This is just me, and I know there are those who deride halls, but heck, there's already a master hall, so here goes: if you move the basement stairs up, the bedrooms would be accessed from a new, quiet hall, instead of letting noise flow between the bedrooms and family room. More privacy for all. Keep tracking and dropping of school stuff in the family room. Easier to arrange furniture in the LR, too, with not having to leave a passageway,

No guest closet for the front hall?

The fact that this plan has been blessed by a second architect compels me, at the risk of offending someone, to tell you that it seems to be thrown together without the thought and care one should expect from an experienced architect. Each space seems to have no clear relationship with the other spaces and there are no interesting sight lines, space definitions or focal points.

For example, the stair might have been a focal point but it is hidden in an enclosure like a fire exit and the large unusable space in front of it is eroded by the only angled wall in the house and that forces a set of interior double doors to be the most important visual element in the entire house.

By the way, a stairway should never start down through a blind opening especially directly off of a hall. It not only invites collisions and missteps but the handrails cannot extend beyond the last riser which is essential at a double blind corner. This stair design would get a failing grade in an introduction-to-design class.

To be more blunt, the plan is what I would expect from a draftsman. You deserve far better service from an architect. Frankly, if you told me your new consultant was not an architect, I would feel better about the profession.

I don't like to criticize a design without offering an alternate solution but I'm on a trip until Tues and it is not possible to effectively describe a design in writing but I hope someone will post a sketch for you.

JDS I appreciate your feedback. We have struggled most with how to place the stairs in this design, I don't like how much space the u design takes up, however my husband thinks they are great because we will be finishing the basement and this design puts the stairs in the right direction to maximize the exposure we will have.

Chispa thanks so much for sharing the open closet with sink issues.

We have been trying to keep the plan simple based on what we have read here but apparently we are still not getting it. If anyone has some links to ranch plans that are well designed I would love to visualize the strengths and try to apply those concepts to ours.

I didn't see a basement plan and don't know what is down there but I suspect it would not be difficult to design a stair that would serve the basement and work better with a revised first floor plan.

Where in the Midwest?

Wisconsin

How did you find the architects you have used and what is their experience and background?

MidwestGal, what's your email?

If you turn on messages on your page people can contact you without posting your email.

We like the architect, he came highly recommended through a contact at a lumber yard. He has been an arichtect for 20+ years and designed modest to parade homes. My husband likes most of the plan, I am seeking your feedback to make sure we aren't overlooking anything. My husband will not change designers again, he wasn't happy when I wanted to switch last time and thinks I need to give people more opportunities to revise.

Based on what we have heard so far, most of you would have probably disliked our last home layout that we designed as well.

Once again, we would appreciate any reference points to begin to understand what a "good" design looks like.

I can't find anywhere in my settings a way to turn on or off messages so I will message you ascorsinelli.

Midwest Girl - this is a plan I started with and modified to make it work better for our family. We loved the main areas but made the laundry bigger, no safe room and made the garage an unattached with a breezeway. The dining room is actually a study now and closed off to the great room, which gave us the opportunity to add more kitchen area - like a beverage center. Just wanted to give you some other ideas.

This is sort of what my exterior will look like with this floor plan with my changes.

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