Hi, I'm just chiming in.... I've had a home similar to the one you want to build... a few times, actually. We've owned almost 20 homes. This last home we built, we improved on issues that bugged us with previous homes and it has paid off. We've been in this home ten years and still love it. We have recently bought waterfront property and want to come up with a bit different plan, but it is hard for us to change too much of some parts of the layout because it works so well. I see some changes that you could make that may seem ridiculous, but with your children, you will be SO thankful if you do it. I would give up some of your MBR closet for a decent laundry room near your MBR. You will NOT regret it. I put in two washers and dryers, cabinets with a sink, and closet with room for my "flipping lid" types of 13 gal. Rubbermaid type trash cans that I use for sorting clothes. (My kiddos all learned to sort clothes and do laundry correctly!) I have a can for whites, darks, lights, dress/gentles, towels, sheets/blankets. Plenty of hanging areas. In the next home we build, even if it is just my husband and I, we will also have two washers and dryers. I believe it is that important. I'd be chained to the house all the time doing laundry. With kids, grand-kids, guests, etc... it's just crazy to not have them if you have the room. I'll post my photo of what we did. Heck, I think I still have a site up when we were building. Check out the MBa... and how /where we put the shower and water closet. This way, when my husband was showering, he had privacy while I am doing my hair or brushing teeth. I cannot stand having a shower 'open' so if he is in the bathroom, he gets to watch me. I just do not like it. As you get older, you really do want more privacy.... even if it's your spouse. I want to be seen in my best light...not when I'm bending over shaving, etc. Also, we built porches this house which keeps our home cooler. We put in Radiant Barrier almost everywhere. We have over 6,000sf under roof... 4500 heated/cooled. Over the garage has not been hooked up to AC yet...because I'm still using it for storage. When it was almost 100F outside in FL, with the fans on upstairs, it was like 78F with the radiant barrier. Neighbors could not believe it. Our electric bill for our house with two AC systems (5 and 3.5 ton) is less than $300/mo. Possibly $250 avg. We love our kitchen layout, laundry, MBR will be larger next go around. Your home looks good... except there would be great longevity in your home if the MBR was larger and the layout a bit different for the bath, imo. I am also a Realtor and see many homes. I have gone the gambit with building this house. (Lawsuit over kitchen...and custom cabinet issues in MBR. They are fixed now.) Adding 'keystones' of real granite over windows added architectural elements. Fake keystones always look tacky. Also, our present MBR shower is 3'x5'. Next time, at minimum 4'x6'...most likely larger. Our MBR is 14'x16'. I've had 16'x18' before and thought it too large. I think 15' x 21' will be our next MBR... at least. Here is a link that might be useful: Check out some of the features we put in.

Hi, Enza! Summer is keeping me away from GW and I'm glad you called me out so I can see what's happening with your house. I read through this thread last night and thought I'd quickly toss in an idea I got this morning. I'll preface by saying I may have missed an important piece of information, but this idea is based on the assumption that you're incorporating the enclosed front porch into your renovation. My thought is to keep the small existing front porch, but move the location of the front door so it's facing your driveway instead of the street. This *might* create space in the present vestibule area for a very small powder room. The present front-most room could become a foyer with a powder room tucked away down a short hall for privacy. The window area on your neighbors side of the porch area could be turned into something like this that you posted on a previous post. If you don't want coats hung out in the open at the front of the house, you could put lockers with doors there instead of open hooks. The benefit of turning the porch into a foyer/mudroom/powder room is getting all those activites out of the rest of the first floor, making for a much lovlier and spacious living/dining/kitchen. Also, this won't kill your dining room or any driveway side windows. Best wishes!

With all your constraints, I think it's time you re-thought your insistence on the refrigerator location. You are imposing a constraint that isn't a structural constraint and is causing major functional issues. If you cannot fix the issues with the door locations (deck & LR), then you need to accept that you cannot have a functional layout and the refrigerator on the top wall. If you "build in" the refrigerator and have other items b/w it and the LR doorway, it will not be a hulking presence. For the utility cabinet (Layout #4) and the upper/base cabs (Layout #3), put a decorative door on the exposed sides so they look more like furniture. Here are a couple of other ideas. Unfortunately, they both do create a pinch point b/w the refrigerator and the counter: In Layout #3, the pinch point is b/w the refrigerator and the counter on the left - but at least it's not in front of the range, sink, or DW In Layout #4, the pinch point is b/w the refrigerator and sink - a less desirable location b/c when someone is working at the sink, it will be difficult for someone else to pass by, especially with a toddler running around! To add 2 to 3 inches to those pinch point aisles, consider recessing the refrigerator (both layouts) and the utility cabinet (Layout #4) into the wall behind them. You will not be taking space from the MBR to do this b/c that wall is most likely 4.5" thick and you should be able to get at least 2 inches, and maybe 3, by recessing them into the space b/w the drywall on both sides. See Layout #4 to see how it would help and look. In general, you have a profound lack of cabinet storage. To mitigate this, I put in two pantries: The 34" wide pantry is floor-to-ceiling shelving for small appliances, pots & pans, prep & cooking tools & dishes, etc. The 48" (Layout #3) or 42" (Layout #4) wide pantry is, again, floor-to-ceiling shelving for food storage. Finally, the utility cabinets are pullouts for your broom, etc. Is this ideal? No. In particular, the 36" pinch point may be an issue. However, I tried to place it where I thought there would be the least impact on prep & cooking - in particular, cooking. I was successful with Layout #3, but not as much in Layout #4. Since the range should be the appliance most protected from traffic, I did my best to provide a wider aisle in front of it in both layouts. Note that both remove the window on the left wall (or block it, but I think removing it would be better aesthetically.) In Layout #4, it could be kept, but you lose MW landing space, which is an issue. Layout #3: . Layout #4: .

The rug is nice and goes well with the art work which is your starting point. I would suggest to buy the furniture first (if you haven’t already) then buy the rug. Furniture is the most expensive investment in a room so it’s always good to plan for it first then go from there. This will help you in two ways.....1) Furniture layout in a room will help you decide on the correct size for a rug.... 2)If you are planning to add accent chairs in the mix then you are not limited with the style/color of the rug. Hope this helps.