What you could do is figure out what needs to be in that mudroom--say coats and jackets, shoes and boots, recycle bins, some sports equipment and the cat's food and bowls. Then rip out all the benches and make some thoughtful storage purchases that will house everything you want to keep there. Anything currently stored there that you don't want in the space needs to find a new home elsewhere, or people will continue to store it in there. There are many options for storage--shelves, cabinets, bins, drawers, a built-in closet. Shelves can have doors fitted, or be covered with curtains or a shade. You could even run a shelf up above the windows and use pretty boxes to store out of season things up there. Depending on where you live, it might be possible to get something custom built for not much more than the cost of buying and installing things yourself. With the right storage furniture, you might be able to treat this more as room, instead of a storage space. Put in one or two chairs or a freestanding bench for shoe removal. Curtains that you like. A paint scheme based on the curtain colors. I just get the feeling that the benches are holding you back. You feel you need to keep them, even though they aren't used and aren't useful. Measure out the space without the benches and do some research on the storage options that are out there. It'll be a huge change, but if you keep the benches, that space is never going to function well for you.

Sometimes, but it's not far and it's so nice to have all the food in one area and organized. I love not having to reach into cabinets to find the food and it makes putting things away really easy. Having the counter in the pantry allows us to put all the grocery bags there from the store and empty at will without taking up kitchen counter space as well. It's probably one of the best decisions we made and I'm glad we did the walk through. Walking around the whole time would have been a real PITA. Good luck!

It's very difficult to find the right person/firm to realize your dream home. Moving forward, it is a much better idea to start from scratch, work with an architect that knows your top end budget, and will work closely with you throughout the design process to ensure everything meets with your approval. Anyone that gives you a flat fee and says "ok, I'll have it ready in a month" is not the person you should be working with. Finding a floor plan online sounds like a great idea, but in reality it's one of the worst things you could do. No one mass distributing floor plans online knows you, your tastes, your likes/dislikes, etc. They are designed to sell, nothing more. This is your home and you deserve to have someone on your team that takes the time to understand who you are and what you want. For example, the very first thing we do is sit down and talk with our clients for a few hours. We discuss everything from top to bottom and get a real sense of who they are. From there we discuss the hurdles that may occur based on the information given to us, and then we design accordingly, but in conjunction with our client at every stage. Choosing an architect is choosing an artist. Imagine lining up 10 different painters and asking each to paint your portrait. They may all be very skilled, but I can guarantee you that each will provide a very different end result. You need to find the artist that fits with you.

A house doesn't necessarily have to face the road. I have lived in a house that didn't face the road, because the the house was situated across the street from a fabulous ocean view. So, all the house was oriented towards the view, as it should be. In your case, why not orient the house the best way possible for passive solar, view, etc. ? That is why people need to see the site. The constrictions are not knowable for commenters. How large is your lot? Do you have opportunity for a winding driveway that leads around to the "front door"? Have you investigated ways to orient the house to the side or back while still having an attractive "front-facing" view of the property from the street? Have you investigated having an L-shaped or U-shaped house instead of this long, sprawling one-story that faces a direction that is less than desirable? I don't mean to be "harsh" but these are the things that an actual architect knows about and can resolve for you. Some are so good at it, that they make a living doing it. Like you, I'm involved in designing/building and despite being fairly knowledgeable (at least knowledgeable enough that I know the right questions to ask), I have been surprised by our architect's solutions to various issues that I would never have thought of. Side note: If I were on a tight budget....so tight that I was trying to skip an actual architect, but somehow still had enough $$ to build a custom home in this crazy economy, I would not build a roof at the angles you have. I have always felt like steeply sloped roofs are a real luxury, because walking around up there is so dangerous and difficult. I have no appreciation for that trendy "farmhouse look" with the steeply pitched roofs. It doesn't seem practical to me.