Well it is a little confusing but I think I get what you are trying to do. Guest will share shower and half bath his? Am I seeing this right? Every one uses the shower. And Half bath his is also be company restroom if needed. If I were a guest I might get confused trying to find bathroom door through closet/office and I think I would go the other way. I think in the master it is brilliant. I would love to be able to walk into my closet from the shower. Well bathroom. I had that in a house one time and it was great. The little shower bathroom was only a shower and toilet. Then both sinks were on a 9 foot counter. in a hallway like space and large closet was on the other side of the hallway space from the sinks. They were deeper then the regular closet but not really walk in. I will call them step in.

LOL, well, I thought since we seldom or never have guests that dh could use the guest closet as his office. I'm not sure if I would really put two doors into that closet. I started to just put the one pocket door in and then thought if we ever sold it, normal people would expect a closet door in the bedroom.

Dh & I talked about it after he got home tonight, and decided we need to do something different about the garages, both the car garages and the rv garage. Some neighbors have a pull through garage and straight line winds recently blew both of them out. I know they whistle and rattle more than having just one garage door. And as much as we'd like to have a pull through garage for the rv, those big doors (12x14) are expensive.

YES those doors are super expensive. I did not realize it was a pull through. It sure would be nice though.

Back to your plan. I am not a builder so this might not even be possible to do. Can the swing doors into the His half bath be made pocket. Then move headboard of bed in guest to stairway wall. Put pocket door into his half bath through wall. Then move pocket door to other end of closet in guest. OR not. I do not have the know how to do it on screen. This would give you a straighter shot through guest room to office/closet. Gives easier access to half bath and then into shower.

Are you going to put a window in the closet/office? If you did this change then you really do not need a door into the office closet into the shower. The other door would be enough and it would give you more closet/office space. It is a matter of switching one door for another but I do not know if this can be done.

what's above the center bathroom? heating/ water heater etc?

Yes Steph.

Ok, now that homestyler is working again, I came up with another one. The closet isn't next to the bathroom, but the plumbing and hvac is more central. I didn't bother with all the doors and windows. Best of all, the living space is 1230. However, I totally forgot about stairs to the attic until I was finished.

I want this to be a passive solar, so the windows there are purely for air flow, although at some point we may want to finish out the attic. The stairs are because I can't do attic ladders anymore.

Any idea how to work in stairs without redoing the whole thing? Maybe in the corner where the sofa is?

Where is the master closet? Are you splitting the big closet in the guest room with the master and walking into the narrow end of it?

Over all this looks much better the way the bathrooms are. But no office. Not sure if that was really needed. I used to have to have one when I worked a lot from home . Now I am retired I do not even want an office in our home. LOL I do have the tiny sewing desk next to a tucked away printer and one file drawer I use for personal office type stuff. All computer work is done in my lap in my recliner.

None taken. Yes, no office. We'd have to finish the attic in this one. Dh has to have an office at home for his job. And in this one, the washer dryer would have to be an all in one and in the kitchen. In a way I like that better than in the bathroom, but it would be handy in the bathroom.

Oh yes, about the closet. I didn't want to take the time to split it into two or put the doors in. We could use it as one big one and put doors in from each room, or put a wall between them.

Here it is with the stairs in the corner. Had to lose the sofa but that would make dh happier anyway. He likes his recliner directly in line with the tv.

Another thing I like about this one is being able to use the carport as patio. I'd really like a screened porch, but our summers are so humid that we probably won't spend a lot of time there anyway.

The only downside to this plan is that the rv garage would have to have a taller roof than the rest, and that side would face the road. The restrictions say that the part facing the road has to be 30% masonry and landscaped in an attractive manner. Kind of hard to do with a tall, blank wall.

Just a couple questions- How much land? What is around you (views, both good and bad) What direction is the house facing?

It seems like you need more windows. In the first plan, the guest BR doesn't have a window- you have to have one (big enough to climb out of) to meet code. The master closet has the 'choice' location on the corner, where the BR should be. A window in a closet is a bad idea if direct sunlight can hit the clothes.

In the second drawing, the master closet is only 4'7" wide, which means you can only hang clothes on one side, wasting a lot of space. Closets should either be 2' deep (reach-in) or 7' wide for walk-in.

Adding stairs to a plan that doesn't have them is tough to do. Stairs take up a LOT of space if they are to meet code.

Missouribound I could have a blast with that tall blank wall and do a HUGE mosaic landscape on it. LOL Probably NOT what your CCR's have in mind. :)

I agree with Jay the closet should be a bit wider. Our master walk in is right at 6 foot wide and we do hang clothes on both sides but it is tight. If you robbed 6 more inches from the guest room you could get a more useful closet. BUT it will make your guest room narrow. I know this because our guest room is 9'2" wide and I make it work well for a guest room sewing room/office but always wish for it to be the full 10 wide. HA just add another foot to the end of that house.

Jay, I had windows in the first one, but when I saved it, about half of them disappeared. lol But yes, there will definitely be windows in all the rooms.

In both plans, the left side is west, front door faces south, and right side faces east. We are buying 20 acres, but it is a long, narrow tract, 430 feet across I think.

The view to the west is a neighbor's barn, the view to the east is trees, except at night when we can see the neon sign of the truck stop at the highway.

North is the best view with trees, hills, and a creek. South is flat pasture and a creek by the road. The land dips near the road and that's where we will build a pond if we can. A neighbor built a pond but it won't hold water so we need to investigate that.

Shades, we'll probably add add more width to the master bedroom and closet, and maybe more on the other end. With just two closets in the whole house, I'm going to need the attic storage and stairs to get up there. Oh wait, how about an elevator?!!! No, just kidding. But my knees should would like that better.

Since attic storage would also be unheated/cooled have you considered garage storage systems so you don't need to have stairs inside the home? We have some overhead storage in our garage and it's amazing how much fits up there. There are some ystems that have pulleys to lower items down so you don't need a ladder, and systems that use lightweight plastic bins. Just a thought, it might make your floorplan easier to manage.

No, omelet, we haven't considered those, mainly because we'd like to finish out the attic space eventually.

If your front faces south and you're interested in passive solar, then you need to create larger windows on the south side for passive solar, move your garage to the west side to block the heat. I would orient the back of the house north east a bit.

Additionally, I would consider doing a house with wider eaves to block the summer sun.

I agree with Jay that your bedrooms should be on the outside corners and not your bathrooms or closets.

Lastly in your kitchen you created a U near the dining area. The least useful space in a kitchen cabinet is a corner cabinet. Get rid of the small turn there because it really will add no significant storage space.

First landscaping a blank wall...think pergola! Even a small one with some vines or climbing roses would be beautiful! Maybe a couple of chairs and a table to watch the sunset?

I made the house a bit larger.....do you plan to have access from the carport into the dining room? It looks a little tight, so I'd add a few feet or access from a porch (maybe screened?) or even a sun porch off the back. I know that's more of a shade porch, but how nice to sit outside all year long!

Also added some footage to the right so I could relocate the stairs. This gives you a larger living room (which is very nice) and still a guest room and closets. If you could fit the HVAC under the stairs, you could bring this east side back a few feet. Hope this helps! : )

Oooh, LL, love the stairs location!

Yes, there will be a door from the house into the carport, probably in the dining area. To keep construction costs down, we're going to have a simple metal building with a straight shot roof. We may have to have two joined units in order to get the RV garage the right size.

Also, I was wondering about the carport. Are you planning to park there or is it more connecting space for the RV garage? You said it could be a patio...so I'm wondering if you want a solid door or glass door/slider from the dining room to the carport?

What I like about the carport is that we could park there and if we ever have company, it would be a nice, big, breezeway for outside entertaining.

I like that, too : )

Based on your initial conversation and the first plan shown, I could automatically knock about 76' off of the square footage and maybe more, by downsizing your bedrooms, which you said was a possibility. Your hall needs to be 36" wide, so you can use that dimension as a guide and reduce that entire wing by (I'm saying 24", but you may able to pull it in more.

You could probably pull another 2' width out of the center of the house at the foyer. I don't know what the depth of the house is there, but whatever it is multiply it by the reduction width and subtract that amount out of your square footage. Keep in mind, you will lose that width through your living area as well. You're not quite down to where you want to be, but then again, you haven't really changed you basic layout either. Hope that helps ....

Whatever you decide to do, you are definitely taking the right steps. It is always cheaper to decide what you want while it is still on paper. Good luck, Marcy

Missouri bound....you will find several here who will help you. I will try to post a picture of my 1628 SF house that I built 3 years ago here in KS...and love it. Good luck! I made a few changes, but basically the same. You can find other pictures on this site under "Phoggie's house".

PS....I am "older" so I made this house handicapped accessible...no steps! The garage is a double garage size....I put entry closet by extending that wall between LR and kitchen....and some other changes to this original plan. I have a lake to the back so I have a lot of Windows on the back of the house.

Plans by Marcy

@phoggie .... Nice plan!!! I love the layout. It looks like a really comfortable, sensible home.

Phoggie- It's so good to see you! Saw you on the tea thread, too : )

I miss Summerfield! So many lovely designs. And Phoggie's house is one of the best.

Thanks phoggie! The more I look at your house plan, the more I think it would work for us too - without the master suite.

could you put the RV in a pole barn, that might be cheaper?

We'll consider all options. The nice thing about a metal building is that there are no trusses supporting the roof.

I thought the same thing, when I saw Phoggie's plan again. Move the garage back and make it larger...use the bedroom wing for your master and guest space.

The two porches are really nice, too! Add on your carport...between the house and garage...and you are ready to entertain : )

Phoggie, that is a very clever plan. Not an inch of wasted space.

Missouribound, the carport breezeway could have a built in summer kitchen bbq, with screens-- I've seen an ad for garage door screens that turn the space into a porch. If it's a drive through, you could have screens on both sides for lots of air flow. A great place for a party.

Missouribound.....sending you a pic of my house so you can see roof-line..

A very well thought out plan phoggie.