Here's an option for the bathroom. It gives you a sort of combined hall bath/laundry room.

The WIC can be improved with a sliding door, but I don't see anything wrong with the door at the top of the stairs and don't see anyway to change the layout.

Thaks partim, that's a good idea, plus window in laundry room.

So far 3 options, which one do you like.

Glad and sad you asked that, we saw almost 10 plus houses to get an idea, and 2 story foyer won the race..don't start that again :)

jpp221 thanks for reply, Agree with some of things you are saying but when you have limited space, you may end up breaking two things when try to fix one.

There is a door in bathroom which hopefully will be closed most of the time.

Those are kids bedroom, and hopefully enough WIC space (5X4.4) splly considering for boys. We had reach out closet before but then the room size was small...its a cycle...

TIA

Just some thoughts on the boys' rooms. I've removed the angled areas in the upstairs hallway, and put the doors in that place. That gives you more floor space in the bedrooms. I'm not a big fan of small walk in closets. In small walk ins, too large a proportion of the space is lost in the corner area, which is pretty useless.

WOW partim, thanks for boys room change, that thought didn't come in my mind, although we had reach out closet in 2 diff places before. I am also in favor of reach out closet. Let me check with my folks :)

I also added 4th option to solve our Master bed WIC space problem, pls check.

Instead of two small WIC, planning to make one big WIC (7X5.4) and another reach out (5.6X2.1). We also gonna have another built in reach out closet in our master bed (4.3X2). So 2 reach out plus one WIC should be fine.

partim , didn't notice your fix about kids bathroom door but entry from laundry room is not very optimal.

We wanted to keep staircase front open so that we can put nice decoration or big painting, and make it more welcoming, splly when you can see that from 1st floor entry door.

I agree that I wouldn't want a view into the upstairs bathroom from my front entry. I don't see a problem with entering the bathroom through the laundry room. If someone is doing laundry it's not a big deal to pass by them to open the bathroom door.

Another alternative is to get rid of the laundry "room" and put doors in front of the washer and dryer. Then part of your laundry room would become the hallway in front of the bathroom.

Combining the 2 closets into one will give you more wall space

You still only have 5'4" of width, which is only enough space for one closet rod.

Agree that you don't need a door into the closet.

The WIC can be improved with a sliding door,

No, it can't. Why? You don't have space for the pocket door to "store" ... it would have to extend into the shower area.

Thaks partim, that's a good idea, plus window in laundry room.

Yes, a window over the washer/dryer would be nice ... but you probably want shelves above those machines. Otherwise, you'll have literally no storage space. You'll need to store detergent here, of course. Your ironing materials, all your upstairs cleaning materials. Where's your vacuum cleaner going?

Glad and sad you asked that, we saw almost 10 plus houses to get an idea, and 2 story foyer won the race..don't start that again :)

I understand wanting an attractive feature, but in choosing to keep it ... you're opting for bathrooms and laundry rooms without storage, no linen closets, and closets that'll be over-stuffed. This space could be a walk-in-closet larger than the one shown on your current plan.

My thoughts on the kids' bedrooms:

- I like the suggestion above to give the kids two wide reach-in closets instead of two small walk-ins. I think they'll have more space.

- If you do stick with the walk-ins, I'd give the kids each a straight-across-the-back hanging space across the back ... and a tall 12" shelf for folded items (jeans, sweatshirts) just inside the door. It'd be the most efficient space for this space. I'd also make the doors open out into the room ... this would allow you to put hooks on the wall for ties, belts, hats, etc.

My thoughts on the laundry:

- I like the suggestion about flipping the kids' bathroom and the laundry. As it's laid out now, washing clothes at night (or early weekend mornings) would wake the kid in the back bedroom.

My thoughts on the master:

- The kids' rooms have windows on both sides. Your room should have the same!

- The master bathroom is 10'6 wide, which seems to include the wall depth ... so it'll actually be a hair under 10' in reality. 30" for the shower and the toilet (and that's builder-basic sizing) ... leaves just under 5' for the vanity; the point: this vanity cannot support duplicate sinks. If it could, it'd take up all the storage space you have. If you go with one sink, you can have one nice-sized stack of drawers on one side of the sink.

- The closets aren't nice-sized either. In the left-side closet (the better one), you have 5'4" of width ... clothes need 24" hanging space, which means you have 12" of width between the two rods ... and I didn't allow any depth for the wall. The best you could do is one rod + shelves for folding things on the other side ... shelves only need to be 14" deep, so that'd give you a bit more space. The right-side closet, realistically, can only support one closet rod. And you can't expand the closet because of the angled door.

None of the closet suggestions above give you any more than 12" of walking space between two aisles of clothes ... and almost 50% of the clothes will be BEHIND the closet door, which means you'll have to enter the closet /close the door to access them (but you can always get rid of the doors).

I searched "5' walk-in closet" and found this ... this closet has 2' hanging space on the left /about 2' for walking space /and a hanging bar on the other side. Realistically, this is what you're actually going to have with your current plan ... not the two hanging rods that're drawn:

My best suggestions:

- Remove the unworkable master closets ... make them into one long reach-in. The walk-ins were giving you roughly 9' hanging space, but this reach-in will give you roughly 14' . Yeah, I know, everyone wants a walk-in, but this plan increases your storage space by almost 35%.

- With the closet space, remove the angled entrance to the master.

- This allows a three-piece bath, but every piece has ample space. It's still a compact bathroom, but it will be more comfortable than the other cramped bath ... and you'll have storage space in the new linen closet.

- This master bath requires less space than the other ... so you can afford to widen the kids' bathroom a bit, allowing them a linen closet too.

- Finally, this allows the laundry room to widen just a bit, so you can turn the machines to the side (dryer can still vent straight outside) ... and you'll have space for drip-dry items, or a spot for waiting loads. You can also have a narrow set of shelves on the wall opposite the washer/dryer.

- The downside: Your master loses 2' of width, meaning you have plenty of space on the sides of the bed, but not much space at the foot.

- Now that I've drawn it, I wish I'd flip-flopped the kids' bath with the laundry room. Flipping them would put the kids' bath closer to their rooms AND would prevent you from hearing them come /go into the bathroom at night.

- I am concerned overall that your storage is minimal ... everywhere.

If you move the Bedroom 2 closet to the other side, you'll have some protection from the laundry room noise.

Thanks partim, we don't do late laundry so that's not the concern. More imp to move kids bathroom door from its current position..still hasn't found optimal solution.

Here is updated layout, were able to address some main concerns.

1. Previous His/Her WIC were too small, very little hanging space so now changed to big one WIC.
2. Changed kids bedroom WIC to reach out closet
3. 2nd floor staircase front is 75% clear. Going to check with architect if bathroom door can further reduce.
4. Lost laundry room but managed to place washer dryer horizontally (not a big fan of stackable D/W), with this we can have some cabinets on top of machines.
5. Changed master bed hallway to two small doors
6. Getting big linen closet (4.2X2), not sure if it's a good idea to reduce linen closet width to 1.6 ft, and give that extra half feet to kids closet.

Your thoughts.

TIA

Do you really want a direct view to the toilet from your master bedroom?

Thanks pr16.

We will be able to put some furniture with above layout (between doors) but not but if change to something like below

I think it was a good decision to eliminate the kids walk in closets.....the Reach ins utilize the space so much better (we have small walk in closets in the kids rooms, and there is a lot of wasted space,,,,,I wish we had just done reach ins).

A few concerns:

I would really hate having a laundry closet. People I know with set up like that end up with laundry baskets and piles of laundry in the hallway, which would really annoy me. I also think you need more closet and storage space.

Not to complicate things with more options, but I sketched out an idea of a different layout, which would give you more storage and a designated laundry room. You would have room in the laundry room for shelving, some windows, and maybe even a folding table.....as well as some storage space for laundry baskets, paper products, vacuum cleaner, etc. Maybe even a utility sink.

The bottom kids bedroom was almost as large as your master, so I think you can take some space from that bedroom for the reach in closet and shared bath (pocket doors would work well here).

By moving the kids bath, it would allow you to enlarge and shift the master bath a bit, which would give you more room for the master closets (I made the awkward shaped one on the right smaller, and the rectangle shaped one on the left larger).

I tried to keep things to scale given the square footage you have, but it is not exact.....you will have to play around with it a bit.

Thanks CLC, appreciate your suggestions.

We would love to have small laundry room but it's just not working, not much space to play.

Also, thought about moving kids bathroom to the place you suggested but its not wide enough, max we can have is 5 feet. We don't want kids room to be less than 10.6 wide.

Master WIC as per your design is just for namesake not much hanging space, had that same in original plan.

Thanks

Thanks Flo Mangan, laundry is must on this floor as we have all the bedrooms here.

You are absolutely right, even going with stackable D/W option can solve our problems but we had that now and don't like it much. Take a look (thinking about it though). A

Can you elaborate about improvements?

Previous His/Her WIC were too small, very little hanging space so now changed to big one WIC.

I'd call it a small WIC ... at 6'6", it is now wide enough (at the back) to allow for two aisles of hanging clothes, but the corners are deceptive, and the angle at the front will hinder what you can store in that portion.

Changed kids bedroom WIC to reach out closet

Good. This maximizes their storage space.

Lost laundry room but managed to place washer dryer horizontally (not a big fan of stackable D/W), with this we can have some cabinets on top of machines.

This is probably the best thing you can do to balance out your needs in a modest space. The problem, of course, is venting the dryer.

Getting big linen closet (4.2X2), not sure if it's a good idea to reduce linen closet width to 1.6 ft, and give that extra half feet to kids closet.

Well, you have a modest-sized linen closet ... and it'll have a deep dark corner that'll be hard to reach. If you bump back the bedroom door (which makes no difference to the bedroom), you'd be able to have a set of bi-fold doors, which would give you access to the recesses of that corner. I didn't know how to draw in the bi-fold doors:

Do you really want a direct view to the toilet from your master bedroom?

While not ideal, it doesn't affect the function of the room.

The real problem in this bathroom is that the vanity isn't large enough to support two sinks ... so you'll have no storage /no drawers at the sink. And with no linen closet in the bathroom, no other storage.

I would really hate having a laundry closet. People I know with set up like that end up with laundry baskets and piles of laundry in the hallway, which would really annoy me.

I once had a laundry closet in the kitchen, and -- yes -- we constantly had piles of laundry in front of the closet. Regardless, with limited space, something has to give.

How deep is this laundry closet? Could you use stacked machines and have storage space on the side? Measure the depth ... front-loaders are space hogs in terms.

As much as I like the idea of a laundry on the same level as all the bedrooms, this is a good question.

Could the laundry go out into the garage? The question isn't, "Do you want your laundry in the garage?" Rather, the question is, "Do you value the bathrooms and closets enough to move the laundry to the garage?"

Serious question for the OP: You say this floorplan is near perfect ... what attracts you to it?

Yep, the bathroom between the bedrooms would make the width around 10’ for each bedroom. I think a 10x12-14‘ kid bedroom is fine (twin bed, dresser, desk), especially when the home itself is not big/doesn’t have large rooms throughout.....at least on this level. That bedroom size has worked fine for us, although our kids don’t keep toys in their bedrooms. We store them in a central area because they mainly play in the living room (I also simply don’t like keeping toys in bedrooms, so it works well for us). Occasionally they will bring toys to their room and play there, in which case space to play is never an issue. But my 10 and 8 year olds aren’t playing with toys much anymore, anyway.....they use their rooms for quiet time, reading and coloring at their desks, not to play on the floor. My 6 y.o prefers to play with her toys in the living room, because that is near where I usually am. If I recall correctly, our kids’ bedrooms are 10x12, 11x11 and 10x11‘5. They all have desks and either a full or queen size bed. Their rooms don’t feel big.....they are cozy with the larger beds, but not too tight. We have either a dresser or closet drawers/shelving in their closets, so no furniture in their rooms beyond the bed, nightstand and desk. Two of them also have a cozy reading chair in the corner.

I guess my point is that I would be mindful of the big picture; kids won’t need a bunch of play space in their rooms forever. I am not sure the ages of your kids or how long you plan to live here, but they won’t be at home forever, either. Laundry is a constant need/use that never goes away. I suppose everyone is different with their priorities, though. When we built, having adequate closet/storage space, a good mud room, and a nice sized laundry room on the second level were all high priorities for me. Now that I am living with this laundry room, I love it and appreciate it every singe day. There is not even a small part of me that would consider giving up the laundry room to add a foot or whatever to the bedrooms. I recognize that others might not care so much about the same features, though. :-) This is why so many floor plans exist!

Thanks Mrs Pete.

Regd. Master bath..

1. I tried to fix "direct toilet view" issue by moving both the doors next to each other...though my wife like the original plan(gives some space to put furniture) ..so not sure which way we will go.

2. We are not putting a bathtub in master bath, just kept space for future purpose (in case someone wants to do that)..so we may gain some space there to address linen closet space/storage issue.

Probably we can fit stackable D/W in WIC but sorry they only look good in pictures

What I like about 2nd floor plan:

We are going to get 3 nice size bedrooms and 2 full baths (not grand but not the smallest) , good size reach out closet in kids room and big WIC in master bedroom. We are also going to have one built in closet in the corner (4.4X2) of master bed.

There is functional laundry (laundry close to all bedroom makes big big difference), and then 4.2X2 storage space is plus. In short requirement met.

All our functional requirements are checked, and that to be by not expanding over the garage.

We spend 80% of our time in family room, and that we are making big, almost 20X15.7 on first floor.

Thanks

CLC, bang on "This is why so many floor plans exist ". Exactly this is what I was thinking.

Our kids are 4 and 8.

The problem is one of our current bedroom (kids) is 10X11 and after one bed, desk, and bookshelf there is not much space left. So we wanted new bedrooms to be no less than 10.6X12.

On laundry, you are asking the person who does 10 laundries in a week, I wanted laundry room desperately but because of so many constraints can't get it (if I increase this than take a hit on WIC or bedroom size).

So I am happy with current plan which gives me one functional horizontal D/W on 2nd floor. We have one stackable now which we use 80% of the time but no space to store detergent and other laundry stuff, with this we can address that issue by having over the shelves.

Still trying to get one though, just need one genius mind to solve this problem :)

Thanks

You had your "genius idea" in your first post...getting rid of the dated lawyer foyer and reclaiming that space for the second floor, but you're choosing to retain a feature that adds no value to your home at the expense of the function of your upper floor. Which is your decision, but don't keep expecting more space to suddenly visualize. Something has to give.

^ using the open foyer space on second level absolutely makes the most sense for numerous reasons. Even if I had the space for it, I wouldn’t want a two story foyer. So the master closet goes there, you can have a nice master bath, large enough kids bath, laundry room, and the kids bedrooms the size you want. It sounds like a no brainer to me, but ultimately you will have to decide if the two story foyer is worth sacrificing all that for.

Thanks a lot for insight.

yes I had that before but changed after lot of visits and thought..hopefully 2 story foyer will come nice...there is no limit to room and bathroom size (big big ..)...so am ok with what I am getting.

Genius mind is only required for small laundry room :) which i need badly

TIA

We have that now, and use it quite often for formal guests or just sit with friends when kids watch TV in family room and make lot of noise.

TIA

reclaiming the open foyer space on the second level does more than just give you a nice laundry room on the second floor (where all the bedrooms are), it would make ALL the rooms/spaces better up there. Not to mention the noise and HVAC issues already brought up (also be prepared for your kids to throw things over the railing into the foyer. If they don’t, their friends will).

A laundry room upstairs would allow you to get a large capacity side-by-side set, which I personally would much rather have than two smaller stackable units on other floors of the house. Then again, I feel like I do 3 loads of laundry a day.....it is wonderful to do big loads and have the bedrooms and linen closets on the same level as my laundry room.

If you really must have the two story open foyer, I would put a stackable w/d near the office/bathroom. Frankly, I think you are placing way too much priority on the two story foyer, consequently losing sight of the big picture and day-to-day function and enjoyment of your home.

If you entertain in the formal living room, be prepared for your kids to stay awake due to the noise carrying up from the foyer. Sorry to be so negative, but have you lived with a two story foyer?

1. I tried to fix "direct toilet view" issue by moving both the doors next to each other...though my wife like the original plan(gives some space to put furniture) ..so not sure which way we will go.

I didn't note this ... what's the walking-width between the shower and the vanity? You mean furniture ... in that bathroom?

Please, please get some painter's tape and block this out on the floor. Better yet, cardboard boxes for a mock-up. This is small.

2. We are not putting a bathtub in master bath, just kept space for future purpose (in case someone wants to do that)

You mean you're thinking someone could put a bathtub in that space later? Let's math it up: the bathroom -- at its widest spot -- is 7 1/2' . I'm making a guess that it's about 6 1/2' in front of the vanity. The vanity will be 22" deep, so you'd have roughly 4 1/2' ... if you put in a narrow, builder-basic tub (30"), you'd have 24" of walking space. Except, I didn't factor in wall space, so it'd actually be less. I'm not trying to be negative; I'm just reacting to what I see here.

No, a tub will never fit in this room ... not unless you eat into the closet, which you can't do because of the angled wall /need for a door.

Probably we can fit stackable D/W in WIC but sorry they only look good in pictures

True, but piles of laundry in the hallway don't look good either.

What I like about 2nd floor plan:

We are going to get 3 nice size bedrooms and 2 full baths (not grand but not the smallest) , good size reach out closet in kids room and big WIC in master bedroom. We are also going to have one built in closet in the corner (4.4X2) of master bed.

There is functional laundry (laundry close to all bedroom makes big big difference), and then 4.2X2 storage space is plus. In short requirement met.

All our functional requirements are checked, and that to be by not expanding over the garage.

We spend 80% of our time in family room, and that we are making big, almost 20X15.7 on first floor.

Respectfully, we don't share the same idea of "big".

I do agree that laundry near the bedrooms is nice.

You could expand over the garage? There's the space for which you're searching.
You had your "genius idea" in your first post...getting rid of the dated lawyer foyer and reclaiming that space for the second floor, but you're choosing to retain a feature that adds no value to your home at the expense of the function of your upper floor. Which is your decision, but don't keep expecting more space to suddenly visualize. Something has to give.

Yeah. Laws of physics, ya know.

there is no limit to room and bathroom size (big big ..)...so am ok with what I am getting.

What? The upstairs has a very real limit. I'm not understanding something.

We have that now, and use it quite often for formal guests or just sit with friends when kids watch TV in family room and make lot of noise.

And what about the downstairs bedroom and the study?

I'd consider making the downstairs bedroom into a formal living room ... then remove the wall /make the dining room /living room into a large family room (with the stairs on the side, making it feel even larger) ... and make the family room into a nice big dining room.

OR ... put the master downstairs, incorporating in the study as part of the closet /bath ... and put the study upstairs. The spacing would work out better.

No, I haven’t lived on 2 story foyer yet..but have couple of friends who does

We stayed in a rental cabin on a lake once that had an upstairs loft ... I'm thinking that'd be similar. Everything in that cabin was "hard": hardwood, etc. And the sound was awful. Every footstep echoed. If you're going with a two-story foyer, I suggest you bring in plenty of soft sound-absorbers: carpet, drapes, soft things on the walls.

If a walk-in closet isn't essential for the master bedroom, you could consider alternate storage options such as a wall of wardrobes. They're usually only 24" deep and can hold hanging and folded items. You can do away with dressers and the like and might not need all that space in the MB. An option like that might allow you to reconfigure the whole bathroom and laundry area. I think this is pretty much was Mrs. Pete suggested.

I understand wanting an actual laundry "room". It's just more pleasant and yes, having it next to the bedrooms is ideal. It's up to you to figure exactly how you'll live in your space. Good luck!

Thanks a lot Flo Mangan, wish I can tell you how much I appreciate your help and time.

upstairs and down storage is great idea, will pass that to architect.

There is not enough room b/w kids room to squeeze bathroom, even if you go with minimum 5.6 or 6ft wide then kids room take a hit. As I said earlier one of our current kids room is 10 ft wide and that doesn't seem enough. It has to be at least 10.7X12.2

Here is the other option where I can get laundry room but WIC take a lil hit (not wide and long enough), pls check below.

I was also thinking of flipping kids room position with master bedroom (moving to other side) but not sure if that will help.

I better settle with doing laundry in closet :)

Did I miss why Mrs. Pete's suggestion of stealing from the MB doesn't work? Also, about storage and linen closets, think carefully about what you need, where. For example, it makes sense to have a laundry room with space for a vacuum cleaner and cleaning products. A central linen closet can get parcelled out into their respective spaces: keep bed linens in their respective bedrooms and towels in their bathrooms. Personal care products in the bathrooms. Medicine shouldn't be stored in bathrooms so perhaps in a (locked?) cabinet in the laundry room? Or even in the kitchen if you take anything regularly with food. If you buy paper products in bulk, perhaps you'd have room for these in your garage?

Start furnishing the rooms in your plan and see what makes sense to you. Have you seen an elevation plan for your foyer? It seems the door isn't centred and the staircase abuts into the closet. That would bug me and I'd prefer to have the bedrooms and laundry upstairs sized comfortably to meet our needs than empty space in the foyer. Flo's suggestion of the entrance closet and upstairs storage was an elegant solution, imo.

As to the size of a Jack and Jill bathroom between the bedrooms, I used a standard 5' width tub which defines the width of the room AND that meant "stealing" a mere 6" from each bedroom. The front bedroom is 14x10 and the back bedroom is 14x11. Also, I put standard size beds and your could use twins if you wanted more floor space. These are pretty large secondary bedrooms in most homes. I added a lot of storage spaced and laydown space for a true laundry room, and this is the footprint. There is a lot of unused spaced in the landing area on the second floor which I improved the usage of. If you still want that completely open, you could still add 4' high cabinets along that wall leaving area above open. Then you can add closet/storage in the entry. I think storage is going to be very valuable in this home given all your other requirements. So hopefully, you will see the value in improving the laundry room, storage and other aspects of my layout and be able to incorporate into your final layouts. btw, your downstairs could use some improvements as well. I didn't have enough energy last night to tackle that. Maybe someone else could jump in on that.

btw, in your latest drawing, the back to back closets between the bedrooms on the right side, are a mere 6 inches less than doing the Jack and Jill bathroom, so there is definitely room for a J&J bathroom between the two rooms. Much better to have an ensuite type bathroom for these two rooms as well.