It's hard to give an opinion without seeing how the space works with the rest of the house. Also how does it work with the exterior?

we took the fireplace out of our plan, we live in southeast texas and most of the year it could not be used we did leave space and gas connections for a stove there are some beautiful stoves out there however, two years later we still don't have one this is the first house i've lived in in55 years that did not have a fireplace, but arranging furniture is much easier without it

Whatever you do, please don't push the fireplace under the stairs... I have a hard enough time seeing houses with fireplaces in them, but no chimneys outside, lol.

Agreed that for further thoughts, I'd have to see a complete plan. :-)

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4089152/final-plans-and-elevations-opinions

Posting the whole house got great feedback but was overwhelmed. Walked away for a bit. Sticking with me was the living room with all the traffic paths could be improved. Want to square away living room / stairs. Will revisit the upstairs making it work with what stairs is best for the downstairs.

Cpartist you pointed out all the paths last time. Thank you was very helpful. Caused me great anxiety but better now....

Zippity yes that is something that can be added later and are considering skipping it.

Devoted dame we are doing electric likely. The house we just sold had gas which we never used because we live in the southeast. We are considering doing a two sided propane. Wood burning does not work well here.

Am starting over furniture wise. But did want to make sure it would work for a sectional just in case. This room has a lot in common with our previous living room which was 14 x 22 from the fireplace wall. Fireplace and kitchen on opposite long walls. Always close to the fireplace. With little room to move around furniture.

Maybe we should move the doors so a fireplace could go between there and decide after we move in?

Have you considered putting the fireplace between the two front windows?

Just some thoughts:

Version 2 or 4 will give you a better wall for furniture placement. Version 4 gives you a lot more private entrance to the master bedroom.

If you like Cpartist's idea to put the fireplace in between the front windows you could have an interesting looking chimney on the front of the house (like a craftsman home).

If you go with 2 or 4 and don't need a solid wall for furniture, you could also do some type of open stair design to the living room with a fancy handrail and have a more open design.

Designing a house is stressful isn't it? And especially posting on a forum like this, you tend to second guess everything. I know when I posted my plans, everyone had ideas that were very specific to their personal situation and tastes and they didn't quite consider the info that I had given. I also felt that quite a few of the posts were a little mean-spirited. However, I did get two great ideas that I used and I decided to not settle for the so-so design of my master bath and I fixed it. Just go with your gut about what will work for you and your family, keep and open mind to other's ideas, keep trying different things and you will get there. Just look how much better your upstairs works compared to your original plan - you did a great job with that :-)

That's the problem. I don't think 2 or 4 is good for layout because where do you place the furniture? You need space to get out of the two doors to the back. You need room to walk around to the kitchen and you need room to walk around to the bedroom.

And I noted the problem of putting the fireplace on the other wall in the first thread.

I personally still think the house layout needs to be refined and worrying about a fireplace when the layout overall needs work, is trying to decorate a cookie before the dough is rolled out.

gpeach1 who are you working with on the design of the house?