I would not like my bedroom entry off the front door that way. My preference would to have my bedroom facing south, rather than giving that space to the bathroom.

I think I'd swap office doors and the closet. It brings the closet closer to where it's needed, creating more of an entryway, and the office doors closer to the living area for less isolation.

I have to say, I don't think I'd like my bedroom right off the entry, either. We have a guest room off the foyer, same position as yours, and when I have slept in there (while painting upstairs) I just didn't like it! Could you: move the front door to the right a bit, move the stairs forward to turn and land in front of the door and facing the (moved) closet doors, and put the MBr door behind the stairs, nearer the living space?

Lots to like here, but I see some things I'd alter:

- Consider the path between the laundry room and the master bedroom:

- Note that the laundry room and the mudroom are eating up as much square footage as your great room (or your kitchen). Yes, these rooms are necessary, but I wouldn't devote this much space to them -- they're out of proportion with the size of the house. The laundry room is the big space hog -- so much space used, and most of it is just empty walking-space ... not cabinets or anything else. Here's a quick sketch of how you could cut the space in half without losing anything -- washer/dryer are in blue, you have plenty of space for a back door, you have two spaces that'll work for the pantry and the bathroom, and you have space for a small bench and a couple lockers:

- I can't read the dimensions on the bathroom fixtures, but I don't think your vanity is big enough to support two sinks ... and, if you cram two into that space, you'll end up with no drawers for storage right there where you need it.

- You really don't want a pocket door on your master bath. They're great for places where you rarely close the door (like a laundry room), but they're awful for a bathroom, where you open/close the door multiple times a day. They're not as easy to open/close as a hinged door, and -- with that heavy use -- the inside-the-wall hardware will wear out.

I agree that the master right by the entry wouldn't be my preference. The laundry being so far from the bedrooms would be a big issue for me. I wouldn't love the traffic flow through the kitchen for people to get to the laundry, half bath, and garage. We have that current set up and it drives me crazy. Also, try placing furniture in the bedrooms upstairs. If you have young kids you might want to place the bed against a wall and that really isn't a possibility with the doorways and dormers.

First bravo for creating a "simple" plan. There is elegance in simplicity.

I agree with Mrspete about the laundry area and how large the space devoted to the laundry and mudroom are. I would love to see you move the laundry closer to your master bedroom area. It would mean a lot less shlepping. And it would mean not having to haul clothes through your kitchen area too.

Here is the idea of not having the doorway to your bedroom be the first thing you see as you enter the house. The door to the basement would still be on the backside of the stairs, but on the main floor you'd have a landing of several steps to turn and the door to your master would be out of the main foyer.

I also took mrspete's idea to make the closet larger. I did that, and then extended the length of the bathroom a bit to give you a larger vanity, although if you have at least 60" of vanity space it's not horrible. I had that in my condo and we were fine with that much space. We had medicine cabinets too.

Ideally I'd love to see your door to your master closet and master bath be closer together. Not sure how to "fix" that with the vanity there.

Is that a stove or a fireplace in the corner?

Have you "placed" furniture in the great room? For example, where are you planning on putting the tv? Seating? Is there a view out the back? Ideally in your climate you should have more windows facing the rear of your house to capture the southern sun yet most of the larger windows are facing the north and NE.

And a visual thing. I would lower the stonework to below the windows. As it is now, it's visually cutting the house in half.

However I personally don't think it needs any stone at all and visually clutters up the clean vertical lines that add to the wonderful farmhouse feel of the house.

I like the plan for the most part.

Some things I don't like: master bed shares a wall with the living room, master bath has very little counter space, laundry is farthest away spot from all the bedrooms.

Not that I want you do delete a nice window, but I feel like the ideal TV spot in the living room would be to the left of the stove on the east wall right where that window is. It gets tricky because the fireplace traditionally is the focal point of the room, but today it ends up being the TV... so it can be challenging to aim all the furniture in the room at both. Otherwise move wood stove to the other NE corner and put TV against the living/MBDR wall? That would make for a nice pretty exterior chimney, centered right in the gable

Thanks very much everyone. Some really good points. Originally the drafter made the office the same size as the master just for symmetry's sake. I do work from home doing graphic design but all I need is a good sized desk for my computer and that's about it. We had thought about somehow tucking the laundry room into that space somehow. I'm not sure how that would work though...... Also after we saw the size of the office we thought we could have a spare bed in there for guests. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Is there any chance you would consider removing the tub in the master bathroom? You would still have the tub upstairs by the kids room. Doing so would give you the space you need for a spacious vanity with two sinks as well as a nice walk in shower.

Re: Office. The double french doors do take up space. First, since this is an office it might not be the tidiest part of the house and would be visible whenever a guest walks in the formal entry. Would you want glass or solid doors? Being able to close the door and not worry about tidying for company seems like it would help simplify. Then, I think the space inside the office would be more usable if it had a single door rather than a double door. Note the front door on the plan swings back against the office door not a solid wall.

can we see how the house sits on the property? I have an idea but would need to see your land, setbacks, etc

Stan Z We wouldn't remove the tub. I am a huge bath lover! I'm excited about having it with the windows too. I think our vanity is 60" (at least) long. We were thinking about having a single sink and have the counters drop down to a makeup table, but aren't sure if we're going to do a custom vanity like that yet.

Also, I agree re office. I don't want to have a glass door there as you said it may not be tidy 100% of the time.

cpartist... here is a crude drawing of roughly where the house will go. I'm not sure if this helps or not. The property is completely flat. Yellow is the new house.. so you'll drive in the laneway directly into the left to the garage doors on that side. The back of the house will face south. We made it on an angle so we don't have a view of the barn ... that's why it's not square with the road.

However small you make the connection between the house and garage, it must have a 120 degree break in it so its exterior walls are perpendicular to the garage, otherwise snow and ice will collect against the wall of the garage eventually pushing water back up under the roofing and wall siding.

I'm having a hard time reading the dimensions on the first floor, but is the living room only approximately 14-feet deep? That's very small for furniture arrangements. More significantly, with the length of the space from living room to kitchen, plus the added volume for height, have you considered that this is going to feel and look very "tunnel-like"? The volume and spatial proportions would be greatly improved by adding depth to the living area.

The design intent seems very traditional in form and materials.

Load bearing exterior walls can have masonry on the lower half of a story only due to modern construction systems therefore they don't look traditional to anyone with training in or intuitive knowledge of structures.

If the lower masonry were not an attached cladding but real load bearing masonry, it would have to continue to the second floor line or the wall would buckle at the middle in a high wind or earthquake.

This imitative detail also forces the upper cladding to be pushed back from the masonry cladding creating a difficult-to-flash horizontal shelf. The two ways to properly flash this joint is 1) to cast a stone sill with an upturn just behind the upper cladding or 2) to install flashing behind and under the shelf. The installations I have seen use neither method.

I am not preaching a purist tradition; I just think there is no reason to not design a house so it makes sense visually, avoids as many obvious simulations as practically possible, and is watertight.

Thanks JDS. I think you are saying that real stone would never be placed in this manner, therefore it will always look artificial? I am actually thinking of leaving the stone out. I think my husband and our builder were keen about it but I am leaning towards the traditional board and batten look.

"Artificial" is a polite way of putting it. "Imitative" is the polite architectural term.

Another reason this idea has caught on with builders is that houses today are built closer to the ground and if the perimeter grade is not covered with gravel and the gutters overflow, water will splash back and stain the siding.

I live where most houses are old and have basements so I raise the first floor and use a horizontal "water table" board at the bottom of the cladding.

Does your house have a basement? It is also possible to raise the foundation wall and not raise the first floor framing.

JDS thanks for the advice. It will be built up from the ground.. and yes we do have a basement. I totally agree with either having a thin line of stone or none at all. Thanks :)

The shingles on the dormers should wrap around the corners with no corner boards.

You might prefer casements but I have never been able to tolerate the thick post in the middle of the opening. IMO the thin horizontal rail of a double hung would improve the exterior view and the appearance of the house.

Does anyone else have an opinion about adding stone to the exterior? Do you prefer the look of board and batten only or adding a thinner layer of stone at the bottom?

Personal preference! If you don't have a strong preference I'd leave the decision open as long as you can and use it as trade space if needed to keep the budget balanced.

Be aware that the horizontal masonry skirt tens to make the wall of the house appear shorter in contradiction to the vertical board & batten siding that tends to make the wall appear taller.

I don't know what your overall design goal is but putting off major decisions can often make it harder to resolve minor ones. Don't put off any major decision you can possibly make now. Also the decision may need to be made in order to design the top of the foundation wall.

If cost is an issue, be aware that if battens are not nailed to each stud (i.e. every 16") extensive blocking is required between the studs. Your battens appear to be every 8" which is pretty labor intensive and a bit busy looking.

Just wanted to take the time to say a big THANK YOU to everyone for your comments and advice. We have taken lots of it and incorporated: Got rid of stone on exterior, bumped living room/kitchen wall back 4 ft to make the space less narrow, allowing for a door from pantry to kitchen directly, brought garage back in closer to house and made that space more open. The kitchen forum was excellent too. Thanks!

Looking forward to seeing your plan as it's built. Be sure to post in the monthly thread. :)

The sink in a corner makes it difficult to reach into the deep corner and it is too close to the range. I would move the sink to the outside wall and get the window out of the corner so it can better light the room.