Based on the plans, I really do NOT think you have a problem but if you try to put a second door at the top of the stairs, you will be creating one. I understand that the builder wound up having to make an extra step so that the first step down is closer to the door than it was supposed to have been and that this is making you nervous. But, unless the hinges to the door have been reversed from the way they are shown on the plan, the garage door really does NOT swing "toward" the basement opening. The hinges are on the side that is farthest from the stairs. So, the door actually swings AWAY from the stairs as it opens. At at no point would it push any object that it hit DOWN the stairs. Seriously, if you were to place a ball on the floor in the locations shown by the blue dots in the diagram below, and then open the door so that it strikes the ball, the red arrows show the direction that the ball would be pushed. At the worst possible spot, the ball would be pushed parallel to the top of the stairs, NOT DOWN the stairs. Everwhere else the force is AWAY from the staircase. Same thing if a person happened to be standing in one of these spots. They might get a bump but they would NOT be knocked down the stairs. You really should try this for yourself because seeing for yourself the direction that the ball moves may help to relieve your anxiety. Furthermore, a door of any kind across the top of the stairs will CREATE the very problem that you are worried about. The door would have to swing out into the hall because code won't allow you to have a door that swings over steps. So, assume you hinge the door on the right side of the stairs. Suppose it is standing partway open in the way in the way of a "Alex" who is heading toward the garage. Alex pushes the stairway door closed so that he can reach the garage door. But just at that moment, Bobby comes up running up the stairs toward what was an OPEN doorway. He runs smack dab into a door that is closing TOWARD him. That force of that door is directed almost straight down the steps and could literally knock Bobby down the stairs. Try it for yourself. Take a ball and a meter stick or a 3' piece of 2x4 and go out to your house. Place the ball on the floor to represent the spot where Bobby's head might be as he reaches the top of the stairs not expecting that door to suddenly close. Then set the 2x4 on the floor and hold it where on the side where the hinge would be then swing it the way a closing door would move. You can see for yourself that the ball will move in the direction show by the red arrow - i.e., DOWN the stairs. Granted, a stairway door hinged on the other side would be less dangerous because, if it were standing open, a person who is in the garage and wanted to get inside would have a hard time forcing the stairway door to close. In fact, a door standing open like this in front of another door forms a pretty effective barrier to opening the door at all. You CAN do it - but it takes awhile and usually results in scratching the blocking door up pretty badly. Do you want to be standing out in the garage with your arms full of groceries trying to get in when the door is blocked because one of your grandkids left the stairway door standing open? Finally, most people coming up the stairs and intending to go into the main part of the house will tend to stay toward the inner wall as they reach the top of the stairs (shortest path and all that) so 99.9% of the time, they won't arrive at the top step immediately in front of the door anyway. As you can see in the first diagram above, even if side of the step next to the garage is really close to the door's swing path, the other side of the first really isn't that close. Put the handrail on the inside - which is the logical place to put one anyway - and that will reinforce the tendency to stay to the right as you climb the stairs which will further reducing the chance for any possible possible collision with the door to the garage when it opens. Get a half-light door for the garage so that you can see in when opening that door and then stop worrying.

Nice plan but a few things you might want to think about before finalizing: 1) This is a very complex shaped house design (i.e., lots of exterior corners). Be aware that the least expensive home to build is a basic rectangle and that every variation from the rectangle increases costs. All those juts in-and-out increase costs per square foot because they result in a higher ratio of exterior walls to interior square footage which means more framing material, more insulation, a more complicated roof-line and foundation, etc. Not saying you should change a thing... just thought you ought to be prepared for the sticker shock you may receive when you start getting bids. 2) You kitchen island is positioned so that any dirty dishes in the sink will be on display to anyone in the Great Room. No problm if you're the kind of housekeeper who keeps the sink area spic and span at all times. Me? I would want the island turned so that the raised section helped to hide my sink from the great room. But that would pretty much require an entire reshaping of the kitchen and thus the rest of the plan. So, you will probably want to keep it as is. 3) No windows in the kitchen itself? Patio deck doors and great room windows may be rather far away to provide much natural light for kitchen. You don't mention the direction your house faces and, if the wall that the fridge is against is a north wall, you might not want any windows there. But, in that case, I would question placing your screen porch on that side of the house. 4) The laundry room and mud room seem a bit cramped...especially for a home with three kids. Since the garage juts forward anyway, unless you're already running up against lot-line setbacks, consider pulling the snout of the garage forward another couple of feet and then extending the mud room and laundry room forward an equal distance into the garage to enlarge them. The cost to do so should be relatively minor compared to overall cost to build because, although you would be adding a bit of square footage, you would not be increasing the complexity of the design in any way. 5) Make ABSOLUTELY certain that your pantry is wide enough to accomodate the freezer you want to put in it... not just the one you have already. Measure the depth of the freezer you want to purchase and then add about three inches. A freezer can't sit right up against the back wall. You have to leave room for air circulation and you don't want the freezer sticking out so far into the pantry aisle that you can hardly squeeze past it. I thought I had left plenty of room for a freezer in our mudroom/pantry but freezers today are bigger than my old one. Our new one just BARELY fits. I have just exactly enough space between the freezer and the counter across the aisle to fully open the freezer door... nor an inch to spare. It works - but if my pantry/mudroom were 6 inches wider, it would feel a whole lot more spacious! Also, speaking of freezer doors, you probably don't want to put the freezer right up against the side wall or you may not be able to fully open the freezer door. It needs swinging room. Finally, make sure that at least one of your pantry doors is wide enough to get the freezer in and out of the pantry! We had to have the interior door of our pantry reframed to 36" wide b/c our builder installed a 32" exterior door on the mudroom/pantry instead of the 36" wide one specified on the plans... and we didn't notice THAT error until after we fired him and took over the build ourselves. (By that time it would have cost us thousands to reframe the exterior wall, get a new exterior door, have the cabinets on the exterior walls remade to fit the reduced space, etc., etc., etc., GRRRR!!!) 6) Similar issue to above...how much room is there between your refrigerator and your kitchen island? Unless you get a "counter depth" fridge, your new fridge could stick out as much as a foot beyond the edge of the surrounding countertop. 7) Have you thought about furniture placement yet? Bedroom 2 looks a bit problematic b/c the best position for a double bed seems to be up against the bathroom wall. But that would mean one would have to walk around the bed to get from closet to bath. Perhaps you could flip the bathroom vertically so that the tub is against the front wall and the bathroom door is close to the closet door. 8) In bedroom 3, would the door fit on that little angled section of wall? If so, I think you'd find it easier to place a full-sized bed and other furniture in the room. Besides, that would give you a nice section of wall space in the landing/hallway for a bench or maybe some book cases. 9) Not sure I agree with zookeeper93 about combining the closet and laundryroom (especially not if you can increase the size of the laundry room.) It can be nice to have a separate closet that isn't subjected to laundry room lint. And I definitely would not want my freezer in the laundry room area. Guests helping me cook sometimes need to access the freezer when my laundry room is simply not presentable. LOL! 10) I do agree with zookeeper93 tho that the angles in your master closet are going to limit the actual useable hanging space. Unfortunately, I don't think you have room enough for a door into the commode room if you try to just straighten out the wall by the commode room. I can't tell what those two little niches are between the master closet and the master bedroom (seats?, inset bookcases? art niche's?). If it were me, I would get rid of them and incorporate that area into my master closet. I would also swap where the shower and commode are. I think that would give you enough room for a closet with nice-sized USEABLE his/hers sections. Maybe something like this with a pocket door to the master bath: BTW, you need to be very careful when using pocket doors to make sure that you're not planning to attach closet rods or the supports for something like an Elfa closet system to the walls where the pocket door "hollow space" is. Remember, there are no STUDS in that space and you need STUDS to support the weight of clothing hanging on closet rods.

Zone4 - I love a lot of things about that plan. I'll list the immediate things I see that wouldn't work. If anyone has any way to make those things work then I would gladly suggest it to my builder. I like the exterior a lot! -I would like the main level laundry (we hope to have an upstairs laundry with kids rooms) to be near or even in the master. -Not sure about kitchen. Would have to work on the layout. Are the dimensions wall to wall? Does anyone know? -We are hoping for at least 16 feet (would love 20 but don't think it will happen) for dining space to accommodate our large table. -Upstairs beds and baths seem to be on the small side but not terribly small. -Would like a laundry upstairs. Reno-I'm finding that to be very true. It has made me stay in check on size though. When I would make plans before I would bump a wall out here or there and end up with 8000 square feet. LOL Okay, well not 8000 but you know what I mean. I'm not sure I understand what you mean about "thinking about the spaces created between the room you are moving around". Do you mean the room I am moving to another location in the plan or the main focus room (ie., living room or kitchen or...) that we think is highest priority and making the plan work around that? I keep reminding myself that things that take a lot of work are usually worth it. I'll keep trudging along. I appreciate your help!

If you start laying the boards north to south, do that throughout the house; if you start laying the boards east west, do that throughout the house. As you decide how you want the boards, think about how you would want them in your living room -- or great room -- and why and then talk with your pro installing the boards and ask if that is the most practical way to lay the boards and, if not, why not. Go from there.