Congratulations on your new project. Floor area and size of house is certainly more than able to contain what's needed and desired for two people. I'll let others comment on the floor plan. Your elevations are full of builder's cliches: stacked gables, a tall hipped roof unrelated to the gables, decorative vent panels for the attic truss space (are these really vents and designed as part of an energy-efficient "tight" house construction, or just more exterior decoration?) and a serendipitous assemblage of exterior siding materials. The elevations would greatly benefit from simplifying and unifying the shapes, forms and materials into a much more harmonious design. For example, pick a roof type (gable, hip, shed, etc.) and use the type consistently throughout the design without adding other roofing types. Your plan has more than enough bump-o's and notch-o's so as to avoid the dreaded "slab" elevation, and a dull, lifeless exterior. Pick one or two favorite materials and stick with them throughout the elevations. Any needed vitality and life can be injected with carefully coordinated trim and window color. A good architectural reference for large houses such as this is the shingle style, which emphasizes large, horizontal elements wrapped with a continuous exterior finish material. Google shingle style and study the horizonal massing, the types of roofs that harmonize and the use of a consistent set of exterior materials. Your site plan seems uninspired and utiliterian. With such a large lot, why wouldn't you set back from the streets and create the opportunity for integrated landscaping, front and rear? With all of your living spaces along one side of the plan, why wouldn't you orient that side to the south to take advantage of passive solar-energy strateties? If it was my house, I'd consider locating it in the green oval space toward the north end of the side, and orient the living areas to the south. I'd open the east-west line of trees so that there was a directional view to the south, and plant screening materials so that I did not have to see the road intersection at the extreme south end of the site. Floor plan, interior spatial sequences, exterior massing and site planning should all be considered together and be harmonious and reinforcing with one another. Good luck on your project.

I have bought and installed $3000.00 worth of smartcore pro 1 year ago in my unheated cabin since it said good for extreme temperatures down to 25 degrees below zero and Lowes said it was the best and only flooring that will work for me. The floor started to seperate in December 2020 at 19 degrees. Lowes said they can not help me and to file a claim with Shaw. Shaw sent an independent inspector to see flooring in March 2021. The so called independant inspector came and pretty much told me that his job is to find things to void the warranty so no claims get paid. He crawled on my floor throughout all rooms with a 6 foot level and found one high spot on my l floor that tilted his level uneven. I told him every house built has a joyce that is a little high or a little low. He agreed and said that he goes through million dollar brand new homes and always finds the same. He measured the space at edges an said some spots were too close to wall. I told him nothing expanded or contracted and its the locking that has failed. He also said the floor molding was touching the floor and that will also void a warranty. I told him there are no houses where the wall molding is not touching the floor and that no one keeps a gap below the molding. He agreed but said even if my floor did have more spacing and wall molding had a gap under it that Shaw would still void my claim since he found a joyce high spot. He left and I never had a returned call since March. I even offered to lift my floor and pay the $1.49 per square foot and to have it reinstalled by anyone of thier choice to prove it was not an installation problem and it is a locking failure problem with the flooring. I am a tipical hard working person that saved for two years to buy the best flooring made for my conditions. Shaw or Lowes have not even called me to offer me a solution or any compensation towards my $3000.00 invested. I do not know if my floor will continue to worsen but I do know it will not get better. I told the inspector that if Shaw really wanted to improve thier product that this was the perfect chance. An unheated cabin that temperatures go down to a couple of degrees below zero in the coldest part of the year. I have 8 rental proerties, a house and 2-cabins that I wanted to do all over with this flooring and now I can not trust Shaw flooring or Shaw customer service to correct the failure. My cousin is a contrator that build homes and works with hundreds of other contracors and said that he will no longer use Shaw flooring after he sees what happened to me. SHAME ON YOU SHAW FOR NOT FIXING YOUR FAILED FLOOR LOCKING PROBLEM. I or my cousin will never buy another Shaw product unless this is fixed by compensation or what I prefer which is to lift and reinstall new flooring by anyone of Shaws choice. The cabin next to me installed a cheap laminate flooring from Pergo at 1/2 the price and it has not failed under the same temperatures. I am out $3000 but you are out hundreds of thousands of dollars when contractors will not trust your products since you chose not to do the right thing.***SHAME ON YOU SHAW FOR NOT FIXING YOUR FAILED FLOOR LOCKING PROBLEM. Tim Sommers Mongomery, Pa. 17752 (570-220-8070)

I'm not entirely sure I know which plan is which, but in the first plan you shared, the corridor is just wasted space. In every plan you shared the foyer is so unnecessarily huge. YES, bigger bedrooms sell. YES, use the space currently occupied by the laundry room to expand your kitchen. NO, do not move the bedrooms to be on opposite sides of the house. All of the plans you shared have huge problems. The one you shared in the comment and said is the current layout is the best of the three floorplans you shared. My suggestion would be to move the laundry room into the foyer near the stairs (is that what you mean by under?) and add an entry way closet. You could still have a reasonably sized foyer and gain greater functionality. Personally, I love an open floor plan, so I would suggest opening the entry way to the kitchen, dining, and living rooms and having open flow between the rooms. You could have a huge U-shaped or L-shaped kitchen island with bar seating but if that isn't your style or that doesn't fit the neighborhood, just make sure there's good flow between the rooms. As for whether or not a renovation is worth the money, it depends on the area. A good renovation (with a good plan and a style that is in keeping with the neighborhood) on the cheapest house in the neighborhood is usually a safe bet. Outside of that, there are many factors to consider. I would say, don't do a giant renovation to sell the house. Do a big renovation because you'll enjoy the house more. That being said, in your home, it seems to me that there are ways to increase your kitchen size and keep it a reasonably sized project. Last but not least: street noise. Hedges, trees, and/or fences can do wonders for this. If the noise is a problem in the front, but it isn't a problem in the back, chances are that you can make a big impact by planting some trees and maybe adding a fence or stone/brick wall. I'd recommend adding more plants and things that create noise interference to your front yard. Even the wind blowing through leaves creates white noise that can drown out a lot of the sounds of traffic.

I'm concerned with the home's humidity control. The cupping and popping of the hardwood in the at or above grade areas tells me something else is going on. When it comes to the UPPER MOST level having issues with hardwoods cupping, I like to look at the ROOF. The house was built in 2004. The roof is getting close to 20 years old. It will need to be replaced in the next 7 years or so (assuming you have a 25 year roof...you might have a 15 year roof...it depends on what the build was like back them). Make sure you budget for that, if you haven't all ready. As for the humidity in the home, it sounds like it is 'uncontrolled'. Which is to say, it needs to be controlled. No matter what floor you put in, you need some form of humidity control. Do you have a whole home humidifier/dehumidifier? Chicago land is KNOWN for high humidity (darn great lakes!) and wicked storms. If you do not correct the humidity now, any floor you put in there is going to come under SERIOUS stress. Let us know what type of HVAC controls you have. Do you know the humidity readings on EACH level?