Elevations

Front

Rear

Left

Thanks CP for the feedback and great ideas as usual,
My current home has a basement garage so I am used to it. We are hoping that the driveway will be mostly level with the street and the 1st floor will be gently sloped up from the street. We are still waiting for the plans from the civil engineer though.
We thought about a dumb waiter for a while but I decided I could tough it out and have the kids be my pack mules. However we never really looked into the cost or types that much so maybe hubby will take another look.

I'll think about the additional stairs but it seems it would require valuable real estate plus everyone love to sit on the corner rail.

I am hoping the bay will give some architectural interest to an otherwise plain rectangle. Mostly however I like the interior sitting areas that the bays give.

Hubby and I both work from home 1-2 days out of the week so we are planing on having two offices.
I'm hoping with 9 ft ceilings the basement will get some use. We shall see.
The kitchen needs a professional KD to do the final so hopefully cooking efficiency will be improved.
We couldn't figure out how to squeeze in an extra bathroom. The separate vanity may help or maybe a second sink.

Understood about wanting the bay. However the house has a grandeur all its own that doesn't need the additional bay window. Sometimes less really is more.

I would definitely consider even if you don't do the dumb waiter now, maybe having it fitted to add one later on. You say you are in your mid 40's now, and you have lots of good years left. However, if you're planning on staying in this house into your later years, it could be a big help for you. Especially as the kids head off to college.

As for the real estate, you know your backyard and space better so would know best. It looks good as it is. I just thought it might follow the symmetry of the house by adding the second stairs.

Then you absolutely need the extra office space which is why I asked. Just like DH and I need the studio and the study.

I love that you have a nice size gym in the basement. If nothing else, hopefully you'll use that a lot!

Make sure to post on the kitchen forum after you see your KD. Even they are not infallible. LOL.

If you have the room, I think a separate sink would solve the problem of two children having to share.

I like the bay window, but I think I might like it better if it were in the breakfast room. This would provide more "definition" in the shotgun layout, and it would allow you to tuck the table a bit farther towards the backyard, allowing a more spacious walkway between the kitchen and family room.

I see that you both need offices, but that first floor office is HUGE -- is that really necessary for a person who works from home 1-2 days a week? If one of you sees clients in the home, this may be just what you need, but otherwise, I wonder if it couldn't be divided into space for the two of you to both work. It could easily be two separate rooms. If you do see clients in the house, you might want the half bath to be a little closer to the office /a little less deep in your personal space.

I agree that the kitchen could be improved with consolidation. Right now it's large, but not really large with a plan for efficient cooking.

I agree with the above poster who encourages you to consider a dumbwaiter. I can't imagine they'd cost much, and your "kids as pack mules" plan may work now, but it comes with an expiration date! In fact, overall, I'd have concerns about planning a "forever house" that relies upon me parking in the basement and sleeping two floors up.

The pantry is long, but if you make it just 1' wider, you'll be able to have shelves on BOTH SIDES, essentially doubling your space.

As for the two-kids-in-one-bath, one-kid-has-his-own, at this point you have two rather minimal kids' baths (neither has any storage, not even space for a hamper, the smaller one has no place but the back of the door to hang a wet towel, in the larger one the kids will always be banging the two opposing doors against one another -- they're bathrooms, but not comfortable bathrooms). I'd prefer ONE nice hall bath for the three kids to share. Give them enough space and some room for storage. Note, too, that the single-kid's-bath is waaaay over on the other side of the house from the rest of the plumbing. That one bathroom is going to be expensive to build, whereas the rest of the plumbing is fairly well consolidated.

I don't like the entrance to the master bath. You walk in the door, and right ahead of you is an obstacle. Though the space is large enough, it's going to feel like a squeeze. I'm thinking that the entrance to the shower looks smallish too, and I always hate a toilet shoved into a closet. Yet with all those bathroom items being rather squished ... you have a bunch of open, empty space in the middle of the master bath. I really think that with this much real estate dedicated to it, the master bath could be eons better than this.

I agree with Mrs Pete on everything except regarding the master bath. If this isn't your forever home, then you're fine as is. But trust me even if you're in the best of shape, in about 10-15 years, all those stairs are going to start feeling like climbing Mt. McKinley. There's a reason us old folks like one floor homes.

Regarding the bathroom, I have the layout now where you walk into the bathroom like she has it and it's not a squeeze at all. As for the shower, her door is a standard shower door size. The issue of the toilet in the closet is a personal issue. I love having mine in the closet. What I did with mine, was instead of a solid door, I put a frosted door on which lets in light so it doesn't feel as much like I'm sitting in a closet.

Thanks mrspete and cp,

We don’t see clients in the house so the bathroom placement wouldn’t
be a problem. I am thinking that we may wish to share the upstairs office and
have the 1st floor serve as a quiet formal living room/get away
space.

The dumbwaiter is sounding better and better.

I’ll have to think about widening the pantry. My worry is
that everything else will be widened with it and it may affect the stair
placement.

How would you make the kitchen more efficient? Is the
refrigerator in a bad place?

The shared bathroom needs a little more work. I am having
shudders just thinking about the banging doors you mentioned lol. As for the single bath to left, I’ll give some
thought to moving it to the right. At least here it would be above the basement
bathroom.

Any thoughts on improving the master bath… I’d settle for
half an eon better:)

CP, the frosted sliding door is a really good one for the
w.c.

I would try to get windows on 2 walls for each bedroom. If you're not interested in that, I think you might be able to use the space a bit better if you relocate BR4/BA to the current MBA/closet location and use the entire left side of the second floor for the MBR suite.

Good luck!

The one thing that stands out to me is master bedroom privacy. With three teenagers, having their bedroom right across isn't the ideal situation if it can be helped, imo. Have you ever considered putting the master on the main floor, which would also work as you age if this is a forever home. The master current 2nd floor master could then be an offic space.

Linen closet also looks tiny. Is there more linen space that I have missed?

I like the bay windows! And I like them as they are in the plan :)

So many living/family rooms are all flat windows. A bay window gives you a great area for plants (!) and a lovely spot for two chairs, a little table between...and maybe an ottoman for the chairs to share.

Also, the bay in the master bedroom will be beautiful and let in a lot more light! That's going to be a wonderful space and I'm very excited to see it finished.

The only thing I noticed is the kitchen. The island prep sink seems seems very crowded. If you prep across from the cooktop/range and the sink could be better situated. You could swap the sink and cooktop/range....or if you don't swap them, I still think I would change the prep sink to another location. Maybe to the right of the cooktop/range?

Perhaps something like this....

Or this....

Oaktown, I completely agree and will think some more on
adding another window to bedroom 2. The difficulty is that it makes placing the
bed more difficult.

Littlemonkeys3, I’m not a big fan of 1st floor
master’s. I thought about privacy and am hoping that the buffer of closets between
the two bedrooms will be enough. Right now we are looking at this house as
something until the kids get married. When retirement comes along I’m sure I
will grow to love one floor living.

Thanks Lavender_lass, I am just hoping the bay tower doesn’t
add too much to the total cost. As for the kitchen I like option 2.

Mrspete, you got me thinking some more about the kids
bathroom being cramped. I shrunk my bathroom a foot and was able to stretch out
the kid’s bath and add an extra sink. See
attached. The banging doors still needs some thoughts.

Mrspete said everything I was thinking and I only have 3 other thoughts.

You really have an amazing number of closets on the bedroom floor. I'm wondering if trying to squeeze in those tiny linen closets in the bathroom are even needed? Maybe just leave that as open space, to place a hamper, a trash can, a bench, or freestanding storage cabinet?

The other thought is the swing of the double doors in the upstairs office. If your climate allows, and if your balcony is deep enough, I'd swing those out. It really limits your furniture placement to have those large doors swinging in, esp if you plan to open them. If it's more for looks, then it doesn't matter.

Talk with your builder and inspections folks early on, if you do want a dumb waiter. The codes for dumb waiters and laundry chutes can be varying across the country (the codes are a bit muddy when it comes to residential chutes and the means you have to go to minimize fire spread risk). It can certainly be worked out, but you don't want to throw in that request midway your build.

Good luck!

Didn't DH not want the wall in the master not broken up so much?

Also glad you answered the question about what you plan in terms of the house for the future when the kids are out of college.

I think the fourth bedroom is fine where it is because you have as you said the buffer of the closets.

I hope the kid in bedroom #3 is a really sound sleeper ... the poor kid will have to deal with noises from the sinks, toilet, shower, washer and dryer!

In the shared bath take the second sink back out, let them have more counter and drawer space.

In the master bath, by shrinking it you have no elbow room at the sinks. How about if you turn the hall linen closet to face into the water closet (how handy for toilet paper, reading material, and etc.) and remove the linen closet by the vanity?

Thanks everyone for the feedback

Yellowducky, I will
take another look at my closet situation. The French doors are mostly for looks
since the balcony is very small. I may
look into French windows flanked by two stationary windows which I remember
seeing on another colonial somewhere on the net. Another idea maybe to use a french-wood slider instead of the swinging door. Thanks for the heads up on the
dumbwaiter.

CP, I think DH forgot
about the media wall (hopefully he won’t be reading
your comment anytime soon:). I was never
fully comfortable with the entry being right in front of the counter and I
think Mrspete just nudged me a bit to the other side. I think either would work
so we will see what DH has to say.

Chispa, good point. We are planning on soundproofing the
washer dryer wall but I will think some more about that.

Bpathome, the
bathroom vanity is actually 6 feet long which I think will be fine for two
skinny girls. Plus they’ve already seen the two sinks so it’s probably too late
to change things. The vanity in the Master is 7 feet which I agree could be a foot
bigger but I think will still work. I will think some more about the wall of shelves inside
the wc though.

In the master bath, by shrinking it you have no elbow room at the sinks.

Really??? Seven feet long is not enough elbow room for two sinks? In my world that's more than enough. Minimum is 5'. 6' is standard. 7' is more than enough. It looks like she just didn't place the second sink in the right place in the drawing.

FYI: My double vanity now is 63". While it's not wide and doesn't give us lots of room for storage underneath, with our medicine cabinets, it is doable. Most people would be ecstatic to have a bathroom that is 7' long!