Would be helpful to post your main level floor plan.

Wow!! Your home is going to be very lovely!! I can't wait to see updates as the project progresses!!

You should follow Beth H and, if possible, send her a message. (Not sure if this website allows for it.)

Beth H, your assistance is needed!!

If you are overwhelmed with decisions, then hire a local Pro for assistance. Also develop your Idea books in order to help yourself narrow down choices.

Most designers ask the client to provide them with "inspiration" photos, not the other way around! We're not mind readers!

I was either going to do SW Alabaster or Greek Villa for our kitchen cabinets and trim. We ended up going with Greek Villa and love it, but from what others have said, Alabaster is a solid choice as well.

Unfortunately the house will not be light because it's what is considered a fat house with a huge roof. The whole middle of the house will be dark. I suggest you look into solar tubes to help lighten and brighten up the interior.

I say that because the only room in the whole house that has windows on 2 walls is the master bedroom. Every other room only has windows on one wall. And depending on which direction the house is facing, it may or may not be even darker.

Fireplace will sit between doors on either side which open to back covered porch

So what you're saying is the living room will be even darker because the fireplace will take away some more windows.

Regarding your kitchen nook. It will not be 12' x 10' of usable space. Because of the doors on either side of the 12' space the usable area for seating and table is only 6'. On the depth, because of the walkway, the 10' space is really no larger than 7' so your usable nook is really 6' x 7'.

Your walk in closet shows a space of 6' wide with hanging on both sides. That's not going to happen since hanging takes up 2' of space leaving you only a 2' aisle which is barely wide enough to walk in sideways.

In the other bedrooms the walk in is even worse at 4'9" wide. Why they are showing it as having hanging on both sides, I don't know because the only hanging could be on the back wall. If you put hanging on even just 1 side, that again means your aisle is 2'9" wide.

The master bath is 10' deep but the tub is shown lengthwise so now your space for your vanities and walking is only 4' deep. Considering a vanity is normally 21" deep, that only leaves you 2'3" for an aisle space to your shower and vanities.

I know you're excited about your build, but please be aware of what you're getting into before starting because correcting things on paper is a lot easier than doing it in the field or being disappointed once it's built.

Notice that all your inspiration pics have windows. Lots of windows letting in light. Notice the kitchen photo? Your kitchen has no natural light. Notice in every single photo there are windows on at least two walls.

Not to be a Debbie downer, but what CP has said in her post is unfortunately very true (about natural light). Your kitchen has no windows and your family room has only two doors and a deep porch roof obstructing any sun that might otherwise reach your interior. Your space will not be as bright and cheery as I think you might want it to be. Which direction does the back of your house face?

Perhaps hiring the architect for more time should come before starting the decisions about decor. I would not be happy with the very dark plan that he gave you. The traffic isn't going to be great either. You'll never get a real table and a door in that nook. It's one or the other.

If that 20-20 design you posted is for your kitchen, the hood needs to be 3" away from the sides of the cabinets. It looks crowded the way it is now.

Your style look more transitional than modern, with a touch of rustic. Searching under that on Houzz might help you find more photos.

I think a rustic wooden island with your white perimeter cabinets would look great! Do the island and perimeter counters in a white stone. You could also have a range hood that matches the island as I saw in one of your inspo photos. Navy is also a beautiful and dramatic color for and island against white cabinets.

Navy

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White

Brass is a wonderful warm accent to and all-white kitchen.

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Thre breakfast nook will be somewhat light, but where does the table go, where you can still get to the bedroom, the door, and between the table and the island? Maybe just plan on a cute two-top bistro table there.

If you like to orient furniture around the fireplace then it can't be between the dining and FR, because you need to leave a good walkway to the bedrooms. Do you want the TV on the bedroom wall? Add some sound insulation. And you might just have the fireplace on that wall, too. Don't put the Tv above the fireplace, though.

Are you in southern Arizona? There are no coat closets?

Again, look at all the photos that Emily shows and the majority of them have windows. Your house lacks windows and it also lacks good flow.

If it were me, I'd seriously put the brakes on what you have planned, go back to the drawing board not with a "designer" who obviously doesn't have a clue, but with an architect who can give you what you want in a more compact plan and better design.

The back of the house faces east which means that once the morning sun reaches the top of the sky, the house is going to be VERY DARK for the rest of the day. The direction that will get the most sun (south) is taken up by one window in one bathroom, one door into the nook that is covered by the porch, one door to your master suite and one window into your master sitting area. That's it!

I would highly suggest that if you continue with this plan you put in tons of high hats because you are absolutely going to need them to brighten up the space.

In the meantime, I would suggest reading up on passive solar heating/cooling and light.

For a house to have light, you want one where the house is not more than 1-2 rooms deep so each room can get windows on at least 2 walls.

Do yourself a favor and "walk through" the house. For example, you come home from a shopping trip and have to bring your new clothes to your master closet. Look at the convoluted path you would have to take to get to the bedroom from the garage.

Now think about taking the laundry from your bedroom to the laundry room and carrying the loads. Again it's convoluted and not too easy.

Or you want to barbecue outside. How will you get around the table in the nook to get outside?

As for tv's above a mantle, you can do what we're doing and get a Mantle Mount.

On your revised plan....is that a pocket door leading from garage entry into your master walk in closet? Curious as to...why? I just foresee guests going to use PR stumbling into your closet instead, whether accidentally or deliberately (never underestimate ability of guests to snoop into private spaces where they have opportunity!).

ETA: I now see where your laundry is. I suppose that is why the entry from mud room area into master closet. Still, I think you should be prepared for a few guests ending up in master bath instead of powder room! I was in a show home recently with a similar layout and I can tell you, it was really easy to walk into the master bath/closet area from the garage entry area and not even realize you were in the master bath until you started wondering why there was a toilet and fancy tub in the laundry room.

So, since you have to work with what you have, I would go ALL OUT on lighting....tons of cans and beautiful sconces and chandeliers...lots of layered lighting. Make sure you have undercabinet lighting as well. I wired for lots of lighting, so much so, that I throughly enjoy the house at night as much as in the daytime. I cannot empahasize it enough....do not skimp on your lighting!

Be a bit more creative with your selection and placement of cabinets for your kitchen. Rows of the same upper cabinets is visually a bit boring. To match your architecture your kitchen should look a bit vintage IMO. Mix and match your finishes on the different banks of cabinets.

Is the only enterance to the master suite through the nook??? Will you have to literally move dining chairs out of the way to come and go to the master suite? I would seriously rework this part of the plan if so.

Sorry, but this is half baked. It needs to go back in the oven for a longer time. There is so much wrongness here.

Your drafter is a dud. There just is not a lot right at all. The traffic paths are truly terrible. It’s like he doesn’t think of people as having any dimension at all.

Play the game. Take a to scale 30” beach ball and try to maneuver it through the house after to scale furniture goes in. You can’t. Everything is you can have people walking through, or you can have furnitur. But you cannot have both people walking and furniture.

Labs....even if you cannot afford to purchase all of your lighting fixtures at the outset, at least wire for them. You can always cap them off and install the fixtures later. I still have a bunch capped off that I will deal with after I move in. I’m going to repeat myself....don’t skimp on lighting!

50K worth of electrical drops can’t fix the fact that you can’t walk through the house and have a place to sit too.

Sophie....she cannot completely redo her plans (as she stated above...although she may be able to do some minor reworking), so she has to do the best she can with what she has. So....might be more benificial to her to encourage and help her figure out how to best capitalize on the positive aspects of the plan and help her make it the best it can be.

Congrats on your upcoming adventure.

Not usually a fan of angled home walls -- interior or exterior.

It appears your front yard is going to be a concrete driveway leaving you little if any front yard. you may as well turn your garage so vehicles enter the garage from the side (and, depending upon lot, perhaps be able to drive all the way through).

Alternately, preferably, you could have vehicles enter from the front to park in the garage, giving yourself some front yard to the right of the garage.

Either way, adding a small screened porch/breezeway between the garage and the mud room would help prevent exhaust fumes from the garage from entering the home and give you a second option for indoor/outdoor living ... sans mosquitos.

I do like that most of your powder rooms and your full bath have windows (when too many plans posted don't); -- that the powder room in the mudroom/laundry doesn't is fixable by turning the garage and squaring that angled corner and adding a small screened porch/breezeway between garage and mudroom.

Any time that "kitchen triangle" -- path between stove and refrigerator and sink -- is blocked by an island, it becomes a real inconvenience.

You might want to move your island closer to the family room, adjusting the size and/or even style of it if you need to do so, in order to ensure that you don't bump the corner of it walking back and forth between the sink in the island and the refrigerator. Seems like a small thing but, over time, it will matter.

If the window wall in the breakfast nook is going to be the only natural light source in the kitchen, then don't block that light with the pantry or doorway knock-out -- and don't put the windows off center -- make the entire wall windows or center what windows you do put there.

Like the bath and a half plan between the two children's bedrooms ... but you seem to have over complicated that side of the house by adding exterior wall angles. Consider enlarging the foyer by moving the right side of the dining room wall to be in line with the right side of the family room wall.

You seem to have created an angle to the back left corner of the dining room; simply mirror that on the back right side at the hallway between the two children's bedrooms -- they could just as easily be entered from the dining room, especially since that door in the corner of the family room would be awkward to decorate around anyway.

If you turn the garage and square that left front corner, you'll have room for storage there to help make up for removing the linen closet and kitchen pantry.

It's actually easy to find this Plan

It's available from dozens of the house plan sites.

There is a thread on this forum with people building this house and it’s sister houses. You might want to check it out.

Has Anyone Built 'The L'Attesa di Vita' Plan?

Labs....if the area circled in red was in your original plan (along with the entire wall filled with doors/windows) I would definitely go back to that (do not put the fireplace on that outside wall). That’s where all your light is coming from. This will make a huge difference in the space.

Labs your kitchen family room and eating area are situated very similar to ours in our new build. Our fireplace was on the wall yours is but we had it moved to the wall opposite the hood in the kitchen. I felt like that "balanced" both spaces opposite of each other well while also gaining more windows on the outside wall of the family room. I also did away with the corner of my kitchen cabinets and chose to have a doorway there which allowed me to move my pantry to under my stairs. This enabled me to have more room and enlarge my eating area, give me a walk in pantry and I gained cabinets across from the door to that pantry so I wasn't really giving up cabinet space and after having corner cabinets in my last kitchen I didn't want them again so for me it was a win win. and for me my master is on the other side of my family room so it allowed me to put windows on that wall of the eating area as well. Which significantly changed the lighting in the space.

In your master I would definitely consider doing two windows on the back wall on each side leaving room for your bed to be centered between them. To optimize your light in that room.

We selected Alabaster for our kitchen cabinets and all our trim work. I think I'm going to be happy with it,

Are you kitchen cabinets going to go to the ceiling? you may be able to put some arm lights at the top cabinets to shed more light in your kitchen.

labs I toured a home this weekend that had a floating fireplace between the family room and dining room. This would free up all your window space in the family room as well as leave you the expanse of wall for media.

Duh just saw the sketch of your kitchen cabinets. so maybe on the upper stacks closest to the hood on the first one on either side instead of those being functioning glass front uppers make them a solid panel and have some arm lights there?

Hey pink.....I really like those sconces with the rectangular shades! Love the one over the table as well (have no use for that one though).

Labs....just my opinion, but I would do whatever I could to completely free up that outside wall and have wall to wall and floor to ceiling windows. That’s what really makes the room!

This mill plan has had much more successful expressions. Put a Pause on this while you learn from those how to make this work. And perhaps engage a different draftsman.

Nid as i was posting that picture i saw the sconces and chandelier and though whoa now Nidnay is going to love those!

Labs surprisingly made the dining room feel cozy and i told my husband i think i would love it if the fireplace was sloped on the top so it felt more airy. It would be a custom look and i think a feature that would add character. Down side is if you entertain and need to extend a table to a really long length you are stuck with the size of the dining room. That solely depends on your style of entertaining and holiday family etc. It depends on where you are in your life. We are building with no formal dining room. At this point in our lives it’s just a wasted room for us.

Mantle Mount for above a fireplace.

I agree with others to move the fireplace back to the wall opposite the kitchen and make the back wall all windows. You need as many windows as possible back there.

Here's what I'd do if you can remove the nook and maybe pull the dining room down so it is on the same outside wall as the bedroom. It would mean making the front porch smaller, but that would help to bring even some northern light into the dining room. It would also give you a "hallway" from the foyer to the bedroom wing.

This would make the back wall where the nook was all sliders to the backyard. This would help bring in more light to the kitchen and would make the whole back south wall windows. Plus since the nook is basically just a pass through to the master, it's basically useless as it was. I also moved the outdoor door from the master down further and added two windows on the east wall to the master.

Moved the fireplace to the wall of the bedroom.

I think the solution for the eating area IF it can be changed at this time is to simply bump it out. Straight out from where it is now. The master only has one small corner window on that wall and losing it would be worth having a larger eating nook that has two sides of windows and doors out to the screened porch. As far as placing the fireplace on the wall opposite of kitchen that looks like a pretty big wall. Can you not do built ins on either side of the fireplace to house media at a lower level? Or gasp move the fireplace to one end and have built ins for larger media on the other?

Along with my other suggestions how about flipping the foyer and the dining room? This way when you enter the house, you have a wonderful view to the rear of the house versus a view of the end of the kitchen. Plus that would be a shorter walk to the dining room.

If you bump it out, maybe you can do something like below, surrounded by glass..hopefully it wouldnt be too hot or too cold. The kitchen might be darker, but solar tubes would help.

Craftsman Family Home | Ocean Park · More Info

I like cpartist’s suggestions of flipping the entry & dining and removing the nook & adding sliders there. Improves the views, the light, and the functionality.

In this layout I would think about removing the outside door in the bedroom since the sliders are 1 step outside the master bedroom