Clickable Here is a link that might be useful:

Our pantry shelves start 28" above the floor (trash can and recycling center below). They are spaced at 10" 7" 8" 8" 13" and to the ceiling. My shelves are 10" deep and there is pretty much nothing we buy that is deeper than that other than the jumbo Cheerios box that we have laying on it's edge with the box top facing out. I think your back wall shelves shouldn't be any deeper than 12". You could *possibly* do them deeper if you have some big platters or small appliances or big soup pots or jumbo salad bowls that you would want to put on the shelves if they are deeper than 12". Anything deeper than that and stuff gets lost behind other stuff IMO. If it was me, I would do 3-4" deep shelves on each side and 12" deep shelves across the back. There are soooo many things that could go just one deep on the sides like vinegars, oils, Pam, syrup, peanut butter, etc etc. I don't want to move the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil and the Mrs Butterworths to get to my Jif that is behind all that stuff. Also, you can store more on more shelves that are closer together. Not as much wasted air space between my 5" tall jar of Jif to the next shelf 10" up. Well phooey, I just re-read your post and see you plan on storing cookware, recycling, small microwave, small appliances, etc there. I just saw "pantry" and went to town, LOL !! I do still think 22" shelves are too deep. Even our laundry shelves are only 14" deep and nothing protrudes except the 16" long Dirt Devil stored in it's box. If you had 14" deep back shelves, your side shelves could be 23" wide as opposed to 22" deep back shelves which would only allow your side shelves to be 10" wide. I would prob do 14" deep on the back wall and 8" deep on one side. Gather up all the stuff you would like to put in that closet and arrange it by depth and then group by height and see what minimum and maximum clearances you need.

cpartist - Point taken on the patio above the bedroom. However one of our neighbors did this when remodeling a similar floorplan and it has worked out well. (Plus we are in Northern CA so haven't seen rain in a very long time.) When you say they need "lots of work" give me a teaser...what's wrong? omelet - I am really torn about having a family room connected to the kitchen or separate. I love the concept of having a whole family space to hang out in. Right now I'm stuck cleaning up the kitchen while everyone hangs out watching a game or starting a family show downstairs. I think the room would be used 70% of the time for family activities (hanging out, ballgames, movies, reading) and 30% of the time taken over by tweens and teens after school/on weekends. What kind of third option do you mean? Livewireoak - cpartist is correct. There is no room for rebuilding the garage further to the left. There is just a 6 foot gate/tiny sideyard then the neighbors (visible on the left).

Since you are tearing the garage down and rebuilding that part how about turning it like PPF has in his rendering. It just looks better and not like two almost identical houses connected by a long low area in your current rendering. This is one case where I'm for adding a gable in the front. This would likely also save you some money and be lower maintenance going forward too. The dormers are more expensive and always a potential area for roof leaks to develop. More to paint and maintain. You can still have a loft, just may need to rearrange the interior some. What is the new parts in the plan? It is not clear to me. Can you draw some lines to highlight what is actually new? Is the laundry area new? If so how about adding in the powder room there since you have to add plumbing in that area for the master and laundry anyways. This way you can have that extra space in your TV room and no need to get new furniture for it unless you want to. I just think it would make the TV room flow better and give you more space and more furniture arrangement options. It is just one of those items that looks like it wasn't original and someone just needed to find a spot for a powder room downstairs. Seems like if renovating and improving this is one that should go on the list. Humans are very adaptable and will work around things, but if you have the opportunity why not fix it so it works even better. I think the cost wouldn't be that much extra (considering the other plumbing that will be done in that area and it would do a lot for your TV room. It would look updated and not have the remnants of it was the only place available before so it was stuck there. What do you plan to use the loft for? Seems like an expensive feature that wouldn't get much use in our house if in the master bedroom. However if accessible by kids (that I prefer to not have in my bedroom) then it would see a lot of use for us. Just want you to think about it as my personal opinion would be not something I'd want to spend my money on, I'd rather spend it on relocating the powder room to have a nice rectangular TV room and then use the rest that is left over for something else. In my area re-locating the powder room would likely be around 4K, but the loft area would run about 15-25k. It is a neat feature, but I just can't see myself using it on a regular basis. Love the idea of the book cases framing the windows. Have you considered widening the opening to your existing living room as well or just move it if widening is not an option? This way you'd have a straight walkway available between the kitchen and dining area and thus feel less cramped with the table and chairs there and the flow would make more sense between the rooms as the dining area would be more defined. I think your house as it currently exists is looking so pretty, but your new rendering just doesn't have the same charm at all. Unfortunately the two prominent doors makes it confusing. I understand wanting to move the entry, however I think you need to figure out a way to not have two doors competing and both looking like entries. Painting the brick and bricking up that area and add a window helps a lot as shown in PPF's rendering.