Those are all very narrow rooms. I would take a tape measure and see what I mean. 9' wide for a dining room is tiny. If you're planning on having any gatherings, you won't be able to walk around a table. A typical dining table is 42" wide. That only allows 33" around each side of the table. Ideally you want a minimum of 36".

The kitchen at 9' wide is not wide enough for an island with seating. When you consider that a countertop is 25.5" and ideally in a 2 person kitchen you need 48" for the aisle, that leaves you only 35" for the island. If you don't have seating at the island, it's fine, but it won't work with seating.

Upstairs 10 1/2' for a master is very narrow. A queen size bed will leave you with 33" on each side of the bed. Tight. A king size bed would leave you with only 25" on either side of the bed.

For over 3000 square feet, the rooms feel very tight to me. i agree that if that is your only dining area it is going to be small, especially if you have more children. Have you thought about sleeping arrangements down the road? You will have to share the master bath with whatever kids are upstairs with you. Do you plan to use the first floor bedroom as a bedroom? I feel like you are missing a room away from the hustle and bustle of the house (office/den?). Maybe you are already planning to use the bedroom for this purpose...

Besides the width that cp already called out (which looks like an easy fix and would give the bedroom a bit more room too if you stretch the whole thing) - the kitchen looks laid out quite functionally as far as appliance placement (normally don't see that on a plan) and I wouldn't change those windows a bit-over the sink and extending through the prime prep area. Awesome! I checked the architect pics to get a feel and wow that looks like a great place to cook. Convenient dish storage and nice DW placement as well.

9' for the dining room is very much so too narrow - seats pulled out will be not great. You'll be doing the suck it in and scooch by. As cp said at the island it can work if you don't plan on seating.

I am not a guru but saw those windows in the kitchen that made me post! That and the elevation is very charming. Very nice. :)

The house looks super cute.

I think the kitchen/dining/living space is fine since all the rooms are open to one another; for example the dining area can cheat into the other spaces. Especially since you plan to make the screen porch into a four seasons room. I'd probably work on the kitchen layout a bit and personally I might like a bit more closet storage upstairs, but overall I think it is a nice plan.

I love the Holly Ridge. The exterior is inspiration for the farmhouse I'm designing. There's lots of pics of the built home, you should post them here to give everyone an idea of the furnished space. Are you purchasing directly from the architect? I don't think they are available on stock plan websites, or are they?

Keep in mind, that house was specifically (custom) designed for a couple, not a family with children. Will a kid get stuck in the basement if you have more kids?

MagdelenaLee, that is what I am struggling with. as a mom to 3 kids I think it would be hard to fit a growing family.

I'm wondering if you need the door from entry into the bathroom. Coming in the front door and seeing the bathroom directly in front seems odd. If you are hanging out in kitchen or family room you'd probably go into the bathroom from that side. You could close off that door and put a closet there. That other space at the front of the house I would use as a pantry. Having lived on a remote farm I learned to go do a big shop and have room to keep it. An extra freezer would be good. The drive from the house to the main road was 15 minutes, then another 45 minutes to town, so running out to get something wasn't a daily option!

I looked at the pics and love the house. Very charming. The rooms feel bigger than the plans would indicate.

Like I said I lived on a large working ranch in a previous life. The main house was a small house built entirely of cypress. Tiny by today's standards but I loved it. You do spend most of your day out and working so maybe that's why I didn't feel like it was small. I loved that it was manageable.

Thank you for all your comments.

Cpartist, yes I've already had the tape measure out in existing bedrooms and different rooms. The bedrooms are small, but useable. We are an active family who spends most of our time outside, bedrooms are for sleeping. That said, I think if we could add 2 extra feet to the house I think it would make a big difference in the bedroom and the dining room.

Whether or not we have seating at the island, I'm not sure at this time. But it's not a must have.

They did some fancy photography sleight of hand when the took this picture of the dining room and kitchen; it looks so roomy! But, if you look closer they have pulled the dining table further away from where they have indicated the placement in the plan. You can tell because the light fixture is no where close to the table.

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The main floor bedroom would be a multipurpose, evolving space: office, guest room, a quick place to catch a nap, kids bedroom if needed, and maybe when we don't feel like walking the stairs, we'll move downstairs and make that our bedroom.

I don't care about sharing a bathroom with kids; sure our own would be nice but we already have 3 in the house and we don't have an unlimited amount of funds.

Magadelena- I personally, don't see any issues with the space for raising a family. This is much larger than what I was raised in. When the kids are old enough, the basement can be their play area in the event it's not nice enough to be outside. The basement bedroom would definitely become a kids bedroom when we need it.

As per request, and exterior photo:

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You could do what I may be doing in my upcoming build. Similar issue with tight dining area. I'm probably going to do a single banquette.

I love it! Especially all the windows in the kitchen. The only problem I can see, besides the small bedrooms, is the lack of closet space. But.... with a basement maybe you could figure out some kind of storage there. I don't think small bedrooms are a big problem unless you like big furniture.

Thanks Annette, I definitely plan on having lots of food storage and an extra freezer in the basement storage room for all the extras. I do admit that seeing the bathroom as soon as you walk in isn't ideal, but I really wanted to have a short route to the bathroom instead of walking all the way around to the door by the bedroom. At least the toilet isn't in view. If I can keep the door closed all the time, maybe it won't be such an issue.

I think in the master bedroom I would extend the shorter closet all the way to the wall, then there would be equal size his/hers closets. The storage room in the basement will be well utilized for all the extra's needed througout the year. We aren't big furniture people either.

Magdelena, we plan on working directly with the architects. They seem to be very engaged in response to questions on their photos.

Three things bother me with the plan. One you know about. That being the 9' in the kitchen and dining area and bedrooms. Like you said, if you could add 2' that would solve the problem and make the house feel even larger. (As you noted they fudged the photo)

Along with that, I get that most time is spent outdoors but it is a four season house and there will be times you'll need to all be indoors. I agree with you 100% that bedrooms are for sleeping, although as the kids become teens, they might want to spend more time in their "sanctuary", the bedroom.

Plus, I think you'll need to divide that bedroom sooner rather than later as a boy and girl really will not want to share a bedroom as they get older. If you give your upstairs that extra 2' too, that means 1' for your bedroom and 1' for the kids. That would give each child an 11.5' x 11.5' bedroom. Small but functional.

The second is it's a very large foyer area for the size of the house. It's really the size of an office and I'm wondering if the space could be configured better so that it becomes more usable space?

The two sets of doors into the bathroom downstairs. You know someone will forget to unlock one set of doors and walk out. I think I'd ditch the door from bathroom to front foyer. That will actually help you utilize the foyer space better.

I can't tell you how many times I've saved this house on Pinterest. Adore it, especially the elevation.

I see the issues others have brought up, but they look easily fixable.

Good luck! I hope you update the board as you proceed.

That's a good idea - to have a roomy bathroom that is config'd for young and old (walk in shower and separate tub ) vs. 2 separate ones. You could even give your self access from your bedroom and then also make it a hall access? I'd want the sunset bedroom myself and eventually the main floor bedroom. :D

Gosh we had one toilet, one shower, one sink and the house was 900 sf for 4 of us plus 2 dogs and never felt cramped. Funny how perceived 'requirements' change.

Cpartist, yes the foyer does work better without the 2nd bathroom door there. The path around to the other really isn't too far. Here's a new version of the main level; much more similar to the original except for the addition to right for the laundry and pantry/freezers.

I've also changed the tub on the main floor to a shower; I had that thought myself also to have a walk in shower there.

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Will you have a garage?

We plan on a small garage close enough to the house, just to park the family vehicle. We have a 40'x48 shop for everything else within short distance too.

That does look better. I'm still wondering what else can be done with the front entry to make it as functional as possible.

Is the screened porch/sunroom going to be a screened porch or a sunroom? If it is enclosed and heated/cooled...it solves a lot of my concerns with the first floor...namely no "away" space and lack of space for dining when entertaining. You could set up quite a large table in there for Thanksgiving, etc. Also, it would be a good place for the kids and your future baby to play while you are in the kitchen. The downstairs bedroom would make a great "day nursery" for the baby to nap while you are working downstairs. I am worried about where your older kids will have their rooms, though. I guess they could share the basement room for a little while...but the 10 year old girl will want some privacy in the next few years. Can you carve out 2 bedrooms in the basement? All in all...a very pretty house!

Nini, I plan to use the room for both. Removeable or double hung windows for the summer, and baseboard heat with insulation and maybe even a woodstove for staying warm in the other seasons.

If we had to, I'm sure we could add an extra bedroom in the basement at the end of the rumpus room next to the other bedroom.

I do think you need to consider that the kids cannot share rooms for much longer. Your step daughter is 10 now and she's going to want, (and need) some privacy from her brother.

I agree with cpartist. Once your stepsister hits puberty she's not going to want to share a room with a boy and I can't blame her. When I was a kid the first girl who reached puberty was in the 3rd grade. According to the website Baby Center most girls hit puberty between the ages of 9 and 14 these days. That means that theoretically it could happen in your household at any time.

I absolutely love this house and our family is looking into building one like this. Did you decide on this plan? If so, how did it go?

nmcgee84, in the end we did not end up building this house, though I was rather attached to it for a long time; it's got a lot of charm.

Bailey what did you wind up building?

Well, life changes in many weird and wonderful ways. We actually bought a 1 1/2 story, 1928 house and moved it over 125 miles to our place onto a new ICF basement. I plan on posting a reveal in the kitchen forum in a few weeks as they gave me some advice regarding renovation changes in the kitchen. I think with the house we bought, the layout works even better than I thought this plan was going to; lots of southern exposure which was a priority. This was the original layout, plus 2 bedrooms and a bath upstairs.

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