You're aiming for a two-bedroom/two bath house? This is considerably bigger than a typical two-bedroom house, and it gives me concerns for resale and for financing (not that I know whether either of those are in your plans).

Consider the public "living spaces". You have a great room, a study, a media room, and a second living room. Do you really need each of these rooms, and do you have a plan for how to use each? It seems odd to me that you'd need so few bedrooms, yet so many living areas.

What's downstairs? Could some of these living spaces go downstairs?

The real problem with this plan is that it's lacking "flow". That is, the rooms don't relate to one another well and don't have a logical pathway from room to room.

I don't think the second bedroom is "working" back in that corner. I don't think you'll be happy in the long run with occupants of that bedroom being forced to walk a winding path by the garage door, then through the second living room ... to reach the bedroom. You could open up a second doorway through the breakfast room ... but that would be the exact opposite of private. What's downstairs? Could the second bedroom go downstairs?

Putting aside space concerns, this second bedroom will have problems because the doors are spread all over the place. This also isn't the spot I'd splurge on a specialty ceiling. Note, too, that it would be cheaper to keep this back wall in line with the great line's back wall; it'll keep the roofline running straight.

Likewise, I don't love the second living room pushed over to the side /again, past the garage door. It feels like an afterthought. You can only reach it by squeezing through the kitchen (disturbing the cook) or by trekking through the laundry. Either way, it's not welcoming. If you really need all these spaces, I'd consider moving the living room to the current study ... and moving the study to the back of the house, where it'd be quieter and more private.

I think you might do better to flip the media room and the second living room. In a media room, you're going to want a dark space with no glare on the TV -- a space just like the second living room! In contrast, the media room has the best connection to the outside, something you'd probably prefer in the living room.

The breakfast spot and the media room have a major problem: At only 7' wide, you have space only for the smallest of tables, and it's going to block comfortable entrance to the media room. I vote for extending the kitchen a bit and moving the table out to what is now labeled the media room. The windows will make for a lovely table area.

In reference to extending the cabinets "down the wall" towards the media room -- yes, I like the idea. I think the desk-in-the-kitchen idea is over (I have one; it's never, ever used). I could see this area boasting floor-to-ceiling glass-front storage for dishware ... or plain cabinets would give you a space to set out a cake or a fruit basket /things you want to keep handy, but don't necessarily want right there in your prep space ... or a place for cookbooks. Yes, so many options for this area.

I totally understand your desire for a large pantry, and I like the way it's placed near the entrance -- you can either turn left if you come in the door with groceries, or you can go straight if you don't. This is one of the house's strengths.

I'm not in the camp of must-have-giant-laundry-room, but I hate your laundry area. It's inconvenient to both bedrooms. Consider the pathway to tote baskets of clean clothes to your closet: Thread your way through the great room, turn through the bedroom door, turn again to walk through the maze of bathroom, and finally you're in the closet. It's going to make an already thankless chore worse. Could you make the half-bath by the front door into the laundry ... and place the half-bath somewhere else? Then you could open up a door (or even just a pass-through) between the closet and laundry.

Yeah, I agree that the great room could use a few more feet, given that you must allow walkways around the edges of your furniture. Are you planning a table in the great room? (I don't really see a place for a good-sized table anywhere.) If so, you need more than a few feet; I'll reference the idea of putting the table into that currently-media-room bump-out. That would give you more breathing space in the great room and just sort of "fixes" a number of issues.

The problem you're going to create by adding a few more feet to this great room is that you're probably going to want to make the room deeper ... and that will widen the roof, changing the trusses. Widening the room will extend the roofline in the easier direction, but I don't know that that'd give you the space you want.

I already don't like the garage in the photograph of the house. It sticks straight out in front of the house, which is never a good look, so I agree with you that I fear it won't look right if it's even bigger!

I'd definitely add windows to the side wall of the master bedroom; rooms with windows on two sides are always nicer than those with windows on only one side.

I personally don't care for a cathedral ceiling in the bedroom; I like cozier spaces for bedrooms, though that is personal preference. Where I would like to see a cathedral ceiling: Either the great room OR if the media room becomes a dining space -- but not both, both would be overkill.

I don't see why the shower is recessed. Expand it forward and make it a nice, comfortable size! Note that one of those sinks is behind the bathroom door -- not so useable.

Overall, I think you're looking at too many changes to this plan. With this many changes and tweaks, I think you'd be better off starting from scratch.

Thank you so much, Mrspete. A few things I should have made more clear: there is a second story with 2 more bedrooms, a jack and jill bath, and a large loft area. Also, we do NOT want the bedroom/living room area as shown in red. We do think we want to use that space, but not as it is shown here.

The great room will have a cathedral ceiling.

Regarding the cathedral in the master BR, I am not sure I want that based on things I have read on here from those who say they are not "cozy," but I was thinking maybe it would be nice to put a couple of skylights in the bedroom since it will not have morning sun, and I assume that would require a cathedral ceiling.

I want what the plans call a "media room" to be a keeping room - it will be a sitting/relaxing area where I will sit and read in the evenings while the family is watching tv in the great room. My parents have a similar set up and we all LOVE it. It would not have a table in it. That said, I share your concern about a place for the dining room table.

We are planning to use a custom builder, and are planning to make significant changes to this plan, but went through the model of this home and liked a lot of things about it, so thought we would use it as a starting point.

I love your idea about figuring out a way to put the laundry where the half bath is. I'm not quite sure how to make that work but will definitely give that some more thought.

Any thoughts on how to change the garage to make it bigger without looking bad? I considered whether we could angle it out, but have to be aware that we don't do something that messes up the second story.

Thanks again!

Have you sat down with Schumacher to detail and price these changes or are you simply working off one of their plans and trying to adjust it too be what you need/want on you own? Without getting into any of the good or bad of the plan or your changes (mrspete is far better at that than I am) I can tell you there are more cost effective ways to get plan that works for you than adjusting a Schumacher plan. And you have to be prepared to accept their building methods and products - they don't budge. We wanted a specific window for example and they don't allow that type of change.

There is so little here that meets your desires. I'd start over.

This has been such a frustrating process for us. We are working with a custom builder, but need a starting point and really liked a lot of things about this house when we went through the model.

I suggest you work on a list of things you must have ... and a list of things you would like to have, and work from that point instead of a whole plan.

Does the builder have an architect he works with? If so, I suggest you work with the architect to create what you want. Online plans are plans where you fit your needs to the plan vs a custom plan where the plan fits itself to your needs.

What do you see for the exterior? Are there elevations as everything you do on the interior effects the exterior and really all should be developed together?