Hmm, I think I would flip the house and consider doing a shared driveway along the boundary with the sibling if they are up for it. My husband's two brother bought land together and divided it approximately 5 acres each and they did that. They have one gate at the end of the driveway and shared the expense of paving it up to where their individual driveways diverged.

Having your public spaces--living, dining, kitchen--facing south is the ideal orientation.

Whatever you do, don't have those spaces facing west.

Your dining room size makes this room virtually unuseable. My own DR is approximately 13x13 and it is so small that I cannot serve the table properly as I cannot get behind the chairs at all on one side, and barely on the other. I'd move your kitchen all the way to where you now have a breakfast room and add that space to the DR. You can always make your island longer if you feel the need for more informal seating. It's too bad that using a DR is considered "stuffy" for everyday these days. Buy some wipeable placemats or easily washable ones and use it!

Those porches are going to make your LR very dark.

i do not want the kitchen where the breakfast area is because a major traffic pattern goes through there.

and if I use that idea, and have larger dining area in front of the house....I won't have a walk in pantry (which is one of the most important things in my must list). Also, having a dining table facing south will make dinnertime hot and bright. I will have to have blinds closed (which equals no pretty views while eating dinner)

I've looked at the plan and read through comments. I must be missing the walk-in pantry? I also think the master closets/bath could be rearranged for a better space. Where are you putting the den?

From an acreage perspective, I would plan the house location based on how the landscape will look in 5-10 years. My belief is if someone wants to break in, they will. I don't think a thief comes up a 200+ft driveway, then looks in windows to see if there is anything worth stealing.

Why are you picking a floor plan and trying to fix it? Do you know what architects do?

Yes, I know the value of an architect. However, my husband was not on board with throwing the dice and having something drawn up. He wanted to pick a plan, get ballpark figures from builders...and then go with said plan. I had the desire to try to get a plan drawn. But we weren't even sure what exactly we could afford. We had this plan priced out....and my husband just wants to go with something that he knows the cost of. He thinks the house is great and thinks I'm probably just being a tad bit too picky. Our builder did say that he has someone who can draw up anything we want....I believe he's a draftsman (and not a designer who could come up with a plan from scratch with our wants/needs/vision). I am just trying to get advice on this forum to try to make this plan work best for our family. I realize everyone on here says to hire an architect. But when your spouse isn't ok with that....you have to make the best decisions with your options.

The walk in pantry will come where the opening to the dining is. The dining area will be used for a walk in pantry on the kitchen side and an office.

If your husband thinks this is such a great plan, ask him where the food is stored. You live in a rural area (or at least not urban). The grocery store is not in walking distance. You will want to buy in some bulk. I haven't had a house without a walk-in pantry since I was a little kid. That pathetic space for a pantry is just that .. pathetic.

Kids sharing a bath - and then a pocket door to a bedroom. Horrible. One kid's bedroom is on display for guests at the front door and the other with guests on the back door. French doors into a kid's bedroom. That is strange.

If you are concerned about costs, that front porch is a lot of money for not a lot of functionality.

That dining room is useless. A house this size should not have 2 dining spaces.

Have you imagined your vehicles in that garage?

With some land, you can orient the public places to the south. This house has 3 uncovered windows into the public areas or where you spend the vast majority of your waking hours. They face NE.

Double front doors into a 6 foot wide foyer? There is no clearance for door swing.

There is always that strange psychology of feeling exposed and concern for getting robbed. Like someone else said, no one is walking up a 200 foot drive to check out what model TV you have to consider robbing you. If they made that trek, they are coming in - Samsung or Sony doesn't matter. Criminals want jewelry and cash.

Do some research on "non-vented" gas logs and see what an idiot the person who made this plan is.

I thought it but I didn't say it.

For saving money, this plan has lots of jigs and jogs if exterior walls which equals lots of money that could be used actually adding square footage. Make as many walls straight as possible.

And I don’t care what kind of $$$$$$ you got based on a preliminary sketch like this, your total amount will be at least 20% more than that, maybe 40-50%. It always is in new builds. Leave enough in your budget to cover that.

How many square feet is this plan and will you have a basement?

Jessica I totally understand that your husband does not want to use an architect, mine was the same way. But if he really refuses, please at least look at a different plan. Having somethng shallow with a detached garage would allow you to have private areas in the back and still get a lot of natural light. You could have one, nice dining area, roomier bedrooms, a real fireplace, and a kitchen with good storage all with the same square footage. Keep looking! :)

"...Our builder did say that he has someone who can draw up anything we want...."

OMG...keep away from that builder...and especially that someone...

The plan is 1993 sq ft. These are the changing I'm looking at doing. Any thoughts for cost savings is appreciated. I would consider making the front porch smaller/more economical. I would just like it to be able to have space for a few rockers. I'm all ears. If anyone has suggestions for simplifying the porches, then I'd love to here them. I do understand that porches are money. I don't want to go crazy with porches, but if I scrimp I believe I will regret it. I don't see how I can shrink that back porch and still have our family get togethers back there with around 15 people. (It's great for GA summer heat/rain....we host our birthday and family get togethers on the back porch)

-straighten front jog of garage to square off. (then will do 2 windows on garage area )

-straighten jog where clawfoot tub is (omitting tub and doing larger walk in shower)

-moving refrigerator cabinet wall down about 3 feet (will possibly center island on fireplace)

- making large walk in pantry in that corner of kitchen (will be using square ft off "dining")

-using the dining (which will be slightly smaller since i'm enlarging kitchen) for small office

-making that closet larger in laundry room to save on cabinets

-omit pocket door to kids bath

-windows, instead of french doors in kids bedroom

-will be doing a single door probably with sidelights or a transom instead of double

-reworking master bath (thinking of walking in and having 1 larger closet to the right, small linen closet, toilet....and to the left will be double vanity (across from where clawfoot tub would have been) and doing the walk in shower where the current "her closet" is (of course I realize the shower will be smaller than that closet

-the door leading to kids bath and 1 one of the bedrooms will be just an opening (door to bath and kids bedroom will be straight across from each other instead)

-not doing built ins around fireplace

-fireplace will be woodburning fireplace

-thinking of making breakfast area wider by 1 foot.....I wanted to bring it back 1 foot, but I'm not sure if it's worth it since the patio would then be extended 1 foot.

Some things I am wanting to change, but not sure best way to rework:

-I would like a coat closet near mudroom. (I don't want to give up 1/2 bath) ( I wondered about maybe using the back of the "his closet"....which will actually be a larger main closet in the mstr

-I would like to change it where the door isn't as visible from kitchen to the back kids bedroom

-I wondered if I could rework the kids bath to make smaller

I considered straightening front angles so the front of the house would be a straight line. I'm just wondering how much that would save and if it would make the house look too plain.

Is there a way to make front porch more economical.....without making it too small for seating?

Also considered adding window to the corner of the den (since I'm not doing built ins)

No basement....on a slab

katie S.....do you have any suggestions. I literally have scoured every house plan site, southern living, stand alone architects, etc. An one thing to add is we must have a 2 car garage because of county codes. We considered doing metal barn or detached. We were told detached would be more expensive. I didn't want to regret just doing a metal building and was also afraid of it looking tacky.

Your comments above have significantly redesigned this stock plan. The challenge is that no one can imagine or visualize the effects of these changes on your stock plan. This means, your stock plan will have to be reworked and redesigned.

Have you considered working with an architect to create a plan from the outset which responds to your needs and desires?

We already had the "jigs and jogs" discussion (scroll down to11/6) https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5523100/help-with-house-plan-dilemma-please But the tub "bay window" I'd fix.

If your husband wants to go about it a certain way, and there's not a thing in the world wrong with that, why are you doing all the heavy lifting? Agree with David Cary, have him (your husband not Dave Cary) figure out the pantry problem among others.

Hi ARG.....I really did advocate for doing the route with you, but no such luck :)

(My husband is being super cautious with all of this)

I'm doing the heavy lifting because he honestly doesn't really care. He pretty much had me pick out 20 plans I liked. I thought we were going to do a 1 1/2 story so I had about that many 1 1/2 story plans picked and about 2 ranches. He literally loved this plan and we went and saw it in person and he just really likes it. Now.....as far as the details, he just doesn't honestly care. The only thing is he wants a door added to the garage (lol). I am the one who mostly does the cooking, grocery shops, cleans, does laundry, etc. So all of the considerations that tie into any of those tasks, he doesn't have a preference because he won't be using them like me. I want a small office for working at home or homework with the kids, and that obviously won't really be used by him either. He is just a simple person who is not hard to please. He spends most of his time outdoors. He doesn't see problems, so he said that if I didn't like something I should change it however I would like and to do what makes me happy. He is very accommodating and kind, and very easy to please. I guess that's why it seems he is letting me "carry the heavy weight". He is letting me handle the plan/modifications. But he is handling the money, financing, dealing with the builders, bids, etc. So it's not like I'm doing everything.

I have considered it Virgil, but unfortunately my husband is not on board with going that route.

That's ok. As I said in my linked thread I wouldn't be working with you anyway for reasons of I didn't want these posts to look like I was trolling for work. You seem like a really nice lady and all (although a little frazzeled now....LOL) so the reason is not you, it's me.

Well...perhaps it's time to ask you husband who he sees when he is sick? Who does he see when his car need repair? Who does he see when the furnace no longer functions? And on and on it goes...

The answer is: someone experienced and capable for the specific situation.

If he's understanding and very easy to please, perhaps its time to "put your foot down" and describe to him the importance of having an experienced and capable expert design your house from the outset, rather than attempting to make a large number of changes to a stock plan.

It is, after all, probably the single largest financial investment you will make in your lifetime. And it will certainly be where you two (and family?) spend the largest amount of your remaining time on this earth.

Good luck on your project.

I like a lot plans by John Tee and Alison Ramsey Architects. I think Four Gables, a Mitchell Ginn plan would be nice for your lot since you could orient the living spaces se/ ne. It’s a 1 1/2 story w detached garage.

The traffic flow in the breakfast and great room is going to limit the useable spaces

Like everyone else, I think you can do better than this plan, just picking another internet plan, or even reviewing the plans posted here on houzz done by others.

I also think that humans are quite adaptable and you will adapt to the problems, mostly without thinking about them.

For most people, building a home happens one time, and will be the most expensive thing they buy -- it pays to try to get it right.

I'm not sure anyone answered your question about siting the house, but I'd consider flipping it. This gets morning light in the bedrooms, and shades the back a bit in the afternoon.

This shows your house at 3PM, August 1st (I used Atlanta as the location).

I truly appreciative the honest feedback (that isn't quite so negative and condescending). Thank you for the illustration!

I don't really like the feeling of my back yard being boxed in on 2 sides......I haven't seen any that didn't seem that way

Jumping in sort of late. Since privacy is a concern for you, I think a plan that allows the backyard to be "boxed in" is *exactly* what you would want!

I can't imagine the violation of being robbed. What a terrifying experience. But please do try to approach the design of this house rationally as far as room positions. I would strongly encourage you to go with the tried and true plan of having the most public rooms at the front and the most private rooms at the back. I think of it as my "inner sanctum" and only the initiated get past!!

That being said, we have a T-shaped house that sounds like it would be perfect for you, too. We enter the front foyer and could go right (South) into the living room, straight back (East) to the powder room and on to the master bedroom, or left (North) into the kitchen and then either through to the family room or into the dining room and up the stairs to the kids' rooms. The living room has access to a backyard sheltered by the master bedroom on the north and or on the west, dining has access to the back lanai on the north end of the house and from there on to another section of the back yard, the family room opens onto the front porch. Laundry is through the family room and also opens onto the lanai. Total sq ft is 2300. We get nice sun protection from mature trees and from the deep porches, but it's not at all dark with the exception of the north-end family room. That room always needs lights on. It was converted from a garage before we bought the house, probably in the 70s by the design choices :) The bedrooms are directly above it.

It sounds like your husband is somewhat like mine; doesn't want to make decisions because he "doesn't care" but also pushes back on every single decision you make! Apologies if that is not the case and I've made a huge presumption. Stand firm for what you know you want. Sometimes "cold feet" are actually your gut knowing what's best for you. Don't ignore that. This is your future too no matter who holds the purse strings. And if he truly doesn't care, then it should be *your* way, right?!

Ok, I do these all the time when lacking a crossword or suduko puzzle, but it's rare I post them, a problem solving exercise drawn on anything handy while sitting in my recliner watching TV with a chilled glass of Chablis next to me. Came out this morning and saw it lying there and thought "why not?". My motivation being maybe it will get your husband thinking he could do better with his healthy six figure endeavor with no "do overs".

It's only a 10 minute effort (it only took me 45 years to be able to do that....LOL!),

Can you post an image of Capitals article without the sketch? It's hard to read with all those blue lines.

: )

Ha! I don't think about what I'm drawing on. I'm just glad it wasn't a women's lingerie ad! But small chance of that in the sports section!

I like that ARG......my only concern is the kitchen feeling secluded. My MIL has this exact set up and it always feels like she is tucked away, and not in sight when she's cooking and everyone is in the family room. I actually considered moving the kitchen up front like that...but I guess my desire to be facing the family room from the kitchen is battling with the part of me that wants windows directly in the kitchen. lol

My motivation being maybe it will get your husband thinking he could do better with his healthy six figure endeavor with no "do overs".

I think Jessica P missed my point entirely.

But thousands of other readers got it!. Well, maybe not thousands, but hundreds. Or tens. Or maybe just me. :)

I got the point, husband needs to allow room in the budget for a local architect. There are better designs than the one they are thinking about for their situation. If ARG can come up with a better design sketched on a newspaper, a local architect can sit down with the both of you to find out your needs and wants, walk the site, and come up with a better design with you that will address your unique situation. You will be happy you did for years to come.

Oh, that was the point? I thought it was that newspaper is good for more than just wrapping fish...

ow great idea

I would certainly build something like on the picture

Wonderful design mate ! Back in my times when I was planning my house I didn't really understand anything in those details yet I really planned to build a beautiful unique house. Thank god I met Arch 10 Builders in Melbourne that not only helped me with planning the details and constructions, but also helped me build and design my house for even a lower price that I had expected to invest in my house. Indeed, your design is shockingly awesome, almost as good as ours haha :) btw did you do it alone or with someone else? I thought such designs can do only unique people.