I'll have to look at the door swing on the pool bath. Open out does seem to make more sense. As far as pool crap - good point. I suppose that garage storage next to bath could have another door.... First I need to try and get the garage a little wider and then it would be nice if the pool mechanicals were in the garage - for noise and a little freeze protection. Yes there is a mudroom next to garage and we have redone it a little to increase the size. ARG - I have done some site sketches but they aren't ready for prime time.... As far as outside door to bathroom - yes for the pool. Oven - what is drawn is a range; Microwave in drawer. Definitely will widen garage - I knew it was tight. Pocket door into pantry - check. Outswing to toilet room in master - my issue is that currently we leave it open always. That would block a window. Will see what true dimension is with CAD drawings to finalize that one. Considering removing doors in master suite - laundry or closet. We have a similar layout now and never close door to closet. Island will have seating. More windows upstairs on south wall - waiting for roof line to see what is possible without looking strange. Should have that with CAD and the J&J there fixed. I'm also probably going to up the south windows into rec room when I cut the west windows. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and compliments!

We (hubby and I) bought a lot that is very similar to yours in that it faces west out the back, the best view being WNW. We also have no children, I work from home most of the time, hubby is retired, and we have a dog. I will admit to trying to play around with designing a floor plan, but that was obviously not my forte (I'm in IT - software design, not the same visual/creative mind needed for designing a house.) Anyway, instead I made a "requirements document" (IT term, actually lists must haves, should haves, could haves) and "use cases" (meaning how the user plans to use the software, er house. Such as "We like to sit together and drink coffee in the morning while looking at the view and reading on our laptops".) Reviewed a few architect/designer sites and picked a few to meet with. One of them we clicked with immediately, and he didn't even flinch at my three pages of requirements (single spaced). We chatted, hired him (and he isn't an architect, but has been a full time residential designer for YEARS, and has over 300 homes to his credit.) Along with the long list of requirements (the program, as he later told me) we are constrained by the budget, since building costs in our little mountain town are now about $250-300 per sq. ft, and so we wanted to keep it to 3000 sq ft not including the garage, that is for a ranch with a finished walkout basement and would include the finished sq footage in the basement in the total number. When we got the first design schematics, I realized how well he had combined the majority of our wants, our site constraints (including the potentially brutal western sun). Did he give us everything that was in our requirements document? No, because that would have required 5000 sq ft! But he thoughtfully worked in what could be done, and also took into consideration our budget and made a design that would be more affordable to build while still meeting our needs. I'm still amazed at how great it is. His exterior views really nailed the aesthetic we talked to him about, while doing so in what will be a more cost effective manner. We tweaked a few things with him (kitchen layout being the main thing) and now we are heading towards phase 2, where he give us much more detailed drawings and I'm so excited. And he managed to avoid facing the house directly west, (it faces more NW) so that the afternoon sun will be mitigated a bit, and blocked by other parts of the house while still giving the best views. So, all this to say, that bringing in a residential designer really exceeded our expectations and will end up saving us more in construction costs than we are paying him. I really believe that if we had started by giving him a "rough design or floor plan" that he would have been influenced by that (you can't unsee or unknow things) and wouldn't have ended up with the special design that we have, which is simple, elegant and completely livable for my husband and myself, and the dog!