My first question....do you need a formal dining room? And second, are you still having the family/rec room in the basement?

Okay, one more....is there a possibility to bump the garage forward and keep the dining room?

It would probably be better to post all three floors, to see what spaces you have in the entire house :)

Option 3 is the most flexible for my lifestyle. If I needed a home office I could convert the dining room to one easy peasy. If there is living space in the basement, 3 all the way.

Unless you are planning on putting in piano or library, what is the purpose of the formal living room?

I like number 3 because is the most versatile.

The breakfast area is actually bigger here than the dining area on the first two options, so really, it can be used as dining if you prefer.

Then the dining room can be used as dining or living. Both work.

I like the pantry and the B's pantry on the 3rd.

I also like the kitchen with the bigger island and more space. With that island, maybe you do not need a breakfast area.

Formal dinings do not need to be enclosed. You can make it look formal with some space definition.

I suggest you to cut and align the kitchen counter near the bath, with the counter accross and then place a bulkhead at the end of the cabinets. that small space that you cut can be converted into a small coat closet with the door off the corridor.

I just noticed that you already have 2 little coat closets by the entry.

Thanks everyone for the feedback,

Thanks Laveneder_lass, The stairs may need
to change based on which 1st floor option we decide to use. Unfortunately
the lot setbacks wouldn’t allow a bumped out garage. Also we don’t have much of
backyard to allow for a wider footprint.

We do entertain every so
often so a formal
dining room would be nice. I wonder if the living room in option 2 could be used as
a dining room even though its quite a distance from the kitchen.

The other floors aren't quite ready and need
some fixing but basically the basement has a large second family room
downstairs (think Man/boy cave); and a guest bedroom and full bath.

The second floor has the master, three
bedrooms and an office.

Thanks Mama Rachel and Naf_Naf, I like
option 3’s butler pantry/pantry as well ( I think that was Lavender_lass’s creation)
and the flexibility.

I am starting to agree with you Rachel, that the formal dining room is probably more important than the formal living room.

One concern I have about number three is that
the family room is not as wide and is now really long and skinny (20’ x
14.5’). (Actually the whole back of the house is just one long strip). I'm having a hard time figuring out how to best furnish it.

I don't like 3 at all. I don't like the long narrow bowling alley and I don't like that the kitchen is so far from the garage. Do you really want to be shlepping grocery bags that far once in the house? Do you really want a long skinny area?

I actually like 2 but am thinking you might want to make the formal dining room part of the kitchen/dining area. I know it's a bit unorthodox but you could create a natural break between the kitchen and dining room. It's what I'm doing in my home. Here's a link of what I'm doing between my kitchen/dining and my great room. While I don't do formal, you could do the break to create a more formal area and then the area at the front of the home could become an informal den/office/etc room. Here's a link to what I'm hoping to do: room divider

Ok I played with your floor plan. I can't upload directly because of my old computer so uploaded to my photobucket site.

Anyway, what I did was move the entry from the garage and instead of a walk in pantry added pantry cabinets in the kitchen and moved the refrigerator and mw around. Additionally I added definition between the dining room and the kitchen. I was thinking one thing you could do is create pocket doors to close off the kitchen when you're having guests in the dining/living area and open it up for friends to join you in the kitchen. Obviously most of the time the pocket doors would remain open. I would also consider making the doors frosted glass? Actually the whole wall could be pantry wall on the garage side. That way no one is walking through your work area.

The bad thing is you lose the mud room. However if coming in from the garage, you probably could add some cabinets in the garage to hang some of the boots, etc? And remember your kids are already preteens so how much longer will they be creating mudroom messes?

First Floor Revisions

Mary I think I'd like the house better without the right side gable and only keep the gable in the center section.

I agree with Cpartist about the exterior. Since you are planning to have an attic, why not have more light? Maybe even be able to use that space down the road? If you're doing a truss system, this may not be possible, but it would be nice to have storage up there. What about gables? Let's in light and air :)

For the first floor, I think the mudroom is too narrow. I'd rather have storage on both walls, so I bumped it back a bit into the kitchen. Then added a hutch, for more storage in the dining/breakfast area.

I do prefer plan 3, but I moved the fridge over and added a prep sink. It's such a big kitchen, I think you need it. The island prep sink is blocking most of your prep space across from the range....but if that's what you want, I'm sure you can make it work. Maybe a small sink just for scrubbing veggies?

The front room I would call a 'flex space' and use it for dining, living, library, main floor office, sunroom....whatever you decide you need at the time. Don't box yourself in. Life changes and so does what you want to do with the space!

As for the family room....how do you plan to set up the furniture? Options 1 and 2 are pretty, but they make the family room a 'walk though' room, while option 3 gives you a dead end space. Easier to set up furniture and I'd think about a flat screen TV over the fireplace and built-ins under the windows. And didn't you used to have a bay window in there? Oh, and of course, some plants.....LOL I couldn't resist :)

I know this will switch the stairs, but I'd just flip the second floor
(no bay window) but now master suite is over the garage. That
would be my preference, rather than having the kids over it. Make sure
the garage is well ventilated, too. Hope this helps....have fun with the planning!

Mary...

How many people do you seat at your dining table and how often? There are some rather unorthodox options I've seen people use to turn a formal living room into a dining room if they don't need a dining room very often.

Thank you CP, I agree that the bowling
alley/shot gun feel isn’t that great. I
like your redesign and agree that the kitchen should be closer to the garage.

Thanks again Lavender_lass, I really like
how you added a few zigs and zigs that really help to take away from the
shotgun feel. I appreciate the furniture design which really helps. The plants
are always appreciated as well.

As for the elevation, I like the more
traditional approach but DH really likes the double gable over the garage. I don’t
think he was ever fully into a pure colonial and is a bit taken with the 5-6 gables in all the new construction in the area...gable-envy perhaps:)

Tcufrog, we typically have maybe 10 adults
and a 10 children when we have a holiday party or 8 adults plus us for a dinner party.
This is about once every 2 months.

I actually came up with another design that
gives me both a dining room and a living room. Please let me know if what you think.

Thanks,

Mary

If you are hosting that many people at a time then the dining room is in the wrong place. I host a lot of parties and when I host them I've found that it works best when there is lots of space for flow between rooms.

My recommendation is to make the formal living room a flex room with large sliding doors separating the living room from family room so you can overflow into the family room if you need extra space. I recommend Option 1 or 2. I would place a window seat or built-in banquette under at least one of the windows in the formal living room/flex space. It can be used as seating for a dining table. I would place on either side of the left window in the formal living room two matching drop leaf tables. They can function as dining tables that will seat lots of people. For more seating you can place settees in front of them. Instead of traditional sofas in the living room I recommend four tall upholstered chairs that would work well as captain's chairs for the ends of the two drop leaf tables. They would be placed around a circular coffee table in the center of the room that could be moved out of the way to make room for the drop leaf tables for special occasion dinners. If you have a formal and wish to seat more people around the coffee table you can swap two of the upholstered chairs with the settees. So that you have extra seating I recommend choosing kitchen table chairs that could be slipcovered with formal slipcovers. I know this isn't a traditional setup but it would give you lots of flexibility for formal parties and dinners without being hemmed into a tight, closed off dining room.

My mom has a good friend from Massachusetts...and she said formal entertaining is more of a priority there, than it is here (eastern Washington state). She sometimes misses it, but when she first moved out here, she was surprised by the more casual entertaining.

While the dining room may not be used every day...if it's something you think you'll really use, it makes more sense to have it here than in the basement! Maybe think about turning the boy/man cave into a family room?

What about a living room, dining room and keeping room? You could always have smaller flat screen TVs over the two fireplaces. Maybe the kind that look like a picture, until you turn them on?

Would the downstairs family room be a better place for the really big screen TV and lots of seating? The kids are old enough to not have to be under your constant supervision :)

This is more dining than keeping room....but I like the vibe.

Nope don't like the new one at all. An isolated dining room where you have to go through the kitchen from the family room is not good. If the idea is you have formal and informal spaces, then you're making your guests walk through your informal spaces.

Also think about it. You're trying to design your home for a room you use once every other month. Why? Why not just design a house you use everyday and then when you have guests, you add a beautiful tablecloth, flowers, close the kitchen doors, etc. You are designing a room that takes up 1/5th of your downstairs for 6x a year? Unless you're entertaining constantly, I find a dining room to be one of the most wasted rooms in the home which is why I'm not putting one in my house.

Again, I think you're much better off making the back of the house your entertaining/living area and then using the front left area for tv/office/ etc. Keep the double doors so that when you decide to have a large party, you can have overflow into all parts of the home.

BTW: tell DH to get over his gable envy. Large peaks are not what make the house. (Typical men and their peak envy. ;) )

Are you ok with a floating living room? Are you ok with the stairs somewhere else? If so, I have a suggestion.

Ok maybe the hidden dining room behind the
kitchen isn’t such a good idea. Thank you all for pointing that out.

Tcufrog, thank you for the great ideas for
the flex room/family rooms.

Lavender_lass, I had to google keeping
room but it looks very interesting. I need
to flip the layout though because there is a steep
hill on the left but it could work. I wonder what others think about it.

Cp_artist, I agree that dining rooms are barely
used enough to justify them but as Lavender_lass pointed we New Englanders are a tad old fashioned in our housing choices. I should also add that my kids like to spread out in the dining room when they have some elaborate homework assignment so it’s used a bit more than
I had mentioned.

Marthaelena, I am always open to new
suggestions so please let me know what you have in mind.

Here it is flipped. Homework is an excellent reason to have a separate work table!

If you decide to move the family room downstairs, it would be nice to put a small kitchenette in that bar area. I think you had sink and small fridge. Maybe just add a microwave for movie night popcorn? :)

thanks LL, I am currently drawing up the "LL Keeping Room" version. I think I may add back the bay window just to give a little more room to the keep. Yes the Man Cave may have to be a family cave.

I always imagine keeping rooms with traditional fireplaces...but just a bit rustic. With a chair on each side and a big bay window (nice call, Mary) for the table.

A very warm, cozy space by the fire for reading or chatting....along with a sunny breakfast table for the family to enjoy. This would be my type of kitchen :)

I like Lavender_lass's Family Keep version the best. It divides the house nicely into private family areas and more public entertaining areas. The only drawback is that the Kepp isnt quite the typical Great Room many people like today. I think it depends on how big of a family room you need.

I don't particularly like the plain colonial look and prefer the double gable. I would also think about adding a bay window on the left.

Mary,

This is what I had in mind when I mentioned the floating great room furniture.

I made the garage +12" deeper.

Nice job, LL. The one thing that I do not like is the living odd shape.

Thanks Quequeg DH likes the gables as well so he very much appreciates your
vote

Thanks Marthaelena, I like the plan however moving the stairway over to the
left will eat into my bedroom above it. I also like the kitchen island
and see through fp.