In VT, I wouldn't cover the deck. You could always get a roll-away shade to cover it in the summer. The front porch is too shallow at 6', if you intend to sit there. I've found 8' to be a minimum. To meet code (if you have to) there will be at least 4 more stairs in your stairway. It would be OK to have that, but they go over the main thoroughfare of the house. It looks like you have a sliding door in the hallway. Make sure that there is enough room in the wall with the bathroom sink plumbing. Is the house lined up exactly north/south, east/west? It's better if you can rotate it enough so that the 'north' side of the house gets a little sun. Facing dead north, that side of the house tends to be cold and uninviting, plus it promotes mold and algae. In general, it looks like a good plan!

Lori- After hearing about your 1600 foot driveway, DH is feeling more confident about the mere 800-ish feet we have to deal with! Slope up to house will be a challenge so we may try to cement a bit close to house. Clearly more powerful lawn equipment is in our future. I asked for a brush hog for my birthday but with nowhere to store it, that and my planned walking/snowshoe trails are going to have to wait a while. Divine- for our last house I basically cobbled together what I liked from various house plans then had an inexpensive draftsman put it into a workable construction plan. We had a few little hiccups during the build, but it was a great way to get what we wanted without having to pay an architect.

Claire, nope they are all level. But maybe you’re seeing the gaps in between the planks that are typical for old floors. We choose to not fill them in. They still have to finish the toe trim.

Have you considered putting your washer and dryer in the basement or is that not practical at your location? For privacy alone, I prefer the plan from Pill-Maharam Architects that someone else suggested better than your original; however if having three bedrooms and one bath all on one end of your home is essential because of a limit of one bath on that main upper level, at least reconsider your floor plan with regard to your entrances. If you will be accessing the basement from the main upstairs level via an interior stairwell anyway, consider putting that stairwell in a pair of enclosed entrance rooms, both on the breezeway side of the home but with one both upstairs and the other downstairs. Have the downstairs entry as your basement mud boot stomp room and use your breezeway as your mud stomp room upstairs. You could have your washer and dryer within in a closet beside another closet for dirty clothes hampers with shelving above for laundry and cleaning supplies either in the basement entry or the upstairs entry. From the downstairs entrance -- in addition to the closets beneath the stairwell for the washer and dryer and dirty clothes and cleaning supplies -- you could have two doors: one door leading to the upstairs entrance and the other door leading to a downstairs efficiency apartment to make your home a true multi -generational home. If you add a door in the dining area adjacent to the kitchen in the upper/main level to serve as your main level your "back" door, you could create a single entrance in the coldest front corner with two exterior doors: one to serve as both your front entrance and another to access the breezeway. You might consider placing the door to the master bedroom in a wall separating it from the dining room rather than entering the master bedroom from the hallway leading to the other two bedrooms and the one main/upstairs floor bath. If that one main upstairs floor bath is at the end of the hall with the two children's bedrooms on the other side of the house, you might could have two doors entering the bath -- one from the hall and one directly from the master bedroom. Make the front of the roof of your breezeway even with the front of your home and make it wide enough to enable you to have the option of enclosing it later to become a screened porch or even a "sun porch" -- a room that could double as an upper story main boot stomp room. If you tile your entry rooms and have each of them one step below the floor of the rest of that level of your home and include a covered drain in the floor and you could, literally, hose out any mud brought in. Remember that in the northern hemisphere, you'll usually want to put the rooms you want to have the most sun facing the south. Good luck on your new home. Let us know how it turns out.