Ok, so some updates -- First, yes there is going to be a vanity/sink in the downstairs powder room, not sure where it went to in the digital version :) Thanks Mrs. Pete! Here are some thoughts on your comments: - I'll give some thought to the living space. The thought was the fireplace on the North wall, and the TV wall-mounted on the East wall. I thought about TV-over-fireplace, but from what I can tell, even though it's a popular option the ergonomics of it are kinda yucky and I'm not sure I'd dig a TV above the fireplace. Anyone else with thoughts on this issue? - The refrigerator is indeed across the kitchen, but only "just" across. The "kitchen triangle" max of 26ft between the sum of all sides is well satisfied by the current arrangement. It might not be optimal, but we're working with a pretty small area. Nonetheless, I do have a separate kitchen thread going on in the Kitchen forum and will continue to work that thread and keep the fridge location in mind. - Regarding front door definition, do you mean the definition of a distinct entryway? Just want to make sure I'm understanding. - By the stairs will be a combination of base cabinets, a full row of uppers and a desk area. The pantry is "West" of the fridge. - I concur regarding the space issues upstairs and think I have some ideas. The master closet is modeled after my folks' walk-in. It's cozy, but they do fit hanger rails on both sides, and with 9' ceilings, should be able to get two rows in there. - The laundry/mud room is "West" of the kitchen and has the washer/dryer and a sink. - The master bath is very much a work in progress. We just decided on adding 2 feet to the house and haven't yet refined the Master bed and bath. Which brings me to AnnKH's comments - Agreed on the master bath (see above). We're definitely still working on that room. - Regarding the kids' closets, I'll definitely look on incorporating the reach-in closets in lieu of the walk-in's. Definitely could save some space there! - Regarding plumbing, I agree, it's not optimal, but I couldn't think of any better way to run things. Any ideas? Thanks everyone for your comments!

I will come look more closely tomorrow, but so people know, you can see larger if you downloan from the first posts. But, this puts the plan in the thread so people can skim easier. This is a very expensive, but fairly well laid out plan. My first question is why do you have 2 doors off the deck/outdoor kitchen deck into the home at 90* to each other? If it were me, I'd close off the one that opens into the nook, and keep the one into the hallway, so that the nook is more usable. Even in the largest image, I am having trouble figuring out the location of the fridge and other appliances. Where do you plan to eat your main family meals? Dining room or nook?

@lolauren My initial plan here does have support legs for that island, but I see your point re how they will affect the stools. Food for thought - thanks. @kirkhall We are now thinking of just keeping the door in view (close to the powder room), having it match the other interior doors, and changing the swing direction. Of course, this introduces the problem of the door swinging toward those who are moving from the locker area to the garage, but I have a feeling we will flip flop back and forth among different ideas for that door right up until it is installed. We spoke to the builder again and in an attempt to save costs we are making a few changes. - Extending the master closet out to the side and eliminating that portion of the porch - porch will still wrap around the reading nook. This enables us to add another side entrance in the basement underneath so we can leave some space under the kitchen unexcavated and save $$ there. - Since the master closet is now getting bigger we're robbing a foot from it in favor of the reading nook (which now becomes 9' wide). - Removing a foot from each of the master suite spaces and the reading nook. Basically draw a straight line from the reading nook's front window and take it straight through to the back of the house - take a foot alongside that line. The master bedroom, bath, closet & reading nook all become 1 foot smaller left to right - the only room where I think we'll notice this is in the master bath, but we're willing to take the hit there. The additional foot we're already giving the reading nook from the master closet should alleviate the change there. - Take another 1 foot slice (front to back) from the foyer & living room. Just a sq ft cost savings there. - Leaving several hundred sq ft in the basement unexcavated around the garage. This not only saves concrete cost and sq footage in the basement but apparently those walls are the ones with the highest sideload and it makes the basement cheaper to engineer. I hate this compromise phase but we are trying to hit a particular price goal before we go much further because we are expecting overages in a couple of other areas once we begin. Some things that did not get cut during this phase but were discussed - double staircases, breakfast nook bumpout, screened porch FP, porch sizes. We are also considering going with a 9' main floor wall and basement wall instead of 10' for each of those. Upstairs has always been planned at 8'.

Thanks for the responses. @rosie Those dining room columns/arches are a specific item my wife wants in order to separate the dining room from the foyer. I think we may actually go with broken arches in this house instead of full arches, but the idea will be similar, just perhaps shallower. I do like the idea of moving that screened porch door (or adding one) to the family room wall now that we've lengthened that room. That actually solves another problem I had too - so thanks! We will likely keep the existing double doors to facilitate traffic flow when we have large groups over, but we can treat them like windows most of the time and arrange furniture accordingly. The Christmas tree will likely go along the back of the family room and supplant one of the chairs there while it's up. That's how we do it now in our current home and it works well. We had also considered putting up a large one right in the center of the formal living room since it will be open to the 2nd floor. Might be nice for Christmas parties - but our family tree will still be in the family room. @MrsPete Those items are all workable for us as they currently sit. They may not be the ideal or universal layout for everyone, but they are very similar to how our current home is setup and we are comfortable with those items. Initially I'll be grilling from the small porch on the corner behind the breakfast nook. Down the road I do intend to build in a grill on the screened porch with a commercial hood, just not during the initial build. And I agree on moving that door or at least adding another into the family room. @chispa Those two staircases have drawn quite the attention around here & I really didn't anticipate that. I understand though - I suppose it is unusual. It really comes down to two preferences that each of us have. We only have foyer stairs in our current home, and I really dislike having to head to the foyer every time I need to go upstairs. So I've always preferred stairs in the main living area to the foyer - near the kitchen, family room, etc. My wife prefers to have stairs in the foyer for mostly aesthetic reasons, and I understand that too. Our mode of compromise on this one is taking the form of two staircases. :) We've softened on that stance during this cost-cutting phase though, and we're probably closer now to dropping one of them than we ever have been in this process. Since our master suite will now be on the main level (it's upstairs in our current home), only the kids will be making the frequent treks upstairs, so that has me considering dropping the back family stairs. Trouble is, the basement stairs are under those family stairs. And I'm not fond of having the basement access underneath the foyer stairs, directly across from our master bedroom door. Once we finish out the basement in a few years, it will likely be heavily used. We'd also lose the closet underneath the foyer stairs with such an arrangement. If I could figure out a clever way to replace those back stairs to accommodate both a walkin pantry and basement stairs, I would be on board with dropping those.