Thanks for your input Renovator8. Are all of the major spaces awkward? Which ones in particular look the worst? Do you have any suggestions on how I could make this flow better? We've looked at how we live on a day to day basis and how we would like our home to function. This plan seems to be the best flow for our lifestyle, but some help from GW may help us change it for the better. If you were to provide some more feedback I may understand why it is so awkward. I'm definetly an amateur so I would love some input on how to make things flow better. I do recognize that some aspects of our plan is not traditional in the way most houses are being built: i.e. stairs are by the entrance, not accessed easily from the interior of the home. Living room is at the back of the home and not accessed through an entry to the home. There are some reasons why we chose to do this. On the east coast of Canada we have a much more informal way of living. We entertain in the kitchen/ dining room (kitchen parties) rather than the living room. We will have a covered deck off the kitchen since we do have so many kitchen parties. Sometimes women and children gather in the kitchen/ dining and the men will go to the living room or the garage. Many people including us do not use their basements other than storage and utilities such as hot water heater, furnace etc. The stairs are usually only accessed to store seldom used things such as extra supplies, seasonal wear and seasonal decorations. Our lot is set up so that all of the outdoor living and access to the home is on the south side. The north side is 100 acres of family woodland that won't be accessed. I hope these extra details of our lifestyle and how we would like our home to function will help you provide us with some input.

I like the connection between the laundry and the master closet. I would miss the tub in the master, and if you ever sell -- I know, I know, no one on this board ever intends to sell a house, but, hey, we do have to live in the real world -- I think it would be a problem. You know, I'm sure that the curved island will be inordinately expensive. I'm not against a unique splurge here and there (otherwise, you'd be buying a ready-made house), but be SURE this is how/where you both want to spend. Plus, once you have this island, it's going to demand a really great stone of some sort, making it even more expensive. This is a very visible item in the middle of your public spaces, so if it's what you really want, I think it'll be a good choice. Island aside, this is not a kitchen that "works well". You don't have space for the two islands together, and the key players are too far apart from one another. The pantry is great, but don't expect much actual storage in the curved island. I think you're right to go to the kitchen forum. What does work is the bar, which will keep foot traffic out of the kitchen during parties. Also working well is the adjacent dining room: Plenty of entry access, nicely sized. Last kitchen comment: No natural light. If you're doing this curved island as a focal point, and the kitchen is so visible to the living area . . . you really don't want it in the dark. I know some people are dead-set against the master in front, but yours is somewhat "set back" via numerous hallways. Plenty of privacy. I don't see a problem. What I don't like about the master bedroom is that it sticks out so far in front that a guest parking in front of the garage will have to traipse allllll the way around that bump-out bedroom to reach the front door. It's awkward. If you pull the laundry room over adjacent to the A/C room, your master bath /closet could "pull back" a bit, allowing your master bedroom to "tuck into" the spot currently allocated to the master closet. Yes, this would mean walking across the hallway with laundry, but you're only talking about a few steps more, and it eliminates a major problem in front of the house. I see you're looking at a circular drive. These can be problematic. People never quite know whether they're supposed to park there, and if they do, they block in the person behind them. I've only known one house in real life who did a circular drive "right", and theirs was two-cars wide AND had a "pull off" so people could park in that little spot without feeling that they'd block others. I have one good friend who has a circular drive, and no one ever parks in her drive -- everyone parks on the street. I would definitely look into how to get some natural light into the master bath. If nothing else, I'd do a narrow, long window across the top of the mirror . . . though this is right in front of the house, and that's not going to look so good on the exterior of the house. I also like the idea of an open shower. I'd put the open shower in the spot that's now an exterior wall WIC . . . and make what's now the shower the closet /maybe an extension of the already-spacious closet. The open shower tucked around the corner will work nicely for water-containment, AND you can have a window at the end of the shower. I vote against the derpy little double-doors into the bathroom. They never quite work out as planned, the light switch issue being the first problem with them.

Lotta suggestions....too late on the garage door as I went out today to suggest a larger one and it was framed for I believe a 32 or 34. I'll check tomorrow. I guess I can get a saw-zall out and re-do it after the framing is all done. Just a lot of hassle, I wonder if there would be a more efficient way to make the opening 38" wide besides saw-zawing each nail :/ I decided for sure the stairs will stay where they are. I calculated out about 22" of additional headway after the landing. That floor cut out will not be a complete negative because I am planning on having coat storage there with a raised bottom shelf that gives headway to the basement but storage by the door. I can change the swing of the front door, but I think it would make sense to have the door swing towards the coat storage so when entering the house you get the open feel of the living, dining, and kitchen. I am not sure if I will have open railing for the stairs or if I will do a stub-wall maybe 3 or 4' tall. I will have to see how that area looks after the closet is built. The idea would be to just run some custom shelves/cabinets all along the stairs 22" deep (to match the stair cut out) for extra storage and a break between the stairs and living room. I will plan on having the back of the couch serve as a break of the space so that when entering the front door you can see everything, but only wall forward into the middle of the house. There just isn't enough room for a mud room at the garage door with my budget and I think a foyer is not necessary if the front door will not be used a lot...or if I do some creative storage along the stair area. Sanford, I appreciate the positive help on the stair case long ago and now - but I do not like to hear that "What is shown is such a poor design that any other location would be an improvement." because I have put a lot of thought into my layout, which is just for me and not a house built for someone else. The only location I would have had as another option would be along the garage. But I already have the basement laid out the way I want and this fit. Putting the stairs on the other side of the house not shown would ruin the dining room area with the patio doors. And the other side of the house is devoted just for bedrooms and bathrooms, no staircase to the basement :P

If your stairs are going to be “prominent” (or visible as soon as you walk in the door) you will need to plan to spend the money to make them an interesting feature, rather than just stairs haphazardly plopped in foyer. Do you need both a tub & shower in master bath? Many now just do a larger walk in shower, and ditch tub (as long as another one in house elsewhere). That would allow you to have larger vanities/more storage because right now storage in that master bath will be scant. I do think the master closets are awkward, and will be less roomy in actuality than they look on paper. Hanging clothes need 2ft. You need at least 2ft to walk (preferably more!). With their dimensions you can really only hang clothes along one wall - maybe one long wall and one stubby wall - and still have room to move in there. That longer closet closest to front of house sort of makes me feel claustrophobic when I think of going in it, as doors do not open enough to give reach in access so there will be some maneuvering to get clothing hung on outermost edge. One window on a 71ft wall (a big part of it a garage wall) does not surprise me if you have neighbors very close on either side like is common in many smaller city/subdivisionlots. I have that (will have that) too and so I have limited windows on side. Side windows in my current house almost always are blinds down as is to keep snoopy neighbors eyes away! That laundry room is more of a laundry closet. That works for some people, but not usually for people with kids, or couples like my husband and I who generate a lot of laundry through our jobs and hobbies. One can spend a lot of time doing laundry (from loading it, to moving it, to unloading it, to folding it), so would you rather do it in a closet (or end up with laundry all over floors and furniture where there is “room” to fold it) or in a larger room. That will help you determine how much room you need and want. To me it was enough of a “want” to have a roomy laundry room to sacrifice a bedroom for a generous laundry/storage room (and my husband plans to also set up his sewing machine & desk, for others it could be a craft room, etc).