I prefer where the cross hallway cuts through in the top version. It reduces your wasted space. The bathroom/mudroom combo with the shower strikes me as a bad idea. If I were guest and using that bathroom it would feel awkward. I am assuming that is the door the family will use most and through which you bring groceries home? I love that the pantry/utility is huge but it blocks your ability to have many windows in the kitchen itself, or a view out the back.

Your living room hogs a lot of sq ft but the way traffic flows it won't all be useful. With lots of small children visiting it could be nice to use some of that square ft to create an alcove off the main living for them to play. Or do they spend all their time outside?

You have a lot of space so you might consider a longer more narrow plan to foster a better connection with the outdoors and take advantage of your climate. Or maybe and L shape with entertaining in one wing and bedrooms in another? These are pretty classic farmhouse shapes as well.

What is your favorite part of this plan? What would you hate to see taken out of it? I think it would benefit from an overhaul.

Its so exciting to arrive a the point of posting plans, isn't it?

Walking through bathrooms to access the secondary bedrooms strikes me as odd as does the master directly off the living room. Is it your intention to avoid hallways with this?

Id also like to know your favorite part of this plan. Can you post a few of your favorite inspiration pics?

benjesbride- Yes: Husband dislikes hallways. It was a fight just to get the foyer that I wanted. He just thinks they are wasted space. But then of course you are stuck with access off of other rooms.

Chelwa- I agree about the living room. If we do end up building more bedrooms upstairs, I plan to turn bedroom 3 into a space off the living room with pocket doors or something like that. For now (and in case of resale) we need to have it be a bedroom. Also yes- kids spend the majority of their time outside. If we throw parties they are pretty much outside playing the entire time except for maybe movie time...

Guests will be directed toward the bathroom off the foyer. The mudroom will be more like a back hallway with a water closet. But I agree we need to have a door there to block it from the living room. Also, two types of kid traffic: kids getting home from activities, etc will go through the pantry. Kid traffic coming into the house from working outside will come in through the mudroom. Also we will have a washer dryer unit in the cabinet in the mudroom.

I also agree that an L shape would be better. Let me discuss it with my husband again. He is really pushing for a simple rectangle. We always disagree on things like this because I think about light, windows, flow, etc and he thinks rooflines, how will the water run off the roof, roof seams will leak and he will have to fix it, re-roofing will be much more complex in anything other than a rectangle, foundation will be more complex, etc.

Favorite part of the plan: kitchen, pantry, foyer, sitting area off kitchen. I have no ideas about how to lay out the living room. Oh and I really like hallways or walkways that frame big doors or windows, so the eye is directed outside. Really, if I had it my way all the bedrooms would be upstairs. But there are so many retirees in our area and so few young people that my real estate agent says I must have 2-3 bedrooms on the main floor for resale.

I am having a tough time posting pics because all of my stuff is in pinterest. Let me see if I can convert some to houzz and I will post inspiration pics later.

It's a neat house! Love the stove :)

Confused about mudroom being off living room rather than kitchen/eating area. Is there going to be a carpet/rug in the living room? How much mud do you have? We have lots of mud and snow on our farm...so maybe that makes a difference.

LL: more mud on hands than on shoes. I make my kids take their shoes off before coming inside. What usually happens day-to-day is I call them all in for lunch or whatever, and they fight over the one bathroom sink to wash their hands. So I have this three-faucet sink to solve that problem, but come to think of it there is no reason to have it on that side of the house. Do you think I should create a mudroom near the laundry/pantry and just have all outside traffic come in that way? That would probably make more sense...

If you're concerned about resale, I would say that the bedroom doors off public spaces could turn off buyers. A short hallway to keep public spaces separate from private spaces doesn't have to use a lot of square footage. In fact, it may take up less space because your present plan has a lot of through traffic bisecting rooms and potentially wasting space; hallways with no walls basically.

Here's an example of using a short hallway (+/- 30 sq ft.) to access 5 rooms (Master bed, bath, 2 kids rooms, kids bath.) An arrangement like this is actually very efficient and adds the privacy that a lot of families will want for those non-public spaces.

I love your kitchen/dining area in your plan. Great space. In your inspiration photos, note that the laundry room is in the mudroom, but not the pantry. I personally wouldn't want dirty laundry in the same room where I store food.

Congratulations! It's a beautiful property and nice plan. If you are going to keep the MBR entry where it is, I prefer layout #2 so that you might be able to use furniture placement to provide a bit more privacy for the MBR. I also prefer the way the dining room is not partially in the kitchen (although you could address that in #1 easily).

I also admire Versaci and Schafer (and spent a lot of time with The Great American House). I'll also just throw this out there: would it make sense for you to build something similar to one of the Versaci/Schafer 2-story houses with the idea that you might add on some day. I agree with chelwa that the indoor-outdoor connection for the main living spaces could be improved, if not wings then maybe two floors. Imagine if the living room were on an outside corner, or even if the long axis were on an outside wall. I also think 2 floors would allow more privacy for the bedrooms; I'm not a fan of either of the secondary bedrooms in the current plan. With all the gatherings you have, might it be nice to have a bit more separation of the public and private areas of the house? A second floor for better views of your lovely farm?

In case you haven't seen it, HERE is a popular farmhouse plan (original is built in Esparto, just west of Sacramento).

Kudos to you for taking this on on top of the kids and the farm (our kids were 7, 6, 4 when we finalized our plans). Your stove is gorgeous. Enjoy the process, and good luck!

[edited, sorry I typed this a while back, don't know why it took so long to post]

The kitchen dining room are terrific.

However that bedroom where the only way in is to walk through the bathroom or through the dining room is not good and certainly horrible for resale. It's what my aunt used to call a doofus. LOL.

Additionally, I would switch the master with the other bedroom so the master is towards the back of the house. Again better for resale. Additionally in the master, I wouldn't waste outside space having a master closet. (Of course I say this having done just that in my house, but I really didn't have a choice. I believe you can reconfigure so your bedroom is on the outside wall. This way your bathroom and closet will act as a noise buffer from the foyer and living areas.

Where is your refrigerator inside the kitchen?

I also agree that if you're thinking resale then you need to add some hallways to differentiate between public and private areas. Apartments have no hallways.

Also if it's all retiree's I'm not sure they'll want to be bathing in the mudroom. Washing up? Yes. Bathing? No. I like the idea of the sink, but why the toilet or shower?

LOL cpartist.

Ok so in thinking back about how this design came about, I have no idea why we have a bathroom/mudroom there. I think it got left over after a bedroom reconfiguration. Also I don't need three full baths on the bottom floor...

So what if I completely eliminate that room, and do a short hallway somewhere else like benjesbride suggests?

Michelle, I see what you mean about laundry and food. What if I put a wall between the pantry/entry from the left and the sitting room, and then put the washer dryer on that wall? So when the family enters the house through the pantry area there would be a laundry room first with the big wash-up sink for the kids and then the pantry separated by a pocket door or something.

cpartist, the fridge is in the pantry, right where the architect mistakenly put the washer and dryer. It is the same placement as in the inspiration Gil Schafer kitchen that I posted a pic up above.

What about adding your foyer and kitchen/dining room vision to something like this and tweaking to take advantage of your lot and views.

Why would you want your fridge in the pantry where it takes extra steps to get things? I had mine in my back hall (what you younguns now call the mudroom) that attached to my kitchen and even though it was right on the other side of the door, it was a pain to get to.

I would post your kitchen plan in the kitchen forum. I think they can do a better job so your kitchen is the most efficient.

In case you couldn't tell, I don't find your plan the best use of your space. :)

cpartist,

I will post there, but I am not sure they are going to convince me. I just hate refrigerators. They are a disaster design-wise. Either it is sticking out like a sore thumb at the end of a run of cabinets, or you spend thousands of dollars on an integrated one that is expensive to fix and difficult to replace when the time comes, or you spend a lot of money on cabinets specifically made to hide/streamline/integrate them.

Or I could just walk a few steps. It is less convenient from the kitchen, but actually more convenient when bringing groceries into the house and putting things away. And I don't have to care what it looks like- I can get something generic and cheap. I know hardly anyone agrees with me, and I'm not saying that they should agree with me. All I am saying is that walking is less irritating to me than the alternatives.

So... I think your "pantry" will end up being your mudroom (functionally/what people will do)

And, where, if you keep that mudroom, is the sink? I see toilet and shower.

I love the kitchen photo! That is such a farmhouse kitchen :)

On a farm, having the laundry, pantry and mudroom together is no big deal. Everything is muddy! LOL I mean, bringing in armfuls of dirty lettuce and spinach to wash in the pantry sink is going to be just as dirty as anything else.

If you can afford to go bigger, it would be nice to have a den where you have that bedroom below the kitchen. Then the separate large living room....with bedrooms off on their own wing. If you're not doing a two-story farmhouse, having the bedrooms in their own area would be a nice alternative.

If you don't mind the stairs, it would be nice to put the kids' room upstairs and keep the master and a guest suite downstairs. That gives you a lot of flexibility for the future. Older relatives, sick child, sporting accident, etc. That extra bedroom downstairs will be a nice option....and the kids can have their space (maybe a central loft/study area) upstairs.

And if you do that....think about a book/reading nook. Maybe one downstairs by the living room...and one upstairs in the kids' area. Cozy spaces in a larger room are always fun!

Front porch I hear you on the ugly. and while still not cheap Fisher and Paykill is coming out with an integrated fridge for msrp I think was $3800 and change.

Here's a link: https://www.fisherpaykel.com/us/kitchen/fridges-freezers/built-in-refrigeration/

Trust me, like you I don't like the look of a big honking fridge sticking out. I was all set to go with the Liebherr integrated so I could put panels on it, but depending on how the reviews stack up for the Fisher and Paykil, if they are good reviews, I'm definitely going to spend less and get this one.

Very pretty. I actually really like the white one. Will bookmark and keep an eye on reviews. Thanks for the link!

Hello from a fellow gold country resident! It is truly a unique and beautiful little corner of the country, isn't it?

frontporchfarm, I think you have the workings of a great plan, and with a little refinement, a wonderful home for your family. How fortunate you are to have the possibly to expand your land! And the stonewalls, oh man, I wish our property had that kind of heritage!

I couldn't figure out how to message you privately or I would have, but based on your description, it sounds like you're right around the corner from us (we're on HWY 16 near Plymouth). As someone whose about to pursue the new home build process in Amador county, I was hoping you could maybe share your advice/experiences regarding permits, local contractors/architect recommendations, etc. We're currently in the plan stage about to meet with an architect. I've heard all sorts of things about the permitting process up in Jackson and I don't know what to expect. If i'm off base, please disregard all of this :-)

If you'd like to email me directly, my email is my username @gmail.com

Alburley, I will email you. We are practically neighbors!!!