Size and topography of lot.

Direction house will face?

Custom plan that you may easily change?

Lay out the furniture to scale in the family room, then trace the roots that you and the kids will travel to and from bedrooms, kitchen, garage, laundry. Then come back here and tell us about the new plan you are going to consider.

Lot is 2 acres, house will face north

Not a fan of the following:

• Getting furniture into the master will be tricky-go down a narrow hall and then turn 90 degrees to get it into the room.
• Laundry from the 3 bedrooms will go right through the kitchen and living area.
• Bedroom 2 will be loud given it's directly off the family room.
• I use my walk-in pantry daily. It's conveniently located in the kitchen. This pantry is really inconvenient to grab items needed for cooking or something you forgot.
• With about 28 or so corners, this will be expensive to build.

I do like the connection between the kitchen and the dining room and the size of the MB vanities.

Notice that the open door to the garage blocks access to the cubbies, precisely when you all need access to them. And, the open door to the pantry hallway, which I imagine would be open most of the time, blocks the laundry room door.

When B3 kid locks B2 kid out of the bathroom, B2 has to go through the family room, dodging coffee tables and ottomans, to barge into B3 to unlock the bathroom door.

Where will you store things like seasonal decor, kid college and camp stuff in the off-season, handy tools, lightbulbs, and “stuff”?

B3 and B4 would be better served with a long reach-in closet each, than with too-small walk-ins.

Why is there a refrigerator in the laundry room? Oh, wait, actually, I like it. I can always use a beer while figuring out what that stain is.

Master bedroom: ours is about 18x16. We have the bed and two nightstands, two reach-in closets, a dresser and chest of drawers, a small bookcase, and a small secretary where I keep my jewelry. And there is still room for me to exercise! Your bedroom is about the same, but all your clothes and accessories will be in the closet, right? What else will be in the bedroom? If your accessories and jewelry are in the bedroom, that will be very inconvenient for dressing.

Are you sure the kitchen will work for you?

Do you want to really walk through the entire master bathroom to access the master closet?

Virgil, she could also go down the hallway, through the pantry, through the laundry and into the master closet!

I am usually pretty open minded and understanding that people have different likes, wants and requirements, but this is really maze like. Too many rooms that also act as hallways to another room.

Just my 0.02 cents, but I think the floor plan is great. I like that it's all one level. The rooms are a good size. I think it flows well. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the narrow hallway to the master bedroom. But no house is perfect. You can turn it into a gallery hall. Make it fancy looking. It'll be fantastic.

I have 3 baths without windows. Not a big deal.

All but one of the bedrooms are upstairs and my laundry room is downstairs. I have to go through either the formal dining room or the family room and kitchen to get to the laundry room. No big deal.

My master closet doesn't have windows. No big deal.

My pantry is located behind my cooktop wall. Yes, that means that I have to walk around the wall and turn to get into my pantry. Gasp! The horror! Not a big deal to me.

I also have to walk through my entire master bathroom to get to my closet. Never even thought twice about it. Again, not a big deal.

Love that the powder bath has a door to the patio. Easy access when you're enjoying the evening at the patio!

I have an almost identical setup in my kitchen. It's wonderful and flows beautifully. Wouldn't change a thing.

I love my tray ceilings too. Have it in the formal dining room and master bedroom. I paid extra for it. Only thing I regret is not putting a tray ceiling in the master bathroom, too.

Good luck with your build!

Random thoughts:

- Too many jigs and jogs around the exterior -- they'll drive up the price and complicate the roof line without adding anything to the quality of the house.

- Think twice about those 12' ceilings. My classroom is huge, and it only has 10' ceilings. Not only will the look be questionable, it'll be expensive to build, and the extra height will demand larger /more expensive windows, doors, etc. And the biggie: extra heating and cooling. If you really think you want these, consider them only in the living spaces /make the bedrooms a more reasonable height.

- I like the garage entrance ... except that the door covers the drop spot. I'd also like to see a coat closet in this garage entrance ... maybe steal space from the overly-large master closet /bump the laundry room down a bit to get a coat closet into this area.

- I like the laundry room's connection to the master closet. Can you move the dryer over so it will vent directly to the outside? A shorter /more direct vent would be cheaper to build AND more fire-safe.

- Since the laundry room is going to be dark, this would be an ideal spot for a motion-triggered light fixture.

- Ditto for the master bath. Lots of excess open space in the middle, which will make the room cold /adds nothing to the utility of the bathroom. Bigger isn't necessarily better.

- The hallway to the master bath will be dark and uncomfortable. The above poster's right when he or she says getting furniture down this hallway will be impossible. You can get around this second part by adding an exterior door to the master ... this would also be a good thing for fire safety (the master is pretty far from all exterior doors).

- An exterior door in the game room would be nice too ... perhaps a door leading out to the patio.

- Love the pantry and its proximity to the garage door, but a pass-through between the pantry and the kitchen would make it even better. Since the pantry doors will stay open most of the time, this would be a great place for pocket doors.

- The breakfast nook won't be very big when you add furniture ... it'd be a good place for a built-in banquette.

- Do you really need three indoor eating areas (and I'm betting a fourth eating area on the porch)? This is a lot of space devoted to eating.

- Because of the covered patio, the main living areas will all be fairly dark. Don't underestimate just how much lighting brings to a these rooms ... these rooms where you'll spend the majority of your waking hours.

- Consider that the living room will serve as a hallway to ... well, every other room in the house. The flow in the house isn't great.

- Where will you place a TV in the living room?

- I'd add another door to the study /angle the door towards the secondary bedroom hallway. You can still use the room as a study, but IF you (or a future owner) ever need this room to be a bedroom, you'd have the flexibility. Towards this end, I'd also move the bathroom door to the end of the room ... the child in Bedroom 4 will still have complete use of the bathroom, but it will be more available to the child in the middle bedroom, guests, and the study.

- Bedroom 2 can have windows on two sides. Again, don't underestimate how much difference lighting makes.

- Windows in bathrooms aren't 100% necessary, but they definitely add to the comfort of the room. If you're going to all the trouble to build a custom house, why wouldn't you want these used-multiple-times a day rooms to be as good as they can be?

- The hallway to Bedrooms 3 and 4 has the same problem as the master hallway: it's going to be hard to get furniture into these rooms.

- All the bathrooms could benefit from a linen closet.

- Do you have a broom closet anywhere? Where to store the vacuum and other cleaning supplies? For a house this size, I'd expect a little more storage.

Overall, I don't particularly like it. I'd give it a grade of C - . It's overly complicated /convoluted. Someone else said maze-like, and it's true. For the money this will cost, I really think you can have something better.

Good point about the vacuum, etc. Even if you have a weekly service, you need something for in-between.

I like it, but I’d do reach in closets instead of walk-ins, and I’d sacrifice some of the master closet for a decent mudroom.

12 foot ceilings, 14 foot ceilings, master ceiling two different sizes? This house doesn’t seem comfortable or well planned. There is nothing logical about the plan. I would spend a quiet weekend with my other half and pen and paper. List your true needs and wants, then fire this architect and find one who is not so pretentious.

As far as the ceiling height that can be very regional, climate and taste specific.

You see lots of high ceilings in FL and in CA the best looking houses were the 1920s ones with equally high ceilings, so not a new or pretentious idea, specially for warm climates.

Personally I don't like the feeling of ceilings below 10 ft, but that is my preference and I wouldn't push that on someone if they preferred 8 ft ceilings for their home.

I know. Three decades in south Florida. “I have the biggest house in....(name any neighborhood).” And, without exception in my years in construction, it meant the owner had no taste. ..... But-mbr 12’ with 13’ boxed, game rm 12’ with 18’ boxed, foyer, dining, study 12’, front porch 14’, great rm, kitchen, breakfast 14’, pantry 12’, but the adjoining covered patio has 12’ ceilings. The other three bedrooms have 12’ ceilings although, for example, br 2is 12 x 13’6”. IMO, I think it feels out of proportion and serves no purpose to have the illogical ceiling height changes. I would love to see the bill for framing!

"I would love to see the bill for framing!"

My sentiments exactly and that will quite an expensive roof as well.

It is possible to have a simple roof framing.

The design could benefit from a cleaner layout. To me it looks like the spaces are functionally organized but with little regard for the experience one would have moving from one space to another; much like a packed car trunk for vacation. There seems to be some reason to the layout but absent of rhyme. And we have no idea how it relates to the site, other than it is possibly a long blind walk from parking at the garage to the front door.

I do not care for closets directly accessible from a bathroom, and Jack & Jill bathrooms.

Is the kitchen large enough for a family of five?

To me it looks like the spaces are functionally organized but with little regard for the experience one would have moving from one space to another

Yes! That's exactly right.

Is the kitchen large enough for a family of five?

A big kitchen isn't necessarily a better kitchen. I'd much rather have a small, well-organized kitchen with a large attached pantry -- it's better storage and less space for clutter.

Some excellent comments above. I'll take another tack...

Have you seen what this floor plan looks like on the exterior? Have you seen how this plan fits and works on your site, ie, access and orientation as two examples.

So many folks posts floor plans on this web site, as if the plan exist in isolation, when, in fact, floor plans, exterior elevations and roof plans and site plans are all inectricably linked together and should properly be studied together. Changes and improvement in one directly affect all the other characteristics of a house.

I lived and practiced architecture in Palo Alto and San Francisco for many years. It used to be a wonderful place.

Good luck on your project.