I'd rethink the configuration of the master bath/closet and the safe room - walking though a bathroom to the closet is odd (to me). Maybe swap the location of the closet & safe room?

If you plan to have 1-2 more kids, will the study and play room become bedrooms? Are you building on a crawl space or a slab? Will there be room to go up (or down) should you add those extra kids?

I'm not a professional, so I will reserve the critiques for those who know what they are talking about :-) However, I wonder if the pantry door opening into the walkway from the garage could be a concern. I have 2 kids who help bring in groceries and I could see a face smack happening with someone exiting the pantry RIGHT when someone is trying to walk by..

I’mstill, really? Maybe that’s a regional thing as the master closet being off the bathroom is super common here. It will be slab, and yes we’d had in mind the playroom as a back up bedroom and the office if reeeeally needed. Hopefully children can share but not knowing genders, personalities, and age gaps we wanted options just in case.

Kalen, good catch, I actually wanted that opening in and to the right to avoid that! Making note now!

Master closet location is not just a regional issue. I have had them off of the bathroom and directly from the master bedroom and I have lived in several locations on the West coast. It's entire personal choice and I much prefer it off of the bathroom as you have in your design.

Me too! I’m sure it’s really dependent on your living style but it fits with ours! Plus laundry will be easy to put away in our set up and when my husband leaves for work crazy early in the morning he can walk into the bathroom and not be in and out anymore after that.

OK, so I guess I should have said: "It's PERFECT! Good luck!"

Not at all, I was just answering your questions. Happy to hear your input. But of course there’s going to be some areas I wanted on purpose and the master closet location happens to be one. I can see how that wouldn’t be everyone’s preference though.

A few thoughts:

1. Have you tried mapping our how you'll arrange furniture in the dining room/great room? Because you have doors opening on the top and bottom, you'll have to keep walkways on top and bottom clear, which will force all the furniture into the center of the room — I'd make sure you're comfortable with the constraints that creates. And where's the TV going? Over the fireplace?

2. What's the room between the foyer and the playroom? Can't quite make out the writing on the plan, but it looks like might be a powder room with a toilet. If it is, I wouldn't want that to be a room that opens right off the dining/great room area — I'd much prefer a half-bath to open off a hallway if possible. Is it possible to tuck that somewhere else, maybe off the hallway by the kids' bedrooms?

3. The mudroom seems like it might be a bit bigger than necessary. Is anything planned for the empty space in the middle — like a table or something — or is it going to be open?

4. Where's HVAC/hot water heater going?

With my kiddos, the most successful playrooms are the ones located closest to where Mom is (in my case, the kitchen and laundry areas, lol). Otherwise, I end up constantly deporting toys back to the playroom, as they make their way to every room between Play and Kitchen.

Admittedly, though, I homeschool and am expecting my 6th, so I have more toy smugglers than most folks. :-D

Matt E, very helpful feedback!

1. I tried furniture in the prior plan but have yet to do it on this one and I think the living area got more condensed so I definitely need to try that again because it’s important to me that we can float proper furniture in there. Plus I really want the dining room table centered on the room... Tv will likely be over the fireplace but due to my mixed feelings about that I’ll probably have hook ups placed down on the wall to the right of the fireplace as well.

2. That is a powder room and actually now that you mention it, I think the door could be moved to the entry very easily. I’m liking that idea!

3. The mudroom is so huge. Bigger than I need. I wish the space could be pushed into our closet but the doorways have to be where they are. But it will also be my sewing room and could be an office if we had to convert the office to a bedroom at some point. So I think I’m going to roll with it. I think an antique drop leaf table could make a nice island in there.

4. The master hall has a utility closet and we plan to just need a tankless water heater on the kids side. Hopefully we could tuck that in the linen closet or one of the kids closets... may need to research that more.

One Devoted Dame, we may homeschool as well!! I had trouble deciding if I want the playroom off the kitchen or living room for that reason! But actually the rooms could be easily flipped because nothing really commits them one way or another in the plans!

Get a mantle mount for the tv.

I probably would also place the door to the study off the foyer instead of the main rooms.

Anyway you could move the powder room over to where the mudroom area is?

You might need more than 3 car garages. You’d have a tractor, a 4 wheeler, a few dirt bikes, a couple street motorcycles, plus 2-3 cars/ trucks. Where are you going to store all these toys? You might have a RV later...... you need a big barn or 5-6 car garages. When people have large land, the toys will sooner or later land there...,,,

Cpartist, the mantelmounts look helpful! Thanks!

Wow Matt E.! That’s really a great option to explore! Thank you for showing me that. I like how we might could better utilize some of the mudroom space that way.

Summer, we figure will end up with a metal barn at some point in the near future because of exactly what you say! We also have a roofing company that requires some storage. I just don’t want the garage itself to overpower the house.

So glad I posted here, at the least I’m liking the half bath door in the foyer sooo much better! There’s actually some wall space in the living room that way.

If you move the powder room to the mudroom, all your guests who use that powder room will get to see your mudroom. At least in our house, the mudroom is the messiest room of the house and not meant for guests. I'd at least move the pocket door over to the left to the entry of the hallway instead of the end, so that you can close off the mudroom if you have guests, while still making the bathroom accessible.

I would hate the playroom being open to the foyer. If I'm working in the sewing room and the kids are playing, I wouldn't want them right next to the front door. I would almost look into extending the BR hallway down and pushing that front bedroom over to meet the bath exterior wall, to accommodate the hallway, placing the door of the playroom in the hallway. It would also work well for the possibility of it being used as a future BR if necessary. Only downside is you will be gaining a few sq ft and I'm not sure how set you are on the current footprint.

Great point on the pantry door smacking faces, as well. I'd consider a pocket or barn door there instead.

Super great points, I hadn’t thought far enough about the half bath in mudroom situation. I actually purposely wanted that to be closed off for two reasons, sewing and laundry can both be messy!! It’s nice to have a space that’s not for guests but doesn’t make a bedroom the hiding room. ;) Also a good point about the playroom door in relation to the front door. Thanks for your input!

If I were to change just one thing, it would be to move the powder room to the mud room area!