Have you considered a side entrance?

OMG, but then the front door is not gong to face the street!!! Did you see the flak I took for not doing that?? https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5663760/and-yet-another-arg-plan#n=4

You have a guest room with no bathroom! Weird. Inconsiderate. The guests have to walk through the living room to go the upstairs far corner to shower. Yuck.

The back entrance is just serviceable but not welcoming. It's a rabbit warren of halls and turns.

There are huge areas of wasted space that can have no use other than walking through.

Do you use the dining room extensively during the day? If you have a view, why isn't that where the living room is?

There seems to be no thought to where the plumbing and venting will run--it's all over the place and add unnecessary expense.

Why is the bedroom floor only 22 feet deep?

I'd rearrange it completely, with a straight run for the stairs and move the guest room to the floor with the other bedrooms.

Why don't you simply post a drawing of the house on the lot? Right now it's like the Starship Enterprise floating in the black void of space. No context and always think context. Stop the designing at the property lines, not at the exterior walls as your post suggests is happening.

Still makes zero sense to me.

Where does the storage room on the lower level lead?

I was just looking at this Sarah Susanka plan, I toured this house when it was first finished. Not on a slope, but I like the layout.

Would you consider moving the garage side door hallway to run along the side of the house, and the master be behind the garage?

The upstairs bedroom is more of an office that could be utilized as a bedroom

How does that help me understand the house to site question?

OMG, but then the front door is not gong to face the street!!! Did you see the flak I took for not doing that??

My front door isn't going to face the street, either. Although now I consider myself to be in good company, Doug. :-)

The guest room not being en suite doesn't bother me. But it IS a little awkward to ask a guest to go to another level to shower. However, if this is more "office" and just contains enough bedroomish features to countas one for MLS purposes I'll let it go.

I would try to get the entrances onto the sides in order to add function to side yards & get a bit of function from long narrow spaces. For main entrance that could be a bit of entry garden, perhaps with a small bench or patio table for coffee & chat w/neighbors or at least to create a view for entry. DR might have sliding doors on both sides with a wrap around terrace garden. For rear entrance narrow side spaces could be a place for garbage cans & garden storage &/or a potting bench. Or rear entrance area could possibly be arranged to provide access to a tiny private garden court for the master bedroom. Point is to use landscape planning to take advantage of your entire lot.

The lot is only 28' wide, so subtracting 4' for side access may take away too much living space. And, it's on quite a slope and there might be restrictions for creating flat space for terraces or courts, although those could be done with raised decks.

But, the front entrance could be recessed into the foyer to provide more protection and sense of arrival.

Would most visitors park on the street? The garage is accessed from an alley?

It might work to have the back hall along one side, with high Windows and possibly shallow storage below them, for light and purpose, and to draw you into the house more. And bring the stairs up along that side, too. Orient the rest of the house to the other side and front.

Can you build up? I'm imagining a top floor office/guest room and bath, with access to a rooftop terrace, a la the Sarah Susanka plan (and hers isn't even on a site with a view).

The main living area seems too small for all possible use it will get. I’d eliminate the office/guest room and make the living area bigger. Carve out a desk area if needed. It is hard to fit a comfortable flow on such a narrow lot. Sometimes less rooms can help.

Your house is on an uphill slope, right? So the front entrance is on the lower level, and the view is higher up, so you have created what I call an upside-down house, where the main living space are upstairs, to take advantage of the views.

I am not a pro at all. But your entryway is the same size as your living area. That's because you have to fit both in between the front of the house and the stairs. Can you push the stairs back? Then switch the bedroom and office, so the office will be in the smaller area "behind" the stairs. That way, upstairs, the living area will have more room; it looks like you have space that you can afford to lose in the master bedroom and bath.

We having a house built for us that's 26' as well, so I don't think it's too narrow!

I would consider consulting an architect.

There is a lot of wasted space on the entry level and there are twists and turns on the lower level that could be made better.

Your second plan is not really any better.

The stairs are taking up valuable space and would be better on an exterior wall.

The living space on the first layout is better than the second, but neither take advantage of the space and they have twisty turns that should be eliminated.

An architect will serve you better.

You had a half bath on the main floor. All it would take to make a welcoming guest room is the addition of a shower--a very minimal cost. It doesn't have to be ensuite.

I think that the stairs would be better with a straight run.

This needs an architect; there is to much wasted space and too little public space.

What area of the country are you in that you are considering sliding windows? Historically these are the weakest link and performer in most all window manufacturers lines. More so if you are going builder grade.

Were I you, I'd put the stairs next to the front door. The coat closet goes under them. Make the kitchen a wide U in the place you currently have your stairs and dining area. And put the dining area in the back corner with some nice windows. Eating together should be pleasant!

Measure how much linear closet space you have in your current master bedroom. My guess is that it's somewhere around 3-4' per person. The new monster closet looks to have 14 linear feet. Do you really need that much? And if you do, what about 2 reach-in closets across the top side of the bedroom; one to either side of the bathroom door? That would save you about 3'x7' feet of space. And you could then relocate the powder-room and/or laundryroom into the monster-closet/pantry area.

The circulation is truly terrible. The garage is barely large enough for two Mini Coopers and the kitchen is super cramped. You're trying to put too much in this 5lb bag. Consider using a laundry closet rather than a full laundry room to eliminate the cramped zig-zag hallway.

Will there be children using those bedrooms? Ages?

Re the garage - we have one about that size. It works for us (barely), but we don't need a lot of storage space, and we have two quite small cars. Even then, any passengers have to get out before you drive the car into the garage. If you just have one car, though, it should be okay.

28’ would not be an unusual size of home here, ours is 15’, so you’ve essentially got double that, confused by the garage, do you have a back lane? Is there no backyard? I guess not at 65’. Also do not get why the main entrance is on the bedroom level? Seems awkward.

Consider putting the laundry on the ground floor.

Agree with Summit. Circulation is horrible. It looks like the white squares in a crossword puzzle. Set up the spaces around straight circulation lines, not the other way around. And 28' wide isn't all that narrow. Creativity thrives on constraints but it's not happening here.

Do you feel like you're trying to get 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag?

I would consider having the back door go into the garage instead of into the house separately. Then you can enlarge the garage for it to be more functional and walk in from the garage into the house. This also serves to dry your shoes some before you actually get into the house. I'm assuming guests would be coming through the front door.

I would also consider putting the kitchen more on the interior side of the house and dining where kitchen is. This will allow more light in as a dining room can have more and taller windows in the dining than you would in the kitchen (unless you're willing to sacrifice storage).

I agree that the flow in the house and circulation is a bit awkward.

I like lyfia's idea to just widen the garage. You could still have man-door to it. You didn't show an image of the lot you are on, so it's hard to say how much space you have to take advantage of for a back yard.

But here is a very rough idea of moving the laundry downstairs and having the hall along one side. I didn't do anything about the stairs but it's a very (did I say very?) rough idea of how you can have a hall on one side, opening up everything else off of it. Those are high windows on the left with bookcases or shallow cabinets beneath.

You'd want to change the bedroom/bath configuration to get rid of the bumpout, (maybe have reach-in closets instead of walk-in, along the wall on the left) but I'd move the kitchen behind it in a broad U, not the claustrophobic U you have now, and have the living and dining at the front.

Much nicer!!!

But I think in moving things around you may have adjusted some measurements. For example, how wide is the back door? How much space is between the island and the back counter?

And why not make extend the island all the way to the wall on the left? You'll lose circulation, but gain counter, storage, and serving space.

Is there any way to move the laundry downstairs?

Where is your architect in all this?