Show the drawings when all the floor plans and four exterior elevations and the site plan have been completed.

Thank you Mark, i will wait until everything is complete.

Only CAD operators who are draftsmen who call themselves designers, create one floor at a time and then stick on a facade. A well designed house is designed to fit the land, and the all the floors relate to one another as well as the facade and a talented architect will create all of that together because what happens on one floor, affects the other floors.

And consider this below:

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped.

The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case.

The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.)

The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls.

The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate.

The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room.

The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen.

The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms.

The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls or dining areas.

The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside.

The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense.

So how many of these best practices does your house have?

I totally agree with waiting until you have everything ready to share. <3

That said, I also totally thought, "Swap the master closet and bath -- So that the bathroom can have more windows *and* you can reduce the steps necessary to move laundry between the laundry room and closet." :-D

I have all 3 floor plans but they have some changes that need to be made so i was going to wait to post. Also the kitchen appliance placement is wrong. But i will I add below.

Basement

First floor

Do you have 3D design of the floor?

What about a dumb waiter to get groceries up the the kitchen level

Wow - i agree with One Devoted Dame. SWAP the Main Bath and Closet. Get some natural light in that bath. Also, your other baths need to be reworked. Don't walk into a bath directly face on to a toilet. Put the door in front of the sink. Also, I would swap the tub and the sink in the "outside" bath. Put the tub on the inside wall and the sink on the outside wall - you can install a pretty window that will let in a lot of natural light.

What about elevations? How many will be living here? What area of the country? How do you live? Guests? Elevations and floor plans need to be developed in concert with each other as a home is not designed in a vacuum.

Get an architect and here show the exterior elevation and give us some idea of your family and how you live. Cpartist gives you an awesome check list for good design. That kitchen DR layout is all wrong.

Where is this house proposed to be built?

Top floor, I'd definitely switch the master bath with the master closet. You don't want sunlight fading your clothing, and it is nice to have sunlight helping your daily ablutions.

Entry floor: Your kitchen needs some work, but can be dealt with. The coat closet is too far away from the entry - unless you live in Arizona where there is no rain or no severe cold. (TBH, I made this mistake myself, but I have adapted a solution for me. I have a log home - hooks by the front door are not out of place here...)

Which direction is north? Do those balconies provide views? How many are there of you, and how do you live / entertain?

A double door into the study is not very useful when fumbling for light switches.

Dining is too far from the kitchen!!!! Try replacing Family Room with Dining Room. Depending on how you live, you may want to have the rooms go Living, Family, Dining, or Family, Living, Dining - but definitely with the Dining as close to kitchen as possible.

cpartist has excellent points. Also, do you keep the powder room door closed because you will be able to see the toilet from the living room. The dining room is a long way from the kitchen. The laundry room is very cramped. There will be no way to walk around the laundry basket.

Artemis, I do see closets on either side of the front door, in the vestibule area.

I wonder how you will use the living area in the middle? It's right in front of the front doors. Will the doors be solid? In our living room, "my" chair is at the end of the foyer with the front door at the other end, with sidelights. Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable. But I think that the living area in your plan is so undefined and more of a passageway for all the other spaces, I wonder if it will get used?

Looks like this will be in the south, with the second story entry but also ground floor entry. Yes?

This house will be located in Maryland. The front of the house is south facing with a beautiful lake view. There will be 2 a adults and two pre teen children living here. We have guests over fairly frequently so entertaining is a priority.

There will be stairs going up to the fist floor, with that being the main entrance, but there will also be a ground floor entry below.

Have a structural engineer review the structural elements, then have your designer make required changes.

Mark, my father is an engineer and he has been working in concert with the architect, so all of the structural elements should be sound.

Cpartist thank you for the informative list, i will take your points into consideration when making changes.

You'll pick up design flaws if you 'walk around' in this plan, pretending to go through daily routines. Also, weigh the value of a space against the labor to maintain it (clean it; keep it tidy). Some have already brought up the distance between Kitchen and DR.

The MBR/Bath/Closet situation is odd, even if you swap Bath and Closet -- I see a track back and forth through the BR between the two. The Bath is large where you spend the least time (bathing) and cramped at the sinks. The toilet feels is oddly exposed in this large open space. Other than a bed, bench, and nightstands, what goes into your MBR?

I'm sure you have a lovely view, but will anyone use all these balconies? You live *inside* a house in all but a few climates. A view quickly becomes merely 'pleasant', while an overhang darkens the space beheath it.

The kids bathrooms worry me a bit. They may wake each other up flushing the toilets in the middle of the night. Can you rework them such that the toilets are on the wall adjacent to the bedroom that belongs with them?

The dining room is over 40' from the kitchen. And why is the living room and family room right on top of one another? The idea if you have both is one is for more quiet activities and one is for things like watching tv.

Open concept is one thing, but this leaves no quiet spaces or spaces for anything else.

Why would you need an 11' master shower?

And why would you want to open the master bathroom door and the first thing you see to your left is the toilet?

And toilets up against bedrooms walls are just poor.

A 4' wide closet in the bedroom is USELESS because clothes take up 2' of space which leaves you not enough room for the closet to be a true walk in.

Your laundry room is 5' wide. Side by side full size machines are 30" deep which means you'll only have 30" of space to maneuver. That is NOT enough space. 3' is the bare minimum and in a laundry room 4' is much better.

Why are all the toilets up against bedroom walls?

Who designed this? I'm guessing it was not an architect because it really is not well thought out.

One last thought. You have two teens living with you. That tells me while you're still young, you'll soon be getting to those older years. Years when even if healthy and exercising, things happen. With this house being 3 stories, you should plan for an elevator.

Unless the upstairs has changed, why are all of the toilets against walls shared with other people's bedrooms?

I appreciate all of the constructive critism. We have changed around the bathrooms to take them off of bedroom walls. The dining room issue is a great point, but i paid it no mind due to the fact that it is just essentially open space and any of the three rooms can be changed by moving furniture. Also there will be a 8 or 10ft island, where we will eat most of our meals, so a formal dining room is not of great importance to me. If and when we decide to sell, the new home owner will be able to adjust the rooms according to their taste. I will post again when all of the drawings are complete.

What about the elevations? Who is actually drawing / designing this house? It is not really a game of Tetris.

I adjusted the floor plans based on the feedback received. We came up with two ideas….any thoughts.

Millworkman asked you who is designing the house and where the elevations are.

I can't make heads nor tails out of that plan...so many doors, so many bathrooms...and the master suite? It has a tub, no shower, a dinky two sink vanity and a toilet in full view of the tub. All that space...your architect can do better:

So, I will just tell you my experience with washer/dryer on second floor. Don't do it for so many reasons...washer overflows or you need new, and both awkward items must be removed down your staircase and two awkward items brought up.

Work the washer and dryer into a laundry room near the kitchen.

@cpartist i have an arcitect working on the house and i am waiting on him to send the elevations. I am just playing with the floor plan myself based on your comments.

also you said previous to not put mechanical rooms on outside walls if possible. What is reason for this?

Thank you for you feed back @elcieg, the shower is next to the tub, i put a divider on the toilet but it will be enclosed and the vanity is 8’ but they didnt have too much to choose from on the app so it looks dinky

here is the second idea