Take some colored pencils (or the colored pencil in Paint or something on your computer) and draw the paths you'll take to do various things: bedroom closets to laundry and back, bedrooms to garage and back. They all have you and the kids skirting the sofa or dining table and walking through the kitchen.

You might also draw lines following your dressing routine. The closet is convoluted. You might prefer a more rectangular layout for each of them.

For the kid bedrooms, what if you shift the left-hand bedroom to the left, even with the master bath, put their bathroom between with a door to the hall (no "accidentally" forgetting to unlock your sibling's bathroom door). Give both bedrooms reach-in instead of walk-in closets so they don't push into other spaces, like your closet and the hall. Now the front hall gives them free access to their rooms without leapfrogging over the sofa (and yes, they would!)

Turn the cute powder room 90 degrees, and now no one has to carry their laundry through the kitchen.

You still have an potential problem with the master, though. Try drawing virtual chairs next to the sectional, and you can't get to the bedroom.

It rains in Louisiana, don't you need a place for jackets and umbrellas by the front door?

"Elevations have not been started"

Are you sure you are working with an "architect"?

I'm going to repeat what millworkman said. Where are the elevations? Where is the second floor? Architects usually work all floors and the exterior together. Draftsmen work one floor at a time.

Also you have a 2300 square foot first floor, but the powder room looks like what you'd find in a 100 year old home where they have to find any available space in a smaller house?

Is it possible to move the laundry closer to one of the bedroom areas? Or place it not in a pass through area? I can't read the print, but what is the long hallway between the garage and the laundry area?

bpathome - thanks for the constructive criticism. I misspoke about the elevations - they're in the initial stages too, just wasn't going to share them as we're still working out some kinks on it as well. Just wanted feedback on the preliminary first floor plans.

thanks for all of the input.

I think this has potential, but there are several areas that seem overly complex when I don't think they need to be. Your master closet is a maze. I think that whole area needs to be simplified. And going through the kitchen to the laundry room is not desirable. Your mudroom, laundry, kitchen and powder room area reminded me a bit of our layout.

Below is a screenshot of our kitchen, powder, mud and laundry room areas. Notice how our kitchen only has one entrance and it's not through a clean up zone or cooking/prep zone. And the second door in the laundry room, gives us option #2 of getting into the house without going through the kitchen at all. To get to the laundry room from our bedroom or the kids from upstairs, it's just a straight shot in and don't have to walk through the kitchen or any other rooms to get to it. I didn't copy it but directly to the left is a straight shot to our master bedroom and stairs to upstairs bedrooms, so laundry, while technically on the opposite side of the house, is super easy to get to.

Gthigpen, I knew I had seen a similar layout with laundry and mudroom before. I remember when you were working out your laundry/mudroom area.

cp - Yep, I got tons of great feedback from GW. Our architect had originally drawn it with two entrances from the garage and two entrances into the kitchen. The original concept had a completely separate mudroom and laundry room. We redid and redid until we got the rendition above. We love the way it functions in real life.

One walks in and immediately sees the kitchen. One must walk through the kitchen to get to the MBR. Laundry room is a LONG way from the bedrooms where most laundry is generated. The entire bathroom/closet thing in the Master is a maze. You can do far better than this.

Is not only the closet. Look at all those doors on top of each other (bedrooms/bathroom).
An architect that does not know how to properly place doors is like a plastic surgeon that does not know how to stich. It should be a basic skill!

Many issues, but all fixable in my opinion.

The plan is jumbled. I feel good architecture should be physical poetry. There should be flow of movement as one passes through the spaces and relationship to spaces outside of its walls. There should be the same elements that make a great painting in the making of good architecture; composition, balance, rhythm, scale, and more (not necessarily clouds). Good architectural design starts with the site.

Not all architects have the same experience and some architect's ability to layout spaces in a functional AND artistic way may be lacking. It may be time to find another architect (and make sure they are licensed).