It's too hard to read your plans. They are not blowing up large enough to see what everything is.

For just two people it looks like you will have a lot of room. Hope you will have a cleaning and housekeeping service.

Too humongous. Too many stairs and different levels. Not at all designed to be accessible for most of the spaces. It's a complete redo. Are you working with an architect who you've told that this is a retirement home?

Start with a small home on a single level, with wide aisles, generous baths, and no toilets in closets.

What Sophie said.

re- toilet room. The door can come off and the area widened a bit if the time comes.

I agree with Sophie

This doesn't look like a retirement home for 2 people. My husband and I are building our retirement home. It should be complete by the end of June. It's about 1800 sq ft, 1 story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath. More than enough room for 2 people. We don't want a large home to have to clean and take care of.

I'll disagree on the comments that it is too large for retirement. The main floor of less than 2100 heated square feet with everything you need is a fine size for a retirement home. The only stairs I see are to the basement and off the covered porch to the back yard. Love the porch. You may someday age out of the basement, but after retirement you won't need the office and the basement will still be available for visiting children.

I also disagree on the water closet for now so long as it can be adapted to open up IF the time comes as nightowl mentioned. I would go ahead and brace the far wall for a safety rail, even if you don't install the rail yet. Oh, and add a bench in the shower and maybe also brace for rails.

One thing I would consider though is reworking/switching the master bath closet area. I think you can get more natural light in the bathroom that way and find a way to make the laundry access more convenient. Right now you have a bit of a walk and several doors between the laundry room to the closet.

I like this house plan. The only thing I don't really care for is the bay-shaped areas on the back of the house but only because it's not my style. It would still be functional and desirable for a lot of people, just not me. I would straighten out all the corners on the back of the house. Otherwise, it looks like a very functional layout to me.

The kitchen needs to be reworked. Post on the Kitchen Forum for their help. For starters, you have traffic paths going right through the crucial work areas--you don't want to have to cross a traffic path when going from stove to sink and fridge.

We just built the house that will be our retirement house; I'm not sure of the exact size, but it's smaller than yours. Seems like there are areas of unnecessary space in your plan (i.e., the privacy area in front of the study).

If it will only be the two of you 90% of the time, at least one of the offices could double as one of the bedrooms on the lower floor. Consider whether you need a bathroom for each bedroom. Our guests will share - not ideal for them, but I was trying to build a house to fit 90% of our use, not the 10% of the time.

We have a water closet in our master bath, but could lose the door if necessary. We also have some stairs - if you're on a sloping lot, as it looks like yours is, you really can't avoid it. (Our lot slopes, but upward, not downward.)

Trying to give you some additional thoughts to consider.

Have you done any reading on design principles for aging in place? The AARP published an excellent book on that topic titled AARP Guide to Revitalizing Your Home. It's an older book published in 2010 but it gives a great overview on all aspects of home design for aging in place.

Wow, tough audience. I don't think a one level home of 2000 sq ft is unreasonable in size for a retirement home. Add a finished basement and you have room for kids and grandkids. Nice layout as well. I like it. I'm sure I could find some things I would change but overall, nice plan.

Elevations?

I don't see a problem with 2000 sq feet either.

Everyone is different when building a retirement home. Your plan seems rather large to me. Mrspete said it all.

Our retirement home will be built in the next few years and will be one level, smaller sf between 1500-1800, low maintenance, open doorways, wheel chair accessible to entire home. Cleaning and maintaining a 2000+ is different at age 50 than at age 80.

and many folks who can afford a 3k sq foot retirement home can also afford to hire people to maintain it and to clean it.

Never heard back from this poster did we? I was here over 10 years ago and this board was happily busy.

I doubt that this poster wanted judgement on the size of her home. Most of us are wise enough to know what we need and can afford. She was probably pretty happy with the plan and wanted critique and minor improvement suggestions. Not to be told how foolish she was for building a 2000 sq ft home to retire in, and that she needed to start over.

I'm not saying we should gush over everything. But how about a little bit more good with the bad., so posters will return.

This board could use some new blood.

ILoveRed...As the original poster, I did respond back on the 16th. And I appreciate your comments. You are correct that I wasn't asking about whether people thought the size of my house was appropriate. I didn't give a whole lot of detail initially and find it interesting that people so quickly judge what we can afford, what we need, who is going to clean my house, etc.

I really did appreciate the people who commented on the layout. Based on the feedback here, I did rework the master bath and water closet as well as parts of the kitchen. So thank you to those folks.

Since we are just beginning this process, I'm sure I will have a lot of questions which I will not hesitate to post here. GardenWeb was invaluable to me when we redid our kitchen in our last house so I know it will be very helpful in our new home build.

I stand corrected and I'm glad you came back.

new_to_sc, I couldn't really see the sizes unfortunately. It didn't blow up large enough. And I guess they all have a problem with my 2770 sq foot "retirement" home. ;)

2770 sq ft is fine imo which is worth what it cost you. Our eventual retirement home will be on a lake, after we level our old cabin. It will have everything we (dh and I) need on one level, but it will also have lots of room for my children and grandchildren to come and stay and stay and stay. It will be larger than most folks on here think it should be.

We all have our own visions of how we want to live and retire and die. What is right for one will not be right for another.

You asked for general advice, and apparently a lot of people are thinking along the same lines. That doesn't automatically make everyone else right, but it should be food for thought.

New_to_sc, you are very gracious and please keep on posting. I agree with ILoveRed in both her most recent comments. I think many of the more strident comments made on what you can afford are either based upon the poster's own circumstances --what they can afford -- or by reading too much in the description as a "retirement home" and would have been different if it had been described as a "forever home."

Not "everyone" agreed that it was too large even for a retirement home. Everyone agreeing that it was NOT too large was speaking of the main floor and clearly recognized that there is additional space in the basement. I think the basement is ideal because the point is that if you have everything you need on the main floor the basement can be closed off when not in use by guests after you retire and no longer need the basement office. If one retires at 60 or 65, or even earlier, occasional trips down to the basement may not be a problem for many years, if ever. Sure, cleaning the basement could eventually become more problematic as we age, but closed off it will only need periodic upkeep (which can be hired). Even so, keeping a basement that is occasionally used and can be shut off between uses clean, is probably much easier than the upkeep on, say, a pool or a large lawn that some want for their retirement home (that upkeep may also need to be hired out as well). But to each his own.

I really don't care how much square footage you have in the house....everyone's needs are different! But I do wonder if you've considered how you're going to use the space?

The master bath looks large enough for handicap access, but how do you plan to use the bedroom? There's nothing wrong with extra space, as long as your budget can accommodate it :)

This is the beauty of this site. Everyone has a different opinion. When I ask a question I get all kinds of answers. The reason I posted about size is because many of my friends built a big retirement home and for various reasons had to sell or downsize. This might not be the OP's situation now or in the future. Money or assistance might not be an issue for the OP. My post was not meant to criticize since I was pulling from my own experiences.