Oh, that shower is problematic...and not just the window. It is as big as the entire laundry room. Which would be fine if your parents are planning an ADA house, but it isn't.

In the vanity area, while the symmetry is nice, I wonder how ergonomic the L-shaped vanities are? Half of what you need will be behind you, and if you are standing at the sink and need to get something from the drawer beside you, you have to step out of the way...but only backwards, because the tub is in the way. As we age, we don't twist and step so easily.

A toilet straight into a compartment isn't so easy either, later on. Not to mention hard to clean. Entering from the side (if they need a compartment) is easier. But if they plan to stay there forever, it is not walker or wheelchair accessible, and, as I say, it's not so easy to turn completely around to get to it, or get out.

The master bedroom seems to enter off the foyer, but in reality the living room provides the walkway access. The whole front 3' of the LR have to be free to walk towards the bedroom. Could the LR be moved down a bit to allow the foyer to extend enough to let them walk straight from the garage to the little hallway that leads to their bedroom?

How nice that they have a view of the lake, and bedroom doors onto the terrace!

In the guest bedrooms, pocket doors from bedroom to sink area would cut down on the number of doors in the way. The only doors that really need to lock easily are the ones into the shower/toilet. Will those bedrooms be mainly for occasional guests? Are they staying long enough to require a walk-in closet? (Though, if they ever have live-in caregivers, the big closet might be nice, but not necessary)

You mention the possibility of a paid caregiver, indicating that aging in place is one of their concerns, yet the whole house is anything but age-appropriate.

First the good:

- Great sight lines at the front door.

- Nice layout for great room, kitchen and dining area.

And the bad:

- The master bath is a study in inefficiency. Excess space in the middle of the room, yet a person using the sink must stand practically on top of the tub. An oversized shower (good idea for aging in place), yet the window is a problem. A toilet closet with a door that can't be closed once a user enters the room (and toilet closets are difficult for elderly to enter, as well as being difficult to clean). Your parents have allotted plenty of space to the master bath /closet, but this needs a whole re-do. Personally, I'd start by placing the closet in the spot that's now the shower; that takes care of the window, and it'll allow the shower to move "in" rather than being on an exterior wall.

- The 90 degree turn into the bedroom does allow for privacy, but it can be difficult for an elderly person to manage.

- The island prevents good flow in the kitchen, and your work aisles look narrow. In general, square kitchens don't work well. In a kitchen you want cabinets /countertops /space for your appliances; thus, rectangles, with greater wall area are superior. In contrast, squares allow for empty space in the middle, which isn't particularly what you want in a kitchen because that means your "important players" are farther apart from one another. I think I'd drop the two-island concept and instead go with a simple row of cabinets against the wall and a large island dividing the kitchen from the great room. This would be very affordable to build, and it would look great with that layout -- as well as increasing the size of a modest great room.

- I like the dining room except for the door to the porch. Once you insert a table, it'll block access to the door. The great room doors are only steps away, and this door isn't needed. This dining room would look great with a banquette against the wall, and that would make the dining room more spacious.

- The dining room must serve as a walkway to the secondary bedrooms, and you have a "bottleneck" in the spot where the kitchen and the dining room meet at the corner -- keep in mind you're going to have to bring bedroom furniture through that narrow spot.

- I like jack-and-jill closets, but this one seems cramped and is just doors-doors-doors everywhere. Imagine if you ever needed to replace that tub - a new one could never be brought into that spot.

- Do they need the e-space near the secondary bedrooms, or would that be better as a large storage closet? If you ever do have a paid caregiver in the house, a good-sized closet would be an asset for that person. OR, if they have lots of grandchildren who enjoy spending the night, that little spot could be a cool little built-in bunkbed right in the hallway. OR, you could move the half-bath to this position, allowing for a more comfortable laundry room.

- The laundry room suffers from the same problem as the kitchen: The walking area is quite narrow, which is not age-friendly. Moving through that narrow hallway with a basket of clothes may not be so easy as your parents age. Note, too, that when you open that door, it covers up a portion of your folding area. All that wasted hallway space could make a nicer laundry room. It'd be nice if it could be closer to the master bedroom closet.

The niche between the two closets is a nice decorating opportunity: a knockout table, a mirror, a lamp, etc. Although it means each closet is small...and then when guests are getting their coats do you have to open both because the coat in question wasn't in the first (Murphy's Law!). One closet or to, either one seems fine to me.

I imagine your parents will typically enter the house from the garage? They might like a more gracious entry for themselves. I do like the space that leads to the laundry room, I might turn the powder room so it opens off of there too. But with the stairs right there, I think that passageway could use another foot in width.

What is their climate? It looks like they don't need much coat storage?

That's a nice entry space. You know, if the outside wall of the laundry room were even with the dining room, that would allow the hallway to widen. If the kitchen were changed as mama goose suggested, that skosh more room would be nice.

Another thought for the foyer/living room/bedroom transition: what if there were a wall from the end of the bookcase to the first pillar at the corner of the foyer? That would give you a corner in the LR which is nice for definition and for arranging furniture, keeps passage to the MBR out of the LR, and could let you move the MBR door and rearrange the suite a bit better. I can't get to the computer that has Paint on it right now...imagining about how the suite might look...

EDit: maybe it is a wall in the plans, hard to tell. And the photos are a little different from each other...and reversed from the plan.

edit 2: oh, I just realized I can reverse the images.

Can you label the rooms? It is a bit difficult to tell on some of them, especially since it appears this view also shows some beams.

I had the same problem. A plan is normally drawn at about 3 ft off the floor. Anything of importance above that should be dotted. I like to start looking at a plan at the front door but couldn't find it. Adding furniture freehand would help a lot too.

Hope this helps and clears things up a bit. The bottom picture is the most recent attempt at changing the master bath. They want to keep a door at the end of the closet to be able to access it without having to walk all through the bedroom/bathroom. a

I agree that the niche between the closets is a decorating opportunity. Do you like Sarah Richardson? One of my FAVORITE inspiration pictures, a picture that's long been in my files, is the mudroom in her farm house. It's two red doors flanking a small 3-4 drawer chest. It's such a perfect little entryway -- storage space, a mirror, drop space, a couple drawers. Even if you don't love the standout red doors (though I do), it's a good layout. You can find it using google images: Sarah Richardson farmhouse entry red doors.

I like EyeGirlie's new bathroom better than the original. The addition of a second door to the closet is genius; it means a person bringing in clean clothes doesn't have to cycle through the bedroom and bathroom to reach the door. I might move the bedroom door to the left to encompass that little hallway as a part of the bedroom. I'd keep the toilet in the spot behind the door (though rotate it 90 degrees) and remove the closet ... this would keep it in a semi-private spot, but would make it easier to reach as your parents age. I'd try to enlarge the shower a bit more. Kudos for simplifying the sink and adding a linen closet.

We are building our retirement, forever home. Be sure all doorways can accomodate a wheel chair or walker. You might also look into a no step entry. Don't want to have to put a ramp in the front yard. One bathroom should have a straight shot to the toilet and tub, no turning to get to it.