I am not a pro but was wondering how you plan to grade for the walkout with bedroom windows on the East but cold storage/no windows to the South where the grade will be lower? Seems like you'd want to put the cold storage where there's no daylight and a higher grade, and put the bedrooms where there's a lower grade, near the walkout doors...? Or does the land slope from right to left (West to East?)

Land slopes from north to south- the cold room is on the north side of the house

(not a pro) Just looked at first floor.

• It looks like your kitchen and great room will be very dark.
• The huge garage takes up much of the exterior and facade that could otherwise be windows. Why not have it detached, or connected via a breezeway that could be your mudroom/laundry?
• Master WIC is as big as the kids' bedrooms. Unless you plan to have an island in there, do you need that much floor space in the closet?
• Master toilet room - looks like you'll barely have room to stand when you open/close the door
• No front hall closet - do you have a space for guest jackets, umbrellas, etc?
• Lay out your furniture to scale, especially in your great room and dining room. Much of those spaces will be used for walkways so make sure you have room for furniture and circulation around it. Draw with colored pencils your paths through the house: bringing in groceries, coming in from doing yard work or playing, doing laundry, carrying food to/from the grill, etc.
• Where will kids come in after playing outside, and get to the powder room? Looks like either deck > dining room > mudroom (do you want them going through the DR?) or around the side of the house through the garage.
• How will you vent the dryer? The cooktop? Each has a long way to an outside wall (or maybe you'll go through the roof? Not sure if that can be done for a dryer.)

Fairly common layout.

- Basement will need lally column in the middle of the living area and a beam to support this long span.

-The kitchen will be dark

- Garage is too massive 42' wide compare to the house 38', could be challenging to get a decent elevation.

- The cold room will require waterproof steel decking

Hi, there!

Without windows actually *in* the kitchen, there is a very real risk/high likelihood that y'all would have a dark kitchen. :-(

Generally speaking, the best floor plans are only 1-2 rooms deep (including covered porches and attached garages), if natural light is a priority for interior spaces. <3

Oh, and I know you didn't ask, lol, but I wanted to share this thread with you, since you mentioned having a larger family:

Ideas for Building a Home for Large Families

Thanks for the feedback everyone- keep it coming! Good points being made- my concern is the kitchen lighting as well...not sure how to remedy that while keeping the pantry accessible to the kitchen and garage. Will definitely need to incorporate a lot of lighting in there- was planning recessed, pendants, and under-cabinet lights..

• The huge garage takes up much of the exterior and facade that could otherwise be windows. Why not have it detached, or connected via a breezeway that could be your mudroom/laundry? We've lived without a garage for 10 years. Not an option to have it detached- we have some nasty winters, and I have a lot of tools and such to store- need the size
• Master WIC is as big as the kids' bedrooms. Unless you plan to have an island in there, do you need that much floor space in the closet?- Wife is thinking an island dresser, but if not, we will take some of that space and use for the laundry room
• Master toilet room - looks like you'll barely have room to stand when you open/close the door- yes, that room will be a little bigger when built
• No front hall closet - do you have a space for guest jackets, umbrellas, etc?- we rarely have guests, those that do come are informal (family dropping by) and will almost certainly come in through the garage.
• Lay out your furniture to scale, especially in your great room and dining room. Much of those spaces will be used for walkways so make sure you have room for furniture and circulation around it. Draw with colored pencils your paths through the house: bringing in groceries, coming in from doing yard work or playing, doing laundry, carrying food to/from the grill, etc.- good idea!
• Where will kids come in after playing outside, and get to the powder room? Looks like either deck > dining room > mudroom (do you want them going through the DR?) or around the side of the house through the garage. - the kids will come and go through the garage- the animals and their other chores, as well as their toys will be out that direction.
• How will you vent the dryer? The cooktop? Each has a long way to an outside wall (or maybe you'll go through the roof? Not sure if that can be done for a dryer.) Talked to the HVAC guy- he said that we should be able to go through the closet and out with the dryer vent...still an issue though. On the other hand, my wife rarely uses the dryer...drying racks are everywhere, lol.

- Basement will need lally column in the middle of the living area and a beam to support this long span.- yep- probably a couple down there- we'll work around them.

-The kitchen will be dark

- Garage is too massive 42' wide compare to the house 38', could be challenging to get a decent elevation.- working through that...need the garage space though. I can't stand not pulling into a garage with my truck because it's 22' deep. With the entry to the pantry and the mud room, it's about what it needs to be for our use.

- The cold room will require waterproof steel decking- LiteDeck on the ceiling- the whole room will be concrete- floors, wall, ceiling. Goes under the front porch.

I suspect there will be a lot of roof here. Need to get that figured out too.

Yes...lotta roof. Will be something along these lines- will probably do a dutch hip on the north side of the garage instead of standard gables. Probably close to 60 square of shingles is my rough guess. (disregard the window locations/wall around the porch..just threw up walls to get an idea of it)

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Not a pro, just someone who is building new and currently living in a house we built 10 years ago. Echoing others, I think you really need to try to find ways to get some windows in the kitchen. Our #1 complaint with the house we're currently in, is the kitchen is a dungeon. Even though it's an open floor plan, with a breakfast nook right next to it with a huge window, and a dining room on the opposite side with a huge south facing window, the kitchen is SO dark. Even on the brightest sunniest day ever, you have to have the overhead can lights on if you really want to see to cook. We can't wait to get into our new house with lots of natural light. So I'd really try hard to rearrange things to get some natural light in there.

Otherwise, I think you have done a great job of drawing up a plan without any professional experience!

I think your plan is quite thoughtful - you've worked to get windows on at least 2 sides of each bedroom. You have a split bedroom plan. Your laundry is accessible from your master closet as well as the hall. You have 2 entrances into the house (with food and without!) from the garage - which is pretty cool, IMO. Understand the need for the large garage, and wanting it attached. Also understand taking advantage of the odd shape for other "garage related stuff". I really looks like you have taken your needs, your lifestyle, and your family and your site into consideration here.

Here are my concerns:

• Scale - there are some oddball sizes (like the powder) and the overwhelming percentage of both the front and side facade that is garage. Consider working hard to hide that fact that it's garage from the front.
• And maybe better yet - consider STRETCHING this plan so it's less square and more rectangular, or L shaped (even if you decide to utilize the corner of the L for the garage!)
• This. Is. Going. To, Be. A. Very. Expensive. Build. - no way around it - it's a LARGE finished space - but make sure that you are prepared for a large budget.
• Roofline - you may be framing a ton of wasted attic and buying a LOT of shingles - creating a massive visual "weight".
• TIP - plan out ALL your HVCA nd determine how high that basement really needs to be. All that crap takes a lot more headroom than you think. ;-) With that much square footage in the basement, it will be important to have it look the same as the main floor - i.e. not a lot of bulkheads, changes in ceiling plane
• Concerned about the elevations - window placement, roofline, lots of jigs and jogs. Perhaps you might consider talking to an architect / designer / etc to make sure that the look of the home and some of the flow / scaling issues are not detractors. I kinda feel like you are at 80% now, and that last 20% would make the difference between a house that checks all your boxes on paper, to one that looks and feels as special as you want it to be. I realize that's perhaps intangible - but think that is something that you can use a professional to get. Also - some changes might help you reduce cost by standardizing on forms, etc.

Would solar tubes be effective here? No experience with them...

I am sure they would help - but as a general rule, I am adverse to putting intentional holes in my roof. ;-)

I would also prioritize light in the kitchen, but that would involve rearranging your floorplan. If it were my house, I would probably align the kitchen-dining-living and combine the mud & pantry area where the kitchen is now (not have 2 entrances from your garage).

5x6 walk in closets are the same as 6' reach in closets. If you want clothes on 2 sides, you need 7 feet of width. otherwise save some space and make those reach-ins.

Having bedroom walls on your living room wall will mean those rooms will not be very quiet. I would try putting the bath between the living space & bedroom for some additional buffer (jack and jill not really an option if you do that - but that kind of depends on how important that is for you. I personally can't stand J & J baths but maybe you love them). Another option is to put reach in closets on the interior wall, which will allow more options for windows in the bedrooms.

Your laundry room is close to the master but far from all the other bedrooms, which means you'll be hauling 5 people's laundry through the house. You could provide a stacked laundry closet for at least the downstairs bedrooms to give the kids a little more autonomy when they get old enough to do their own laundry.

I would also strongly suggest reconsidering your covered deck. It will block all the light in your house except the light coming into the dining room. It will also remove privacy from the kid in Bedroom 2.

I think a lot of the potential issues with your floorplan would be solved by putting the bedrooms in a cluster on the east side (including your master), and using the space where your current master is for the kitchen and deck (I would do an uncovered deck off the south and put the covered deck off to the side so it doesn't block your light). You can get plenty of separation between bedrooms by putting your closet & bath between your bedroom & the others. That would also help with the laundry situation. But again, it would be a rework, and it sounds like you're pretty happy with where things are now.

Many of my comments have already been addressed, but I want to highlight a few things.

1. The garage! I appreciate that you need the space, and since I live in North Dakota, I appreciate that you need it attached. That does not mean, however, that the garage needs to take up 2 sides of the house. That makes your roof massive (which means expensive), and eliminates the possibility of windows on all those walls.

A semi-separate garage with a breezeway/mudroom/laundry room in between, as suggested above, seems a perfect solution - especially if you don't use the dryer, having the laundry readily accessible to the outside clothesline seems ideal - obviously I would have a door to the back yard. This space can solve a number of issues with the current laundry/mudroom/powder room, if you plan it right and make it big enough: easy access to the powder room from outside; window and outside venting for the laundry (even if you don't use it often, it should be properly vented); more convenient mudroom flow and storage; allows the interior to be redesigned so there are windows in the kitchen.

2. The overall shape. On 5 acres, there's no reason not to spread out (within the limits of your sloping lot, which we don't know). Separating the house from the garage and making each more rectangular streamlines the outside walls and roof lines, making both much less expensive (I assume your budget is not unlimited). If the house is only 1-2 rooms deep, the covered porch does not suck all the light from the interior.

3. I am not a fan of jack and jill baths, and you've done it twice! As someone else mentioned, those walk-in closets are essentially 5' reach-in closets, with wasted walking space. Generally closets are used as a sound buffer between rooms, and you've stuck them on the outside wall, where they do not buffer sound at all, and take up valuable potential window space. I would have a hall entrance, reach in closets, and single sinks in both kids' baths. Not only do you eliminate the risk of kids locking each other out of the bathroom, you can eliminate the powder room in the basement if the bathroom is accessible from the public space.

Since this is a one-shot deal, you owe it to yourself to build the best possible house you can, and I see way too many compromises in this house - mostly in favor of the garage.

The best houses are only 1-2 rooms deep so every bedroom and public room can have windows on two walls.

That roof is massive and will dominate the house. Is that what you want? And why would you mix gables with hipped roofs?

A well designed house on five acres does not have such a massive garage stuck onto the house like an appendage. Think in terms of separating the garage as a separate structure with a breezeway/mudroom.

The best houses do have the main living spaces oriented south which is the one real positive you did. Congrats on that.

Where in the master bedroom would you put the bed? There is no good wall because ideally you don't want to walk into the side of the bed and you have no other walls to put the bed.

How will you vent the dryer? No it's not a good idea to vent it up.

Do you need such a massive closet?

Do you really want to walk through the mudroom and dining area to go to your master suite? To me it would make me feel more like hired help.

Your dining room is 13 x 14 but the entry to the mudroom/master suite side is right in the middle of the space, which means walking around the table to get to the area.

Your kitchen will be a dark hole with absolutely no natural light. How depressing. And no, the light from the dining room windows will not even come close to lighting the kitchen.

Lots of wasted space in the living room needed for pathways.

Kitchen is big but poorly laid out especially considering you probably want to start teaching the kids to help out in the kitchen. Or is everyone going to stand at the one sink to help? (Hint: you need a separate prep sink area and a cleanup sink area which doubles as a second prep area.)

Will you be sticking kids in the basement now?

A 5' x 6' WIC for the kids is way too small considering you can only hang clothing on one wall. If you want clothing to hang on 2 walls, you need a minimum of 7'.

How many kids will be in the two upstairs bedrooms?

Bedroom 5 with one window will be dark and dreary especially after the morning sun is done.

Jack and Jill baths sound great until one room gets locked and someone from the other room has to go in the middle of the night. Make it a hall bath.

Do you ever stay up late while the kids go to sleep? Well then it's not a good idea to have the bedroom wall up against the living room wall.

No good space to come in from outside and farming without going through main living areas. Is that what you want?

Will definitely need to incorporate a lot of lighting in there- was planning recessed, pendants, and under-cabinet lights..

No, unless you plan on making it like a hospital operating room. You don't fix something that is poorly designed by doing a bandaid. You fix it by fixing the problem which means rethinking your floor plan so you can have natural light from at least two walls in all public rooms including the kitchen. The best houses are designed in the shape of a U, H, I, T or L. Those shapes allow for a maximum of 1-2 rooms deep.

We've lived without a garage for 10 years. Not an option to have it detached- we have some nasty winters, and I have a lot of tools and such to store- need the size

You didn't read what Chicagoans and I both said which is to have a HEATED breezeway/mudroom between the house and the garage. So it's still attached but not like a huge honking appendage glued onto the house.

the kids will come and go through the garage- the animals and their other chores, as well as their toys will be out that direction.

So every time they come in from the backyard they have to go through the garage? That is not reality. Kids will bang on the door to the dining room or the room downstairs to come in, especially when they're in a "rush".

May I ask what you do for a living? Are you someone with a design background?

Will you have vehicles in all three bays? If there is a vehicle in the top bay, it will be hard to walk past it to get to the man-door, which I assume is where you will keep the trash-recycling bins? Also for the kids who will be coming in and out, although they will probably use the electric doors since the man-door could be easily locked.

5/7 of your laundry (or more!) will come from the far left side and basement. Yes, you will have kitchen and canning and work laundry, but all the kids’ clothes and bed and bath linens will come from the left. Perhaps you‘d like to arrange the laundry room accordingly? As they get older, they may be doing laundry at odd times of day, so you might not want it right next to your bedroom and closet.

I agree with CPArtist about coming out of the master to the laundry and mud room. You OWN the house! Treat yourself well!

Do you have a lot of books? Someplace to keep them?

The foyer is pretty big for not serving much of a purpose. No closet for the nasty winters?

What kind of overhangs will you have around the house? Over the garage doors and the man-door would be great, especialply when kids are coming and going there.

Which way will the driveway approach the garage? Hopefully it comes near the front door, so that guests don’t have as far to walk, and so everyone Including you sees the house, not the garage, as they pull in.

You sound pretty married to this plan, so I'm going to suggest something smaller than "start over." I would pull the garage out to the right (west?). Delete the pantry off the front of the house entirely and instead move it into that breezeway/mudroom/laundry space between the main living areas and the garage. I'd try to sketch this out, but since your walls don't have width, I'm afraid it would be a lot of effort that isn't worth much. This potentially gives you windows on two walls in the kitchen and another window in the office. This could also give you just one door from the garage to the house, which frees up more wall space (and floor space) for storage.

Two other things to consider (sorry if they've already been mentioned... I skimmed): First, it looks like the kids walk-in closets are 5' wide with a door in the middle. They need to be at least 6' wide, preferably 7', to hang clothes on both sides. If you are going to hang clothes on only one side, don't put the doors in the middle. I'd prefer a single bathroom and reach-in closets, but I get that this is a personal preference.

Second, do you really want a west-facing window in your walk-in closet (if I'm reading that right)?

I love the idea of pulling the garage away a bit with a Connecting space. It solves so many issues. Allows for a window for the kitchen. Not only that, but a front-facing window. I love mine, I like seeing who’s coming up to the house or if the kids will make the school bus. It allows shorter venting for the range hood. It lets you come out of the bedroom and perhaps see a window of light instead of boots and backpacks. It could even have a service door for, well, service people as well as kids, and a Covered stoop for deliveries. It can remove the washer and dryer noise from the bedroom, and shorten the dryer vent.

Thanks for the feedback everyone- I'm having a hard time visualizing what that pulling the garage back would look like at the moment, but I agree on the issues that would solve. Also rethinking the covered deck- may run the roofline straight across from the dining room to allow for some cover for the grill and the door. I'll have to sit down with a pencil tonight and play around some more. Fresh eyes and honest critiquing helps a bunch.

Wall thickness - 2x4 walls allow about 5" with drywall, 2x6 add 2"

ICF - the thinnest block is 9"+ finishes. Maybe you're thinking larger?

Some of your cross sections through the house will have up to 6 walls side to side, removing up to 4 feet of width or depth spread through a few rooms. Not a big deal for a large room but will take these already small baths and closets and make them a flaw.

Get a cheap piece of software at the minimum, otherwise all relationships will change and the discussion will be somewhat moot.

Stair - you'll need more steps down before you clear the floor for legal headroom.

Are you an architect or designer? If not, why are you not working with a talented architect to create the perfect house for you?

Just a couple of things I am struggling with...

First, the obvious... your garage is dominating your home. I have a lot of tools, although my wife might consider them toys, and my sole requirement in a home is that the tools are not attached to the house. I urge you to consider a small attached garage and a larger detached garage. You will save money and there are just advantages to a detached garage even where the weather is bad.

Next, I have a walk in refrigerator and a walk in pantry in about that amount of space. You are basically getting 20% more usable shelving for double the price.

cpartist isn't a pro but she has a real eye for design and gives excellent advice. She did a wonderful job designing her house.

Thank you tcufrog.

First, let me say that I am no pro. Second, it looks as if you have spent a lot of thought and time on a plan that works for your family. Third, not everyone needs or want a home designed by an architect. We have built 4 homes and have never used one....not that they aren’t useful/helpful in some situations.
Our current home is similar to yours. Our kitchen is in the middle between the dining room/study and breakfast room. Our kitchen may not be the brightest, but it is in no way a drab, dark space. We have plenty of lighting, light from the breakfast room windows and light from the doors(3 sets of French doors in the den. I would kill to have that master closet!
A couple of suggestions. I would put an access to your upstairs, either from your garage or mud room, or configure your basement steps to go downstairs or one end and upstairs on the other. You will have a tremendous amt of usable storage up there.
Next... I know several have mentioned a j & j bathroom. We have a hall bath there with double sinks a huge linen closet and tub/shower combo and toilet. It is plenty big and will take up less space. The you will have room the make the closets bigger.
Use pocket doors when possible ie: master toilet room, access to laundry from master closet, etc.
The only real problem I see is having a bar downstairs when kids will be

Sorry, hit sent too fast. When kids will be sleeping, playing and, when they get older, entertaining their friends down there!
Good luck,

The question isn't whether or not everyone needs or wants an architect, it is whether or not the OP will benefit from a designer or architect. Nor does putting a lot of time and effort into a plan mean that you were successful at design.

I believe there are problems with this plan, I further believe that some of those problems are going to result in spending a lot more money than you need to. For example, there is a 16' x 11' mechanical room (a comfortable space for a good sized boat engine). I am not great at design and so I don't want to spend a lot of time offering design hints, others can do better. However, as a cost guy, I am fairly good at spotting waste in plans. I see a lot of places in the plan where the dimensions of a room add cost disproportionate to their added utility. To me, this looks like a plan where the answer to every design dilemma was make it a bit bigger.

I might be wrong...

Best of luck.

Third, not everyone needs or want a home designed by an architect. We have built 4 homes and have never used one....not that they aren’t useful/helpful in some situations.

When building a forever home, there is so much you don't know that you don't know. That is why an architect is important especially if your background is not design. It shows in the fact that there are lots of dark spaces, a huge roof and lots of wasted space.

And I believe bry said it well.
Our current home is similar to yours. Our kitchen is in the middle between the dining room/study and breakfast room. Our kitchen may not be the brightest, but it is in no way a drab, dark space.

No one used the word drab. We used the word dark. One of the best things about my kitchen is the fact that is bright and light whenever the sun is out. This kitchen will get NO natural light. Period. The windows in the dining area are too far to bring light to the kitchen. How do I know? I had a kitchen with floor to ceiling sliders 11' away from my kitchen and there never was natural light in the kithen.

We have plenty of lighting, light from the breakfast room windows and light from the doors(3 sets of French doors in the den.

If you look carefully at this plan there are not the extra doors or windows in this plan. It's all well and nice you have that extra light but we're talking about the OP's plan.

I would kill to have that master closet!

A couple of suggestions. I would put an access to your upstairs, either from your garage or mud room, or configure your basement steps to go downstairs or one end and upstairs on the other. You will have a tremendous amt of usable storage up there.

No they won't with that roof because most roofs nowadays are made with trusses and trusses don't allow for attic space.
Next... I know several have mentioned a j & j bathroom. We have a hall bath there with double sinks a huge linen closet and tub/shower combo and toilet. It is plenty big and will take up less space. The you will have room the make the closets bigger.

Excellent suggestion.
Use pocket doors when possible ie: master toilet room, access to laundry from master closet, etc.

Another excellent suggestion

A couple of suggestions. I would put an access to your upstairs, either from your garage or mud room, or configure your basement steps to go downstairs or one end and upstairs on the other. You will have a tremendous amt of usable storage up there.

No they won't with that roof because most roofs nowadays are made with trusses and trusses don't allow for attic space.

Attic/storage/bonus room truss.

That's not truly an attic but another floor.

Thanks everyone for bringing up some great points. I sat down and changed a decent amount of things to see what I could come up with...I feel like this has the potential to be a better design, although I need some time to digest it. Windows are ballpark locations, fyi. Trying to picture the angled pantry and mud room in my head...gives a lot of wall space for hanging coats and backpacks I suppose... Not sure if I will have the room for the stairs to clear along the office heading down, also, still not sure how I am going to orient the master bath as far as where the tub, walk in shower, sinks, and a linen cabinet. Also trying to decide if I want to cover part of the deck with roof- would go around 6' out or so if I did and just from the east side to the door, enough to cover my grill and the door from rain...

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Before I dive too far into that- if any of you would be kind enough to throw some thoughts on this version- preferably without the "talk to your architect" :)

No they won't with that roof because most roofs nowadays are made with trusses and trusses don't allow for attic space.

Seeing how complicated the roof is and since the OP mentioned they have nasty winters, I doubt the roof will use trusses. Trusses have to be shipped and so have to fit on a truck, a lot of the value of trusses goes away when they have to be site assembled because they are too tall to ship. Given the depth of the house and the likely pitch to deal with the weather, I strongly suspect the OP will have a stick built roof.

Before I dive too far into that- if any of you would be kind enough to throw some thoughts on this version

In my opinion, angled walls are always an attempt to bandage bad design. I don't like your original plan, but prefer it to this one.

I am not crazy about the angled garage - the crazy angles in the pantry and mud room aren't very functional.

I like the hall bath - but those bedroom closets are all wrong. As others explained above, the size you have specified for "walk-in" closets wastes a lot of space - you have 7 feet of hanging space, and waste 7'x3' (plus walls) of usable space in the bedroom. Not only that, you've basically blocked off a window with the closet in each bedroom. AND you are not gaining the great advantage of using the closets as a buffer between bedroom and public space. Make reach-in closets along the west wall in both bedrooms.

Mind if I ask why you are so opposed to hiring an architect? As bry911 pointed out, there are a lot of inefficiencies in your plan. An architect could streamline the whole house, getting more function out of less space, which will not only make the house more pleasant to live in, but could trim the costs enough to pay for the architect.

As cpartist said - you don't know what you don't know. I love playing around with house plans, just for fun, and I love analyzing plans. But I would no more design my own house than I would perform my own brain surgery - I want an experienced professional to perform such an important task.

You clearly have a lot of ideas on how you want your house to function - like having the master bedroom separate from the kids (though in both your plans, the master suite behind the kitchen does feel like servant's quarters). If you take those ideas to a professional, you might be pleasantly surprised at the ways they could suggest fulfilling those ideas - ways that you would never think of, because that's not where your training and experience are focused.

I don't think the angles help anything.

Unprofessional thoughts:

What do you plan to do with the odd spaces in the kids' bedrooms? Knowing your local codes for stairs seems important. And wall widths are going to be important.

Why do you need to put the garage at a 45 degree angle?

Create another version where the garage is pulled further to the right (west) of the house, and on the same plane as the rest of the house, with the garage doors facing north.

Then the pantry/mudroom/storage can "connect" the garage to the rest of the house with normal right angled walls.

Angled rooms are just bad design because you're building in spaces with poor functionality. How will you utilize those corners?

I asked before if you have a design background? I ask because there is so much more to designing a house, than just playing tetris by fitting boxes together.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. Yes your house is a bigger house, but her thoughts on how to create a house that lives well works whether it's a 800 sq foot cottage or a 5,000 sq foot mansion.

Well, I wouldn't agree that angles are always attempts to bandage a bad design. In our own plan development, our angled garage was kind of necessary to meet two requirements: my own desire not to have a front-and-center garage, and the constraints of our lot. Nothing else would fit. But, it complicated our design and (probably) pushed our costs up. In the OP's case, it doesn't seem necessary to have an angle, so I'd agree that a squared off design is better and will result in a simpler roof.

I would also agree that hiring an architect - or at a minimum, a designer - would be worth the money.

I still think reach in closets will be better for the kids rooms, especially as a noise buffer.

Here's an example of what we mean by a connected garage.

Not only will such a plan help simplify the roofline, but it can help with elevation issues. I've been in a few homes with detached garages where the detached garage or breezeway were a few steps lower than the main house. It's also a great mudroom setup because you can easily access the mudroom from the garage or the outside. I went to a ranch once with this setup. The wife loved it because there was a powder room in the connecting hall that had a small flap between it and the laundry room. After a day tending to the cattle her husband would deposit his boots and coat in the connecting hall mudroom and then wash up and change in the powder room and put his dirty clothes though the flap into a laundry basket set aside for them. She joked that it was like a space station airlock that contained the smell, dirt, and mud of the ranch instead of having it invade her house.