Not what you asked, but the garage door steps are right where the car pulls in, and don't seem to allow much room for stepping when the car is in the garage.

i fear the study center is really not accessible to the kitchen, and as the main passage from garage and outside to kitchen, will become a dumping ground. Kids, heck, all of us, are pretty portable with our devices these days. Can you accommodate the kids in the library while you work, or at the long counter in the breakfast room?

Thoughts and comments:

- Instead of having two separate rooms, I'd look at putting the kids' study area and the library together as one room. It'd allow you to supervise their computer usage (which is a very good idea) while you're working.

- The covered porch will result in a darker kitchen, but the location between the breakfast nook (not really a nook -- it's the center of the house) and the great room is nice. With this design, I think I'd want doors from the great room as well.

- I don't think I'd go with an outdoor fireplace. It'll cost just as much as an indoor fireplace (5-7K), and I can't imagine it getting much use. A fire pit outside the porch area would cost significantly less.

- I'm not sure how many of those doors are opening off the two garages, but I'm not loving the mudroom. It has a lot of floorspace, but all those doors seem to be taking up all the space.

- I think you're over-garaged, but if you're going with this much space, I'd join the two rooms ... something like the way I sketched up in the picture below ... this'd cut you down to just ONE garage door: only one door to lock, fewer doors to interrupt that mudroom, the ability to access the whole space without cutting through the house or going outside.

- The route from the garage entrance to the pantry is quite convoluted (see the red line).

- You have a great deal of space devoted to hallways (see the yellow blocks).

- Do you really need TWO powder rooms ... especially one powder room immediately adjacent to a full guest bath? Too much money to build, too many toilets to clean every week. I'd keep the full bath and lose the two halves.

- The jigs and jogs around the edge are rather small, but they're going to drive up the cost of building; you could flatten these out easily.

- I don't like that small wall that I circled in blue. I think it'll impede circulation.

I'd definitely ditch the half bath next to the full bath. if you keep the other one, you can make it a bit larger by relocating the study center to the island or breakfast nook. I would not want to relocate it to the library - I know what it is like to work on presentations!! And apparently at least one of you is still in school, hence the textbooks. I'm also guessing the library may see a lot of its use after kids are in bed.

The guest bed needs another window in the second wall. The dining room looks small for 10 people, but I can't read the dimensions.

Yes, I think walls, windows and drapes would work better than a glass wall - unless you are building a very modern home. (what style are you thinking of?) At any rate, you'll get better insulation without the glass wall.

What direction is north? Edit: okay, I see that ,now...

Thank you all for your comments, has given us a lot to think about

I can't imagine having the kids homework area in our library but I could see it working in the dining nook. I guess I thought having it a little bit tucked away, but next to the kitchen, would not necessarily be a bad thing, as it would keep the messy papers / computer / printer etc out of sight a little bit. I would also probably pay bills here so would be nice to keep that out of the kitchen / dining nook area

I do like how you re-drew the garage door / mudroom Mrs. Pete!

I was thinking of something like this for the homework nook by the mudroom

You know your kids best. Is this how they like to work? DH, even as a kid, liked to work in an isolated cubby or a carrel, I always preferred a table in the family room. My son likes his desk in front of a window with the door closed, my other son liked working on his bed with a lap desk, door open.

My fear is that tucked away like that, it isn't as easy to help while stirring the stir-fry, or to be sure they haven't drifted over to another site on the Chromebook. Also, my toddler HAD to be working right alongside his brother, and he needed me there to direct him away from the older one's homework tools.

The study center seems like a good idea when they are young. And it might be. Initially you spend a lot of time helping them with thei work and I can see you corralling them in the room and going from one to the other helping out. That's what I did with my twins.

but as they get older and more independent they find their own way of doing things and they will disperse. So, think of another way that you can use this space in the future. Make it a multipurpose room. Perhaps use real desk rather than built in cabinetry.

Our house is small; through elementary school, our twins did most of their homework on the kitchen table; at some point we got desks for their rooms, and they did homework there. Our only computer was in the family room (though once they got to high school and did more work on the computer, we got another one).

I would definitely see a "homework station" as a temporary thing.

Good points about homework station being a temporary thing. I could also see the space functioning as a household "command center", place to pay bills, keep school forms and coupons organized, place to store gift wrap and greeting cards, even use as a small craft area. It might turn into a dumping ground for random stuff I guess, but if it does - better there than the kitchen itself, right?

going back to the question of where to place covered porch - does anyone have any photos to share of the view from inside where there is a covered porch attached? If so, would love if you could share.

@ cpartist - we will be on a culdesac and there actually will be three parking spots in front of our house, so I think guests would probably park there.

Also, I agree on the natural light being nice for staircases We are going to talk to designer about putting nothing above the guest room, therefore making the back wall of the main staircase an exterior wall and hopefully getting a window in there. If not then maybe a cupola?!

House exterior should be designed at the same time. How big is your lot? What are the dimensions?

I suggest a fireplace in the library, so after a few years when you come to the conclusion for the best use of text books, it will come in handy.

The room sizes seem to be disproportionately off, which creates inefficiencies. Check out your designer's past work to see the quality of the designs. Sometimes design/build companies do one well but not the other.

I kinda like the "study" area. We have something like that in my own house and it has multiple uses....bill paying....office supply storage....home finance center....place for tax records....wrapping paper....stamps and envelopes (like we use THOSE anymore)....and a nice little "away" room.

We still send hand-written letters and thank you notes in our family, so we'll always need stamps and envelopes!

Didn't I say "stamps and envelopes"??....Geez, for some folks I guess my humor is too dry.......(should I use an exclamation point here?).....

@ mark bischak - re: fireplace, yes lol, sometimes I wish I could burn them now!

can you explain which room sizes seem disproportionately off? I know the mudroom seems too big, and we are working on reconfiguring that, maybe the way mrs.pete had drawn. But other rooms? How do you feel about the kitchen and dining "nook" sizes?

Im no expert so please take any comments as ideas as exploratory. Im personally not a big fan of formal dining rooms and prefer open spaces so also take that into consideration. It is difficult for me to see dimensions on your windows and doors so this may already be addressed. Ill put my ideas/suggestions separately.

As others have said the wall circled in blue needs to go.

Again, as others have said i would put windows on the external guest suite wall. I would also make the full bath for the guest suite only. Get rid of the door to the hallway and have the bathroom only accessible via the guest suite. I cannot tell if that is a closet or not but if it is i could make that strictly for the guest suite as well.

I would expand the door from the kitchen to the outdoor living area. I think it needs to be huge. 9' - 12' wide.

I would put an oversized door in the back of the garage that is by the study center. Unless you plan on storing lawn care and garden equipment some place else. I want want to be able to grab what i need in the garage then out directly out back without having to walk around. Make it a larger door so you can get items in and out easily.

I think the study center is too small for three children. Eventually they would each want their own work space. Is there enough room for all three to have a desk??

I would also create more space for physical activity inside for the kids. Maybe a climbing wall or some gymnastics type of equipment. Obviously you have weather restrictions but maybe make that covered outdoor space a indoor physical activity space for the kids. Making it two stories tall would be quite a site.

A few things to consider just in the off chance you havent.

Under stair storage space - utilize as much of it as you can

Above garage storage space for all those old toys and car seats you dont want to throw away for sentimental purposes.

Built in storage space for the kids toys. With three young children their toys will be all over. It would be nice to be able to just pick them up and put them into some hidden bench seat storage space when guests come over last minute.

Heat in your bathrooms. Panasonic makes an exhaust fan with a built in heater for a bathroom. My wife loves ours and we often use it. We have a small child so it is nice when we give them a bath or shower and the entire bathroom is warm. I decided to do this versus having a heated bathroom floor. The exhaust fan did require its own 20amp circuit separate from anything else in the bathroom.

Too many light switches. If you havent already you may want to look into a lighting control system for the house. If really cleans the wall up. You can have different scenes for different scenarios. Lutron is considered a top brand.

Sound deadening for the walls. Especially the guest suite and the library. You can get sound deadening drywall now and insulation as well. When i redid my first floor a few years ago i put Roxul Safe and Sound in all the internal walls.

I only saw the one double sink in your kitchen and if that is the case i would add another sink. I would put one in the island. It would be a full size sink. The reason i say this is with three children and alot of guests you would make use of a second sink for prep work. Your kids would be helping with dinner in a few years. If they are filling water balloons to play outside with while you are trying to cook it just be easier.

Lastly, i have two suggestions. If money isnt an object these may be two nice things to have. Im assuming it snows alot where you are so a heated driveway would be a thing of beauty. If you like to do any work on your own vehicles then looking into a nice car lift for the garage.

Good luck with your decisions.

@cpartist, just wanted to let you know I'm not ignoring you :) the lot is 0.7 acre and sort of pie shaped (narrow at front and wider at back), finding it hard to read the plat right now so can't give you dimensions.

@ mrroarke - thanks for some great family-friendly suggestions! Love your ideas for door at back of garage and storage under steps especially.

One thing a few of you have suggested is windows in the guest suite on the side wall. We didn't do that because I was thinking that's where the bed would go. Plus houses are pretty close in this neighborhood and especially with it on the first floor, I thought for privacy it would be better without Windows there. Does that change your opinion on that or am I missing something?