Hopefully this message will make it before I lose my wording again. Seems my computer locks up with this website. Thanks for the follow up posts! I gave a rough sketch to an architect and this was his first draft. We appreciate all your input before returning to the architect. mydreamhome - Master bedroom is 13'-7" x 17'-6 1/2" (a little deceiving because of most of the room is 13'-7" x 13'-11") I like things symmetrical and haven't made a decision about that jog in the master bedroom north wall by the pantry under the stairs. Master bath and closet area is approx. 16'-8" x 13'-11" Nook 10'-2 1/2" x 12'-1" Kitchen 12'-1" x approx. 16'-2" Living Room/Great Room 20' x 20' (this includes 3'-6" hallway) Dining Room 12'-0 1/2" x 15' (not sure why the 1/2 inch measurements by the architect) Bedroom #2 12' x 15' (this includes the closet space) Bedroom #3 12'-0 1/2" x 12'-8 1/2" (not including 3'-10 3/4" x 8'-5" closet) Bedroom #4 12'-0 1/2" x 13'-11" (not including 3'-11 1/4" x 8'-5" closet) Office 7'-4" x 13'-11" Laundry 6' x 8'-0 3/4" Garage 24' x 24' (Husband would like an entry door added to the garage, as well as a utility sink, so the garage will be growing - isn't that always the case) Theater or Bonus Room 12'-1" x 23'-8 1/2" (Architect states can tweak the length of this room to stay under the 3000 sq. ft. Most homes in our area have bonus rooms over the garage, however I wanted that rear view. Covered Lanai 9'-8 1/2" x 39'-1" Upstairs Covered Porch 9'-8 1/2" x ? (Architect states can go the whole length of house or make smaller) I agree with deleting the french doors in the nook area and once we get into picking out windows and doors will keep in mind your suggestion about the fixed doors or long windows. At this point, I think the architect was just trying to get something down on paper for review. I'll work with a scaled layout for the family room. How much furniture were you able to place in your family room? I did a search for your user name and was able to view past post and some pictures of your home, but never found the floor plan. Beautiful home! I would love to see your final layout. I don't necessarily need such a long office, I had originally drawn a rough sketch for the architect that had a smaller office and utilized that sq. ft. for a larger laundry room. This is what he proposed. I think I can live with this as drawn, but maybe other suggestions will be made. pps- I was also questioning about the doors swinging out. A little information about us: Well, it is just my husband and I in our mid 40's. We live on the central east coast of Florida, so hurricanes are an issue, however it is not code to have doors that swing out. Our friends on the west coast of Florida have a front door that swings out. We have no children. A four bedroom house may seem excessive, but we presently live in a smaller three bedroom home. One bedroom is my husband's office/hobby room, one my office and then our master. We have no room for guests when they visit us, and it is my desire to be able to accommodate family and friends, as well as plan for the future possibility of caring for elderly parents. We hope to be in this new home for a long time.

I would put the TV in the corner next to the FP. Your existing cabinet is a bit bulky for that, but it's also too small if you ever want a bigger TV :) A white cabinet of some kind would be fairly unobtrusive. Furniture placement - you can put a couch on the long wall, though there will be a traffic path in front of it. But with all those doors, you'll be dealing with traffic no matter what you do.

It would be best if you uploaded a picture of your layout.

ondanonima, damiarain and rebunky, WOW! I am so glad I submitted this to Houzz - I am totally impressed with your ideas. Thank you so much! ondanonima, we are still in the design phase so we can still choose most of the window/glass locations. We want that east wall to be mostly glass. We will probably have one or two French sliding doors covering the entire space (kitchen – living room) with floor to ceiling glass as an option. There's even an option to install a corner window in the NE corner and have the sink as close to that corner as possible. There's not much to look at out a window toward the west end of the north side wall - just the least attractive side of the neighbor's house. I never would have thought of leaving the west wall completely blank. I have to mull this over for a while. We like the idea of lots of floor to ceiling glass on the east wall and it might be hard to give that up. rebunky's idea is appealing in that it frees up the east wall for floor-ceiling glass but I'd need to have the sink more toward the east end of that wall which spoils the pantry in the NE corner! Also I don't know if we'd ever want to sit with our backs to the view :( Your ideas have made me excited that there can be a really good arrangement for this space!