The stair opening is too long; it only needs to accommodate 11 or 12 treads not 17. You should be able to add the rest of that area to the living area. Perhaps the table could shift toward the stair and the kitchen could extend across the entire wall. If a door is added at the bottom of the stair the wall at the apartment level could be 3 ft high and make the living space feel larger. Then there could be a work counter between the range and the sink and the refrigerator side could move to the right and allow more space in the laundry and/or office. The door to the larger closet doesn't need to be larger than the door to the bathroom. Be very carful to dimension the bathroom so the door doe not strike the toilet. What you have drown is obviously a "cadet" or "round-front" toilet normally used for a half bath/powder room not an "elongated" toilet normally used for a full bathroom. If the toilet and the door both extend into the space 30 inches the room width should be 60". Perhaps the laundry could be in a 3 ft deep closet off the hall and the space behind it could be a walk-in storage room and the office could be made larger since it might someday be used as a bedroom.

Thanks everyone! This first round of advice has been excellent and I'll have an amended floor plan up soon after I make quite a few changes! I thought I should also post the floorplan that has been my favorite so far, there's just too many rearrangements that I need with the bedrooms to make it modifiable. http://www.architecturaldesigns.com/garage-plan-3849ja.asp annie - At the moment I just used the "auto stair", so I'm not sure why they're coming out too narrow. I'll play around with them though and probably go back to the original idea of just a standard straight stair rather than including the landing. I do like the idea of the stairs coming in by the mud room since the space in the future will be more of an in law/guest suite. I had a hard time deciding on going with a shower or tub, but I think I like the idea of stackable W/D to get the extra tub space (or just playing around more that entire arrangement in general). I can easily give the 3rd car a bit more room. The fireplace would be fake (I put it there just to get an idea of space). I wasn't aware of the small house forum, so I'll definitely check that out! The kitchen is the only thing that I think needs to remain large (although some space can be cut down. Cooking is quite important to my bf so he wants the space (I will be redoing the layout though, that was a very rough section). I'll look into some peninsula ideas though to see if they'll suit his requirements. MrsPete - I'd really like to check out your second link, but it won't come up (404 not found). The third option is okay, but I'd like to stick more to the $125 mark which is why I'm trying to get my plan under 1000 sq feet of living space. Greendesigns - I'll be double checking, but the only potential hindrance is that it needs to be connected to the house to be a rental property. The space being a future rental property in the future isn't extremely important to me. It's use as a guest suite and potential in law suite will work fine. My property already has the power and septic for a full sized house on it (there was a previously demolished house). There will still be many developmental costs, but it's still significantly lower than building a 2000+ sq ft house. My goal of this first post is to significantly reduce the size of the current layout. Some parts of the kitchen can be reduced, but since we'll be living here for probably a couple of years, having a decent sized kitchen is quite important to my cooking bf. palimpset - I thought the U shaped staircase would give me some more upstairs space, but from everyone's opinion it wont, so I'll make sure to fix that. red_lover - So far I haven't found an architectural plan that's even close to what I'm looking at. I'm still searching, but there's nothing that's close/modifiable that I've found yet. I'll be moving out soon, so it's either build the garage apartment or buy a house and delay building at all for several more years. renovator - I'll be changing back to a straight staircase, I didn't realize the headroom issues (the camera software makes it look like there wouldn't have been a problem), but the U shaped staircase wasn't something I had fallen in love with. The scales are the same, the first image is just zoomed in. We'll definitely be doing heavy insulation. virgil - The link didn't work (it goes to the site, but not the plan). I'll continue playing around with the 2 bedroom arrangement(mainly 1 bedroom and an office), but having an outside staircase is not going work. I'll be redoing it anyways to have a standard straight staircase, which should solve some problems.

Thank you MA for your comments >>>>>>>code will forbid unprotected egress from the apartment passing through any part of the garage space.This will be built out in the county so hopefully I will have some freedom here. >>>>>> type x drywall between the garage and an occupied space above I intend to use type X everywhere, ...but then I haven't priced it yet. >>>>>>need a rated door and that door cannot open directly into a bedroom.I plan on a downstairs office that a guest may stay in occasionally. I will use good steel doors. >>>>>>>>I would just make a conventional garage 4 ft. longer and put an enclosed stair in it with a 36" door next to the garage doors.My plan is to extend this plan 12 feet (or a little more), and put the office in the additional down stairs space and have a stairwell start outside of this office. My plan is to "box" the stairs on the bottom floor so that as the stairs climb into the upstairs there is a more open feel to that room (the living room). >>>>>The curve to the roof is either flared with shims and additional plywood I received the plans Friday and they're from Drummand Designs in Canada. I'm disappointed in one thing, in that there was no attempt to show any beams or showcase any of the soaring space. Instead it's all boxed with drywall. No apartment design included, just open but boxed space. Otherwise, a very nice plan. Thanks again.

Let me start by saying I hope your expeience this time goes better than your first on. I hate to see people spend so much money on poorly layed out plans. Its not life and death but most people have no real experience with design and its to important to get wrong up front. I am an architect and do only residential design /remodeling and constrution. The thing that happens is people get attached to a plan or idea and cant get passed it or have limited experience on how to look at multiple plan layouts . I always show my clients 3-6 plan ideas and discuss the pros and cons of each with them based on their wish lists. I am concerned that you plan has problems with many issues of cirulation, window location,size of rooms, space( between counters and islands etc.) The plan seems to be 1 story or 1 1/2 so the location of your stair up leads it to the lowest part of the roof and wont allow the head height you need to reach an apartment above. It will need to reach the highest point in the roof to get ceiling height and then the roof pitch needs to be higher to get that height. Please be sure to check this out closely with a design professional or builder as it is a potential costly mistake. Im not fond of the sunroom blocking the view of any windows that should be in the living room maybe consider moving it in front of the dining area ? I prefer to see the bed in master be on opposite end of room so you see it acroos the room and not have to walk around it so much. Move or eliiminate centered window or use higher wider transom over bed. Be sure the shower is big enough I like 42" wide minimum x 48" plus a bench making shower 42" x 72 overall. Benches are nice as you age, shave legs, sprain ankles etc or just enjoy a steam shower if desired. Be sure to have linen storage cabinet/closet. Consider eliminating one door to hall to save space and cost in bath. Doors swings can also be issues be sure they have room to rest and dont block other doors. Consider 36" doors for furniture moving and possible walker or wheelchair use in future( sorry) Reduce one door in sunroom, and its size seems small to me but too much circulation reduces a smaller space even more. Kitchen island is awkward in orientation and seems to limit your location to stand. Keep shape simple to reduce cost if in solid surface. Dont make windows to small reduce numbers if needed but make them larger for better views. Flow of space is important as is noise in open spaces to consider but not critical if you like open plan. Im not going to try to solve every issue I see as Im not sure whats all important to you and my solutions may not be right for you and every change I speak of causes one other thing to change or more and needs addressed then to find a final answer that works to solve your problems andmakes you feel good every day and functions for you and any potential buyers in future. A few well invested thousand dollars now will save many headaches later, can reduce costs, increase functionality and increase the value later in resale if needed. It will be recouped in higher sales price as well. Good luck and really look closely at these issues or conider an architect. Not all are overpriced arrogant eggheads!!! or consider plans from such online arcgitects as Donald Gardner. He has many plans and versions of said plans with many different square footages for different budgets. Hope this helps some. Consider flat screen tv on end wall not corner to make furnishing more flexible and windows in back wall for view.