My living room has one large window, which faces north/northeast and is under a deep front porch. The room is way brighter than I thought it would be.

The thing is that it's juuust east enough to pick up morning ambient light, and the window is huge, and more importantly, tall (it's one of those big Victorian front windows with a giant square sash and transom window on top), and in a room with a 9'8" ceiling.

I had previously lived in a low-slung postwar bungalow with a single window in the living room. Window was under a similarly deep porch and had southern exposure. However, this house had 8' ceilings and the window was one of those low but wide ones. Living room was depressigly dim.

So I think the living room with windows on one wall can certainly be done, but it has to be done right. Have a high ceiling and tall windows. Probably avoid having those windows off a porch.

Maybe an architect can help you. I personally do not like rooms that only have windows on one wall. In addition to only having light from one exposure, you don't have any cross-ventilation. A home that is no more than 2 rooms deep will probably give you rooms with two exposures. Also, if you have an attached garage you will be challenged to have windows on two walls.

Classic architecture did not have open plan rooms, but many older homes have lots of windows and light. Fenestration (window placement) is very important in planning a home.

The attached garage is definitely creating the dilemma.. that and trying to do 2 bedrooms on the first floor. Allowing only 2 rooms deep will require a very long or odd shaped exterior, so I'm trying to compromise by giving every room at least one full wall along the outside.

Attached garage is a must, we live in an area with a lot of snow. I may have to ask what the extra cost would be to do a separate garage with an enclosed breezeway.

You could have an enclosed sunroom between the garage and the house, either heated or not. As an added bonus, you'd have a more attractive exterior.

I would need to see the plan before having an opinion about window placement and your architect should be able to allow you to post the plan.

Every house plan results in compromises. Only Escher can create a perfect plan without them but few builders are willing to attempt building his designs. :-)

For me it's difficult to comment on your living room without seeing your plan. I'm a fan of traditional interiors vs open so I think that's a good move on your part. Fenestration will be important though. I also think that in most cases a bit of separation between the house and garage is very beneficial from an aesthetic standpoint as well as providing more window options.

I have a strong preference for windows on at least two sides of each room, lots of windows on the south, limited on the west and extremely few on the north. Our new house (http://bamasotan.us) is limited on the north but has gobs on the west (somewhat protected by a porch and balcony) and not nearly as many as I'd like on the south. The first blog photo with the four windows and furnace is our family room so the four windows look west and the window on the far right is south facing. This is the mostly the total of all windows in our family room (there are actually five west facing windows but one is cut off in the photo). I'd like to have had more south facing but that wall also has a fireplace and a TV next to the fireplace as well as a conservatory on the outside that makes a window difficult.

Our lot is on the east side of a lake so west facing windows for lake views was kind of important. Other elements (fireplace & chimney, TV placement in family room, bed in master, master closet placement) limited south facing windows.

Our kitchen is in the middle of the west side so has lots of west facing windows but is limited otherwise. It does have one north facing window but that is to a porch and a porch wall so limited light but better than nothing. From within the kitchen you can see through a hallway and the scullery to a small north facing window but otherwise it's just the west windows.

I think I can get it so one full wall and one partial wall will have windows. And it will be on the south east face. And thanks for mentioning porches, I'll avoid a covered porch to get more light!

Our screened porch is in the right angle (SE) between our breakfast room and our dining room. It's double height with cathedral ceiling. It has two skylights in the eastern slope of the roof. Rooms have plenty of light even in winter. (Chicago area.)

Our library faces north -- another cathedral ceiling -- with a tall archtop window. It's bight enough that I could paint it "Hershey-Bar Brown' (my term), with white trim.