I like a stairway in the front hall. It opens the area and looks grand.

Another idea - have both! I grew up in a house with a front and back stairway. It's old fashioned but very handy.

@auntthelma thanks. im guessing i want something very simple and not grand so maybe thats why im not convinced on this location :/

The location and design shown are simply not good. The stairs dominate the entry, become strong visual elements (and will be unattractive unless you spend a lot of money to design and detail them properly). The long stair (going upstairs?) is much too close to the dining room wall, making the entry sequence from the front door to the family room narrow and utilitarian.

This is apparently the second design for stair locations. You (and your architect) need to make an important conceptual decision: Will the stairs be: 1) Exposed, decorative and very expensive, or; 2) Concealed from view (at least visitor's view from the entry) and be much simpler and more economical.

With your architect, make one of these decisions and stick with it. Stop changing your mind, and running up the cost of the design for no good reason.

And the fallacy of designing so simply, i.e., one floor at a time, in complete isolation, means that when it comes time to design the second floor, the predetermined first floor stair location may turn out to not work well at all for the second floor design, resulting in a large, inefficient and expensive second floor.

Said differently, every experienced designer knows that in looking at the first floor, one must also be thinking about the second floor. It's a simultaneous process, not a simple linear process.

Why? The first floor affects the second floor. The second floor, in turn, affects the design of the roof. The design of the roof, in turn, affects the design of the exterior. The hip bone is connected to the leg bone, is connected to the feet...etc.

You are making the same mistake so many consumers, drafters, CAD operators and design-build contractors make: thinking in only one dimension at a time. We see it here, again and again. It's why so many designs wind up so pedestrian and dull.

The fact that your architect is allowing you to think in this fashion suggests s/he may not be an architect at all.

Take a tip from architects: design is a simultaneous exploration of: 1) Site planning; 2) Interior space planning; and 3) Exterior massing and architectural style. A decision in one sphere directly impacts and limits possibilities in the remaining two spheres.

Thus, experienced designers look continuously at all three spheres as they design, and understand the impact of their explorations.

Good luck on your project.

we are not designing one floor at a time but the location of the stairs will ded determine the location of the rooms on the second story am I not correct in thinking that?

No, that is not how to design a house. A house is not designed like putting together pieces in Tetris. A house is designed in both 2d and 3d at the same time. All aspects of the house are related to one another. The interior, the exterior and the land it sits on.

For example, what is your property like?

What is the size and shape of your lot?

What direction is north?

What part of the country are you in and what is the weather?

Who will be living in the house?

Is this something you're attempting to design yourself or are you working with a draftsman?

@Virgil thanks for the reality check. I can not fault the architect because I am the one only thinking about just the stairs and def thinking just 1 dimension. I'm going to clear my brain and let the architect do his job. I think i have looked at so many internet plans and trying to replicate what i have seen that my vision of what i actually wanted is blurred.

@cp - i am working with a licensed architect who has designed homes in the subdivision. I own the land and will be building using a GC. We are located in Louisiana 2 adults 2 kids, house faces Southwest.

@Alison that was my initial design i wanted and then i second guessed myself and changed. Jut afraid of making the wrong decision and regretting it.

Trust you architect (s/he has done this before) and stop second guessing and starting over. You're just making the process more difficult for yourself and running up the expenses. ! :-)

I think it depends on how your family lives.

You may want the kids to be able to pass between the foot of the stairs and the mudroom, garage, kitchen, laundry, without dashing through the dining room. It's the straightest route as shown, so that's what they will do.

You may want the foot of the stairs along the route to the master bedroom, so when they come home late at night you can hear them (did they beat their curfew?)

You may want to decorate the staircase for the holidays.

You may want the upstairs laid out in a certain way and a stair coming up in the middle of it may or may not work for that. And, how do you want the stair to LOOK at the top? Open? Closed? What is in front of you as you arrive at the top?

You have more decisions to make about your plan than just stairs location, though that is important. For example, do you really want the master bedroom to open off the middle of the living room? And I'm not sure, but it think you are showing the internal measurements of the study from the edge of the shelves to the wall, not wall to wall.

How are cars going to pull in and out of the garage without hitting the stoop? And, how will a person (guests? Carpool?) get in and out of the passenger door when the car is outside? The stoop blocks the car door.

I would normally say to trust your architect too, but when I see a design that has two elevations each with 71 feet of wall and only a 30 inch window in it, I begin to question it.

@bp - a lot of questions i need to think about. As far as the master door that was something on my list but haven't looked at much but the stairs.

@ Mark - I'm okay with the number of windows on that wall. there was 1 additional one in laundry which we took away when i added that storage space. I will post in the coming months to get additional feedback from others once the plans are finalize.

@Alison- i do agree. time for another meeting with my architect!!

Great stairs connect a house. Poor stairs dissect it.

If I think of the stair as only a means to get from one floor to another, it's likely that's all it will ever become. But if I think of it as a connector, it has the potential to become much more.

In that regard, think of the stair as a room the same as you think of a dining room or a family room as rooms. Different function than those rooms of course but thinking of a stair that way then allows you to think in terms of room quality like you would in giving a dining room windows or a family room a higher ceiling to give those rooms quality.

There are some disconcerting spacial relationships here.

• Doing laundry is punishment enough - doing it in a 5x7 room is just mean,

• There's a hallway that is 3'5" wide - is that right? I am thinking that is not pleasant

• The dimensions of the great room is incorrect and it's faking you out about how large it is.

• 6'5" deep is not a useable deck

• You have ZERO storage in your master - and nowhere to even set a hairdryer

• I am assuming you have VERY strict lot boundaries / setbacks or something - because the garage / driveway is so close to the front of the house that you can't even have stairs in front of the front door - they have to be off to the side (or else you'd run them over pulling into the garage)

thanks Architectrunner!

@jannicone- the setbacks are 30 from the back and 40 from the front and 10 on the sides. the lot size is 95x141. when building a 2 story there has to be a min 2000 sq ft on the first floor, just living area. I would hope that the driveway issues would be fixed as the plans go forth since it has been mentioned twice.

what size should a laundry room be?

My laundry room is 6x7+, and I wouldn't want it any smaller. The machines don't set flush to the back wall, and you need room to move them out for servicing. You need room on the sides to open the doors past 90 degrees. You need room for YOU and the laundry both at the same time.

When you are ready, take the kitchen to the Kitchens forum. Among other things, they might point out that you may not be able to open the drawer next to the dishwasher all the way because it will hit the refrigerator.

thanks @bp will do once we are closer to finalizing plans

Just wanted to add that stairs with a landing are much safer than a straight run - so I hope that whatever you finally decide the landing remains. With reference to the architect, did you choose her independently or was she recommended by someone involved with the subdivision? One danger of using an architect who has designed several houses in one area is that they may look similar. If possible look at some of her other designs to ensure you are getting what you are paying for which should be something unique.

Is this one of the builder's architects or someone independent?

I've got a straight run with 12' ceilings. One of these days I'm going to get a cafeteria tray and go for a ride. Trust me, a break in the staircase is a good thing.

You need to have at least some idea what you want upstairs -- where you want the stairs to land -- before you decide the downstairs plan is "final".

With your current stair location, your formal dining room seems to be an unnecessarily awkward walled off space -- emphasis on walled off -- from your family room. Would you really use a tiny formal walled off dining room?

Rather than having separate dining and breakfast nook areas, consider enlarging the dining "nook" on the other side of the kitchen by making some changes to your stairs and dining space and deck. If your back exterior wall were straight, you could build your deck al across the entire back of your home and have plenty of room for a large dining table rather than just a breakfast table nook.

Instead of a ninety degree turn for your stairs, consider a full 180 degree turn -- half the steps beside the other half of the steps with a landing mid-way and have the upstairs landing be more in the center of your home, giving you much more in the way of options upstairs without using up a lot of space as hallway.

If you put your steps in the back of what is now your dining room ... if you have your steps begin at what is now the back right corner of your dining room and, from the entry, go up the first half of the stairs toward the left/kitchen side of the house. Then have your mid point landing double the size of the landing you are now showing so your steps can turn 180 degrees and go the rest of the way upstairs alongside the first section of stairs. Your landing upstairs would then be above your entry downstairs -- making possible some classy window designs and even leaving the stairwell and landing and balcony upstairs open to the entry below.

Unless you're also have steps go downstairs, you can make good use of the space beneath the stairs on all four sides for a coat closet and/or a utility closet and/or storage. A furnace or heat pump could fit beneath the stairs and duct work could go between floors via the walls of the stairs. By moving the stairs, you might not need what appears to be a furnace closet adjacent to a powder room behind the study wall and you could put a hallway -- a wall of closets for out of season clothes and other storage -- on the back side of the study wall -- an additional sound barrier as well.

From that hallway behind the study, you could access two doors: one door at the end of that hallway at the outside wall could be a powder room with a window. the other door would lead to the master bedroom, with a solid wall of his/her closets to the left of that (creating a sound barrier between the family room and the master bedroom) and the master bathroom with a window on the right along the outside wall.

Without the hallway between the master bathroom and the closet space, your clothes closet will be much more exposed to moisture from the bath. A bath tub with shower combination takes up less space than separate tub and shower -- and water pressure issues would likely prevent using both at the same time anyway.

Edit to add a note: Your powder room and your master bath could be "connected" with a door between them -- a bath and a half for your master bath that could also be used by guests and the connecting door locked as you might choose. You could put the equivalent of two powder rooms against the outside wall with longer vanity in the master bedroom area and still have room for both a tub and a shower against the hall wall between the master bath and the his/her closets.

A laundry "room" doesn't have to be more than a closet with a washer and dryer in it, preferably in a mud room or entry from a garage (or even as part of a master bathroom extended area). Having a rolling cart island for a folding table and for moving baskets and hampers about would be a good idea.

@Janelle and @ cp this is someone independent. we have to choose our own architect and builder. the hoa does not give us any reference on who to use.

Make a short (6' or so) hallway behind and parallel to the back wall of your study (appears to be built-in bookshelves) that leads to your powder room. The power room will beat the end of that hallway between the study and the master bath. Because it will be against the outside wall it, too, can have a window.

Just before you get to that powder room, have another door on the left -- enters the area of and in the direction of the master bedroom. This would be a second hallway within the master bedroom suite with the master bedroom on the end. As you walk from the hallway behind the study toward the master bedroom, you'd have a row of closets on the left -- his/her/our closets - and the master bath on the right.

The master bath would be along the outside wall enabling you to have a window. You could put the toilet of the master bath near the wall with the other powder room (the one at the end of the hallway behind the study.

You could then have a have a vanity/countertop with two sinks between the master bath toilet and the master bedroom and window over that countertop, too.

You could put both a tub and shower -- together or separate -- across from the vanity and toilet. Because the closet originally shown as inside the bathroom would have been moved to behind the family room wall, you should have enough room length (front to back of house) in the master bath, to put both a tub and shower on the interior wall of the master bathroom and have a door to enter the bathroom between your tub and shower. Alternately, you could turn your tub parallel to the interior wall of the master bath (front to back of house) and have the door to the master bath enter from the master bedroom.

You could have a linen closet face the hallway parallel to the study at the end of the row of his/her/our closets.

If you choose a tub with shower combination rather than separate units, you will have even more storage room. Where you might have placed either your shower or tub across from the toilet at the front/study end of your master bath, you could add a second linen closet facing the hallway parallel with the back of the study wall and move the bedroom door a couple feet from that hallway into what is a hallway within the master bedroom suite.

Thinking it would be better to build two sets of steps side by side -- half and half -- rather than have one part or the other have more steps and extend farther into the room than the wall of the other steps. The walls around and between the steps going up/down then could be planned to house duct work and electrical wiring and even plumbing pipes.

You're welcome.

If your stairs are going to be “prominent” (or visible as soon as you walk in the door) you will need to plan to spend the money to make them an interesting feature, rather than just stairs haphazardly plopped in foyer.

Do you need both a tub & shower in master bath? Many now just do a larger walk in shower, and ditch tub (as long as another one in house elsewhere). That would allow you to have larger vanities/more storage because right now storage in that master bath will be scant.

I do think the master closets are awkward, and will be less roomy in actuality than they look on paper. Hanging clothes need 2ft. You need at least 2ft to walk (preferably more!). With their dimensions you can really only hang clothes along one wall - maybe one long wall and one stubby wall - and still have room to move in there. That longer closet closest to front of house sort of makes me feel claustrophobic when I think of going in it, as doors do not open enough to give reach in access so there will be some maneuvering to get clothing hung on outermost edge.

One window on a 71ft wall (a big part of it a garage wall) does not surprise me if you have neighbors very close on either side like is common in many smaller city/subdivisionlots. I have that (will have that) too and so I have limited windows on side. Side windows in my current house almost always are blinds down as is to keep snoopy neighbors eyes away!

That laundry room is more of a laundry closet. That works for some people, but not usually for people with kids, or couples like my husband and I who generate a lot of laundry through our jobs and hobbies. One can spend a lot of time doing laundry (from loading it, to moving it, to unloading it, to folding it), so would you rather do it in a closet (or end up with laundry all over floors and furniture where there is “room” to fold it) or in a larger room. That will help you determine how much room you need and want. To me it was enough of a “want” to have a roomy laundry room to sacrifice a bedroom for a generous laundry/storage room (and my husband plans to also set up his sewing machine & desk, for others it could be a craft room, etc).

Have we just about reached this point in the discussion?

You don't just pick stair location like the seam placement in a countertop. The stair is designed into the home just like the foundation. No changin' it afterwards.

Virgil, I'm going to have to find that bookstore in Portugal!