I don't have any answers to your question but we have been struggling with a very similar custom design and will totally take some of the ideas from your plan! How many square feet do you have?

Just my 2¢ (probably worth about half that)... I don't like slanted walls, they add costs and decrease efficiency. Too many walls at angles show a plan that is not efficiently designed and they can be very uncomfortable especially in small spaces.

Critiques (in no particular order) -

• Laundry room needs to either be near the bedrooms or the kitchen.
• Odd tri-angled wall in the mudroom is there only because the architect fell in love with angles. It limits the closets and subtracts, rather than adds, useful space.
• Powder room will feel uncomfortably tight with the slanted wall.
• The Master closet has the offshoot that only serves to eliminate more hanging space than it can possibly add.
• The tray in the master bedroom has a wobble to accommodate a slanted wall that in no way needs to be a slanted wall.
• The hearth room is missing the hearth...
• Another slanted wall by bedrooms two and three that just inefficiently uses space and limits furniture placement in great room.
• Walk in closets in bedrooms two and three are really not walk in. A reach in closet will give you more clothes storage and take less square footage.
• I don't like the tray ceiling in the great room. It artificially defines your great room smaller than it actually is. Sometimes tray ceilings are nice in open spaces to define a hallway from a living space but in this case it seems to do that too harshly.

Good luck.

Random thoughts in no particular order:

I like the idea of building something you can see and modify -- fewer surprises.

The complicated footprint and angles (which will require a complicated roofline) will be an expensive build.

I agree with Bry911 that angles aren't a great idea overall, but I do like the one in the great room. It does handle the problem of twin focal points well. I think the great room is the best part of the house.

I'm not sure whether that pocket office is brilliant or horrible. If it's for adult use, great. It's small, but enough for a small built-in desk, and it'll allow for privacy. If it's for your girls, that privacy can be a bad thing. Why? Because the internet isn't necessarily a parent's friend, and the smaller and more mobile devices become, the harder it is for parents to supervise their kids' online activity. I teach high school, and my students today are so much more worldly, so much more jaded, so much "tougher" than those I taught two decades ago; they're seeing R-rated movies at a young age, they're seeing "adult materials" that have no business being available to kids -- I am certain that kids need to be protected from delving too far into the dark corners of the internet. Okay, that was preachy, but the point was that you need to be careful with this very private pocket office.

I agree with you that the hearth room doesn't seem useful -- and you already have the office as an "away room", a secondary small sitting area. I think I'd be tempted to shave it off altogether ... but you don't need that area added to the dining room.

I don't care for the laundry room's location. For both the master bedroom AND the girls' bedrooms, you'll have to carry baskets through a labyrinth to reach the machines. Very inconvenient, and also located far from all other water sources, making this an expensive location. Perhaps the laundry could be moved over to the hearth room area -- it would make the laundry room convenient to the kitchen AND the master bedroom. And closer to existing water lines.

Plus, if you shave off the hearth room's bump and move the laundry over there, you can increase the size of the mudroom so that those angles aren't necessary ... and you can get some light into what would otherwise be a rather dark space.

Is the master bathroom lacking natural light? If so, it'd be easy enough to change things around within the existing space.

How about if you square up the master closet and slide the power room down getting rid of the angled wall?

bry and mrs pete - do you think the angle helps with noise transfer? I think the angle by the great room is a good idea to help as a sound buffer as it can travel but doesn't normally bend. I have been through a parade home that had bedrooms off the foyer with an angled wall and it really did the trick at preserving privacy and I think it would help with noise but I don't really know that for a fact.

When you say the TV would be on a side wall, do you mean the angled wall of the bedroom hall?

I'm not sure about the pocket office (I don't even like carrels at the library) but I would put base cabinets and bookshelves a along the wall of the hearth room, add a table and chairs, and make "mom central" there, where I can do my work (work, school volunteer stuff, and browsing GW) while the kids watch tv or play and chicken roasts nearby. The den would be for DH.

For the laundry room, it might be a bit of a labyrinth, but not too bad. Still, it could be straightened out by moving the laundry room door to the right, put the machines against the outside wall or to the left, and have the walkway go from the laundry room door straight up to the kitchen. The benefit is, you could move the laundry room window in line with the door, and have a view from the kitchen to the front (I appreciate being able to see the UPS truck or guests arrive. See who I put first? You bet, UPS!)

Those are some funky closets in the mudroom, you could replace them with nice cabinetry and one closet on the left.

The powder room is too close to the kitchen and pantry. I would switch the laundry and powder room location. And then create a direct access from master closet to the laundry.

To be completely honest, I am not a big fan of the builder. Just looking through their model homes they seem to be a bit overdone, it seems like you are paying a lot of money just for finishes that are largely not going to add anything to the livability of the home.

I hated the kitchen in the picture. It is all form and no function (here is a picture from the first version of the house, seems like the same kitchen).

Look at the distance between your oven and the cooktop...

Also, there is going to be no real separation of space. You really don't have two separate living areas, just one. Which is fine if that is what you want. But the television from the living room is going to be heard clearly in the hearth room.

While I am being critical of the home, it is lovely. If you decide that you love it, then I think that is great. I am just trying to find things that I think might bother you once you buy it.

All, appreciate the feedback! I've spent a good decade in the gardening section of this forum. Its great to get advice over there but it you plant the wrong plant its not the end of the world.

Investing in a home/plan without being able to live in it and just go off your own previous experience can be tough. So the critical feedback is appreciated as there are so many variables to consider. Just last night I thought about my dogs nails scratching up the spec'ed engineered hardwood floor and further how her mobility would be effected by the hardwood as she ages. I'll have to make some tough decisions between a prefinished hand scrapped hickory versus a LVT. The grout lines of a wood like tile in that big of space would drive me nuts.

I too question the efficiency of the current plan but when you actually walk it, it feels good. My wife loves all the angles as its not so rigid with spaces sectioned off as you see with most plans.

We're going to walk it for a 3rd time this upcoming week. I have 2 other plans that are much more efficient but they are actually more costly. I just need to get master specs and proposals situated between the three. One I can walk the other I'd have to do my best to envision the space. I might see what I can get with renderings.

I'm going to mull over the feedback and take that with us to the walk through
I'll follow-up later in the week.

Any other feedback would be appreciated as we can take it all in at this upcoming walk through.

bry911,

Looks like you are potentially from the area as you where able to identify the builder. Do you have any builders you'd suggest talking a look at? There are so many good builders out there but the balance of value and our personality (open yet efficient contemporary spaces) is not reflected in alot of the traditional plans they offer.

Here are two other plans we are looking at manipulating. Perhaps a follow-up on these once we get further along. Plan 3 is by far the most efficient but the most expensive per sq ft

Unfortunately, I am not in your area and can't really recommend a builder for you. I was actually just looking for an exterior shot of the home, but since the plan is proprietary to that builder I was able to deduce who it was and looked at pictures of completed homes.

Angles are a bit of an oddity in homes. When done well they create unexpected spaces in homes. However, we don't live in first impressions, putting triangular walls in a square space typically creates waste. A few exceptions come to mind, a triangle can be used to access two doors in a space that would normally only have room for one. But that comes at the cost of efficient use of space inside the room, and modified traffic patterns into and out of the rooms. Remember that a square is 50% more efficient than triangle. When you tour the home again, don't look just at their furniture, mentally place your life in the home.

Which brings us to my problem with the builder. They are selling a dream rather than a house. I am not saying that they are not a quality builder, but they are doing certain things I don't love. For example, they use a lot of faux finishes on the walls, and while they look amazing, they make repainting an incredible feat. They use lots of curved drywall work, while they are probably pretty efficient at it, it is just a way to increase profits, they eliminate a lot of moldings in order to use drywall details to create impact. My general feel of the house is that they are selling you a lifestyle - "come see yourself living like we do." While that may be great, I would be very interested in looking at the houses of the neighbors, after they moved their furniture in. Go knock on some doors, and just ask people who have lived in the houses for a while what they think.

Again, this post is full of my own prejudices and opinions. If they are not yours, or add no real insight, then I recommend you completely ignore them.

As for the other plans you posted...

I would like the second plan if the entrance to the bedrooms was anywhere other than where it is. I can't imagine a worse place to put a bedroom entrance than between the counters of a kitchen.

The final plan only has one gathering area and adds a dining room. Are you planning to use that as an office or keep it a dining room? It suffers from the same kitchen problem also. The third is actually my least favorite plan.

Of these three, I actually like the first the best. To be fair I like a lot of things about the second but that entrance to the bedrooms is such a big no-no for me that I wouldn't be able to overcome it.

I like plan 3 better. the secondary bedroom side (2 and 3) seems complicated and probably adding to the cost. Is you builder going to allow you to make changes ? if yes, then make bedroom 2 and 3 similar to your original plan. Whenever you have corners (jogs) in a house it adds to the cost, and those jogs on the right side is not going to have that much of an impact on the exterior of the house. Bedroom 2 has too many doors - it can be a problem when placing furniture, that's another reason to make some changes here. the kitchen in all 3 plans have no exterior wall. Just make sure with your builder that, ventilation and light isn't an issue.

On your first plan, I think lakeviewgirl had a wonderful idea about switching the laundry room with the half bath. The laundry room as drawn is waaaaaay too far from the bedrooms. Steal some extra space from the master WIC that's too big anyway. And I'd much rather have the half bath in an out-of-the-way place - more private.

I don't like the hearth room at all. I'd shave off that bumpout and make it all dining room. You could still have several awesome floor-to-ceiling windows or patio doors there, though. And the left-hand wall, the one shared with the master bedroom, could be floor-to-ceiling built-ins. I'd fill them with books and place a couple of armchairs there. :)

All these plans have stairs. Will you have a second story or a basement -- or can we 'play' with those spaces?

What are your lot limitations? Are we seeing all plans with North at the top?

I find all the angled walls and ceiling treatments silly in an otherwise normal non-ultra modern home. Builders insist on using all the gimmicks in a toolbox. Simple and functional age better.

Skip the 'pocket office' on Plan #1 and push the kitchen back towards the MBR. The hearth-less Hearth Room becomes the DR and the porch extends left. (I'd want a 12' deep porch if you plan a table and chairs there.) This plan already has a Den to use for quiet work.

I like a good sized 'back hall' at the family entrance, near the kitchen, with powder room and laundry areas. Mine has a huge closet that houses all kinds of laundry and household things, including 'pantry' stuff. Mine has doors bisecting the space -- to Garage and Kitchen, and a door to the back yard at the end with the powder room. This is the most used toilet in our home -- as verified by the rate of TP replacement. I prefer laundry appliances where I am in the daytime (kitchen), and I don't want to hear washer/dryer from my bedroom.

I don't like closets on exterior walls where there could be windows. I want windows on at least two sides of any room that can have them -- but not over bathroom sinks, as in Plan #1. (You want *mirrors*.)

I access my closet a couple times a day. I don't want to make a run around several corners -- or through a bathroom. We solved this by making a Master Suite rectangle: Bedroom, short hallway flanked by closets, bathroom.

There are things to like -- and dislike -- on all of these plans.

Midwest gal,

this particular home is 2700 sqft. We want to be between 2400 and 2800. Plenty of space for four.

mrspete,

I tried to figure out a way to get the laundry room in the hearth area and couldn't get it to work.

Did come up with an alternate idea that someone mentions above. Natural light in the master...good catch!

I'm going to see if we can get another window in there.

dekeoboe,

Good suggestion but there may be unused space if I slide up the powder room. I'm not sure the angled wall is much of an issue.

I'll surely pay more attention to the powder room when we walk it again.

bpathhome,

I think we're leaning towards keeping the hearth room and use it as you mentioned..but actually add a fireplace!

We'll take a closer look at the mudroom.

lakeviewgirl,

We're going to propose exactly that. We're going to remove the pocket office, square off the WIC so its a walk through path. Full counter across with laundry tub and cabinetry below and then washer and dryer next door. Cabinet above. WIC would have a door accessing this path. More daylight from the hearth room can flood into the area as well. In between the tub and shower we'll add a pocket door so we can get into the WIC. Going to have some extra space where the powder room sink was though...

bry911,

Interesting comment about the over and cooktop proximity. I asked my wife about that and she said it doesn't really matter for us as we don't do alot of cooking, lol. Is there something more to it? We'll definitely take a closer look at the angled walls.

Any specific reason the bedroom entrance near the kitchen is a deal breaker? It does seem different than what I'm used to but can't think of a specific reason as to why it would be a negative.

littlebug,

On board with the laundry change! We thought about shaving off the bump out to save cost but couldn't envision how to utilize the space then.

The dining room would be close to 29' long at that point as well. I like the built in suggestion with chair but we don't read lol

chisue,

All plans are ranch so the stairs would lead to the basement. As of now the left side would face north, backside face east, etc.

Good point on the closet placement with regards to windows. We'll have to look at that more carefully when we walk it again. The windows in the master bath are high up as attached.

Appreciate everyone's feedback whether its positive or critical! Plenty good suggestions to think through.

I'll post more pics and updates on the plans.

First, angled, plan:

How will you use the basement? Will an HVAC tech, electrician or plumber access mechanicals in the basement via your living area?

North is good for a garage in a cold climate. East is good for living, dining and outdoor living in a hot climate. Where are you building?

The bathroom's only natural light is from the north, through those small, high windows? Sorry, but a basement prison cell comes to mind. No window in the toilet room? (Door can't open IN for safety reasons.) I wouldn't want this chase in and out of the MBR to bathroom and closet.

I'm afraid my desires are too different from these plans to go further.

Hello, we're going to build in SE WI. The basement might be finished in the future, perhaps might just use it as a rec room. The mechanicals are all to the front half of the home.

Good suggestion on the toilet room, perhaps I can get another high window in there.

Can you elaborate on your chase in and out comment? The WIC would have an entry point from the master bath and the master bathroom.

I would like to learn more so please don't be discouraged to share more info.