Your kitchen will be dark with either version. Your bedrooms are a LONG way from the MBR - not good with young children. When those young children become teens, it will be quite easy for them to slip out without you ever knowing.

I dislike these "friend's entrances". What's wrong with friends using the front door? My son had a house with this and it was always confusing for guests as to which entrance they should use - UPS and FedEx had the same problem.

If you care this much for the property that has been in your family this long, why don't you put forth the little effort it takes to talk to local architect to see what they can do for you and the next eight generations?

The plans are pretty well thought out. I like the separation between the bedrooms for kids of a certain age. However, with a walk out basement this will be a HUGE house.

Anglophilia - I would probably nix the 'friends entrance'... confusing, I agree. I go back and forth on guest rooms close. Really something to consider before we fully commit to a plan. Thank you for bringing up those points

Mark- I fully agree. I've reached out to a local architect here in Northern Iowa and plan to do a condensed design version with him instead of having him involved in every step of the building process. He calls it a Quick Consult. I'm very excited to be working with them. Would you have any recommendations on 'homework' that I should do before I begin the Quick Consult?

Summit Studio- we currently own a shoe box of a home, so the idea of LOTS of space gets me crazy excited. I want all the space, and cabinets, and storage....
BUT I could probably scale back a bit more. is there a rule of thumb of a 'decent sized' floor plan if you have a walkout is?

About 2000 s.f main level works well for a main level master and all the living spaces you'll want on the main level. That leaves 1500-1700 s.f. of finished basement and unfinished area. Plenty of room for 3 bedrooms, wet bar and recreation room.

The architectural design starts with the site.

If you are concerned with budget, this house will be more expensive to build than many others because of the unconventional shape and many bump-outs. A more straightforward shape with a simpler roof will be much more economical to build. The cost can get much, much higher if your site is not perfectly flat.

Also, about driveways. If yours is long and you plan on doing concrete or hard surface, think about how long you really want it to be. I was utterly shocked at how expensive driveways can be! Concrete is not cheap.

Cait,

I totally understand where you are coming from. We also have a special piece of land we're going to be building on. So exciting!!

It's totally normal at this stage in the process to look over stock plans to get an idea of what you like and don't like. I've noticed that people on this forum are quick to tell you to get an architect, (which is very important!!), but when you're just researching ideas and trying to figure out where to start -- that advice isn't helpful.

I mean, could you imagine a meeting with an architect happening like this:
Architect: So, tell me about what you have in mind for your home.
You: No idea. I didn't look over other plans at all. I have no idea what I like and don't like.
Architect: *Scratches head.*

What I did find helpful was to make a list of things I really wanted our house to have. I mean... ultimately, only YOU will know how you need the house to function. For instance, I knew that our garage had to be on the left side at an angle to accommodate the driveway on our lot. I knew that I wanted our bedroom to be on the right side of the house. I knew that I wanted a playroom off the living room. etc.

Then, I printed a few stock plans with features that I liked and made notes and put together a folder for the architect. Things like --- I like the layout of the kitchen on this house because it has these specific features that I want. I like the front porch of this house. etc. Just to give him an idea of where to start. I didn't go completely overboard because I wanted him to have some creative freedom. But ultimately, he is creating MY house that I will spend MY money on and live in FOREVER, so of course I want to go in with ideas and a must have list! He said he was very thankful for my folder and thoughtful research!

Anyway...

I do agree with some of the others about taking out the "friends entrance" on this particular plan. Only because it's so close to the front door that it isn't necessary.

Nice pantry!! Ours will be fairly similar. My husband loves to cook and I have an obsession with serving platters. Haha!

I don't think your kitchen will be too dark because you'll have light coming in from all those windows from the living room and breakfast area. But, you'll definitely want to make sure you put in a generous amount of lighting.

I mean, could you imagine a meeting with an architect happening like this:
Architect: So, tell me about what you have in mind for your home.
You: No idea. I didn't look over other plans at all. I have no idea what I like and don't like.
Architect: *Scratches head.*

If any of my meetings/interviews go like this, I will move on to the next architect on my list. ;-)

Honestly, the most important pieces of information -- in my mind -- for a consumer to have when they interview architects are: (1) an idea of which architectural *styles* appeal to them, which helps them choose their architect, and (2) a realistic idea of how they actually live, not how they envision themselves living, making a list of lifestyle needs/wants/luxuries.

The first one involves educating oneself on residential architectural styles (I found books more helpful than the internet), and the second one involves personal reflection and detailed discussion with one's spouse (if married).

Browsing online plans can definitely be helpful, don't get me wrong. :-D For me, if any architect came back with something that reminded me of the lifeless, monotonous, predictable online plans I've seen, I'd find someone else to design the house, lol.

There are certain basics that are helpful to know ahead of time, like solar orientation of living spaces (north/south = good; east/west = bad), lazy detailing ("pork chop" roof returns, for example), and how deep a house should be (1-1.5 rooms are ideal, 2 max; anything deeper in any direction -- including garages and covered porches/patios -- will likely result in a fat house with dark interior spaces and an out-of-proportion/expensive roof). Letter shaped houses are awesome; H shapes being my favorite. <3

Trust is the biggest thing. Take your time in finding your architect, and interview as many as you can, so that you can fully trust his judgment.

Our meeting went like this:

Architect came to our house for the meeting. We gave him a list of things that we wanted in a house. (admittedly, I might have gone overboard with this... But, we typed up a whole program for the house. Room-by-room about our thoughts on how they should function and the rooms that would be nice to have nearby). We had a few inspiration pictures of interior and exteriors. He then asked to tour our current house to see how we live. I think this was REALLY helpful. He got to see how we currently live and things that we need to live better (more closet space, playroom for kids toys, area for the dog crates, etc... you get the idea). We then went out to our property. Drove around the area. Walked to the proposed home site. talked about the weather, the views, the winds, the sun direction, etc. We shook hands. several weeks later we met again with him presenting about 10 different very rough sketches of layouts for our house. We selected two different layouts that we liked the way they were headed (Note, they weren't the perfect house, that's ok). He then worked on refinements to those after our comments. We selected one of the remaining two and then have been refining it since. We almost have out construction documents done at this point. :)

Good luck with your project! It sounds very fun!

To design effectively your architect will need to have a who, what, where and why? conversation with you.

Who: is about you, your family, your lifestyle, hobbies and your guests.

What: Your wish list, your budget and your program (types of rooms). What is your aesthetic vision?

Where: The context of where you're building. Site analysis for drainage, access, vegetation, views and micro climate. Regional and neighborhood influences. Do you want a design that plays nice with your neighbors or make a statement?

Why: What would be the mission statement for the home? Why do you want to build a new home and for what purpose?

There are many threads here about what to do to prepare for a meeting with an architect. It's not that complicated. Do a search.

Keep in mind that there are lots of folks out there who try to convince consumers that they can do "floor plans", i.e., designers, drafters, CAD drivers, builder's employees and consultants. None of these are architects. So one has to do one's due diligence. Architects are licensed, and by law no one can call themself an architect or advertise architectural services if they are not a licensed architect.

Do this the right way. Google or contact your local office of The American Institute of Architects and find local architects who can help you. Good luck!