Considering all the constraints, I think the "bubble diagram" shown is not bad. I think once more detail is shown and furniture drawn in, deficiencies will become more obvious.

Consider this rearrangements of the foyer which brings those entering through the front door into the living room as opposed to the dining. If nothing else it may spur better ideas.

Islands are most useful as work space when their length parallels that of the cooking surface. Orient your island the other direction. I would get rid of one of the pantries and place the refrigerator on just end of the space, for easier access to the eating area. That also gives you more room on the short wall to scoot the range down and place windows in each side of it. More daylight is always better! Eliminate one of the triple windows if you have to in order to get more windows into the range area.

A 6’ wide dining space is not nearly enough room for a table and chairs. 6’ is you aisle space for people occupying space sitting there. 3’ on each side. Now add the width of a table to that. I also think that your stairs will extend into that area more than you think they will, rendering it less than useful as a dining area. Perhaps that’s the location for a small seating area, and the dining is really done in your flex area.

Get the laundry next to the mud room. Maybe even combined with the mud room. Combination spaces take up less room. It centralizes the dirty dropoff zone into one space. Add a small covered entry to the area for now. It can become the connector to the garage when that happens. I would make the master entry from the hall rather than the dog leg. It will make getting furniture into the room possible without contortions. And it will give you more space in that family entry space that is highly used.

Think about property elevations and how this fits the contours if the property with cutting into a hill or using dirtwork to build up areas. You do not want to have a bunch of steps at the main entry. Elevation changes for the family/utility entrance can be handled when the garage is built. You can build enough extra room for a ramp area there, to be used as a work bench now, or access ramp in the future.

Think about that accessibility now, and make at least the master suite accessible, with a zero entry shower, and a clear path to get into and through the whole house from at least one entry point. You may have an elderly parent or friend who would want to visit and would need that.

The master bedroom and the two secondary bedrooms all share the one full bathroom?

I'm not sure if you've given any thought yet to the future garage.

I mention this because we're in Alberta on a beef cattle and sheep farm, and just finished building our new house which has an attached garage with a mudroom set-up just as you walk into the garage and also on the landing entry into the house -- lots of hooks at different heights (to accommodate everything from hats to jackets to coveralls), mats for boots and shelving for shoes, boot dryer, etc. Coveralls, lined and unlined, are our year-round magic weapon to help contain the mess -- our first line of defense at keeping the mess outside the house. Coveralls do NOT come in the house, ever. Our latest addition to the garage/mudroom just in time for calving season is a small magnetic whiteboard where the last person coming in from checking the cows can leave a message/status update for the next person before catching a nap : ) . Lambs come in May on green grass, thank goodness lol.

The garage also has a full bathroom including a shower (there's also a secondhand restaurant supply store large stainless steel sink for washing eggs and vegetables from the garden, and a secondhand washing machine given to us by a friend which we use for washing chore clothes). The garage is our second line of defense to keep the farm mess from coming into the house. The main bathroom on the first floor is just inside the door to the garage, and has a shower (third line of defense). Next to the bathroom is our (farm) office, which as a laundry chute straight to the basement where the laundry room is.

side rant - can't believe they build houses that, potentially, have been put together by people with no design skills

If more of the professionals who design and build houses had proper design skills, this forum wouldn't exist.

Good luck with lambing : ) .

Hi Mark! Thank you for the suggestion. Funny - we DID have this configuration prior to this layout. We changed it because we thought it was inconvenient to have people walking in through the living room (ie cutting down the space for furniture bc we lose 3-4 feet where you walk.) I love the addition of the pantry (one of our real wants, but didn't have the space). I think you solved that!

Hi Cook's Kitchen! Thank you for your detailed feedback. Appreciate your time very much.

We did have the island oriented that way in another version. We revised, and thought this would work better, because of the narrow dining room. We are envisioning this kind of situation, in reverse:

Do you think this will work with the 6 ft we have allowed? (There are actually 9 feet in total from end of island to end of dining room in our plan.)

Totally agree with you on the stairs. We have to rethink that... The stairs have been one of the most difficult things in this plan.

The laundry will store our extra sheets, and blankets, and such. We did consider a combo mud/laundry at one point. It's a space saver for sure. However, the farm business creates such an incredibly overwhelming smell and level of dirt and muck - everywhere, on everything. It permeates, and does not go away. No matter the amount of airing, flushing, sweeping, washing. It's just there. (If you haven't experienced it - it's truly indescribable.) So, we decided to keep the rooms separate, and apart. This way there is no/less panic over guests staying, and us worrying our linens stink. Oh the anxiety! Lol!

Forgot to mention that the property does have a slight slope, on the north/view side of the house. It slopes down to creek (not a terribly nice one, sadly). The house will be at the highest point. We had hoped for a walk out basement, but it was blowing the budget way out - and really, there's nothing to walk out to. So, that was dropped.

We have been thinking of accessibility in the house - and were hoping that 3'10" wide halls and 36" doors would be sufficient. We need to consider your comments a bit further, and rethink.

A powder room has no business being right in the middle of all the public spaces where everyone can see people entering and leaving the bathroom and hear them using it.

If you have a finished basement with guest rooms, surely there must be a bathroom down there. If not, add one and do away with the powder room. Let that do double duty--out of sight, out of mind.

Hi Lindsey - yes, that's correct. All 3 bedrooms share the one full bath. There will be another full bath in the basement when it is finished, but for now - that's all we want (well, plus the powder room). We don't want to be cleaning multiple wet spaces.

None of us are overly fancy, so we're not too worried about sharing. We have done it this long, and it's all worked out fine. I realize the kids will become teens, and be taking over the bathroom - but as long as we have a powder room, we'll manage we believe.

Becky! Thank you for that input. Your set up is our ideal setup. It sounds incredible. We have been tossing around ideas for the garage. One issue we have is a fairly narrow lot. The perfect place for the garage would be attached to the house (east/right side). But, we won't be able to squeeze it into that spot. So, we will have to go past the house, and put it at the northeast (top right) corner. I wish it could be attached.

I would love to see pics of your set up - if you have time.

Our cattle are just about to start giving birth, so I understand if you do not! Busy time.

If your garage will be st the upper right and a bit behind the house, then all of the bedrooms should flip so that the mud room is where the bathroom is. That’s where you will want to enter the house. And it’s where a small enclosed “porch” should be located that the really filthy stuff can be left, and it will be the connector to the garage, if designed correctly.

It will be the “cold porch” as my dairy farming grandparents called it. You can get in out of the weather to sit and pull off boots etc, and hang up smelly coveralls. It’s the muddy mud room that has no vents connecting it to the main house to transfer the poopy boot smell. The heated utility room in the house can be cleaner and tidier, and be combined with the laundry then. (I would NOT want to haul those smelly coveralls through the house to the laundry next to the front door!) It’s where the water heater can go, and the rest of the mechanicals that don’t yet seem to have a home in the plan.

The bathroom should also have hall access, and not be located off of the master. I think if you rearrange the laundry and mudroom, you can gain enough space for a true full bath rather than just a powder room. That would be important to have, both for convenience, but also adding immediate value to the home. That can be important if you are working with a bank for a home loan.

Becky - here's a basic property layout. We are trying to position ourselves between the 2 neighbours, while avoiding the shade the trees will cast, and without building so close to their property lines that they get upset with us (this is a small farm area, and we are the first fresh blood moving in for decades. Don't want to get off on the wrong foot). We could put the garage next to the house, but we're worried we will be right on top of the neighbour to the right.

Definately pull the house forward enough to get a connecting mud porch structure between the house and garage. That will well serve your needs. A simple cross gable will work, and be the link between the other two horizontal gables of the house and garage structures.

Hi Tatts - I totally agree with you about the powder room. Thats the reason we have it entering from the bedroom hallway, and not from the foyer. We couldn't make it work any other way. There will be a bathroom in the basement, but it may be a year or more before we manage to tackle that part of the project. So, we need the powder room in the mean time.

Instead of one full bath and one powder room, I'd consider making 2 full baths and no powder room on the main floor. Let the second bath double as a powder room.

Where will all the smelly clothes from working the farm come in from? Is there a second washer/dryer somewhere or will they wind up being dragged through the house? If the latter, seems like you're defeating the idea of your laundry room smelling nice.

Can't say I'd be thrilled with my kitchen facing NW or especially my living room facing south west. South yes, West no.

If it were me, I'd figure out a way to combine the living room and the sitting room with some sort of dividers that could be opened and closed as needed. I'd try and do dining/living/sitting so they could all work together for larger groups but be closed off when it's just the four of you.

Also don't like that the one bathroom gets a corner while your master doesn't.

Is there an actual reason you're limited to the rectangle? Is it to keep costs down?

If you haven't read Sarah Susankah's book, The Not So Big House, I highly recommend you stop and get a copy now. It was an eye opener for me, even though my house isn't that small. However her understanding of spatial relationships and how to make them work in a small house can work for anyone. You are packing a lot into a small space and that's fine, but I think you can do a lot better than you have.

Actually would you message me?

We built on our farm last year and chose a simple yet functional for us layout. Ours is a metal building all under one roof with the house at one end, the shop, then the cattle barn.

Even attached we do not have a smell in the house part. I have a few very picky and honest friends who comment each time come in they are surprised it doesn't smell. I've lived my whole life on a livestock and grain farm and have not had an issue with people not used to livestock smells complaining once they are in the house.

That being said I would not separate the laundry and mud room. We come in through the shop and into the laundry/mud/2nd bathroom. We built on a heated slab and the floor in that room has several drains in it just in case anyone forgets this is the house and not the barn.

Coveralls and heavy sweatshirts are hung in the shop right outside the door.

I would highly recommend a boot wash either in the laundry room or better yet right inside or outside the main pathway from the barn into the house.

In the summer without the heavy outside clothes, we can come in the laundry/mudroom area and change clothes when we are dirty/smelly. This cuts back on taking dirt and smell to other parts of the house.

I cannot comment too much on your kitchen layout as I'm sure mine would not meet Houzz approval! As long as it works for you and the way your family uses it most of the time, it will work. The only suggestion is if you have an island I would recommend outlets. We did not and it is a regret.

I hope calving is uneventful and goes well. We're nearing the end of calving, winter farrowing is finished, and now we wait for green grass.

Good luck with your new home!

Cook's! You completely get it! Thank you! And, not having vents connected to the main house is absolutely brilliant. We would never have thought of that. Thank you so much.

We do plan to have a separate washing machine for farm clothes - that will be in the mud room. I should have mentioned that. There's no way we want to wash farm clothes with our regular people clothes.

The bathroom does have access from the hallway. That little hallway has both the master bed door, and the bathroom door. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, or maybe it's not very clear on the image I loaded. Sorry!

I say a quiet thank you at least once a day for our en suite bathroom, after 22 years of sharing with three kids -- the two youngest of whom still live at home and the eldest visiting once or twice a month (and whose job will let her work from home for the summer months) -- and visitors and houseguests.

I'll see what I can find or take for photos. It's been warm and melty so we have mud everywhere too. Not particularly photogenic right now lol.

Becky - melty and muddy - it's a way of life, right? :)

We live on a cattle farm so I can totally relate to the muck and mire that goes along with that.

My thoughts:

• Add an exterior entrance to the basement and have your mudroom along with a "farm" washer and dryer in that space. Add a floor drain so that you can spray out the room with a water house and the water will drain out. Our milking friends have this at their house.
• I feel like your private spaces and public spaces should be flipped since you plan to add the garage to the right side at a later point.
• With 1800 sf under roof, you should be able to fit in two baths. If you use the basement as your mudroom, that will gain you space on the main level.
• Your dining space is not large enough at all. Consider doing a long island with counter height table space at the end. We did that in our last house and it worked well. The advantage is that you have a large continuous space for multiple purposes (see my pic below).
• If you can't flip the private and public spaces, can you flip the way the driveway approaches the house? Instead of approaching on the right, can it approach on the left and you build the garage on northwest corner of the house or would that impede the view of the land and older relative's home too much?

Definitely get in touch with cpartist : ) .

Kijiji or neighborhood FB swap and sell boards are a very good place to find great deals on secondhand but still quite serviceable single washing machines and dryers (usually when one dies and the owners decide to buy a new matching pair).

Something to consider for a garage and main floor more-than-a-powder-room, to keep costs down, are these one-piece shower enclosures by Hytec/Kohler,

https://www.hytec.ca/product-detail/s603/?skuid=S603-0

Also available 4' wide, with seat on the other side, or no seat. Very easy to clean : ) .

Becky - melty and muddy - it's a way of life, right? :)

It's been such a long, cold, snowy winter I don't dare complain! Though I'm girding myself for a big wet snow before March is over and again in April lol.

Ejoe - your set up sounds incredible. It's a design many in our farming community would love to have themselves. Was the combo your idea? Or, is it standard in your area? It's the first time we have heard of something like this.

Thanks for the well wishes on the calving season. We have had a tragedy with two of the animals already, so we're hoping everything else goes smoothly.

Wow! We're overwhelmed with the responses. Thank you! We're trying to read and assess and digest - so we may miss responding to some of your points. Sorry if so.

A couple of you have mentioned the garage, and having it near the bedroom/private side of the house. Not sure we are understanding. The garage is for our use only, really just a place to put the truck and store some tools etc. Maybe a small workshop as well. We think it works best to be able to access the private house from there - we envision removing farm/work clothes, heading to have a shower, and getting dressed, then heading into the pubic area for cooking etc.

Guests visiting the house would use the driveway in front of the house.

Does this still sound like a bad idea?

Keep the feedback coming! Thanks again!

Tatts - yes - what you are saying makes complete sense. Thank you!

Shead - The basement won't be accessible from the garage/directly from outdoors, so, while we love the thought of the mudroom in basement, it's not feasible. Where ever the mudroom ends up, there will definitely be floor drains and hoses to wash them out.

I think we should not have labelled our dining room has "dining room"... it's more of an eat in kitchen. Similar to the image you posted Shead - we love this functionality and look.

I drew the idea up from bits and pieces I had seen over the years. I did not know it was becoming such a popular thing around until after our was up.

For better or for worse, we ended up without a designer on decision day because around here they wanted things bigger and fancier and were not listening to what we wanted. It is a simple open concept of kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, laundry/mudroom and a utility room/office.

It is a dream come true to walk across the 60' shop into the cattle barn to check and work cows!

Our master bathroom is very small but was a must have for me. I have a bigger soaking tub, single sink and a closet along one end. It is perfect for me and I agree with the poster above who said it is a nice retreat. It was not extra expensive as the plumbing was already on the same wall.

I'll hope for no more tragedies. It's hard to start off badly.

Mary and the Lambs: My master bath is 9x12 with a shower, a whirlpool tub, a toilet and vanity/sink. And it is the biggest waste of space EVER! I could have a dance contest in the empty space in the middle. It's ridiculous. I'd shrink it in a minute, and may, one of these days.

Move the master bedroom door to the south wall, combine the bath & mudroom into 2 baths (and maybe some storage). Slide the bedrooms west, and put a combined laundry and mudroom in the S.E. corner. I think the mudroom, as drawn, is too small.

When you're laying out a house, you have to keep in mind what's going in each room. A standard tub is 5 feet long, a toilet needs 30" of wall, a vanity is adjustable, and none of them is more than 30" deep. A bathroom only needs to accommodate one person at a time, so the empty space in a bathroom doesn't need to be huge. A 10' x 10.5' bathroom ignores the way it's used and what is in there.

EDIT: I missed the fact that no doors are allowed on the marriage wall (but if that's the case, I don't understand the mud room). Other than that, the basics above still work.

"Shead - The basement won't be accessible from the garage/directly from outdoors, so, while we love the thought of the mudroom in basement, it's not feasible. Where ever the mudroom ends up, there will definitely be floor drains and hoses to wash them out."

Is there a reason it couldn't be accessed from outside? Even a small blocked stairwell? We bought a house from my husband's aunt that is located on our farm. It's 27x64 with a basement that has no access to the outside except through the upstairs. It's the biggest PITA because there's only one way to get furniture, appliances, freezers, etc. in/out. If you're planning on having finished rooms down there, PLEASE consider an alternate entrance, especially with where you have your basement stairs placed. Imagine trying to move beds, dressers, sofas, tvs, etc. down there and having to enter your main house and maneuver down steps that basically run into a wall at the bottom of them with large items.

"Guests visiting the house would use the driveway in front of the house."

Or will they? I don't know what kind of community you live in, who your neighbors and/or family are, but I can tell you from experience that "farm living" usually makes for "back door/side door" guests. There's a reason they make a sign for it :) I think that unless you put a sign out directing guests to turn left and enter through the front door, they will tend to navigate toward the end door. NO ONE ever uses our front door. If a neighbor shows up to tell you a cow is out or a fence is down, will they approach your front door where they assume the more formal areas of the home are or will they approach the side where they feel like they could just stick their head in and say, "Hey Joe, did you know there's a cow out?" In my case, they will be sticking their head into the kitchen, but in yours, they are sticking it into the mudroom/bedroom.

Or what if Neighbor Jim drives by and sees Husband Joe working in the shop/garage and decides to be neighborly and stop in. Then Husband Joe invites him into the house....which door will they enter?

Also, if you want guests to enter the front door, I'd switch the driveway so that they approach the front door first and not the side door. Like cows, guests usually take the path of least resistance ;)

Couple ideas...

I agree with much of what's been said, and I see so many things here could be better:

- Imagine you come into the front door ... you have to walk around the staircase to enter the living room. Not welcoming. In your cold area, don't you want a fireplace or woodstove?

- Consider your sight line upon entering the house ... you're seeing pantries. Instead, place the door (or a nice window here) ... and move the pantries to the flex /sitting room /place them against the wall shared with the master, and you'll fit in more pantries AND you'll add a layer of soundproofing between the master and the public area.

- Generally houses are designed with the kitchen near the everyday entrance. It means you don't have to walk as far with groceries.

- The dining room -- whether you call it a dining room or an eat-in kitchen -- isn't big enough. You mention needing space for family gatherings; this isn't it. Your children are small now ... think about them bringing home friends, think about them marrying and bringing home their own families. This isn't a place to skimp.

- While everything else seems small, the kitchen is large ... 50" aisles are more than you need, and you'll find yourself dripping food on the floor as you move things from the L to the island. Two sinks and a large stove don't really mesh with the rest of this house. You have a large kitchen here, but it isn't a well-organized /functional kitchen.

- You have two living spaces, but neither has visual or acoustical privacy. Ideally you'd have a large family space where everyone could gather ... and a smaller, set-apart space that can be closed off. This means someone can separate from the family to read, practice a musical instrument, or watch a ball game in peace even though the kids gave guests in the main room.

- I don't hate the powder room space like some people above ... the door opens into the hallway.

- In all bedrooms the closets are very small (and the kids have more storage than the adults). I'm no clotheshorse, but this just isn't enough. Note, too, that adult clothes are about 24" deep ... so your closets need a few inches more so that the clothes'll fit without touching the wall and the door (trust me on this: I have a closet that's 24" deep, and all the hangers must fit in slightly sideways). In the master, your closets are limiting you to one bitty window, which will make the bedroom feel like a dark cave.

- Putting bedroom closets aside, I don't think you have enough "other storage". Think about it: where will you keep your vacuum cleaner and other cleaning products? your suitcases? the kids' sleeping bags? your books, board games and movies? I don't see any hobby storage, linen storage, etc. I know you said you'll have the basement for storage, but you're not going to want to haul the vacuum upstairs every couple days ... and as you grow older, you really, really won't want to do it.

- One bathroom? Hate it. If you're absolutely sure this is what you want, I'd at least move things around so you could have a jack-and-jill with a powder room for youselves /a powder room for the kids /bathing in between. I really think you'll hate this in just a few years.

- Your bath dimensions aren't good ... if you're going with one bath (and, again, I encourage you to rethink that), 8x12 would be so much more efficient.

- Consider that you're going to hear the kids going in /out of the bathroom constantly.

- Because it'll be open most of the time, the mud room is a perfect place for a pocket door.

- I'd consider moving the laundry room to the corner by the mudroom. This would allow the dryer to be on an exterior wall (cheaper and more fire-safe).

- When you add a garage, a breezeway connection between the house and the garage would be ideal.

- Do the dogs and cats live indoors? If so, where will their beds, food, litter boxes go?

- Do you need a small office space somewhere? Even just a closet-sized office with space for a few files, a printer, and a place to charge laptops?

- Many of these rooms are quite small. Bay windows would give them the impression of more elbow room.

Conclusion: Glaring problems? General circulation, the lack of bathrooms, and it's generally just ... not very appealing.

Swap the powder room and the laundry so the new bath can be a full one available to the two bedrooms. Take a little of the space for stackable washer dryer.

Two more...

So many great responses. We have a lot of reading to do tonight. Hope to get back to everyone tomorrow. Many thanks!

Mrs Pete: Why would 8x12 be "so efficient"? You could fit 2 full baths in that and have space left over. Small baths, but perfectly functional. Five feet wide for the tub and 8 feet long for toilet and vanity. You'd have 2 feet by 8 feet left over.

It's not efficient at all. There is still a huge amount of empty space. A tub needs no more than 5 feet x 30 inches, and it's the biggest thing in the bathroom. If you put it on the 8-foot-wall you have a 3-foot hole left, put the toilet there. All that's left is the vanity, and you sure don't need the remaining 80 square feet for that.

8x12 is still hugely oversized for a house of the OP's description and it has to fit in the modular framework.

Mrs Pete: Why would 8x12 be "so efficient"? You could fit 2 full baths
in that and have space left over. Small baths, but perfectly functional.
Five feet wide for the tub and 8 feet long for toilet and vanity. You'd
have 2 feet by 8 feet left over.

8' of width is "so much more efficient" because it's an appropriate width, whereas 10' is not.

Well, let's do some math:

Yes, a standard three-piece bath tends to be 5x8 -- you cannot reduce the 5', but smaller than 7' length may work, but it won't be comfortable. You cannot put two of those into the OP's 10x10 or my suggested 8x10. Why? Because a wall that contains water lines needs to be 6" thick ... so even if you did two simple three-pieces back-to-back, you couldn't place two tubs in 10' of width.

Items on two sides with a functional aisle providing access to each. 7' of of actual usable width (because of the walls) ... 30" width for the tub, 30" walking space, 24" for the vanity /toilet.

As for length, 36" is comfortable for a toilet ... with four people sharing the bathroom, you need drawer storage, so figure a large vanity, which would give you large drawers on each side of the sink ... and then you need 36" for that door to "park". That fits nicely into 12'. On the other side, a builder-basic tub tends to be 60" long ... and since you need the length on the other side, you have ample space for a stand-up shower and a linen closet.

Your plans are quite similar with what we are building right now. Ours is a walkout farm house, 3 bedrooms, with unfinished basement. We are building ourselves 100% and we selected ICF instead the traditional wood frame. We started 2 years ago and estimating that we need another 2 year to finish it. Quite a challenge to find time to build; we are living in the city with full time jobs and doing this project on our property in weekends and vacations. Drop a line if you need more info. Here are our plans and couple pictures were we are with the construction. We are building in Grey County, Ontario.

I wasn't saying literally to put them side by side (although you definitely could, given the original is 10x10.5 feet). I was just pointing out how equally wasteful of space 10x10.5 or 8x12 is (105 sq ft vs 96). They don't need one bathroom as big as the kids' bedrooms. Both sizes are a waste of space and gives them only one full bath plus a powder room in a bad location.

Two smaller full baths is far preferable for usability.

One fact that can not be ignored in the design of the subject of this thread is there will be a wall centered down the length of the structure where the two halves are joined. The penetrations in that wall have to be engineered.

This might work. Measurements are approximate, but you'll get the idea. Intention was to leave the public space the same as in your original plan. Bedrooms are also intended to be the same size and basic layout as your original, but this gives you a much larger mudroom and two full baths. Foyer opens into living room.

Thank you to EVERYONE for your feedback and ideas.

We have further discussed, and we are going to be talking to a couple architects this week. We know we're out of our depth, so this will be the best way forward.

If we are successful, we will post an update when it happens!

I think you will be happy you farmed out the architectural design.

(I'm sorry, it was the best pun I could come up with)

Looking at your site layout I'd move the house back close to the edge of the restricted point. And then I'd move it over to the left to give you enough room for an attached garage.

"I’m so impressed with all the insightful feedback"

Code for "I love bad puns".

Mark you're just so punny

Hi all!

Here's our latest floor plan.

We reached out to ARG, and he came up with some good stuff for us. Particularly the public side of the house. We have thrown in some slight revs to the private side of the house.

We've also posted ARG's plans below.

You will see some double wall type things in the bedroom hallway - this is for the marriage wall required in modular builds.

There are also some thin lines around some of the text - please ignore them. They are to hold the text / indicate where something will go, and don't mean anything greater than that.

Also... furniture placement is not our forte :)

We look forward to hearing your feedback - punny or not (lol).

Thank you!

Mary

I like the bedroom/bathroom area of your second plan better but I like the kitchen/dining/living space of your initial plan better. In both plans, however, the foyer feels like a funnel. I would want a more open feel when walking through the front door but that's just my preference.

You will want this garage attached. Put the house on a slight angle and have them connect witha breezeway.

This new layout is so much better and more functional than the original design!

I think that this new layout give you some very custom features that would be unexpected in a modular home (things like that shelf that allows the inset fridge to make it look built in in the kitchen).

I love the window placement in the rear of the house public spaces.

I might consider moving the service / side door so that you are forced to go through the mudroom (encouraging a stop there...) and not necessarily having a straight shot out the hallway. Echo the concerns about the mudroom being too small, and passing through the mudroom to get to the laundry.

HOWEVER - if there is a garage in the plan for the future - it would be an easy extension to convert a connector to a mudroom and then have the current combo room become all laundry (and separate the functions) Perhaps this was contemplated with the existing design, as I do see the "future garage" / driveway listed.

There is really good privacy between the bedrooms here and good access to the full hall bath - I think that design element will really pay off for you in the long run.

Looking good!