You seem so darn excited and happy with what you have here. :-) Are you sure you want a true critique? How thick is your skin?

What ODD asked.

That is going to be one massive roof.

That is a really large house on a lot that is not so big...

Because of the deepness in both directions - your kitchen and great room will be very dark.

Consider ditching anything and everything that is a weird angle. (breakfast bar, master closet, master bath, door to the rear porch... rarely are those done well and they should almost always be replaced with a 90 degree angle.

Also - nix the double doors - they just suck up usable floor space and after you open them dramatically once, they lose their appeal.

It's Texas. I was amazed at the size of the roofs.

Just because it's done in TX doesn't mean you need to follow the herd. (Now I sound like my mother.)

Thank ya'll (yes, it is Texas and everything is bigger in Texas)! Yes, tell me your honest feedback. I have think skin and have been reading for over 1.5 yrs here. It is always good to have a variety of opinions. All of the kids rooms do open into a hall (even though it maybe short). As of now, we will probably stay with 2 sinks for the 2nd master. (Until we start budget cutting :) This bath is one I really want to work on though. Office is not for work from home. Bill pay, some work, and kids study area. This area may flex into something else in the future when the older 3 are gone.

Yes, we need a coat closet at the front, that is on my list. Thank you for noticing!

I hadn't thought about the site-line with the bench. First thought is...people know we have 4 kids and seeing a few backpacks is ok. But, I will have to continue to think about it.

The Master closet is supposed to have a pass thru...not a doorway. I have this on the list. It will be more like a cabinet door that opens into the laundry room that has a hanging bar. So, when in the laundry all you have to do is hang the clothes on the bar and poof they are in the master closet. Underneath will be a laundry drop because I am lazy with dirty laundry.

So the garage will probably never have more than one vehicle in it...Because it is Texas. My husband drives a super jacked up F350 long bed.....so that will never go in there. My Excursion (see BIG), will go in the double door side so that will leave plenty of room. The single side will have ATVs in it. But yes a fullsize fridge in the garage.

The game room is isolated because we just don't have the width to spread out. But this may be a good thing for movie watching etc.

I agree with double doors to a bedroom.....a pain. I had them to my office before and liked them for aesthetic reasons (since I keep the doors closed).

Things I have on the "list" to change, (from what I have learned from other plans) :

Add 6-12 inches depth to front porch (says rear porch on drawing)

Add Coat closet near entry

Remove bookshelves from office (I have very nice ones and to allow flexibility later)

2nd Master- Redesign bath closet layout

Hollywood bath- bump out to in-line with house, use sqft in closet

Gameroom- make longer 16 x 25

Garage- remove built ins and put in L shaped stairs for attic access- put fridge and icemaker under stairs.

Laundry- bump out to be inline with master bath, add door to exterior to access Truck parked on pad and ease of taking out the trash

slide 1/2 bath over into new space since laundry is moved out.

Extend kitchen cabinets to space 1/2 bath was with endcap for broom closet. May use this area as a beverage center

Bump out Her watercloset and flip- use old space for hidden safe area

Turn master BR horizontal----would this be ok? How would you put furniture

Remove wall where you enter master - how to use this space so I don't have to walk around a wall to go to RR if I were in any area other than master??

Extend back patio

Back yard is approx. 8000 sq ft, Front yard is approx. 3000 with current setback from the street.

The darkness is doesn't worry me at all. I am more concerned about the patios being boxed in and maybe creating an oven with no air flow.

Again, thank you so much for providing any comments!!!

All of the kids rooms do open into a hall (even though it maybe short).

What I meant was, for 3 of the kids their 2 bedrooms ultimately empty into the corner of the living room. That little hall should empty to the side, just by the foyer. As it is right now, the LR is too much of a passageway. Give it at least one quiet corner for furniture or artwork. actually, the LR is in general a passageway. I fear you will always have kids leaping over furniture (they love obstacle courses) and knocking ottomans around as they go to and from kitchen, bedrooms, and game room.

Hon, I am sooo sorry to be saying this... :-(

Complete. Do. Over.

House is waaaaay too fat. Think 1-2 rooms deep, not the (holy smoke!) 4-5 that you have. Fat houses have massively expensive and unattractive roofs. (The front door should always be what draws the eye, not the roof.) Homes that are 1-2 rooms deep are heavenly to live in, bringing natural light and breezes into your life. :-)

Lots of great shapes exist for healthy, skinny houses -- L, T, U, C, H/I -- and these alphabet floor plans can be placed on many different sized lots. I beg you to seriously consider this kind of approach, and also, either building up (or reducing square footage) if necessary, to get an appropriately sized house for your lot.

If you haven't already, please consider interviewing a few residential architects. Home design is just as much science as art. It really is a skill set worth investing in.

*Sorry, please don't hate me, lol.*

A lot better can be done here. Please post a site plan with the setbacks. This will determine the "build box". And speaking of boxes, you need some thinking outside of one.

Who designed this?

I'm sorry but I have to agree with ODD and architectrunnerguy. This has so many flaws in it as ODD said. I have appointments today, but later I can go into more detail and explain why.

Besides the Fat Plan, there's a lot of wasted space in circulation. Have you counted the lineal and square footage devoted to corridors and circulation, simply to get from point A to point B? You really can do better!

Maybe you might get some additional ideas from these houses, both one level, no big roofs. Good luck!

This H-shaped house, remodel so the "after" and site plan are at the end of the scroll bar at the top:
http://awarchitect.com/menlo-oaks-residence/#nogo

This entry courtyard home, layout can be inferred from photos:
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Altos/1350-Miravalle-Ave-94024/home/1525548

Also this

http://www.katrinaleechambers.com/floor-plan-friday-dreamy-4-bedroom-with-soaring-ceilings-open-floor-plan-and-big-windows/

First, I agree with the people who say this is an ill-proportioned design. It's totally possible to build a narrow house that isn't deep and dark ... but this isn't it. All the main rooms in this house will be dark, dark, dark (and I'm not quick to jump on the "so dark!" band wagon). You said your lot is 20,000 -- I'm assuming that's total square footage, not cost -- but what are your dimensions? And if dimensions are narrow, is the side-entry garage possible?

I really think that if you want a house this size on a lot this size, you need to go up or down. That is, you either need to move the kids' bedrooms and/or the game room UP to a second floor or down to a basement.

I agree that all the bathrooms (with the exception of the half bath) need major work. I don't agree at all that dual master baths are the key to a good marriage; in terms of house building, I'd say the most important item for your marriage is keeping on budget -- because going over budget will be a stressor for years to come. They'll also be more to clean for years to come.

I like the way you've connected the laundry-master closet. You say it's a pass-through, not a door? I'd go with a door ... or a lower-half pass-through so that you could use a commercial laundry cart as a laundry basket. But, really, with a closet that size, you can afford a door.

I like the idea of putting the boys into a second master bedroom. As you say, your older kids will be out the door so soon, and it won't be long at all 'til you're in my shoes and your oldest kids'll be marrying. You'll want a place where they can come back home (with a spouse) for a weekend, and you'll want a room that'll hold at least a queen-sized bed.

Do you have exterior elevations?

If the one story request is because of aging in place, have you considered two stories and an elevator?

In our area it is not unusual to see single-story houses this size on lots between .25-.5 acre. The three houses I linked are all on lots 20,000 ft2 or smaller. I suppose typical house-to-lot sq footage ratios vary quite a bit by neighborhood.

Totally understand... I loooove the look of two story houses, but hate living in them. Too many falls as a kid, and a recent fall as an adult. Not to mention cleaning the darn things (we have carpet, which definitely serves to reduce my time in Purgatory, lol). I am always up and down the darn stairs all day, carrying small children as I go. I suppose it's keeping me young, at least. :-)

After seeing your site plan, I really think you can have a nice 1-2 rooms deep home! Our old house was a single story, H shaped tract home, and our lot was tiny compared to yours.

A 30 second "Big Idea", or in architect speak the "Parti". "L" shaped with a public wing and a private wing. You can do better than what you posted. Of course I have no idea as to orientation.

Orientation is critical, can you share which direction is north?

My first thought was the same as Architectrunnerguy in that you should do an L shaped house.

Is your site plan correct that there is only 20'-8" between the property line and the face of your garage doors? That will make it very hard to get in and out of the garage, especially with large vehicles.

I thought the same thing Virgil, hence the "?" on my conceptual. I like a min. of 25'. The OP did say that the garage won't have more than 1 vehicle in it and it will go in the double door side, angled in I guess. Not ideal. A variation of my concept is a FRONT facing garage but the house is set further back maybe creating an entry court and some kind of interesting sequence to getting to the front door entering the house. I did that in my own house being as my lot is 50' wide with a 2 car garage. It works well. I may look at that.

Do yourself a BIG favor, hire an architect. Long story, I started here the same way. We hired ArchitectRunnerGuy and BAAM, beautiful house !

And we're progressing well. Long conference call yesterday with Pensacola and the local person doing the construction docs to be sure we're all on the same page. And I think we are.

Again, I really appreciate everyone's feedback. One of the reason's I nix'd the walkway from the laundry to master closet is...it is DANGEROUS!! Heaven forbid we don't lock that little door and a kid comes thru that door into the master ...during a certain time...wow...that would be horrific for a kid!

The home is facing West...lots of TEXAS sun/ heat. Fortunately, the only bedroom on that side is the 2nd master. I have actually thought about an L shaped house, but I think for us the flow of this works better. It is important for 1) 1 story 2) split plan 3) must stay within the building lines 4) get everything we want room wise. We are very laid back and just want the house to be accessible and not have anything too crazy. This is one of the floor plans of inspiration.. bry911 I agree with your not liking too much light, especially here in Texas. It is amazing how it just overwhelms a room, piercing your eyes, you can't watch TV, & causes headaches, etc. And I love the outdoors...just don't want to wear sunglasses inside my house! I want to minimize wasted space but I like some rooms that are not boxes. It adds interest and not just same old same old square room. (if it doesn't make furniture arranging a mess)

I went to a friend's home who has a side load garage, we measured and set up barriers, I pulled in and out of her garage at 20ft was easy peasy! She videoed it for me to be able to see how much room I had.

This may be close to a world's record for fat plans! Have you seen a perspective or photo of this scheme? Does it have a very large roof?

Here are pics of what we started with and then the AFTER and what we are building. ArchitechRunnerGuy does AMAZING work. Looking back now, what we started with was God AWFUL. Best of luck in working on your design. I have said it MANY time, I am NO architect or designer and here's the PROOF.

bpathome: thank you for the comment about possible site lines and the bench....something I may move if I can and the comment about needing storage for the 2nd master bathroom products. That room needs alot of work.

Here is the link with pics..http://www.texashouseplans.net/4250plan.html

I am just curious. To me architecture is as much an art as it is a science. However, some prefer one type of art over another...just like in genre of music. I for one can't stand rap music. I detest it. My dislike does not make it 'wrong'. Yet, I will not spend any of my money on anything related to rap. Many love rap music and it makes plenty of money. So...apply this to architecture. Do many architects prefer a certain 'type' of construction and disprove of 'fat' layouts or big roofs? This is obviously not my profession, but I do love learning about other professions and other perspectives.

Here's my two cents. Architecture is NOT my thing, I am a PI LOL. Had we kept on going with what we had without at the VERY LEAST speaking to ArchitectRunnerGuy, I am here to tell you that we would have made a $300,000 plus dollar mistake EASILY $300K and then some without batting an eye. Don't know about you, but we cannot afford to make that kind of a mistake. Best of luck to you, exciting times ahead for you.

Light, scale, massing, relating a house to the land, circulation, spacial relationships are architectural elements that are present in all styles. Just like tempo and lyrics are in different types of music.

Comments about light bother me. Light does not have to equal oppressive heat or blinding light. Shading structures and roofs and overhangs can allow reflected light and the view of light, without letting the sun beat into rooms. It will be bright but indirect. This concept seems lost on a lot of people. It's not just letting light rays directly into the house - it's about managing them to provide natural daylighting and NOT getting the bad parts of that. It's also about not having that many windows or outdoor spaced to the west - where the low suns impossible to shade an drives the most heat socking and "blinding" rays.

The fat roof (on any style) dwarfs the house and looks like it's sitting on top of the structure, driving it into the ground. However, so many folks have grown accustomed to that look - a massive roof that makes the house tall, huge, massive, insert big word here, that it's now somehow a "feature" instead of something to avoid.

And it should be avoided because it means several things- a huge roof bill, overcoming a sea of shingles (usually with fake features like dormers into an empty attic), lack of light in interior rooms, and weird flows inside the big square. None of which are (or should be) desirable.

bry911. I agree, we all have different goals and uses for our homes. I too hate watching tv with a glare...why I have the gameroom in the back away from pretty much any light. This is where we will watch movies. I want it DARK. Windows will be either on the North or South side of that room so that room should be good to watch tv in pretty much any time of day.

I still use an alarm clock and flip it downward concealing the light from me while I sleep! From a medical perspective, all our bodies are different and respond differently to various stimulation: light, sound, cold, hot, and medications. I think the key to creating a home is to identify and minimize the sources of stimulation which affect us negatively while promoting the function of the home within the constraints of our budget and lot.

Just so folks outside of Texas don't get the wrong idea, lol, I don't find the sun half as unbearable here as I found it in Arizona. ;-) And even then, my H-shaped, light-filled house was a joy to live in, even in Phoenix!

We like to control light, too, but we save our movie watching for nighttime. The only place this might be a problem for us would be in, oh I dunno, Anchorage? ;-)

Very interesting, that some of y'all like dark houses. I live in one now, and am resisting every urge to punch window-sized holes in the walls (it's a rental, don't wanna lose my deposit).

So what do YOU think of the roof elevation?

Are all 2 story plans out? What if only the game room were upstairs?

Our friends home has a game room and guest room/bath upstairs, from the front exterior elevation it looks like a 1 story house and since all bedrooms are downstairs it is a really functional layout.

BTW, I like the first layout better than the 2nd. I would leave the door from the laundry to the master closet. Your children are old enough to know/learn to knock and wait for permission to enter a room.

MOST people appreciate a light filled home - look at the real estate listings touting windows and light. But- if you prefer artificial light you could use that as a goal in a new home. You could have the minimum of windows.... you could have one egress window in a bedroom and solid entry doors. You'd take a bath on resale - but hey - it's your money.

Custom homebuilding works for people who have specific needs. Sometimes those needs go against mainstream or even "good" design principles.

I am not dictating how much light is right, I am simply commenting that knowingly designing a house where the common spaces lack natural light isn't a desirable trait, and that managing light is something a good plan will address.

I don't think it will be caveish but probably a little darker than what many prefer and that is fine. We are definitely not 'most people' or average. I plan on putting dimmers on many of the switches as well. To me all 2 story plans are out. If we absolutely must put something upstairs it would be the 2 smaller rooms with the Hollywood bath not the gameroom. I know MANY people who put the gameroom up and the adults just don't go up there. I am trying to think what not only what this season of life looks like, but what the next season will look like (7-8 yrs from now) and even the next. While I cannot absolutely predict, I can try. In 8 yrs, my kids will be 22, 21, 19 and 14. I COULD have a grandchild (although I hope not). If that were the case I would not want to have to worry about a grandchild falling down the stairs, everyone being separated, but more of a back and forth movement when the whole family is together. I am not naïve to think this is our forever home because I do not have a crystal ball. We never know what life may throw our way. After this home is built, we plan on building a lake house which will be a more light filled home with a flow I think many of you would like better :)

bry911 your last 2 comments don't seem to align with one another. I never tried to tell you how much light was good for you, nor did I ever say I had an issue with intentionally keeping a room on the darker side. Heck - I am doing that in my own build - as one of the guest rooms will have only one egress window because I want to be able to cover it during thunderstorms- as I have a dog that freaks out with lightning.

Getting light to penetrate a deep house is hard. It's a heck of a lot better to have the light and have to manage it, than to not have it at all.

Best of luck to the OP on the new build.

final comment - bry911 - you directed one response specifically to me and in the other, you quoted part of my post. Thus the inference that these responses were not to all the other posts. It's not a stretch to say this plan won't be light and airy. It won't be. People with far more design credentials than I have offered the same input, one even going so far as to provide an alternative.

Many love rap music and it makes plenty of money. So...apply this to architecture. Do many architects prefer a certain 'type' of construction and disprove of 'fat' layouts or big roofs? This is obviously not my profession, but I do love learning about other professions and other perspectives.

As an artist I can answer it from an art perspective. There are some basic tenets of good design in art. Those basics work if you prefer hyper realism, abstract expressionism, impressionism, or any other ism in the art world. There is good and bad no matter what type of ism you prefer. (Of course plenty of people like poorly designed or executed paintings and drawings too. And that of course is their right. There's a reason Thomas Kinkade was so popular.)

It's no different in architecture. There are tenets of good design that hold true whether your preferred house style is mediterranean, craftsman, post modern, bauhaus, farmhouse, etc.

Usually those things include allowing light into the public rooms, having good flow between rooms, not having useless spaces for the sake of having a space, etc. The problem with fat houses is they have massive roofs that overwhelm the house itself so the roof becomes the most important visual element. Additionally, they have way too many rooms between them so light has no way to enter.

I'm in the south too. I'm in FL and you can bet with proper planning, I arranged to have lots of light coming in yet also allowing for it to be filtered so I'm not going to be blinded. How did I do that? My public rooms are oriented towards the south, and I have wide eaves. I've minimized the light coming from the east and the west since that is normally the light coming in at a sharp angle early or late in the day that blinds us.

why I have the gameroom in the back away from pretty much any light.

If you want your game room without light then why did you stick it on the end of the house in a space where you could have windows on two or 3 sides? Why not stick it in the middle of the house where no light gets in naturally? Why not put your dining or kitchen in that space and put the game room in the windowless kitchen area?

This is exactly what we mean by good design. You arrange the rooms so they work for your needs.

Seems the OP is perfectly happy with what they have designed so really the question at this point is moot. Best of luck on your build. :)

To me architecture is as much an art as it is a science. However, some
prefer one type of art over another...just like in genre of music. I for
one can't stand rap music. I detest it. My dislike does not make it
'wrong'. Yet, I will not spend any of my money on anything related to
rap. Many love rap music and it makes plenty of money. So...apply this
to architecture. Do many architects prefer a certain 'type' of
construction and disprove of 'fat' layouts or big roofs? This is
obviously not my profession, but I do love learning about other
professions and other perspectives.

I understand your analogy, but the thing is, you're not talking about musical preferences here -- you're talking about misplaced notes, or a tempo that doesn't work with the melody, or instruments that don't blend well together. Even when you're talking about forms of art, rules still exist.

You got it right in your title: This is a first draft. It can be polished and improved significantly, but -- for that to happen -- you have to be willing to listen to advice. And you're getting good advice here.

I have actually thought about an L shaped house, but I think for us the flow of this works better.

Let's test that theory and see if the house has good flow. The red lines represent the path you'd take from the various parts of the house to the laundry room. Note that EVERY ONE OF THEM funnels through the kitchen, one of the busiest rooms in your house. So while you're cooking, people'll be squishing through carrying large baskets of clothes to and fro. This is the exact opposite of good flow.

So the question is, how can you make ALL (or at least most) of your daily chores run easily like the food storage ... instead of horribly like the laundry lay out?

Consider all the other things you do on a daily basis that could either run poorly ... or be designed well: Bringing in the mail, taking out the trash, taking care of the dog, managing the kids' homework, storage of sports equipment, wrapping a present, sitting down to read a book. Think through all these things, and then work on laying out the house so that everything you need is logically organized.

Comments about light bother me. Light does not have to equal oppressive
heat or blinding light. Shading structures and roofs and overhangs can
allow reflected light and the view of light, without letting the sun
beat into rooms. It will be bright but indirect. This concept seems
lost on a lot of people. It's not just letting light rays directly into
the house - it's about managing them to provide natural daylighting and
NOT getting the bad parts of that. It's also about not having that
many windows or outdoor spaced to the west - where the low suns
impossible to shade an drives the most heat socking and "blinding"
rays.

Yeah, I don't think many people actually dislike light-filled rooms. I mean, look at pictures of lovely rooms in magazines -- one thing that's a given in almost every one of them is that they're filled with IDEAL LIGHT, even small, cozy libraries framed out in dark woods.

Thing is, if you've lived with LESS-THAN-IDEAL-LIGHT, it's easy to say, "The light shines on my TV just wrong, and I can't watch my Sunday afternoon football games! The problem is light!" No, the problem is that you have a window poorly positioned so that it pours light into your entertainment system. This could have been avoided by placing the items in the house more effectively ... or by using better window treatments.

I removed my comments and I am stepping out.

With all due respect, I really don't want to be told I don't understand how the sun comes through windows, but would prefer to not continue this discussion.

I find faults with the traffic patterns in the plan as Virgil indicated above, I don't find interior kitchens to be bad, nor do I find the other parts of the plan unworkable. I am OK with roofs dominating houses that seems to be what everyone wants these days.

Seems the OP is perfectly happy with what they have designed so really the question at this point is moot. Best of luck on your build. :)

I agree here.

We've had these before...."Give me your input" threads when in reality they're "Validate this" threads. I remember we had one a while back where there were like 60 well intentioned suggestions and all we did was change the swing to the door in the powder room. A total waste of everyone's free time.

And here I think we've added a foyer closet and space for the toilet paper in the 2nd master bath....although I might have missed something the threads gotten so long.

And it's not unique to this forum. We have these in the running forums too. Posters who write "I just started running. Ok to do a marathon next month?"

60 responses...."No, give it time. There will be marathons next year"...

Last OP response, "Thanks but I'm running anyway!". A total waste of typing time.

But the best of luck in your build. Exciting times ahead for sure!!!

mrspete. Thank you for taking the time to look at the flow and even draw everything out for me. The one you drew on was one of my inspiration plans. I completely agree with you on the traffic thru the kitchen, so I added the hallway.

Architectrunnerguy I am not happy with what we have...but it is a start. I have been battling our entire city with setbacks and had to amend a city ordinace just to get going. So I am excited to get going on planning and not sitting idle.

I know it is completely frustrating to all the professionals here to watch painfully as we make mistakes; however, it's all a learning process. It does take time to digest the comments and view points.

I have learned so much from reading all of ya'lls comments on various posts and I truly thank you for that. I have 'tried' to incorporate many of the lessons you have taught me into the design. Nothing is perfect, our house will not be an exception.

If you feel like commenting, thank you. No need to be rude are snarky.

This is what I think needs to be modified:

Architectrunnerguy... I too am a runner of marathons.. I am not running away.:)

Excellent! . Nothing like running. I've run many marathons too, including qualifying for and running Boston.......OUCH, I just threw my arm out patting myself on the back now ....

But listen.. sure you have preconceived ideas, which have merit, the same as I've found for the ideas of my clients, but let me forward to you a couple of thoughts by two creative people...

Henry Ford observed "If I had asked people what they wanted they would have told me "A faster horse".

And Steve Jobs mused “A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them. Everyone wanted an iPhone when they first appeared, but no one could have described what they wanted before seeing one".

Put trust in your architect to carry you through the process in the spirit of Mr. Ford and Mr. Jobs and you'll have a home that is the very best.

And speaking of the best, here's wishing you the best of luck with your project. Exciting times!

I have been battling our entire city with setbacks and had to amend a city ordinace just to get going. So I am excited to get going on planning and not sitting idle.

Boy do I know that feeling and just about everyone who's been following my saga for 19 months also knows the feeling.

I came here with a decent design. It then went through so many changes with help from the architects and house lovers on this forum, it's mind boggling. It eventually included buying an additional 3000 square feet of the lot next door (I'm on a city lot) so I could add what we couldn't on the narrower lot, and turning the house 90 degrees so the public rooms faced south. It went from being a decent house to a really good one that will function really well for DH, DD (dear dog) and myself.

(If you're interested in reading my saga, message me and I'll give you the link)

My point though is to get from decent to really good because I was truly open to changes, and thinking outside the box. I didn't take everyone's advice but I truly thought about it.

And even when I didn't take advice, there were times it spurred me in a different direction that greatly improved my house. One example is when Architectrunnerguy showed me a different way to lay out my master bedroom/bathroom suite. It wasn't quite right for DH and myself, but I was able to see that if I started with his premise and reworked my master suite, I'd have a much better and more private area. I couldn't have done that if I had been closed off to his ideas.

You are at a very early stage of your designing. Don't be in a rush. Be open to completely changing your ideas of how your one story house may lay out. In the long run, you may be a lot happier.