Must the house face west, and the garage be on the south side?

Well, we could tilt the house slightly. It might be awkward with our neighbors and every other house on the street facing the road and us facing our neighbors house. Our architect did suggest that though. The garage does need to be on the south due to the septic placement.

I get not wanting to enter the house through the mud room, but you'll walk about 10' down the hall in wet or snowy shoes, carrying stuff, before you enter the mudroom? I'm not sure that's optimal. Can you somehow swap the bathroom and mudroom to bring it closer to the garage? And why does the bathroom have a little shower?

What kind of workspace are you envisioning for the mudroom? I could use a better space than I have for gluing stuff, replacing batteries, etc. Is that what you are thinking? Perhaps you would like a "utility room", big enough for backpacks, jackets, out of season outerwear, sunscreen, bug spray, a work space, a utility sink.

Do your kids do their own laundry, including linens? It's close to the master and not TOO inconvenient to most of the laundry generated (the kids' rooms), but if you tend to swap laundry during the day or as you come and go from the house, maybe not so convenient, tucked back behind the stairs and down the hall.

Do you need a closet by the front door?

Do you need a den or something so you can have a private space to work on and store household and family matters?

How do you envision the beverage center being used? By you and the kids for drinks during the day? As a bar for company? As a coffee bar? All of the above?

Do you have elevations?

What is your site like? I don't see a great connection to the outdoors, but it must be wide enough to accommodate the sideload garage?

Oh, and just do one sink in the kids' bath. My kids never, ever, used the sink closest to the door, it just got dusty. They needed more drawer and counter space instead.

bpath- Thank you for commenting. I completely agree with the "mud room" being nonoptimal. Initially the powder room and mud room were swapped. We asked him to switch back, but then when we got 3d drawings back from cabinet designer I thought it would definitely be a room I would want to showcase more. Therefore, it became more of a den/command/homework station vs mudroom. I am hoping the drop off space in the garage and the future closet to the right of the garage entrance will help. Still a struggle though.

No closet by the front door, we have one currently that is only used for our things. We are thinking hooks/coat rack for guests coats or put in the mudroom area.

How do you envision the beverage center being used? By you and the kids for drinks during the day? As a bar for company? As a coffee bar? All of the above?

I see it being used all of the above. I would actually like to extend a little more, making a smaller pantry but also having a little desk for extra homework space. And then a nice feature with the pass through to pass drinks through as we entertain quite a bit. I just absolutely loathe the placement.

Do you have elevations?

Yes, but it took months and a large glass of wine to post the plans...I'm going to need tequila for the elevations.

What is your site like? I don't see a great connection to the outdoors, but it must be wide enough to accommodate the sideload garage?

It's on 2.5 acres partially wooded to the North side.

Oh, and just do one sink in the kids' bath. My kids never, ever, used the sink closest to the door, it just got dusty. They needed more drawer and counter space instead.

100% agree! There will only be 1 sink...I rarely let the kids brush their teeth at the same time anyways. They spend double the amount of time(especially when we are running late) and either laughing aka making a huge mess or fighting.

For the front entry, change to a single door, and build out a niche on the right for hooks and maybe a small console table. That way guests could hang their things on the hooks but they aren't really noticeable from the living room.

For your own things, you'll keep your boots and coats in the cold garage? If you take off or change your shoes at the door, will the outside shoes be left on the garage to get cold? Where do you keep the car keys? Just seems like you could use an indoor launching pad.

I like a nice size foyer, and hallways serve a purpose, but I think you have kind of a no-man's land between the foyer and the living room.

This may not work at all, but have you considered moving the screened porch down so it is almost even with the edge of the garage, and expanding the dining area? You would have room to move your drink area up to the dining area without losing any/very little space. Bonus points for the dining table making an excellent place to work on homework while dinner is being prepared/ after school snacks are eaten. You could then regain the wall space for the kitchen.

I like bpath's idea of a nook with hooks in the main foyer for guests. I know you want the mudroom as drawn to be pretty and a feature, with the door open and a place for guests to use. You've already said that your current mudroom area is often a mess, though. Why do you expect that the new one will stay guest- and show-worthy when the current one doesn't? Planning that your family's basic behavior patterns will change just because of a new space is a plan that often leads to disappointment.

You mentioned wanting a bigger great room. Why not push out the back wall to be even with the master bedroom? Be aware, though, that facing west means those rooms are going to be HOT in the afternoon, and you'll likely have the shades closed (I grew up in a west facing house, so I know the problem well).

You've already said that your current mudroom area is often a mess, though. Why do you expect that the new one will stay guest- and show-worthy when the current one doesn't?

This is something that still I still go back and forth on. The difference in the new mudroom though is doors...lots of them! Lockers with doors on one side and the other wall is floor to ceiling cabinet doors for more storage. We are wanting to have the opening into the kitchen closer to the garage entry so we will hopefully end up switching the location of powder room and mudroom. That way if it is kept tidy I can keep the door open for the view to the front yard and also watch my kids to make sure they are doing their homework, while I'm cooking in the kitchen.

You mentioned wanting a bigger great room. Why not push out the back wall to be even with the master bedroom?

I suggested that, but he said he couldn't because of the roof line...?

bpath- I suggested putting a niche in the foyer as well, we felt it would turn out being a drop all for the kids stuff. But I absolutely agree about not having a landing/launching pad. I am thinking if we make a closet where the pantry is now that would help things. I wish it were a wider hallway, I feel like I would have more options as far as hanging something or even having a little built in niche or small console table somewhere. Probably not, but I just want to complain again about not getting a 4' hallway.

Where do your kids do their homework now? Do you really think they'd go back to a fairly isolated mudroom/work room area to do their homework? In my experience as a kid, teaching kids, and now parenting kids, the odds of this getting used the way you envision are low.

My mom spent a lot of time and money creating spaces like you've designed for us to do our homework in. In our case it was a den similarly located to where you're showing the mudroom workspace. And then, much to her frustration, we would instead spread out our homework on the island in the kitchen, the table behind the couch, or occasionally the kitchen table. - all right in the middle of everything. It drove her crazy, but we didn't like working in the den space that felt isolated from the rest of the family. If I was stuck doing calculus for an hour, I didn't want to be sent to purgatory to do it, I wanted to feel like I was still a part of things. When we really needed to concentrate we'd work in our rooms, as the den space in that case wasn't private enough. (She also worked really hard on making sure we had good desk spaces, and instead we'd spread everything out on the floor :-). I've talked to a lot of parents over the years who have had similar experiences. Kids either want to be in the middle of everything or they go to their rooms to work; they rarely take advantage of semi-away spaces like we envision they will.

RES- I like it, I need to wrap my head around it for a minute though. In my sketch I have a similar layout except I have the door to the porch in the same spot from the original just pushed back towards exterior of the house.

This is showing the concept of moving the living spaces back so they have southern exposure and are more open to the outside.

I find written descriptions of plans to be too difficult to understand to be helpful. I can rarely get though posts longer than a paragraph. Its an old architect's affliction. Please post the sketch.

Its time to turn the plan to see it from a different perspective.

I would put the fireplace on the interior wall with shelves on either side.

Pull the bottom stair riser back from the hall by finding a way to move 2 treads to the upper run which will also lower the landing.

I put a 36" high divider (shelves or cabinets) between the kitchen and the Living Room with posts supporting a beam so the spaces will have some separation and their own identity.

What is the climate?

RES-my sketch is almost as terrible as my wording. Sorry about the photography as well. I don't know if it will work because my husband thinks there is a load bearing beam or something by the sliding door.

PPF- Thank you so much for putting that layout together! I need another minute to wrap my head around a totally separate layout than what we have seen before, and trust me we've seen a lot. Do you like having a porch behind living room? We were trying to keep that clear but debated on having a very small covered deck.

The load above that area is the ceiling and the roof which are supported by the exterior walls with headers over the windows and doors.

This plan shifts the dining area to the left, widens the kitchen and alters the foundation (shown in red). It also probably makes the house a little wider.

You can divide up or enclose the back kitchen support area anyway you like os don't get distracted by that issue; get the access to the porch right first.

I would make the front door a single with two sidelights and add a coat closet facing the hallway. Great for all your extra company coats and dressy coats or out of season coats.

I personally think your dining room is too small for your family plus extra guests. I would extend it so that the room is closer to 16 feet long or more. Then a door to the porch would not interfere with seating and you could fit a lot of people in your only dining room. Extend it toward the porch.

I would make the island 42 inches deep so that seating allows you more room in your living room.

Maybe you could get graph paper and layout the family, dining room and kitchen.

Then cut furniture (tables, chairs, sofas, island etc..) to see how it all fits.

Your pantry seems large and maybe deeper than need be. Add that to the kitchen and do a 4 foot aisle between sink and stove.

Bsds71, I will be taking an indefinite break from the forum so if you need assistance contact me directly.

RES- That is sad to hear, you have helped many people on the forum. I can't thank you enough for your help with mine.

RES, I hope "indefinite" doesn't mean "infinite". Your contributions have been most interesting. Come back soon!

RES, your contributions will be missed. I hope you return soon.