Your plan has evolved nicely! I don't think I'd bother with the door by the dining room table. I think it'd be too crowded to get out that door, and you have a door in the great room, only steps away. Multiple doors onto the patio will mean more difficulty placing furniture on the patio. Multiple doors also mean more doors to accidentally leave open, and if you ever do a security system, more doors = more cost. I like the increased size of your dining room table. I prefer the great room furniture placement in the second image. Why? When you walk in, you'll have "space" between the two chairs, which gives you a better view into the great room and feels more inviting. However, with a large family, the sofa is probably more practical. If you go with the sofa, I'd place a table behind it - just feels right to me. Since you don't have unlimited space in the great room, I'd go with the sliding door. Having lived with both, sliding glass doors are more functional than French doors. French doors open up into the house and take up space, whereas the sliding glass door "disappears" when you open it up -- thus, you get better air flow. I know, French doors are so pretty . . . so it's a question of function or looks. In either floorplan, I'd consider skipping the mid-room door and going with a bank of windows in its place . . . and then having a single door just at the spot where the great room meets the kitchen. A door in that place would serve both rooms and would free up your furniture placement choices. I prefer the mudroom arrangement in the first plan. Seems to be a better use of the space. I like the placement of the powder room better, and I think its laundry room is "right sized", whereas the other one is a bit bloated.

#3 would make sense if one spouse has to get up, get ready and get dressed for work very early (or very late) without disturbing the other spouse's sleep. Because with that plan, there is no need for the early riser to come back into the bedroom before leaving the house. But it does cut down on the usable space in the closet, and brings the W/D closer to the bedroom where it might be annoying if you run it at night when you go to bed (as we do sometimes). #2 accomplishes the same thing without making the closet a walk-through space. I've personally never had a walk-in closet, but I would imagine that if I did, it would be hard to keep it in a condition where I could stand to have me and/or my spouse regularly use it as a passageway. And this plan significantly cuts down on the countertop space in the master bath. #1 allows for bathroom privacy/steaminess without affecting the person needing to get in and out of the closet, and it allows for the larger vanity. But you could actually do a combo of #1 and #2 and have two doors into the closet. You'd lose a bit of hanging space, but it would give you the option. In any event, I think you woudl be greatly served by considering the use of pocket doors in a lot of places. Some doors will tend to remain open (locker-to-laundry, bath-to-closet, MBR-to-bath) and a pocket door will eliminate having a door hanging into the room all the time. Pocket doors and wider doorways will also prepare you for aging in place if mobility becomes an issue for one of you later on. Can I ask what the little maze thing is by the front door? Is that an office area? Because it seems like there is a lot of wasted space in the foyer area and in that maze/office area. If it's not really designated for anything, then there is opportunity there to use that area as the pantry, or additional storage, etc.

Consider: Providing an opening between the carport and the Entry Porch and eliminate the door from the carport into the house. Rethink the kitchen layout to tighten up the work triangle, locate the double ovens just outside the work triangle, and relocating the entry into the pantry. Accessing the closet directly from the M. Bedroom without having to go through the M. Bath. Same concept with Bedrm #2/Bath. Eliminating the gas chamber in the M. Bath. Swinging the M. Bedrm's door in the opposite direction into the room. Allowing space around the (if that is a) freestanding tub for cleaning. Aligning the double doors leading to the Screened Porch with the main entry doors. Having the entry to the pantry only off the Entry. Eliminating the porch outside the kitchen windows. Allowing three feet of space for the watercloset in Bedrm #3's Bath. Making all porch roof slopes the same. . Your draftsman should be able to understand the comments.

Overall impression: It's a decent house. Specifics I'd consider: - It doesn't seem to be a Colonial -- more like a Southern Porch house. A Colonial is more likely to have a small stoop over the front door rather than a house-wide porch. The good news is that a stoop is going to to considerably less expensive than a wide front porch, and you're unlikely to ever USE the front porch anyway. Examples of Colonials with a stoop: - Your foyer is large ... I'd lose the bump-out. You have plenty of space for people to enter /stand by the stairs as they take off their coats. - Your downstairs circulation looks good. - Your rooms are large. I live in a 1970s ranch, and my rooms are roughly the same. The positive is that they're comfortable for a growing family. The negative is that you need lots of furniture, and making a change (painting a room or changing the carpet) is expensive. I'm looking forward to downsizing, but my kids are out of the house. - You have three eating spaces here: dining room, kitchen island, breakfast room. Probably a space outside too. Is this in keeping with your lifestyle? Do you really need all these eating areas, or have you just put them in because "it's what nice houses have"? - Same question about the gathering-spaces on the first floor ... you have a large living room AND a large family room AND an office. How do you anticipate using each of these spaces? For most families, a "happy medium" is a large space where a group can gather coupled with a smaller space that can be closed off for visual /acoustical privacy. This combination allows the family to be together AND it allows for one person to separate to work, read a book, watch a ballgame alone, listen to music, etc. You seem to have two large spaces and one very small "away room". - This is a small thing, but you don't want those short wing-walls dividing the breakfast room from the family room. They'll just be in the way. You can differentiate the spaces at the ceiling. - The office/bedroom is a great size for an office ... not so great to ALSO accommodate your arthritic guest. Note, too, that your guest will have to walk out of the room /around a closet to reach the bathroom ... at the very least, move the closet towards the front of the house to position the guest closet to the bathroom. How deep is that pantry closet? It's probably 18-24", whereas a shower needs to be at least 30" deep. - What I would do with these three public gathering spaces: Make the living room into a living room /office /bedroom /divide it off with doors on both sides /use it as the "away space". Keep the family room "as is". Lose the current office /bedroom ... and, instead, use that space for a larger bathroom /mudroom /definitely keep the pantry. - Consider built-ins on each side of the fireplace ... you need storage in the family room. - No, no, no to the winder steps ... these pie shaped steps are dangerous. Instead, go with a solid, square landing. - Consider your backyard access. You have one door, which will be hard to reach because the breakfast table will sit smack-dab in front of it. - The mudroom is small but adequate ... though, being in the the middle of the house, it will be a dark /uninviting welcome home. - What size is the garage? Most people here will say that 24x24 is a good size. Straighten out the family room and the garage so the roofline and the side wall will be simple /economical. Upstairs ... - I like that you have the laundry positioned near the bedrooms. So many saved steps. - The kids' bedrooms are fairly large, but their closets are minimal. - All of the bedrooms should have windows on the sides ... natural light from two directions improves every room. - The poor kid in Bedroom 3 will hear the washer /dryer going thump-thump-thump and the shower running. Ideally you'd place closets between the kids' bedrooms as a sound barrier. Note that the kid in Bedroom 3 will knock the bedroom door against the closet door /will ruin both doors. - Divided bathrooms don't really work out so well. With two bedrooms, I'm assuming you have two kids ... two can certainly share one bathroom. I'd lose the duplicate sinks ... drawer storage near the sink is vastly superior to multiple sinks. - Why such a large master bedroom? - Double doors leading into bedrooms don't work out so well. Consider that you need two hands to open the doors ... and consider where your light switches will be (hint, behind the door).