I am having a hard time seeing the plans. Zooming in just blurs it. Maybe try a different format or crop out the edges to bring it in a bit.

Where are the elevations and also how it relates to the land?

Why all the angled walls?

Can you label what the rooms are?

Which direction is north?

What are the dimensions of the lot?

Who designed this plan?

Why do you need a vanity the length of a small room?

Hope you have tons of money because the roof will be massive and you have 40 jigs and jogs in the exterior. Every one adds to the cost of the build.

I'm guessing you can get a house with everything you want in less square footage than you have now.

The basic design is nice.........However, have you thought about the distance from your bed in the master bedroom to the master toilet. You will be walking a few miles every night if you have to get up to use the bathroom like many of us who are over 50........Why not move the master closet to the distant front end of the house and put the bathroom where the closet is? Also, your master bathroom has a lot of wasted space. It can be spacious and elegant without being cavernous.

Also, I would reconsider the long walk from the kitchen to the garage. You don't have to walk to the very end of the laundry room / pantry (whatever that room is?) You can get to the garage sooner if you put the door further up in that space.

The same with the stairs in the garage. You might do a switch back stair so that you don't have to walk so far to get to these stairs which I assume are to an attic storage space over the garage.

If the safe room is truly a "safe room" for valuables and perhaps even an escape from those tornadoes that people in Oklahoma get, then you might want to move it to the interior of the house and not have a window........

mnmamax3 thank you for the tip, it's my first time posting.

I think the perimeter is way too complicated and will prove expensive to build.

DH and I just turned 60 and are considering our next, empty-nester home, and this would not be it. There are a living room, family room, study, and media room, as well as a sitting area off a large master bedroom. That's at least one too many.

As a forever home, you will want the bathroom, not the closet, close to the bedroom. You will also want the kitchen and dining more directly accessible to the bedroom.

That helps. One thing I notice is the long hallway to the kitchen. Kitchens are usually the heart of the house and it's a long ways around either side. I would put in an opening where the corner pantry is to access that area of the house more easily. I might also consider extending the bathroom and closet by the foyer to the same depth as the foyer, then dividing that closet into a small coat closet (accessed by a door to the left of the table (assuming this is for guests), and utilizing the rest of the space to replace your pantry. Not quite sure why the door is inset - I would use all that space. Could still have an angled door for a more open feel. The added space in the bathroom could be for guest linens.

My only other suggestion would be to plan for your desk in the office to be floating and face out into the entryway or front yard. With the layout as you have it, there is a lot of empty space in the middle of the room. You can still have built-in cabinets behind or to the side, but the desk should be out in front of it.

Enjoy your new home!

Lambert Dias Architects, Inc. Good eye! Thank you so much for your comments. The long walk from the Master Bedroom to the Bathroom is a major concern to me. (I didn't want to point it out to see if it bothered anyone else.) We do not want to have to go into/through the bathroom to get to the closets, but are totally open to moving things around, just don't know how. We do want to have the laundry room connecting to the Master Suite somehow. What would you suggest?

How would you utilize the space in the Master Bathroom better?

Had not thought about the distance from the Kitchen to garage through the Mud Room, its a good point. The Mud Room will be used for animal supply storage (50 pound bags of dog food, bags of kitty litter, etc. as well as storage and many outside work type clothes as I volunteer at an exotic animal sanctuary as well.) There is also a coat closet and IT closet in that area.

I am open and appreciate any suggestions. Thank you so much!

That's huge for two people! What are the 'flower-shaped' parts in the foyer and the 'entry' to the master suite? Do you entertain a lot?

DH and I are 50 and are planning our 'final' (yeah, we know) house as empty nesters. We're looking at 900sf, maximum. Plus a six-car garage/workshop.

Inkypaws........It is wonderful that you volunteer at an animal sanctuary.

Since you are asking for more help, there are lots of little things that could be cleaned up and improved with your design in addition to my previous comments.....even though it is basically very nice.

I assume that you do not have an architect involved and that this is a stock design?

You should be able to get a local architect to modify the design for you per the comments that you have. It would be very easy to "clean up" the plan to make it an improved custom design.

See if you can find someone on houzz that is listed near you.

Good luck.

I think if you relocated the garage access to where the WH (water heater?) closet is and put the WH tucked into the mudroom space somehow that would give you better access to the kitchen.

With a large dog and your volunteer work, maybe a combination shower/dogwash would be a good addition to your mud room space?

Here are answers to some of the questions:

The flower shaped parts in the foyer and Master foyer are just the ceiling detail.

The average size home in our neighborhood is around 3200 square feet, we are on 2 acres and in Oklahoma.

We do not entertain that often, but when we do it is usually a larger group of people. (We both volunteer for Shriners Hospital for Children and have the shriners over once or twice a year.)

The Sitting Area off of the Master is pretty much for the animals. We have a 4' x 6' dog bed for our Great Dane and a 4' x 4' cat tower for the cats.

LOL, I wanted a dog wash in the Mud Room, but just could not fit it in, so the dogs shower is the 3' x 7' shower off the den. :-) That bedroom will actually be used as my husbands office.

I don't have an architect, its my design, that is why I would like all the suggestions. I'm just stuck. The builder has referred me to a draftsman that has drawn this for me.

Love the suggestion to move up the hall closet door and utilize the space in the guest bath.

I actually wanted the Master as far from the kitchen as I could get.

Also the Media Room is through a hidden door in the bookcase.

I would HIGHLY recommend employing the services of an architect that can give you exactly what you want and need. For example look at THIS PLAN that Doug (architectrunnerguy) created for one of our members who also lives in OK. Granted their needs are different than yours, but look at the difference when a house is not just a series of boxes strung together but a well thought out interior and exterior that also relates to the land.

Way expensive. Too many jigs and jogs and roof superfluity. Overwrought on the bump outs. Too much space period for 2 people. Even if they had bigger horses in the house than a Dane. Do you really want to be building an 800K house with that much space to heat and cool? And where are the Universal Design details that will enable you to live in it if you start to have mobility issues?

On 2 acres, think about a separate garage in the back connected with a breezeway. That will reduce the width and give more light to the interior. Make the rooms multi use and eliminate some. Combine purposes in one room. You don't need separate rooms for all of those things. And you don't need that many bedrooms either.

Just curious....people these days(at least in some areas of the country) are downsizing.....why such a large house for just 2 people? Higher maint, higher taxes, more cleaning.....etc....

Inkypaws - we recently bought our last and final home - we retired a few years ago, loved where we lived (small, beachside village surrounded by forest) but recognized that we couldn't age out there.

So, we bought a house in a completely different area that we think is a very good base for our retirement - not perfect - but good.

Location was our first priority - a town where there are very good facilities, especially for health care. We have medical clinics, dentists, physios, podiatrists and radiology clinics. Tick the box on that one.

Then, a house that is all one level - the only step is down from the deck to the back garden (which is tiny). Second tick mark.

One with a good kitchen and a good master bathroom, and a decent laundry area (holds the laundry, the dog food, and works as a mud room as well). Third tick mark.

A house that gives us sufficient space for our daily life, guests to overnight, but which can be kept in a reasonable state of cleanliness in between visitors (I am not the world's greatest housekeeper). So, we ended up with a three bedroom house, two bathroom house, open area kitchen/living/dining, and a TV room/library. Oh, and a weird little study niche. One bedroom is the master (it's a bit on the small side admittedly, but has a very nice ensuite bathroom and walk in closet), one is the genuine guest bedroom, and one has become the gym/music room. But it has a sofa bed for when the grandkids pop in. And we're done, in 2000 sq ft, and that's bigger than many people downsize into.

When you're thinking about aging in place, you have to think about access, moving through the house, accessible bathrooms (ours aren't ADA, but they're better than the ones my parents lived in, and they can be modified), easy use kitchens. You don't need a whole lot of space that only gets used a couple of times a year but needs to be heated, cooled, dusted and vacuumed year round.

So think about what it is you really need, because to me, this is not a forever home, it's the home of the people who will be moving into something smaller a few years down the line. And that changes everything.

Inkypaws - Since this is your first time posting, keep in mind Houzzers are not always gentle but they mean well. Everyone is trying to tell you to rethink the sheer amount of square footage as well as how you will use your house differently as you grow older. Regardless of cost (which you may very well be able to afford and wish to spend to have what you want), a design with this many roof lines, as many have suggested, will result in a choppy look on the exterior and unnecessarily complicate the build.

If you are using the corner office shower for the dog, you might consider rearranging that bathroom to have an access door to outside to get the dirty dog in the house. Otherwise muddy paws are marching through the great room to get clean... I thought about flipping the media room and office but you would lose all those nice windows/light and put them where they are not needed (in the media room). Hopefully you can compile all these thoughts into a cohesive plan that will work for you.

Check out the book series "The Not so Big House". Ironically, cozy comfortable spaces are not necessarily the biggest ones. When I remodeled my kitchen last year, I put a window bench seat in the existing bumpout on my kitchen. Its about 6'x2.5', and the ceiling height is only 7'. Every time we have guest stay over, they seem drawn to the window bench, and totally ignore the counter seating area on the peninsula.

Agree with most of what others have posted - way too big for an empty-nester. Also, feels choppy to me with no flow. All the angles will make your roof crazy too. If that's where you want to put your $$$, than so be it, but personally I'd rather put that extra into something inside the house that I can enjoy every day.

Anglo, it's not so much the size of this house but the fact the house has poor flow with redundant rooms. This is not a house for someone building intending to live out their golden years.

My mother's house was over 4000 square feet on 2 acres and she was able to live there until the last 6 months of her life because while big, it was well laid out for someone needing a walker. From one end of the house to the other end was a straight line with rooms off of the central "spine".

This house appears to have a media room, a living room, a separate den and a room I don't know what it is. It has a guest bedroom and an office and an eat in kitchen.

It's not the size of this house that concerns me, one of the people I work for lives in a 13,000 sq foot house and there are only three occupants. That's fine. But the house is essentially organized along two axes, with halls linking rooms along both wings and two separate stairways, front and back. It's not a huge lot , and of course at 13,000 sq feet of course it's multiple levels, but it has a very direct circulation pattern throughout the house. And its basically rectangles in a T formation. And that doesn't make it "too plain" or anything like that.

And to add to Anglophillia's comment, who is to say there are too many rooms? Perhaps for you (or me) but Inkypaws stated in the first post that they were happy with the number of rooms but wanted input on the location of rooms. There has been great feedback on that.

Universal design features are incredibly useful as we get older. Walk in showers, turnaround space in a kitchen, easy access from garage, easy access closets, the works. Borrow a wheelchair and a walker for a day or so. It's an eye-opening experience.

A walk-in (jump in) or low curb dog shower accessible from the outside is a wonderful feature (it also gets oohs and aahs from envious friends). The tornado safe room should be on the interior.

You have a clear idea what features you want. I agree with hiring an architect who can work with your vision and budget. This draft doesn't flow well. It also has so many bumps and wiggles that the construction will cost a mint, and roofing will be a real issue now and next time. Also, if you need a catering kitchen, a kitchen designer with experience in those would be well worth hiring.

You might want to consider a screened porch room that'll keep bugs out. They can be very nice for spring and summer lazing around or entertaining near a barbecue.

"...I don't understand why people on GW always feel it is their "right" to tell someone that their home is too large..." "...And to add to Anglophillia's comment, who is to say there are too many rooms?..."

Aw, come on folks. The OP asked for comments, "...Need Your Opinions & Advice on Custom Home Floor Plan, Please!..."

Saying things like, "Do whatever works for you", and "It's your house, so do whatever you want", doesn't help the OP--any OP--at all. If s/he knew what they wanted to do they wouldn't be posting here (unless they simply want a pat of the back).

What we apparently have here is a consumer who is focused on a floor plan, and may not have thought about site planning, exterior massing and scale, roof framing and bulk, and all of the things architects think about simultaneously when designing custom homes.

The circulation in this plan is extensive and expensive. For a "forever" home, there's been no apparent concern for limited mobility or for future inability to carry things like laundry and groceries long distances.

The in and out of the exterior walls suggests a lack of concern about the exterior aesthetics and roof framing, plus the additional cost of construction. Laying out the foundation for this plan will require very skilled surveying and close supervision to achieve all of the proper dimensions and to avoid dimensional errors which could negatively impact the interior room dimensions.

Get out your wallet on this one, 'cause it's gonna be a biggee!

It's possible to do much better than this, but to achieve better the OP will have to start over with an experienced and creative architect.

The house is 3900 square feet and we can't go any larger.

What is the restriction with the sqft, is it because of building envelope or because of cost per sqt? or some other reason?

The reason I ask, if its because of cost per sqft, the plan that you have is going to cost a lot more then the average build cost per sqft in your area. For a few reasons, the numerous jots and exterior corners will effect your foundation costs, roofing costs, material costs. Having 3 fireplaces will up your costs, the ceiling detail will up your costs. If cost is not an issue then talk to a local architect about taking your plan and fixing some of the areas you are concerned with. I think once you see an elevation of this floor plan you might not like what the exterior will look like.

Something less, exuberant, might be more suitable to a fixed income in retirement years. With wider halls, accessible baths, and a virtually zero height entry from a garage. Now, if some of the space is for the live in helpers that you are planning for, I'd rather do the servants wing, or servant's floor, and a good intercom system. Just like the good old days of grand homes.

Simplification would also look much better on the outside as well. The inside and the outside cannot be developed separately. Form follows function. What it looks like will directly reflect the floor plan. That floorplan has too many bumpouts and jogs that will result in both expense and a dizzyingly complex exterior. Which, if complexity for complexity's sake appeals to you, you might be better to research old Queen Anne Victorians for complex massing that still appears pleasant in perspective.

It's pretty common for people building for the first time to take the recommendation of a draughtsman, website, etc, and go with it. Obviously, not being in the field, many don't notice the flaws. And so it is with many other fields and major descidions in life, hence the request for advice.
When an op says, "I would love get all the advice I can get" let's all give the advice we can give and not try to stop others doing so.

Inkypaws, I agree with much of what's been said above. Much more information is needed to fully evaluate a plan, but going with this alone, I don't like the inefficiency, lack of deliberate sightlines, the jigs-and-jogs.
About the size matter, when you say, "This design has all of the rooms that we want" reconsider. Do you mean in number, or in functionality?

We can pick out issues, but making slight changes to work around this plan would be a long, inefficient probably fruitless process. It would be far better to start anew and create a plan without those issues.
Do consider a qualified and skilled architect. It proves a great investment.

I was 41 years old when we bought this house. We assumed we might live here forever. I'm now almost 74. I can assure you we never gave a thought to handicap accessibility or any of the things you mentioned, and I think very few people do. We had a limited time to find a house (a weekend) and there were very few from which to choose. Even though I now have mobility issues nearly 34 years later, I have no regrets. Sometimes one can only plan ahead just so far....

What a nice project you are about to undertake. I presume you don't have an architect. If I were you I would make a list of all your concerns and go over them with a local architect you trust. You need an advocate on a project of this magnitude. Please don't try to do this yourself. Taking the advice from a lot of Houzz people here (no matter how kind and well intentioned is a mistake). This is your home, you know your needs more than anyone here. Good luck with your project!

I hope my comment didn't come across as being judgemental about the size of the OPs house. I was simply trying to provide some personal insight into "aging in place" from the perspective of someone who's a fair bit further along that path than the OP is.

If she's planning to build her "forever home" then I think it's important she think not just about her lifestyle now, but what it will be in fifteen or twenty years from now, so that she builds a house that can meet her current needs and wants, but also adapt to different needs in the future. In our case, we realized that our previous house, much though we loved it, had too many stairs and was on too awkward and labor-intensive a piece of land for us to manage as we aged, so we bought a house which better fit our future needs while we still had one last house move in us. ( And we had been in our new house about a year when I got hit with osteoarthritis which I simply couldn't have managed in our previous house, so our timing was just right.) Aging is inevitable, so if you have the chance to plan for it, I think you should seize the opportunity to do it right.

I agree with the poster who recommended Susan Suzanka's book on the Not So Big House, because the point is not that the house needs to be small, but that a well-designed house can be smaller in square footage, but better in quality of fittings, and better as a place to live, than a poorly designed bigger house where the money goes to size and not to comfort and convenience. And I agree that the OP should now see an architect who can design a house that meets her wants, but has a better (and less expensive) layout than the one she proposes. And that will give her a dog shower.

However, have you thought about the distance from your bed in the
master bedroom to the master toilet.

Yes, it's a long walk ... also, you say that this is your "forever home"; keep in mind that toilets-in-closets are not elder-friendly.

Putting the toilet aside, I don't like anything about the master bathroom. If I'm reading the dimensions right, it's about 15' square. That's just too big for comfort -- and it's just a lot of empty middle-space with bathroom items spread around the edges -- yet for all that empty space, you're walking in and running smack-dab into the vanity. I think it'll come out feeling empty and cold, and I really see nothing worth keeping in this master bath.
Also,
your master bathroom has a lot of wasted space. It can be spacious and
elegant without being cavernous.

I think the bedroom would be a nice-sized space if the sitting area were removed. You'd have ample space for a king-sized bed, and you could still have a direct door to the outside -- a single French door next to the fireplace would look great.

You say the sitting room is the animal's space. How about a pretty window seat with a space underneath for the dog's bed? How about building a "cat walk" around the top of the room instead of a space-hogging cat tree? These items could accomplish the same function ... with a nicer look ... and a smaller footprint and cost.

Also, I would reconsider the long walk from the kitchen to the
garage.Yes, lots of doors to walk through too ... in a couple space throughout the house -- for example, the mudroom-to-house door, I'd go with pocket doors. These are perfect for doors that're likely to be left open most of the time. The laundry room is another prime spot for pocket doors.

I think the perimeter is way too complicated and will prove expensive to build.

I agree. I know that overly-complicated-for-the-sake-of-over-complicated is a trend today, but it isn't a good trend. A simple house can be lovely and functional without all the jigs and jogs and the bloated roof necessitated by those higgilty-piggility spaces. Simple elegance beats bloated every time.

There are a living room, family room, study, and media room, as well as a sitting area off a large master bedroom. That's at least one too many.

I'm thinking the same thing -- five living spaces? How can two people (and animals) use all those rooms? I'll second the idea of reading the Not So Big House series; instead of a room for every purpose, looks for ways to create multi-function rooms -- think quality instead of quantity.

The OP says they entertain infrequently, but it's for large groups. It doesn't make sense to build a giant house for the sake of a handful of events.

- Could these events be held outdoors? For the cost of just one of those duplicate living spaces, you could rent party tents several times a year for the rest of your life.

- Could the large garage be tapped occasionally as entertaining space? Imagine a garage with a great floor as a feature and a curtain that can be pulled over the tool area? Personally, we're planning on a Carolina Panthers' blue floor and a garage that could be pressed into service for a large, casual party.

- Could you go with a basement (which could be closed off and would excuse you from heating/cooling the large entertaining space most of the time)?

- Could you do a "party barn" out back, which not need to be built to the same standards as the house /more rustic? I have a friend who has an absolutely wonderful "party barn" behind his house ... it's an old building that he renovated; it has a wide front porch where he puts out tubs of drinks; inside it has a pool table and ping pong table and seating space. People LOVE his parties.

- Do these events have to be in the home? Again, for the cost of just one of those duplicate spaces, you could rent a space somewhere else -- and not be taxed with the cost and upkeep of those rooms 360 days a year when parties aren't happening.

We do not want to have to go into/through the bathroom to get to the
closets, but are totally open to moving things around, just don't know
how. We do want to have the laundry room connecting to the Master Suite
somehow. What would you suggest?

These are all good goals ... if the three big players here (bedroom, closet, bathroom) were in more of an L-shape instead of a straight line, they'd all be closer together.

Also, your two master closets + safe room are bigger or equal in size than your living rooms! Do you really need three rooms for clothing storage? With the closets so big, I'd say eliminate the safe room -- build the closet as a safe room that happens to contain clothing. With the size of the larger one with the island, you could comfortably store bottled water and other necessities on a top shelf and could hunker down without any trouble.

One thing you've done right here: You actually have space for the island. So often when we see island-closets on this site, they're undersized. I can't imagine this one huge closet not being enough for two people.

I think if you relocated the garage access to where the WH (water heater?)

Consider how long it'll take for hot water to travel from the garage end of the house to the master bathroom. Consolidating plumbing is a good idea for several reasons.

Take a look at all the water-spots in your house ... some of them aren't arranged logically. For example, look at the modest bathroom towards the back of the house. If you flip-flop the sink and the linen closet, you have ALL your water needs in one wall -- the shower, the toilet, the sink all in one wall. Water walls must be slightly deeper than other interior walls, so this is a small space savings ... and consolidating the plumbing lines means reducing the places you can have a leak.

The flower shaped parts in the foyer and Master foyer are just the ceiling detail.

That sounds nice. It's really the only personal touch I see in this large plan.

The average size home in our neighborhood is around 3200 square feet,

So? You're building this house for yourself, not the rest of the neighborhood. I really think you're overbuilding for two people + animals ... yet I don't see any details personalized for animal lovers.
LOL, I wanted a dog wash in the Mud Room, but just could not fit it
in, so the dogs shower is the 3' x 7' shower off the den.

So much living space that doesn't seem to be needed ... yet you're pushing something you really do need away from its most obvious location.
Also the Media Room is through a hidden door in the bookcase

A lot of people are into that idea. Okay, this is the second personal touch in this plan.

Inkypaws - Since this is your first time posting, keep in mind Houzzers are not always gentle but they mean well.

Absolutely!

Universal design features are incredibly useful as we get older. Walk in
showers, turnaround space in a kitchen, easy access from garage, easy
access closets, the works.

Yes, I see little-to-no attention to these features in this house. They cost so little to add while building, yet they can cost so much later ... if they're possible at all.

Saying things like, "Do whatever works for you", and "It's your house,
so do whatever you want", doesn't help the OP--any OP--at all. If s/he
knew what they wanted to do they wouldn't be posting here (unless they
simply want a pat of the back).

I hate useless platitudes like these. I wouldn't ask a question if I didn't want to discuss the topic and get new opinions and ideas.

Other miscellaneous thoughts:

- I'd move the two secondary bedrooms closer together and let them share a bathroom ... and bump the media room to the front of the house. Better yet, place these three rooms closer together /down a small hallway with a bathroom between the three rooms. You can use them as one bedroom, one office, one media room ... but if you ever need /want to resell, all the secondary bedrooms being grouped together is a more logical, attractive-to-buyers choice.

- Given that animals are a big part of your life, I think you need to beef up the mudroom. I'd say enlarge it, allow space for crates (if you use those), space for feeding dogs, storing animal equipment, and the dog bath. And I'd like to see this mudroom at the back of the house so you could include a doggie door into a dog run.

- Note that you have trouble with doors-over-doors throughout the house. For example, look at the bathroom connected to the queen-sized bedroom. Note that when the bathroom door is open, it blocks entrance to the bedroom door. You see irritations like this in builder-basic houses, but you don't expect them in a custom house.

- I like the dining space ... it's accessible from two sides and will feel large with all those nice windows ... but the entrance from the living room will feel "cramped" because when walk through that door, the hutch is straight ahead and will "crowd you". This walking-into-something-when-you-enter-a-room thing is a problem throughout the house -- you want to walk into a room and have a lovely sight line ahead of you: A window, a door, a fireplace or other focal point. You don't want to walk into a room and see the side of a piece of furniture or the side of a cabinet.

- With animals, I assume back-yard access is a priority. I'd think you'd want a glass door between the living room and what looks like an ideal patio area.

- What is that little closet-room-in-a-room to the left of the front door?

- I don't like the long hallway through the middle of the house. Yeah, it's necessary for all these rooms, but it's going to feel dark and unwelcoming.

I love all the useful recommendations given. The most important ones were to think about your future physical situations. An elevator in a two or three storey home is a less expensive & more useful solution than a sprawling one level 3900 sq ft home.

Also the book " The Not So Big House" is one of several that gives the best advice for house plan determination. In this book you can feel the ease of smaller spaces which gives you all the usefulness of big rooms but much more of a cozy warm feeling of the smaller, more efficient house. I'm in love with this book.

You may need a one storey home due to the needs inherent in the weather situations you will face, such as tornadoes. But do consider one which will be more accessable to you & your spouse if in a wheelchair or using a walker. A mother-in-law apartment or quarters will also be a good consideration in case you want some live-in help.

Good luck to you both as you plan this most important decision. Consult with an architect recommended to you plus a good kitchen designer as well. The kitchen is a whole separate planning situation you need to take on with someone with adequate experience. You also may not need the two acres later in your years as it will need a lot of work. Position your home on one section of the lot so you can subdivide & sell off some land if you do not want the needed extra work involved at a later time. (You should check with the local codes in your area to see if this can be done later).

Another thing to keep in mind is to allocate 10% of the total square footage of the house to storage space.

Taking the advice from a lot of Houzz people here (no matter how kind and well intentioned is a mistake). This is your home, you know your needs more than anyone here.

With respect, you should read the comments before you post a critique of them.

As for one knowing their needs more than anyone here, I find it always easy to think of all those things I think of, yet seem to struggle with those things I don't. How many of the people who have actually built a house here did so without saying the words, "I wish I had"?

My personal experience is that people know a whole lot about the way they live and a whole lot less about how to enrich the ways they live. So for my advice, ask away, because many of the people on this board are both well intentiond AND experienced.

I hate it, try again with something better.

The whole point of going to a Dr. Instead of WebMD is the experience and judgement behind that list of 23 potential diseases that you might have. Sure, if it's just a stuffy nose, you're probably OK buying some over the counter stuff and staying home.

If the stuffy nose lasts 4 weeks, you may need an allergist. Or an otolaryngologist. Or an oncologist. But your internist will be the first right professional to consult.

Choose the right professional for the right job.

I have extensive design and construction experience and would feel comfortable designing a shed or garage. In fact, I did that for my own home. I have designed simple remodels and additions for others as well.

When it comes to new construction, it's a Rubik's Cube. If you move one part, another part has to move. Solving it takes more skill than suggesting someone extend a gable end on a ranch house.

I have been tinkering with my own fantasy plan for a new build for years. But I know enough to know that it's just a mental exercise rather than a viable reality. If I ever decide to build, I'll consult someone with the design as a guideline rather than as set in stone.

There is no shame in consulting the right Pro for the right job. The only shame is letting pride get in the way of a better collaborative end result.

Cooks Kitchen that was so well said I'm bookmarking it for future advice to others.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear.

I feel as if a little more explanation is needed. We found a builder that we really like and everyone that he has built for has been really happy. He had several plans that we could look at or if we had any plans he could build whatever we liked. He has a gentleman that could draw and customize a home for us. We thought it was architect at first and the price was so good because we were going through him and he would then be able to have our house plan to use in the future. Upon our first meeting with the gentleman that was going to draw up of dream home so we could make it a reality, we learned that he was not an architect, or designer. He's retired now from 40 years of experience woking on/building homes and is good with the software. He is very kind and has been very patient with the many changes we have made along the way. However, we soon discovered that he really has no design ideas or suggestions. He just draws whatever we ask him to or whatever I draw to send to him. If we wanted something a changed, the standard procedure was to just make part of the house bigger, we had gotten up to almost 4400 square feet! If we didn't like the way something worked and asked for a change, he would fix that issue and cause 2 more. I got so frustrated that we are trying to build our dream home and pretty much the only person I had for design help was myself. Uhm, I really want someone with much more skill and talented and better taste to design my home. I know what I want, I just do't know how to get there. We have been working on this for 8 months. I got so frustrated that I gave up for 3 months. Our neighbors are using the same builder and they had difficulties getting their design as well. However they had found a floor plan that they liked and just had him make changes to it and add a mother in law plan. I firmly believe that we are his first truly start from scratch home. Again, this is the guy the builder sent us to to have plans drawn, not our builder. Giving him credit he has taking my very very basic sketches and turned them into something the builder can build from, but pretty much the design is about 99% me, not that I wanted it that way. Here is where I'm at, so you can see that he is doing all the builder type stuff.

We don't want to be difficult, but we want a good design. We don't want the builder to think that we are difficult or indecisive because we just can't get there with his guy. I'm at a loss!

Several people wanted to know the lot dimensions. So here they are:

It is at the top of a ridge, has some slope to it and has a nice open are in the middle. Of course we want the house to sit about at the arrows part of the lot. There is an utility easement of 20 feet on the right side of the lot, but the utility poles are more like 30 feet inside the property.

Check your State's law regarding size of residences requiring to be sealed by an architect. Your draftsman may be wasting your time and taking your money. If he represented himself as an architect in any way, he is breaking the law.

Seems like a 'nice guy', but not at all the right guy.
40+ years, by now he's developed a way of thinking which doesn't, as you've seen, work with a custom home.
Making your sketches buildable is relatively easy. Learning software is easy. The diferrence is coming up with sketches too, creating a design that caters for your needs in the best way, not the tick the box way. The difference is learning principles of building and design and applying them over years.

I can imagine it's a disappointment, when you get the idea of building your first home, the last thing you're imagining is months of planning that's not getting anywhere. And there's no reason to think the coming months will improve unless something changes.
But it's better, far better, to realise this and switch now rather than after you've started building. If you're confused, remember: we pretty much always know what to do.

Really an architect or designer shouldn't be taking an amateur plan and plugging it in to make it more feasible. He should be taking a verbal wish list, and maybe a bubble and adjacencies diagram (your preferences of what rooms are next to what)---and then creating a design that is much better than an amateur could create themselves.

Although there is some rationale for designing a house from the inside out there is absolutely nothing wrong, and it may be preferable, to start out with a Rectangle, an L, or a T shape of the proper square footage and Fitting The Rooms that You Need Inside That Basic Shape. You don't have to leave it at that, you can add something for interest, but really this trend of stringing random rectangles together like a patchwork and planting a roof on top has got to stop. It makes everyone think they can design a house, and it gives license for some pretty inferior architects and designers to design and sell house plans.

there are architects on this forum - you might want to contact one of them

inky paws, I probably understand your situation more than most on this forum because when I started our builder said to us, "Oh save your money and use my designer". Only problem was the designer was no designer. He was a draftsman and couldn't design his way out of a paper bag.

Here is my saga if you want to see what I went through from beginning to end.

I knew enough when I came on here that what I was being given did not look or feel right but I wasn't able to articulate well enough how to create the craftsman house I was looking to build. I have a design background and came here and got some excellent advice. Especially from the architects on this forum and with their suggestions, I was able to turn what was an okay plan into a very good plan and what was a horrendous exterior into one I'm proud to show off now.

However if I had to do it over, I would have saved myself lots of heartache, time and grief and hired an architect.

Message me privately and I can offer some suggestions for you.

If you hire an actual architect and create a bubble diagram (or even just a wish list), you can achieve those important details such as a pet-washing station/mud room/sleeping area for your Great Dane and four kitties that can be closed off and easily washed

We share our very small (under 800 sq. ft.) cottage with a Maltese and a Great Pyrenees. They sleep on our bed with us or elsewhere in the bedroom. We expect the occasional leak or tootsie roll from our aging Maltese, but our Great Pyrenees has always been perfect indoors (except for counter surfing...). She would be too humiliated to make a mistake indoors, so we have allowed them in our open living room/dining room/kitchen when we're gone, despite the bamboo floors.

This weekend showed us the error of our ways...

We had a code brown.

Someone made guacamole and someone left an avocado peel on the cutting board. Avocados are not poisonous to dogs, but they can cause stomach upset and act as a laxative. Is the picture beginning to appear?

We returned to a very big problem and an extremely humiliated dog. (The horror!) At least we had closed off the bedroom...

Lesson learned: even a perfectly well-mannered dog can be betrayed by their intestinal tract. An easy-to-clean, easy-to-close off room is a wise move. Our bathroom is large enough to act as a deluxe kennel while we're gone, but as long as you are planning a dog/cat room, include a door and put in a drain.

This message from the dogs' handmaiden

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these
posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I
am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i
wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear.

Inky, with this attitude, I predict that you will end up with the house of your dreams, that will make you happy every day, and does not require you to rob Fort Knox!

I'm sad to hear that your process so far has been filled with frustration. I've read enough stories here about folks working with good architects, and their projects seem to have a lot more joy than frustration. I hope that you can share a similar story soon!

Bluesanne, thank you for the chuckle even though I'm sure for you it wasn't so.

"Inky, with this attitude, I predict that you will end up with the house of your dreams, that will make you happy every day, and does not require you to rob Fort Knox!"

I second that