One thing that bothers me is the kids have windows on only one wall. That means not a lot of light during the day and not a lot of cross ventilation for those days and nights that heating/cooling are not needed. I would love to figure out a way to get the bathroom off the corner of the girls room so she could take advantage of being on the corner and the same with boy's room 2 with maybe moving the outdoor bath somewhere else. I do agree with you that you should have a place to rinse off, etc. I did make two changes on your master side of the house. Basically just moving the closet doors around. Especially instead of from your closet to your utility room, changing it from your closet to your hallway right near the door to the utility room. It's still close enough to carry your laundry there, but the advantage now is if you need to run to your closet to get something you forgot, it's an easier in and out than running an obstacle course through your utility closet. Additionally I changed the door from your bathroom into the closet to put the door towards the end of the closet. I did this because corners in closets are wasted space so put the doors there instead. The only reason I didn't do it to the main hallway from your closet is you have to balance the corner closet space with the idea of looking down your long hallway and seeing a doorway instead of a nice vignette. And it's the corner issue why I moved the door into the pantry too.

Glad you've had such good advice here and will be getting a home designed for the real way you live. I wanted to make sure, on that note, that you're also thinking about how a farmhouse works, if your intention is for this to be a working farmhouse, rather than just farmhouse in style. Both of these plans have the kitchen and utility rooms being entered conveniently from the garage, which is great for normal, car-centered city families. But at our working farmhouse, the main traffic is from the garden to the kitchen, wood storage outside to the woodstove, chicken coop to mudroom/pantry, yard to dog washing station in the laundry room, etc. In the generic plans you posted, that kind of daily routine would be a nightmare. Do make sure that you are thinking about how you want to live on your whole property and bring that to hour desinger as well. Good luck!

Thanks Summit! Yes... I originally wanted that hallway there... but we were open to "conserving space" (to try to keep the house at/around 4000sf) if the architect had different ideas. I think he did a good job getting in what we need... but..... I feel like I want that hallway regardless of how much/little SF it adds to the house. I still feel like the laundry/craft room + mudroom + back pool bathroom needs reconfiguring still. Would a hall going from that back door connecting to the hall from the guest room (so the bathroom opens up into that hall) work? Or maybe move the laundry room down so its accessible from the guest hallway vs teh back corner. Hmm.

If you want low maintenance brick on your new home -- regardless of the supposed "style" -- use it. I'd highly recommend it. The only style that matters is the wendi00 style. Inside and/or out. Brick will cost you more now but will save you a lot of maintenance over the time so it is well worth the cost. I would, however, suggest you add a fascia board rather than let the ends of any rafters be exposed to weather. It will be a lot easier to replace fascia than to rip out a rafter or even a faux rafter.