Yikes! Images uploaded too small. Trying to get them to show bigger size.

Update. Ok, I think I made it bigger. Not full resolution tho.

bpathome - thank you for all your comments!

Never thought of what you said about the workspace in the kitchen being pinched in the middle! Not sure how we could solve that without losing symmetry.... On to think about that.

The door to the patio: I drew a larger table than the one I have, and placed the chairs around it as if someone was sitting on them. This area is actually larger then the one in the current home by over a foot. So I believe it will be enough space.

Bedroom suite on first floor: the way I drew is already switched to the way I want. So the guest will pass the bathroom to go to the closet. You are right. It would be strange to go through the clothes in order to get to the bathroom... :)

Master bathroom: I'm still laughing, curious about how you know the double doors can be an issue... I really never thought about turning around to get the other door. You have a point! The no wall to hang towels also drive me crazy. So common where I live! My current one is even worse. You have to reach over the soaker tub to get to the towels. Pretty much every floorplan I've seen is like this. :/ Also, this is a frameless glass shower, and the door is centered. So even if I had a wall near it, I would not be able to reach it.

Yes, the garage off the laundry will be handy for bringing groceries inside, garbage can, etc. we are in Texas, so snow boots aren't an issue here. The "mud room" hallway has a bench with storage for shoes and hooks for backpacks and jackets.

Good idea on measuring the larger garage. Our current garage fits both cars nicely plus some storage and garbage cans. So I can measure my current one. When my dad built his house, they didn't realize that one of the spots there did not fit his SUV, it was not long enough!

I borrowed my mom's Lincoln continental once and it fit in my garage...after I moved the bikes and the shop vac, rolled the car nearly to the wall, and still the overhead door barely missed the bumper. So definitely measure! My parents' garage is heavenly...you can open the car doors all the way without worrying about dinging. (It's also heated to about 40 degrees and has a drain under each car so there's never any black snow blech. You're lucky to be in Texas)

Looking at the ballroom in the bathroom, what if you moved the whole shower/closet arrangement into the bathroom, adding a foot or so to the LR? But leave the fireplace where it is, don't shift it over. Then you have room to put the tv on that wall but not have it sticking into the room past the fireplace.

And regarding the shower and the towel, just flip the doors so that instead of the openings right next to the shower, you have walls for a hook or bar?

The center area of your home on the first floor will be very dark with the lights off during the day. The one car garage could be a wall of windows. The entry and family room won't get much natural light. Likewise, that is a long dark hall with a 90 degree angle from the 2 car garage. To me hallways are "wasted" square footage. I would reconfigure the garage-house entry to remove that hall. The garage could enter the foyer and the study could be on the right exterior wall. I would prefer one 3 car garage to the separation, but that is of course personal taste as are my other comments. Keep working the plans til they feel right to you, and ignore any comments that don't apply to your tastes. :) Best wishes

lafdr

For that garage entrance, I wonder if the following would work:

Move the study to the right outside wall. The garage hall is now closer to the foyer.

But what about the bedroom suite? Can it be flipped and reconfigured so that the bathroom and closet are closer to the master bath (saving on piping and you don't have to sound-insulate that wall) and the bedroom is adjacent to the study. You could have the bathroom and closet connected, or have the closet accessed from the bedroom instead.

The dimensions and shape of the study might have to change, become a rectangle instead of a square, for the bedroom to still have enough room.

You have a lot of wasted space in the hallway from the garage, and that long dark hallway won't be welcoming. I'd look into extending the office into that wasted space /enter the house through the office.

I'm not loving the entrance to the master bedroom. It looks like a long walk, with obstacles to walk around. Same thing about the girl's room and the "his studio" upstairs: These people will have to walk through two other rooms to reach their destinations.

Getting large furniture up the spiral staircase won't be easy.

Why divide the master walk-in closet into two? Why not just have one large walk-in? I agree with the above poster about the double doors: Not so functional. When you walk in, where's your light switch? Behind the door, so you have to close the door and feel around behind the door to find the light switch. This whole bathroom is big and fancy, but I think it's going to be cold and not so comfortable.

I think the formal dining room is too far away from the kitchen. I suspect you'll avoid using it just because of the extra steps required.

Upstairs, if you could flip the girls' sink area and closet, you could have some natural light by the sink.

I say don't hurry to finish your plans by Saturday. I think you have a ways to go with this plan, and it's better to do it RIGHT than to do it FAST.

Ok. So I reworked the study and guest suite. My concern is that now the guest bedroom is very small. I do like the added storage area and the hallway window. But a 9' 10" x 12 bedroom seems too small...

The entrance to the master bedroom is that way because I cannot stand the door coming out straight from the gallery - no privacy... I'm open to suggestions.

So here is the suggested layout where the guest bath is behind the master bath:

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10 x2 is an ok size for a bedroom where you don't spend much time. Only you can decide if you are good with it. That said I like the new arrangement better. I would move the door to the guest room how you have it for the office. This will make the space more usable too with no door in the way.

42" is pretty tight for a heavily used hallway such as from a garage entrance. With your new arrangement adding 6" to make it a 2 person walking space shouldn't be too hard.

I'd swing the door from the garage the other way. Or the closet thing that you have there won't be that useful. Not like you will leave that door open to block the window. If it bothers you then change the window size some for the hallway.

I agree your master bath could be more efficient and you have a lot of wasted space in the middle. Is try to get a larger closet out if it. I have the same in my master bath including the double doors. Wish I could come up with a way to use all the wasted space, but haven't yet. Hate the double doors too. I'm going to replace them with a single door this year.

If you keep the toilet closet in its current place, put a small window above the toilet for some natural light in there

As MrsPete observed, the DR seems quite a hike from the kitchen and LR. Perhaps consider moving the DR to where your utility room is presently and put a big window on the wall, then slide your study across the hall and place it where your DR is presently. Move the utility room to be where the study is, adjacent to the double garage.

I second the opinion to put off your deadline, better to get this right than to meet a deadline. Contractors will also fall behind on deadlines, so it's not the end of the world to delay until you feel that you've got the plan in the best shape for how you want to live in your house.

Also, by moving the DR closer to the kitchen, putting a window on that wall, and keeping the DR open to the hall, you introduce light into the hall at its deepest point from the front door. The light you lose at the front by not having an open DR with window from the porch shining into the hall isn't so bad because you still have light from the porch entry.

You could make the study a foot smaller, 10' instead of 11'. But, to keep its square footage, you could to this: see the closet you added to the study? Move the boot bench up there ( makes sense anyway, because as shown it's inaccessible behind the open door when you come in. Our boot bench is behind the open door...impossible, and creates a bottleneck right at the door.). Slide the garage closet over to the left. Now the study would be 10'x12'3"', and the guest room nearly 11'x12'.

I think you could widen that mud hall a bit, like a foot. It feels less narrow with the window to the entry porch, but there still isn't much room to maneuver. then the study would be 10'x11'3".

Oh, and if you really want the guest closet to open off the bathroom, maybe make it a pocket door? Maybe make the bathroom door a pocket door, too. We did that in a same size and layout bathroom and there was so much more room afterwards. And ours was a hall bath; in this private bath, it will work even better.

Re the garage closet, have you thought about how you are going to use a 40"x40" space?

Maybe that back hall window over the entry porch could be a high window, so it lets in light but not your guests' sight, and less troublesome if you change the door swing as lyfia suggests. Were you planning on hooks on the wall for jackets, rain gear? Or will it all fit in the boot bench cubby?

Ok. I've been working on you guys' suggestions:

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What do YOU think? Looks better, but consider what to do with the bathroom and closet doors. Maybe a pocket door from guest closet in the bedroom?

bpathome - I am really liking this better. I'm still working on it. Here is with a different bath layout and closet door placement. Any thoughts on the window next to the sink?

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Make your bathroom doors outswing and you buy yourself an increase in safety and in the case of the bath by your guest room you now have more interior flexibility by not having to accommodate the door swing area.

With respect to that guest bath, if you buy a smaller sink basin, then you increase the clearance for the toilet, which might provide more comfort to both elderly guests and those of wider persuasion.

bpathome - now with the new layout, I could place more hooks on the wall if needed. I like your idea of a window that is not so low.

For the guest closet, put the door on the other side, not in the corner. It'll be easier to get to and you can have furniture on the left hand wall.

What do you plan to use the study closet for? Wondering about how it will be outfitted. Just deep shelves?

I'm thinking shelves in the office closet.

Here is the picture of the door on the other side of the closet.

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Latest version...

Put people in the rooms to have idea of space. Increased the size of the guest bedroom entrance.

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Looking better. Now go work on master bath and closet the same way. Bet you can come up with something even better with less wasted space.

throwing an idea out there for the study/guest room. Ask the builder to frame in an area so that a door between the two could easily be placed in the future. What a great space if you ever need a bedroom with sitting area for a parent. Or, maybe a secret passage book shelf! Or, better still, put in 8 foot beam over where the bed is so that area could be totally opened up some day a living suite. Or, see if you can get a door between the mbr and guest room so it could serve as a future nursery.

BTW I don't know how you'll be able to easily get large furniture into the master the way the entry is. I understand the need for it, but you need to make sure you can get a king size mattress in there or a wide dresser etc. without having to try to do it through a window.

The same goes for the boy bedroom. The way the entry to that area is along with the linen closet and the door placement it seems like it would be hard to get furniture in there. At least the first part you can lift over the railing, but then that turn around the linen closet is awkward. You could straighten it out and have more space in the room with something similar to this. I'd still try to find a better spot for the linen closet or use a cabinet there with cabinet doors instead, or just make each kid have their stuff for the bath/sheets in their closets.

Lyfia is right about the boy's hallway. You could eliminate the linen closet altogether, it's too far from the other bedrooms to be convenient anyway, and the boy's hallway could be a bit wider and the top of the staircase open...convenient when you need to holler up the stairs for him :)

Are you going to have windows upstairs in the bathrooms and game room?

Any reason why you can't switch the garage doors? Open on the other side.

You now have a parking lot just outside your front door.

Nice ideas!

There will be many windows in the game room, a window in the upstairs powder, will double check on the upstairs boy bathroom.

I have to follow the "look" of the neighborhood, and we have to have side entry main garage doors.

K, why not doors on the right side oh the garage

josephene - based on the width of the house, my guess is the lot isn't wide enough to do that.

Ok here is just a simple rework of the bath to get more use out of the space. You could switch shower and toilet as well.

The lot may not be wide enough, I'm not sure. But mainly, it is higher up a bit than the neighbors.

You guys are so creative! Giving me a ton to think about!!!!!! :)