I am not a guru but I can give you my opinion. Melanie on the regrets - while trying to minimalize them they still will happen! Flip side is you will likely also have some grrr that ends up turning out different but BETTER than you imagine. IMO stealing the foot makes it much more functional so I would do it in a heartbeat but I am not the expert. It also opens it up and will 'feel' better. I think that's a good spot for a broom closet and charging station and should easily stay tidy. It is about 5' wide yes? That is a nice size space. Measure what you have you want to store in there and then look for pics of what you are thinking. Utility sink in the garage - really in the winter there isn't much dirt and when it's exposed it's frozen too so I'd think the utility sink would get more use in the spring summer fall when it's thawed so I'd keep it on the table too. My opinion - your money. Ha! As far as 'enough room' - it sounds like your kids are younger based solely upon still being in the 'add more' season of life. :) I can tell you only to think seasons, think sports, cleats, basketball shoes, church shoes, boots, hiking shoes, tennis shoes, flops, bats, ball caps, backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles (if you have girls think even MORE shoes and then purses - ack)........ I will say for my 2 the space we have is more than adequate and it's quite roomy (I just double checked and it's actually 6.5' on a side so each person has 3' plus). That said we also have a closet near that I put off season stuff in and dog food. Winter coats and snow pants and boots are not in the locker area all year. I put them in the closet over spring/summer/fall. As long as you have a spot for that I think you are fine. Off season can closets can always be in the basement as well. There are always sweatshirts hanging and ball caps. Besides that there is always a stray nerf gun, goggles, flash lights and what have you hanging out there. I don't mind it there - it's out of the way and not underfoot! Old house it used to be in their rooms and all over. We had no designated space for outdoor wear anyplace besides bedrooms. If I am feeling brave I will snap a real life pic of it in action. It is easy to pick up and look presentable when needed but typically M-F it's a dumping spot. I like an open bench vs doors because we do use it to sit down to put stuff on and take stuff off regularly. And when our parents come and use that entry they love to be able to sit down to put on and remove shoes. It's comfortable and useful. With your window placement in the bathroom and the exterior door you will find it a nice light filled space. Our exterior door there is 3/4 glass and I love how it lights the hall. It is never a dark space.

Annette, thank you for taking the time to answer. Apologies for the very rough sketch. I didn't explain that we will be adding the envisioned left hand wall, sectioning off the new laundry space from the current open garage space. The elevator and space at the bottom of the sketch are in the interior of the house. The door between the elevator and the stairs opens from the foyer into the garage. The closet I have drawn in there, we have now decided will be added to the laundry room and not the foyer. The lines I have drawn in the middle of the left hand wall will be stairs going down to the lower level of the garage. There will be a door there. The sketch I have drawn correlates to the right hand section of the blueprint. The perspective would be the equivalent of the first photograph. The new wall will be placed where the dotted line is in the blue print . Am I making more sense? (or any sense.... ;) ) I agree with you about putting the dryer on the exterior wall. I'm not sure why my contractor boyfriend is so insistent on them not being on an exterior wall. Were the Fl units you were using in the house on pedestals or without? I feel without the pedestals they will be ok. I'm short: 5'4"

Does the third bath function as a powder room that just happens to have a shower or is there another reason for it? Pool bath? Shop or outdoor cleanup before entering the main house? Can't really think of any others, but those might be reasons why someone would pay more for a full bath in that location, but if it's functionally a powder room, a shower wouldn't seem to add any value at all -- functional laundry space will.

- The footprint question for me was regarding the "notches" (behind garage, front porch), it seems pushing/pulling here and there as needed would not affect the overriding property setback. - The kitchen island cabinet sizes, was just confirming that wasn't a 2nd DW to the left. Though 24" pullout is wide for a small kitchen, you can go skinnier for a 2-bin trash pullout. The minimal uppers was noting as your dish storage will want to be base drawers next to the stove. - "Chases" are just vertical spaces for larger mech/plumbing to pass. Usually the drawing convention is an 'X.' The fireplace 'chase' looked extremely large, but that may be the differing scales playing tricks on my mind. - Be cognizant of what both stairs are doing in the garage. One for clearance next to car if turned with landing. The other the ceiling height dropped down, as that could be 3' to 4' down from the ceiling plane. I agree garages should always have a man door, just be aware of circulation, and how that works around workbenches/shelving, and a long vehicle (trucks are 19' long, mid-size SUV 17'ish). - If the 2nd story is only over the garage, then the roof continuing over the "breezeway" section needs to account for the stair headroom height. - The porch may be better to have all one elevation, so put the stairs outside the porch, worked into the planter design. - The Dining Room circulation required reduces your available table area by quite a bit. You may not be able to fit a 6 person table if that is a req'mt.