The first thing that caught my eye was that your bed is only going to be a few feet away from the stairs and back hallway. All I know is that my 6ft 200 lb teen could not walk or use stairs quietly, even if his life depended on it!!

Thoughts: start over, hire an Architect. This plan screams "help me".

Elevations will help. Hopefully you have developed these together as they do need to be done hand in hand. But the floor plan to me seems to be all over the place, cut up a lot of wasted space, unnecessary walking to get to some parts of the house. Just because a plan service sells a set of house plans does not always make it a good livable house.

I can tell that y'all put lots of thought into the modifications you wanted to make. :-)

Sadly, this house suffers from being too "fat." It's a very, very common design mistake; most folks who post their plans here have the exact same problem, so you aren't alone.

The solution is to design a home that is only 1-2 rooms deep. Skinny houses allow for natural light to shine throughout your spaces (fat plans typically have cave-like kitchens, like yours here), and have appropriately proportioned roofs (fat plans usually have unattractive, large, top-heavy, and expensive roofs that draw the eye away from the front door).

A good residential architect would totally be an asset for you. He should take your lifestyle into consideration when designing your home, while avoiding missteps like windowless interior bathrooms (y'all's closets on the exterior walls should be swapped with the bath upstairs).

Please consider interviewing a few architects. I hear they're pretty awesome. :-)

Which direction is north?

How large is your property?

What are the best views?

Where are the elevations?

What are your room measurements?

Where is your mechanicals? Things like your hot water heaters and your HVAC?

Are you ok with absolutely no light in the kitchen?

Are you ok with your outdoor kitchen blocking views to the backyard from your living room?

Are you ok with the convoluted way to move about the house, especially with things like laundry?

Why is your office larger than your dining room?

Have you tried placing furniture in all the rooms?

How does the interior relate to the exterior?

Why do you want to build a house that will be dark without light coming in?

May I ask what you do for a living? Do you have a design background?

There are two rules I insist on for a house design:

1) It must be possible to circle through the main part of the house rather than backtracking along a single path.

2) The kitchen must have a window.

The safe room appears to be mislabeled or someone didn't understand what a safe room is.

The porch at the driveway should be labeled as a spectator booth for the car show.

How safe is the safe room? It has a window, two doors, and is convoluted to get to from absolutely everywhere in the house.

I have to agree. I assume this is for tornado-safety? We don't have tornados here, so I'm not 'specially familiar with this type of room, but I'd think you'd want it to be located in the center of the house (so everyone could reach it quickly) and you'd want it to be window-free. At a glance, I'd consider making the laundry room do double duty -- safe room AND laundry. You could take in the space under the stairs (way too much space to box in and allow to do nothing), making it a large room ... and put some type of working interior shutter over the one window at the far end of the room; this would mean you'd have two escape routes from the safe room, which sounds like a good idea. You'd have water, and you'd have ample space in this room to store energy bars, flashlights, and other things you might want in a safe room. And it's adjacent to the master bedroom /at the foot of the stairs for the kids.

But the floor plan to me seems to be all over the place, cut up a lot of wasted space, unnecessary walking to get to some parts of the house.

I agree. A jumble of rooms, no real pattern, no axis.

Sadly, this house suffers from being too "fat." It's a very, very common design mistake; most folks who post their plans here have the exact same problem, so you aren't alone.

Yeah, gotta agree. Put this plan on a diet.

Specific thoughts:

- The kitchen doesn't seem to work well. It's not quite proportioned to behave as a U-shaped kitchen, yet you have three corners with which to deal -- and corners are the least efficient part of a kitchen.

- Speaking of efficiency, you want your pantry to be placed on the side of the kitchen where you enter ... as you've placed it, you must thread the length of the kitchen to reach the food storage area.

- The breakfast room and dining room look nice, but they're the same size -- what's the thought process in creating two essentially same eating areas on opposite sides of the kitchen?

- The master bedroom is chopped up by so many doors -- and three different type of doors in the same room? Nicer masters position all the doors/the traffic pattern at the foot of the bed so that no one walks by the head of the bed; it makes for a "safer feeling" bed.

- The master bath has a load of wasted space in the middle of the room, yet you have sinks jammed up against the edges of he vanity, and the toilet looks like a stall in a public bathroom.

- Someone previously used the word "convoluted". It apples to the pathway between the master closet and the laundry -- so many turns, all while carrying a big basket. It's also a long way to walk to put away your shoes or pick up a sweater; if this were my house, I know what'd happen: All the clothes would end up piled in the more-convenient master bedroom, and the closet would be empty. The closet also appears narrow, yet it's supposed to serve as a storage area PLUS a walkway to the safe room -- inefficient. If you lose the closet by the back of the stairs, you could open up a second doorway into the master closet and eliminate many steps.

- Couldn't you combine the game room and the media room to make a nicer (and less expensive) room? It'd allow people to use the movie seating while watching people play pool (or whatever). I personally wouldn't put a bar in a game room that's located right by the kids' bedrooms -- kids are subjected to enough temptation without building it in!

- Likewise, is the Kid's Corner for computer access? I think that's dangerous. Kids can get into so much trouble so quickly with unfettered computer access, and it's already so hard to monitor. I'd consider using some of the large breakfast room for a built-in computer spot -- a spot where you can monitor more easily.

- No point in double sinks in kids' rooms ... but they do need space for storage at the vanity, and these bathrooms have none. I especially dislike the J&J between bedrooms 2 and 3 in that it wastes all the square footage on a pathway ... and then the facilities themselves are minimal. I like J&Js in general, but this one could be better.

- What I don't see is a half-bath downstairs for guests -- or for the kids to use while they're downstairs. However, you have three full baths upstairs -- with two full baths shared between four bedrooms, I'd make this game-room bath into a half-bath.

I hate to be harsh, but it looks like you stuck a series of boxes together trying to check off your list vs designing a house with flow. This house has serious problems in terms of flow and use. I would not consider this nearing the final design and would seriously consider finding a person of design talent to help you create a house that will work for you and your family. This isn't it.

What is the safe room safe from, with three doors and a large sliding glass window? The roof for this plan, if it's a pitched roof, will be very large. You can do better than this.

I don't like the unqualified hire an architect advice, so I am not going to say it. I will say now is not the time to start lying to yourself about what you can do well and what you can't. When you are not good at something you have two choices (1) get good at it, (2) use people who are already good at it. You obviously can't visualize yourself in this space.

I like the steam shower, not so hot on the rest of the plan...

Master closet - Doors eliminate hanging space in closets, corner doors eliminate the most hanging space (the door plus 1 foot to the side and 3 to 4 feet in front), two doors in opposite corners make your closet a cluttered hallway.

The office is too big, waste of space/money.

Traffic patterns are odd, hallways bad.

I hate all the advice that just says hire an architect, so I am not going to say it. I will say now is not the time to start lying to yourself about what you can do well and what you can't. When you are not good at something you have two choices (1) get good at it, (2) use people who are already good at it. You obviously can't visualize yourself in this space.

I'm not against traditional closed space layouts, but I have to agree this setup is a bit odd. You'll have to walk through the kitchen, formal dining, foyer and past the office to get to the living space ... that's a bit much, I think. Imagine if you have guests over and you want to make cocktails or what if your guest has to use the restroom? They have to go all the way back through the foyer, dining, kitchen, and then upstairs through the game room. No, no, no. Even if you opened that living room wall into the breakfast, I think you're going to have furniture placement issues (which may be why you added the wall).

I also like the steam shower. Sorry, not a fan overall.

Edited to add: Okay just saw the powder room under the stairs, but it's still an awkward hike to a bathroom. Another thing ... I like a big office space and it's an absolute must for me because I work from home and so does my spouse, but don't you want a bathroom near it? If you work from home or will be spending a lot of time in the office, I think a nearby powder room is a must.

To show you a bit about what we're all trying to say, I used colored arrows to show different tasks or movement during a day.

Red is bringing in food from the garage after going shopping. Notice how getting from the garage to the fridge isn't a big deal, but to get to the pantry means walking through the kitchen.

Light green is if a guest needs to use the bathroom while in the living room. Or if you need to use the bathroom while working in your office.

Dark green is the path (right through the kitchen and behind the person cooking, which is a safety hazard) a guest will take if they're at the dining table and need to use the bathroom.

Purple is the path your kids will need to take to get to the safe room if they are upstairs in the middle of the night.

Orange is the path you'll need to take to bring food from your indoor kitchen to your outdoor kitchen to cook.

Additionally any time your children want to get upstairs, it means walking through the breakfast room.

You also have a lot of room devoted to sitting and eating. The breakfast room, the dining room and the breakfast bar. Do you need 3 places to eat or would you be better off with two that work better and give you more room for actual living space.

Think about what else you do in a day and how you'd maneuver around your house.

Personally, I like the porch by the garages. I can see family and friends driving up and parking in the driveway and having a place to get out of the rain before entering the house. However, if you don't think that you'll be entering the house through that back door very much, you might want to use the square footage for something else.

Your office seems very large. Will two or more people be working in there? Is it going to be a "get away from the kids" room? If it's not a "work at home" situation, you might want to make it a little smaller and then put the powder room in between the office and living room to make it more accessible to the living areas of the house.

You have a nice roomy kitchen, but it does seem a little blocked off from the living room. Maybe an "L" shaped kitchen with an island would be more functional.

At the top of the stairs it looks like you walk into a wall. Is that going to be a half wall between the stair hall and the game room? You might consider that as it would make the sight lines through the upstairs better.

I know it's tough to read the comments about your plans when you have spent so much time working on them. My husband insisted I post my plans here that I designed myself and spent a year working on . . . and the plans were slammed. It hurt. However, people posted some things that I would never have thought about which led to some good changes. I also kept a lot of things some posters thought were awful, but those design items matched my family's lifestyle. So, once I got over the shock that those plans I worked on so hard weren't perfect LOL, I could look at them with an objective eye.

Take your time and keep at it and don't be afraid to change some things. I'm sure your home will turn out wonderfully.

It does look pretty awkward getting around in this house...

However, depending on your office plans/needs, there is nothing wrong with a large office -- AND it could be turned into an additional bedroom if necessary. (Assuming a nearby full bathroom...)

Breakfast to living room is a bit of a hike. I do appreciate closed kitchens, but as others have noted, do you need both the breakfast room and the dining room since both are the same size? Your kitchen is devoid of natural daylight, being situated so internally.

I do love the notion of a steam shower.... hmm, too late for my build!!!

Let me start by thanking everyone for your comments. I've had experience with design, but in a different field. I'm an electronic engineer, and I design hardware and software for living. This is actually my first attempt, not necessarily the best, to do an architectural design. It took us almost half a year to come up with this plan, but still continue working on it. I do agree with your comments about letting professionals do their jobs. That's one of the reasons I decided to post here, so you can criticize my work, which I appreciate.

As I mentioned in the beginning, we live in Texas where "everything is big". We have 2 acres of land where we're planning to put a house.

I'd like to make a remark on safe room. The safe room is actually a hidden room where we'll put gun safe and maybe some exercise equipment. The dinning room in Texas is just a formal dinning. The breakfast bar is more like a serving bar than eating. The first floor ceiling height is 12 ft. (except for master bath, closet, 1-car garage, and "safe" room) and the second floor's is 10 ft. I placed tall windows in both, living room and breakfast area, so more light can enter the house. We plan to put a chute on a second floor that will go straight to a laundry room. My wife works from home, so office size is a must. However, I reduced office size to accommodate guest restroom and also to avoid unnecessary traffic to the restroom under the stairs. We planned all our rooms based on the furniture that we already have. The media room can also serve as additional bedroom with its own closet, if needed. The idea behind the Kid's Corner is to have built-in bookshelves and a bench to have some quit time. There are base cabinets underneath each sink to be used for storage.

The main entrance is mainly used as guest entrance, while side and garage entrances will be used by us most of the time. There is one shoe closet by the side entrance and one by the main entrance for convenience.

Front Elevation

Back Elevation

Left Elevation

Right Elevation

One of the major reasons you don't want a landlocked kitchen or a landlocked laundry room aside from natural light is the ease of venting. Ideally both rooms would have exterior walls. Your range hood will be FAR more effective if it's a short, straight run from the hood to an exterior wall, and the dryer vent is much easier to clean and works better (and I think is less of a fire hazard? Don't quote me on that) if it's a short, straight run to an exterior wall.

No advice from me, just wondering what part of Texas? Thinking it could be cool to find someone in the same general area to compare company reviews, etc. I'm about an hour North of DFW. Texas is huge, so probably slim chance.

Howdy Ed,

Nice house plan you have there.. It is well suited for southern, warm areas with little insulation needs unlike northern tight envelopes. If you have a big lot, even better. What I would add aesthetically is wider hips!

Right now it looks like a squeezed tract home with the roof slope. You said you got this plan online so cant blame you as it may have been meant for a small lot. If you have more space, make it more appealing with hipped roofs around. It sets the home more grounded and occupies the space more majestically on spaced lots where those angles really dramatize the roof from front elevation. Compare the pics to what Ive rendered with fully hipped roof at marginally little extra cost. The gentler the slope, the better the effect.

Actually the gabled roof looks a lot better than the cut off hipped roof that National One is suggesting.

One thing I didn't see mentioned is which direction is north?

Your exterior is mixing various styles of architecture with nothing that creates a cohesiveness.

I realize how frustrating it is to work on something for a year and then to have it torn apart. It's like telling you that your baby is ugly and not smart.

It took me well over a year with help from this forum to get my house to a stage that will really work well. And I do have a design background, but still needed so much help to make it work well. It probably would have been faster and cheaper in the long run if I had let an architect design my house.

The problem with internet plans is most of them are fairly generic without really considering how the family really lives. For example, in your home, do you really need 3 eating areas inside the house plus the one I assume you'll have outside? When designing a custom house, everything can work for how you actually live vs how a generic family would live. The fact you're on a couple of acres means you can move the garage from the front of the house, and have the house oriented so it takes best advantage of passive solar heating/cooling.

Designing for electronics also needs quite a bit of skill regarding creativity, but it is a heck of a lot different than trying to design a house, which also needs a critical eye for design, layout, flow, etc. Someone who does architectural design will be able to think outside the box, just like you think outside the box when you're doing your work. You trained for years to learn your job, and then have spent years trying to perfect what you do. It's the same with an architect or person of design talent.

Please consider taking what you've done and refining it with the help of someone who has the years of training to make it work even better for you. Let them suggest ways to make it more visually pleasing and flow better.

Something is not right with the roof as shown. Does it have a large flat area in the middle of the hipped areas, in and round where the chimney is shown? I think that may be the only way that the roof is as low as shown.

Craftsman style is one of my favorites and I like the gable roof better too. Just a small suggestion on the front, stone is usually on the bottom and siding will be on the top. The reason older Craftsman homes had stone is because the stone was used for the foundation. It's a heavier material so it would go on the bottom, and the lighter wood framing and siding goes above. :-)

So a the safe room is a "keep our guns and valuables safe" kind of safe room, not a "we need to hide from intruders or tornadoes" kind of safe room. I've seen lots of those gun safe rooms in Utah which is probably a lot like Texas in that everyone likes to hunt and they have guns. I've even seen huge "bank safe" type doors on those rooms so kiddos can't get in there where the guns are. It's a good idea in my opinion.

Sorry but it's not craftsman.

More like a medieval raised ranch house.

Nothing ranchy here. Move on, folks!

This is what ranch architecture looks like in South Texas, courtesy Michael J. Imber, Architects:

The plan, above, in the initial posts is one of the deepest I believe I have seen on this forum. It is virtually as deep as it is wide. Is the site very small, necessitating such an uncomfortable proportion for a house? The result will be a very dark interior, and a very ungainly high and out of proportion roof. The elevations above have recognized the problem of a huge roof, and have simply flattened the roof over much of the second story, making two roofs: a flat, built-up roof, above pitched, shingled roofs. The two side elevations are the tip off; the front and rear elevations shown the extent of the flat roof. What appears to be a ridge line is, in fact, the plane of the flat roof. A much better design is deserved for what the cost of this 4,200 sf house will be.

Virgil, I would call that a Texas Mission style house but what do I know about architecture? Not a damn thing. LOL

Sabrinatx, you are certainly right about the heritage of the ranch, Rancho Dos Vidas, by Michael Imber--it certainly has a Spanish mission heritage, or Spanish Colonial heritage, as does most of South Texas! And it's less a house, and more a compound! The thing about Texas ranch architecture is finding a way to blend architecture, history and thousands of acres into a comfortable and supportive setting! Another photo showing how the ranch buildings sit on the land: