If you pull the counters away from the walls 6" or more a shelf can rest on the backsplash narrowing the work space, creating a deeper pass-through at the sink and exposing more counter to recessed lighting as well as getting upper cabinets farther from your face and accommodating a standard depth refrigerator.

For a small increase in floor area the dining area would be more useful and comfortable.

The bath is a rough idea of how to get the closets nearer to the bedroom without increasing the travel distance to the toilet; it needs more work.

The TV could go in a cabinet to the right or left of the fireplace on an adjustable bracket.

The house and garage each need a foot or more of additional width.

Omelet nailed it about putting in a sidelight and/or a transom. I realize I have a sidelight on my door in my condo and yes, it does help with light. Pull the door to the front of the house, put a sidelight(s) and/or transom, lower the ceiling height and I promise it won't feel like a tunnel. Put a small table and chair for sitting like I did, or a bench with some artwork above and a mirror.

Can your draftsman do a 3d version for you to see how it really isn't such a long space? 15' is not so long.

Actually I just realized my two hallways in my new home are very long. the hallway to the study from the kitchen will be 13' and some inches long. the hallway from the front foyer to our master bedroom will be 23' and change long. As long as you add light, you'll be fine.

Sanford- I think your plan is very nice, but probably too many square feet. I know Aec is VERY close to square footage limit, already.

While I like the front porch, it is nice to have one bedroom that is not covered by the porch. It will bring in more sunlight, in case Aec wants to have an office or craft room.

Aec- Our story is.....we have a lovely farm in a little valley, with a creek running through it. There is an old farmhouse next to our current home and we had planned to start remodeling a few years ago. Then my husband became ill (he's getting better now) but all our plans were sent sideways.

Now, we're just recovering (health and finances) so the remodeling is still going to be a while off....but I've learned so much on the forums. Right now, we're remodeling our little home and having a lot of fun with it! And I have gotten a bit carried away with garden beds (LOL)

My advice to anyone is don't rush! Make sure you know what you want, realize that it's never going to be perfect....but it will be very nice for you. And have fun with the process!

Don't spend more than you can afford and try to budget a 10% to 20% emergency fund. There will be overages and unexpected costs (I've seen it so many times on GW/Houzz) and if you're lucky and don't have them....you can splurge on a few extras or go on vacation. Or have a really pretty garden/yard and maybe another hobby car :)

Happy to see someone else thinks you need more space in the dining area. DH and I use ours a LOT. Sanford also gives you more *windows* and 'my' closet/MBA setup.

Will you have deep roof overhangs? I'm concerned about that western sun hitting your MBR and the dining area.

My kitchen countertops are 46" apart. Plenty of room for two people to cook. I have stacked dishdrawers.

It was important to me to have light coming into my foyer, and I didn't want glass IN the door. Your east-facing door shouldn't need much protection, but I'd want something overhead to shelter arriving guests -- maybe unnecessary in your climate. Think if you want people to be able to see into your house from the exterior. I'm thinking "transom".

I'll cease fire about the family half-bath! LOL I just know that ours gets more use than the three full baths -- determined by frequency of toilet paper replacements.

My 'backstory' is that when DH no longer needed to commute into Chicago, and our nest was empty, we left our 'starter' ranch (of 30+ years) and built a 2900 sq ft home in a quieter location farther north of the city. We had never built before, but I've been in a LOT of houses. (My late DM was a successful and early pioneer *female* RE broker. An aunt was an interior designer.) We moved into our home 14 years ago. Only AFTER that did I discover these forums. We seem to have 'guessed right' about most aspects of the house -- location, orientation and design -- and feel it was worth the (tremendous) effort to build.

To me it seems odd that you have two entries right next to each other. Was your laundry planned for the area marked "pantry"? In Sanford's sketch, perhaps consider a door swinging into the garage from the foyer? Then you could have a wider foyer and consolidate the coats/laundry in a mudroom off the foyer. You could have a reach-in pantry in the kitchen. Just throwing that out there.

A transom would be a great help for the foyer. Ours is a little unexpectedly dark. It's the 'dark' spot in the room but we do like the overhang to get people out of the weather and in a downpour plenty of the porch remains dry. It's west facing so it blocks out some of the intense heat of the sun. It's a tradeoff that we were okay making.

oaktown-do you think the entries could/should be combined? It would be an efficient use of space and with a swinging door could still hide the mess when needed but provide access for shoe/coat storage.

Like your master layout and entry and sanford does a good job buffering between rooms also.

Found gardenweb kitchen forum when doing a slight facelift on last homes kitchen getting ready for resale. So much information and detail but I am that kind a girl so I love it. Found building a home forum before we started to build AND noticed anytime I googled to find out something mostly gardenweb threads pop up. Lots of good information. This was our first and probably last build. It's not perfect but we did pretty well for owner builder diy'ers but our property IS and we love it.

Omelet - Thank you for your thoughts on the foyer. It sounds like your foyer works out well. I do like the idea of a transom over the front door. I have not gotten to that level of specific detail yet, but I think doing something to add light to the foyer is a good idea. Maybe a transom and a solatube. I still need to get all of those details worked out. Thank you for your encouragement!

Sanford W - Thank you so much for taking the time to create that drawing! I am still trying to absorb it all. I really like your idea about pulling out the kitchen cabinets to create a ledge. It would be nice to have the refrigerator flush with cabinets and to have that extra ledge. I guess I still don't understand why people think 6 feet is too much between counters, but I definitely see the benefits that your idea adds. I will add it to my list of things to discuss with the builder. I think you are probably right about the dining room needing more area. As lavender_lass mentioned I really don't have much, if any, extra square footage to give in order to stay within my limit. I will take a look to see what tradeoffs might be available to gain square footage in the dining area. Is having the closets closer to the master bedroom a preference? It really doesn't bother me to pass through the master to get the closet, but I have been in a new home recently that had the closet and master bath set up as you have it drawn (and as chisue previously suggested). To me it seems like the hallway through the closet is wasted space, but I am definitely open to hearing more about the benefits to this type of layout. I was thinking exactly what you suggested for the TV - to the left or right of fireplace with an adjustable bracket. Can you provide additional detail on why you think the house and garage each need an additional foot of width? Is it to make the exterior more appealing? Where would you give the house the additional foot on the interior? I agree that the garage may need to be wider. I was thinking last night that I may need to switch to two separate garage doors and a slightly wider garage. I am going to keep studying your plan to see what else I can learn from it. Thank you again!

Cpartist - I am not sure if my draftsman does 3D renderings. That is something I need to find out. Based on what everyone is saying I think the foyer length will be ok as long as I make sure to get light in there.

Lavendar_lass - Thank you for the reminder about my square footage limit. This plan would be a lot easier to create without that restriction. Sigh. Isn't that always the case? Thanks for being the voice of reason regarding sticking to budget. You bring up a good point about having the porch extend the entire length of the house. Will it make it too dark and restrict the flow of natural light too much? I am sorry to hear about your husband's illness, but I am glad that he is doing better now. It sounds like you have lovely piece of property and quite a green thumb!

Chisue - the area behind the house is wooded, so I am hoping that the woods will block a lot of the western sun. I agree about the transom for the front door. Great idea! And yes, I do want some kind of overhang for the front door. It sounds like you have a lot of experience with houses and design. I am glad your house turned out so well even without the help of all the nice people on this forum :) I have only just begun this process and wonder if I have what it takes to see it through to completion.

Oaktown - Yes the laundry and pantry will all be in the same room. Someone had previously mentioned having a door from the laundry/mudroom to the foyer, but I felt that the laundry area should be separated from the formal entrance and a door would take up much need wall space in this small plan. I like the idea in theory, but could not really figure out how to implement it.

Autumn - You must have posted your message while I was typing. Sounds like transom is the way to go for the foyer. Do you have a big front porch? I am staring to wonder if the front porch will make the house dark inside.

I also wonder if the foyer and laundry room could be combined, but I just don't think there is enough space there.

You are right - gardenweb is so full of information! I am glad your home turned out so well and that it works for you.

Regarding foyer and laundry being combined, if you look at my first picture, those doors on the left are my doors hiding my laundry closet. And in that pic you can see the side light. btw: Outside that front door is a large overhang that faces east. It gets lots of light. I wouldn't worry about the porch getting lots of light especially if it's facing west.

Here's my foyer closet doors opened with the laundry area. I'm looking from my kitchen. the closed left door is my coat closet. and to the right is another closet that holds my bins for sorting laundry (top photo). btw: that's our tankless hot water heater too.

aec -- You have lovely 'tone' in your posts. I just wanted to compliment you on that. All this *planning*, looking at so many aspects at once, is crazy-making. It is important, but eventually you will wonder why you got so caught up in every *detail*. You will only regret MAJOR mistakes, and I don't see any disasters on your plans.

Please expalain the 1750 sq ft target. Is this an FAR thing? (Zoning limit for the house's footprint on your lot.) I'm pretty sure Sanford is suggesting more width to make the house more comfortable, not just aesthetics.

You mention trees to your west. I'd thought there was more development to come in that area. Of course, you could *plant* some!

Yes, a roofed porch will darken the interior rooms. We have two skylights in the roof of our rear screened porch. I'm leery of porches added only for aesthetics. They aren't cheap to build, and they require ongoing maintenance. (I didn't want any wooden decks. Our terraces are Brussels block.)

The six-foot aisle in the kitchen isn't recommended because of the extra steps it creates for the cook going back and forth. You'll see when you get into the Kitchen forum. BTW, the smallest kitchen can function as long as there is 18" of counter top next to the refrigerator, next to the cook top, and on both sides of the sink.

Re: the dining room. I think you could make that size work, it is tight but doable. I would either put in a banquette or maybe have benches along one or two sides so you could have it pushed towards the wall much of the time. But, if you really would like to make the dining room larger (and I am not saying you should) you could do something like this. I think that if you even out the wall in the front you will make the dining space feel less constricted. It should also make the foundation and roof a tiny bit less expensive by simplifying the outline. If you were further motivated you could steal 6" to a 1' from the kitchen (which I did here). I think your kitchen would still be plenty big unless you do a lot of elaborate cooking but you might rather have kitchen space than dining. If this puts you over your sq ft I would probably just narrow the guest bed rooms a skosh since they will see the least use. The grey star in the top left corner of the living room is a plant for lavender lass :)

I sympathize with your space restrictions. Stay strong. You will enjoy financial stability more than a few extra sq ft. :) And remember if you are extra careful in the planning stage the rest should be much less stressful. You seem to be good at sticking to your guns so you should be able to resist the budget creep during building that results from lots of "little" upgrades.

I don't remember you mentioning where the 1750 sq ft limit comes from. Is that a price per sq ft? or? I am curious because I am working towards 3 bed 2 bath house between 1600 and 1700 sq ft. We based that limit on sizes of previous houses we have lived in and what we want to fit in this one but we are not really sure what our average cost per sq ft will be.

In Sanford's version I think the hallway space through the closet is similar in sq ft to the space you have in the middle of the closet in this plan and the open space in the middle of the bathroom may be a little less. I am not sure which way is preferable (I have never had a "master suite") but I think I closet may be a superior "hallway" because you spend less time standing in front of your clothes than in front of the sink, or at least that is how it works for me.

The front porch will limit sun to the guest rooms, this may only be a problem if you think those rooms will get a lot of use. Otherwise the shade will just help keep the house cool and give you a nice place to sit in the evenings. If you don't think you will use the porch then I would skip it.

I played with your w/d, pantry and mudroom area. I put the w/d in the front hall like in my condo. this would give you the advantage of breaking up that long foyer and it would also give you an entry from garage into your foyer. the disadvantage is it's one more jog around to the kitchen. I also moved in your island so you now have a 5' aisle in your kitchen. Still a nice amount of space. the other thing is your island was made a bit smaller.

Cpart- I don't like the laundry there....mainly because of noise. My mom has a similar situation in her little hall to the main bath. She would NOT do it again.

The kitchen really flows well in Aec's plan (IMHO) but it's nice to see so many options being presented. And even space for a plant in the corner, Chelwa :)

LL, I have that in my hallway. See above. With the new W/D's and the doors closed while using the W/D, you barely hear anything. :)

Cpartist - Thank you for sharing the pictures of your closets. It seems are if you have used that space very efficiently. It is nice that you have an area specifically set aside for sorting laundry. I have been thinking about the drawing you did to rearrange my laundry/pantry room. I think that extra jog around the wall to the kitchen would end up being bothersome, but I am going to continue to ponder on it. It is definitely good food for thought.

Chisue - Thank you for the compliment. This process is definitely crazy-making. As far as the 1750 square feet, our builder has given us an estimate of around how much per square foot it will cost to build a house. They are building out the whole neighborhood, so I guess they have some type of formula worked out. He will give us a more specific cost after the plans are finalized, but based on the price per square foot estimate we need to stay as close to 1750 square feet as possible. A few feet over won't break us, but I don't want to get carried away. I did ask my builder about a simpler build being cheaper (straight walls, etc.), but he said that most of the people he subcontracts charge him by the square foot. As far as the land behind the house, it will likely stay wooded because it is extremely steep and not suitable for building. It will probably become a 3 acre lot with a home being built in a flatter portion (not directly behind our house). I do not want to do wood for the porch or deck. I will want it to be a material that is low maintenance - probably concrete similar to Autumn's picture above.

Chelwa - Thank you for the drawing. One of my earliest plans had the wall between the living and dining areas as a straight wall long the back with no separation. I thought it would make it easy to "borrow" space from the living room to extend the dining room table during special occasions. Several people suggested that a straight wall like that was boring and that having at least a small setback added interest. So many different opinions! LOL! I have definitely thought about stealing a little space from the kitchen. I don't do a lot of cooking in general, but I still want the kitchen to be a nice size. I was trying to find out what a good length for a galley kitchen is, but I could not find much online. I agree that I could steal some square footage from the guest room and office if needed. Those will be the two least used rooms in the house. Thank you for encouraging me to stay strong. I explained above where my 1750 square foot restriction comes from. It is mostly cost based, but I also do feel that 1750 sq ft should be sufficient for two people. It sounds like we are working toward a similar sized house, although I think our needs are a bit different. I will be curious to see how your plan turns out. I do like Sanford's master closet/bath. I need to think about it some more. I do like the look of a house with a front porch and think we would sit there in the evenings from time to time.

Autumn - Thank you for sharing the pictures. You porch is a nice size. It doesn't seem too deep. It is definitely a good size to accommodate tricker treaters with knocking them off the porch :) I like the high side lights you have. My DH is big on security and privacy. He does not like any low windows at the front door. I like seeing how the light come into your house and the size of your foyer. It provides good perspective. Your home is lovely. I like the stone on the fireplace.

So many good ideas to ponder! I would be lost without all of you. Now I just have to figure out at what point I need to say "good enough" and move on to the next phase.

Here are the latest updates incorporating ideas from Sanford W's drawing and from other suggestions.

Updates as follows:

Stole some space from kitchen and living room to enlarge dining room. I did not want to steal it from garage because I feel like we are already going to be short on space for lawn equipement and tools. Does anyone think it will be awkward that left dining wall does not align with left kitchen wall? Is the kitchen still long enough?

Shortened porch to allow more natural light in one guest bedroom.

Changed the guest room closets, which allowed for a nicer coat closet and eliminated the deep recess of the front door without needing to increase foyer length.

Changed location of linen closet. It will be small, which is fine with me. Just needs to be a spot for some sheets and towels.

Some drawbacks/things I didn't change:

Garage sticks out a bit. I think with some landscaping and creative elevations it will be ok. There are a lot of houses locally that have garages that stick out (some much more than my plan) so I am going to accept it for what it is.

I did not switch the master bath and closet. It might be a personal preference thing, but I think I like it the way it is (can I reserve the right to change my mind?)

Is there anything else I am overlooking? I feel pretty happy with everything. You guys have helped me come so far since I first started with this plan! I think I make be ready to send this over to the draftsman (again).

This is a nice plan, too. My biggest concern (and sorry I missed it before) is that linen closet is now facing the living room. Not a huge deal, just an observation. Also, you lost some of your built-ins. Again, that's no problem, but just pointing that out.

I also thought I'd try something different with hall closet and pantry. And I really like that you turned the master. That looks great!

Bottom line....you have to choose what will work best for you and your family. We will suggest ideas (and things we might prefer, which is what I'm doing...LOL) but it's up to you to choose the best and ignore the rest :)

While I like not having the hallway for more space....I do think the bedrooms (especially master) are losing more privacy than I realized. And I would prefer a deeper but not as long porch. Again, that's just me.

I uploaded the wrong plan. Here is the right one.

Sorry Lavendar_Lass - You took the time to reivew and comment when I uploaded the wrong plan! Going back to read what you wrote now :)

LL - If I had uploaded the correct plan to begin with you would have seen that I fixed the way the linen closet faces. :) Also, I think I addressed what you were trying to do with your changes to the pantry - add a coat closet to the foyer. I had planned to stick with not having the long hall closet - can you explain what you mean by the master bedroom loosing privacy?

Porch can still be tweaked to be deeper - will see what the draftsman and builder say about cost, roofline, etc.

Thanks as always!

aec-I think it looks great! Oh dear I hope I didn't make you panic with my bedroom layout freaky passionate speeches. If so please forgive me. I have been told I have a tendency to over-analyze things ahem, but my lifestyle is different than most working opposite shifts from dh so I am always thinking about quiet and not disturbing sleep daytime and nighttime!! My frame of reference is not 'standard'. Your house, all just opinions and things to think about and then check it off and move on with who you are and how you live!

That said - your master passes my doorways at the foot of the bed, hehehe! I like it and it looks very comfortable. Besides that it will be very quiet with the living room butting up to the bathroom and not the bedroom wall. (There I go again with sound) Awesome! I don't mind the entry at all. Something on the wall there and I really don't think you'd be able to tell it's your door way at most angles. I wouldn't give that another thought.

Only thing I see is that you may want a counter by the washer/dryer-place to put your laundry basket when it's in process. You can't leave it on the floor there without walking over it. So you have the broom closet but maybe if it's just brooms you could hang them in the garage since it's right there? The W/D will take about about 5' so you'd have room for a 27" counter there for folding and storing the basket underneath?

Kitchen/dining wall alignment. I can see it on paper but I'm not sure it matters and I can't visualize it in 3d? My island is similar to your peninsula there (not aligned) but I don't have any wall to kind of point it out. Are you doing a full wall there or pillars/columns or what do you envision?

I'd not want to steal even an inch from the garage. Are you planning on fitting a mower in there? If you want to trade your Acadia for my little Torrent I'd do that for you. ;)

Looks good. I could live in that house quite happily. A nice size, I would switch in a workshop for the Trans Am :) and I would be tempted to put a solar tube in the kitchen and possibly the living room.

chelwa-I was thinking that. Later in life if cars aren't his thing anymore what a nice space for a workshop!

That is so much better! I like the linen closet and the hall/bedroom closets.

The porch looks really cute :)

I also think you made the access to bedrooms better....it looks really nice. Now, I'm back to liking the larger fireplace area/no hall. Okay, I'm fickle, but this looks really good! LOL

Well done! What does your DH think?

Autumn - I am glad I passed your master bedroom door at the foot of the bed test! LOL! Actually, I am really glad you made that strong point. I think this works better anyway, and of course I still have the option to flip the bed if I ever want to. Unfortunately I won't be able to pass your test with one of the guest bedrooms as the door is at the head of where the bed has to go, but that might be the room we end up making the office. I am really glad you advocated strongly for that point about the master. I am an over-analyzer too, and I like when people are willing to engage in constructive dialogue. Good point about the counter space by the washer and dryer. I am not totally sure yet how I will lay that space out. I wanted to make sure the basics would fit in there, but I figure I will work with the cabinet maker to design the final layout. I plan to start creating a list of topics for each room in the house, so I will add that one for the laundry room. I am not 100% sure right now what I am going to do with the wall between the kitchen and living room. As of now, I am thinking it will be a wall with a big "window" cut out of the middle. I want some wall there because I prefer not to have a totally open kitchen, plus I need some more space for upper cabinets. The new neighborhood comes with lawn service included (for a required fee, of course) so we technically don't need a mower. However, I would still like to keep at least our small mower. I would actually love to squeeze in a little more space for outside storage if I could figure out how. I could have a closet built on the back patio, but that would require losing a window, which I'm not sure I want to do.

Chelwa- I was thinking of adding a solar tube to the kitchen and maybe even the foyer. And believe me, I would be happy to get rid of that Trans Am if I could ;) That would make my life (and this floor plan) a lot simpler.

Lavendar_Lass - Thank you so much for always taking the time to post. I am sorry I confused you by posting the wrong plan. I have so many different versions floating around that I uploaded the wrong one. You probably thought I was crazy! DH likes the new plan, but he has liked every plan I have shown him. As long as he has that 3 car garage, he doesn't care too much about anything else. He was happy with the addition of the front porch. He said he has always wanted one.

It works! Well done!

Well I did notice the spare room but being a spare room it doesn't have as many 'rules' for me. ;) Hahaha! If it's for guests it's not likely to 'lived in' or have people moving around coming/going too much in the night and it has 1 entry door. I would just fight for the window side, lol! Believe me, I wish I had thought about this as much before we built but I didn't realize what made my old bedroom work if that makes sense. It's so easy to point out what doesn't work that you want to change but it didn't occur to me what made my last one so comfortable that I should KEEP. After the fact I can hardly think of a bedroom set up like mine - even hotels protect the head of the bed. DUH! If you decide to change yours up you still have some space where the door won't be right opposite your head.

I see your point on the kitchen and wanting some cover. I did feel 'exposed' in mine for a while but now I am used to it and we don't entertain much. If we did I would want some separation for sure. I am sure that there are multiple creative ways to divide that space giving you what you desire! I have seen some that actually have drawers on the living room side, kind of like a low hutch. You could do glass doors for display or solid if it's for other type of storage you need. Anyhow - tons of option there I think.

Congrats, it looks good!

Autumn - You got me thinking about that guest bedroom, so I flipped the closet so the bed didn't have to be by the door. I actually think this will make furniture arrangement much easier. The trade off is a small coat closet, but I think that will be ok.

I think I might be a little bit over on total square feet. Hoping the draftsman can help me find the best way to reduce it.

If this were a 'stock' plan, I could see the importance of having those two bedrooms. But, this is your home. Do you need two more bedrooms?

I'd think about making that a study/office or even a den. I'd rather have more living area and use this for a 'flexible' space.

It would also make the front hall look brighter, if you used glass French doors. Just an idea :)

Aec was concerned that they might need it to be a bedroom, the foyer doors would preclude that. But I do like the way it looks! And easily drywalled over if necessary. Maybe French doors with sheers on the doors for privacy (and clutter hiding!) but still allow some light.

If you're going to make it a "study" with french doors, I'd have the doors open towards the great room so that when nature calls you're not walking all the way around to get to the loo. Putting curtains on the french doors could help keep the privacy.

Yes, a lot of similar plans online use that area as an office or even a formal dining room. It is a good idea. We do plan to use one of the rooms as an office. However there is a good chance this will not be our forever home, so I think it makes more sense to make it a bedroom so that it could be marketed as a 3 bedroom. It will also give us the option to use it as a bedroom in the event we do decide we want to have children. At this point I just need to decide which closet layout works best for that room.

LL - Would you drop the closet for the room if the double doors were added off the foyer?

We have houses in our neighborhood where a bedroom has a door to a foyer or Living space on one side, and a hall door on the other. Owners have alternately walled off and opened up the LIving space door so it can be a bedroom or den or office. Very flexible :) even when that doorway is opened, it can still be a guest room by just closing the door. Some use double, some single door, some use double doors in a single door frame.

Hi, I am in process of planning our second custom home about this size using the most efficient layout possible, and have a thought. (This is my first post so I may not understand your constraints.)

For additional storage, what about moving garage back wall out, and resize the dining room door/window (is that a slider?) to match the dining room window on the patio side?

I love your plan, it's very liveable, and I'm getting some great ideas for our next home.

If it were me, I'd make it a den and lose the closet. You can have the doorway to the bathroom/hall if you like, but I'd probably just make it a double door entrance. However, if you're concerned about resale, then I'd leave the other door.

My SIL has a similar layout (double doors only) and she loves it! She uses it as an office/den and it could also be an 'away room' like in The Not So Big House books. You might like one, since you don't have a basement. Your husband has the garage....but what space is yours? Just to get away from the main area of kitchen/dining/living area?

In Sarah Susanka's books, the 'away room' is different from the rest of the house. If the main areas are cozy, lots of wood, less windows...then the 'away room' can be a sunny area with wicker and plants. If the main living area is light, lots of windows, etc. then the 'away room' might be darker and cozy.

As I've said before....design the home that works for YOU. The larger garage is definitely something that is specifically for your husband's needs. Doesn't it make sense to do the same thing for your space? :)

Bpathome - thank you for sharing what you have seen in other homes. I think that is a really flexible space. I just need to think through what would work best for us. I tend to over analyze everything.

Hi Abby Joy - moving the garage wall back would be a good way to get extra storage. It's not totally off the table, but the limiting factors would be cost and less natural light. The kitchen already has no windows so getting as much light as possible from surrounding areas will be necessary. I am glad you are able to get some ideas from my plan. I have come so far with help from everyone here. Looking forward to hearing more about your plans.

LL - I am reading Sarah's book now and like the idea of the away room. DH definitely has his garage, but he says the rest of the house is mine. Since it's just the two of us I tend to use both of our extra bedrooms as my away rooms. I am actually laid out on my guest bed now typing this message. I need to think about that room a little more. I'm still leaning toward just a regular bedroom, but haven't totally ruled the other out.

Aec - I totally get why you would prefer a bedroom as opposed to an office without a closet. I'm of the philosophy: there can never be too many closets in a home. ;) and you can always use a bedroom as an office or den. I really like the layout you had a few posts ago:

I'm with houserookie. If you plan it as a den/office with no closet it would need a closet to work as a bedroom. If you have a closet in a den it's still great storage. Also, you never no if it would be a den or sewing/crafting room in which case a closet would be great for all of that kind of stuff too.

Houserookie - thanks for weighing in. I am leaning toward it being just a bedroom. In the layout you posted, I like the closets better like that. I think it just makes furniture layout a little harder. I think that is really the last big decision I need to make - which wall to put the closets on in that room.

Autumn - I agree that you can never have too many closets!

Hmm, have you tried the closet on the left wall, and if you have a bed it goes in the little nook on the right where the closet is now?

Or, could the front window be two windows, and the bed could go between? (Remember, my own bed is in front of the window, but it's not facing the front porch, wouldn't want that.)

Ahem! You are done here. We hate to lose you, but it's time to stop rearranging the bits and move on to the Kitchen Forum.

Before you go... As a bachelor, our DS lived with another car-crazy guy who worked as a mechanic. They had *17* cars and parts of cars in the yard of DS's house in an unincorporated area. Our lovely DIL married him anyway and lived for several years with a TransAm on a slab behind their subsequent house in the city. Eventually, the car just sat, and DS sold it before DGS was born. (He was truly amazed how little it was worth!)

One other option....someone already mentioned putting the double doors on the wall to the living room. This would give you a long wall for desk/cabinets or other storage. It would also give you more room around the bed, if it is a guest room :)

And bumping in the entry door might give you a little less hallway, unless you want that extra space....

For some reason, I can't post a photo/drawing after text, just before it. Strange! Just one more thought...have you considered two tall, narrower windows on the porch? Just an idea :)

Chisue - Point taken! I was wondering if people were starting to think I was over analyzing. I tend to do that. LOL. I think you are right though. I think I am basically done. I actually was lurking on the kitchen fourms this morning! I wish the TransAM in my life we go away, but I have had to accept that it is here to stay. Sigh.

LL - thank you for the ideas. I think I am going to stick with the layout that houserookie posted several comments about. I think I will use the room as the office. Below is what I am thinking about for furniture arrangement. The item in front of the window is a chaise lounge. I think that would be a nice spot for reading or even taking a cat nap. As far as bumping in the entry door, Cpartist will not allow me to do that (LOL!). She says it will feel like too much of a cave to get to the door. I think she is probably right.

ahem-as you usher yourself into the kitchen world - I thought this might be helpful for eeking in a very useful broom closet that doesn't take up much space. 6" deep is about all you need and they can hold a lot of stuff and yet blend in. Mine is included from my old house but it was only 12" wide, 24" would be roomy like fishies. Your house is looking great!

Kitchen Broom Cabinets

Excellent idea! I have a couple of ideas on how I could incorporate a broom closet like that. Thank you.

Love that broom closet; if I ever get my house design done. Sigh.