The couches here are the size of mine but this isn’t the arrangement I would do.

How do you plan on arranging furniture?

You "fixed" the exterior 2 months ago, but you are still moving rooms around?

@PPF. Yes, I think im just too picky and will eventually have to stop overthinking every little thing about the plan. The photo shows my ideal arrangement.

If the stairs and the "walkway" trade places, the living room will be smaller but every inch will be usable and cozy.

In your drawing the sofas are way too close to the fireplace and built-ins. In that photo there is at least 3.5 ft between the built-in and the sofa arm. Look closely, there is a door on the left.

My first question would be do you need a FP for heating or just because you think you need one. IMO a bedroom off the front porch is odd . I agree in the drawing the sofas are too close to the FP. If the exterior shell is done so are the rooms IMO. Not sure what you want and I would need to see the whole floor plan

For the best suggestions, consider showing the entire plan -- all floors, and the exterior elevations.

Furniture affects 'coziness'. imo, a lot. How much you can lay out to read a book or watch tv singularly or together depends on your furniture. A chaise sofa and/or a larger ottoman you can move close to a sofa offer more relaxed posotions to remain comfortable for a longer period. This is cozier than straighter back chairs for some users. Like the difference between a lounge chair and a dining chair. To fit maybe multiple options of chaise/ottoman sofas and lounge chairs in a livingroom you'll need space. More than you're showing. The pieces you've pictured remind me more of a 'formal' livingroom meant for interacting with visitors before a dinner. It that your intention?

Here is the plan. Things I’m thinking - I want the master smaller. I want a little rearrangement in the hall bath within its walls and am trying to decide if that’s the best master bath layout. Kind of wish the toilet was more hidden there. The front bedroom window is too close to the closet. Pantry should be accessible from kitchen, and will add a window to dining room. We like simple and cozy and I’m just having a hard time “feeling” how these spaces will feel - mostly the kitchen and dining. There looks to be a large gap between the kitchen and table but I think it just looks that way on paper. The stairs go to a basement.

I’ve also considered moving the fireplace to the wall where the windows are, having a window on either side and no bookshelves, and arranging furniture to face it. That may look better when you enter from the foyer but i think we would miss the storage in the shelves for blankets since there is no convenient closet. We don’t need the fireplace for heat but I think I’d miss it if I didn’t have it.

I’m just at the point where I think I’m over analyzing everything like every specific movement I would make to get to the toilet, which you really don’t think about when you’re actually going. Can’t figure out when to let go of certain things vs push for them (ex - a closet in the foyer would be nice, but how?). It seems changing one thing always sacrifices something I liked and didn’t want to lose. I think too much!

You could definitely move the pantry door to the kitchen side. I wonder, and this might not work with the roofline, but if the outside wall didn't dip in at the pantry but went straight across, the pantry could have longer shelves on the Left hand wall, and space for the broom, Swiffer, and stepladder to reach the higher shelves in the extended area.

Yeah, I don't like the hall bath, either. I'd rather see the toilet tucked between a wall and either the vanity or the tub. Do you need two sinks? My kids never used the bathroom at the same time and both always used the sink furthest from the door. They could have instead used more counter and drawer space.

Overall, I kind of don't like that when you come in, everyone has to walk through the kitchen or dining room and around that wall and through the living room to get to the bedrooms. I'm sure in real life it's fine, it's just looking at the overhead looks like an obstacle course.

Everything in bold is what could be improved with this plan. See if you can fix as many as possible before you start building.

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.

Is the powder room really the only one you'll want guests to use? Look at the path they'll have to take if they're in your living room.

@LH CO/FL this is something I’ve been on the fence about. I think I like it there for the privacy. l’ve been to a friends where it was too close to the living room and you could hear everything going on in there. Any other suggestions on where to put it?

Did you give up on your architect, or did they give up on you?

@cpartist I love this list! We are least have a lot more covered than we did with our first plan. I’m afraid some of this just can’t be accomplished though. I mean how could I get more windows in the living room? I’d honestly prefer a smaller foyer though. I just feel like I keep trying so many different things that don’t work. Our architect is great but feel like maybe some of my “must haves” don’t line up with good design.

Still wish I could see an example plan that had the majority of those things on your list done right. I can’t really envision it. Have any?

@cpartist

Also our master closet was previously on an interior wall but we moved it so there was a buffer between the back bedroom and master. Guess there will always be sacrifices. I personally don’t like bedrooms to have many windows though because we don’t spend much time there and want it as dark as possible to sleep

Here is the previous iteration of the plan. Did we make some mistakes with changes? The stairs Previously went up to an unfinished upstairs and the basement was only a workshop accessible from the outside. Realized doing both wasn’t in the budget so we made the basement accessible for both the workshop and unfinished space.

What's the building site like? Is the house the shape it is for a reason -- setbacks, slope etc.? Could it be wider or deeper? What direction does it face? There is no 2nd floor? Could the garage move to the side or back?

The 2nd floor plan is infinitely better, just need to figure out that hall bath to hide toilet better

@User Do you mean the one I posted second with the kitchen open to the living room, or the second version (updated one, the first one I posted, with sunroom?)

@PPF. house faces north. Site is wooded and has a rear slope. The deeper the house, the more expensive the foundation cost due to the slope. I believe the garage is like that because it is a slab on grade and then there’s a rear slope with basement

@PPF. not sure what you mesnt by giving up. But maybe I have too many preferences that are hard to accommodate - cozy, not too open- I’d rather not see my kitchen from living room too much, an extra downstairs space for kids to play (sunroom), clustered bedrooms…

The one with the kitchen in the rear of the home. The kitchen is well laid out, easy venting for range, the stairs that go nowhere important do not intrude into living area requiring awkward decorating
Your plan that you say is current has 4 walkways into the kitchen, an awkward living room, the cooktop on an interior wall, an entire side of the home with no windows at all, a closet on an exterior wall. It makes no sense.

So, the basement stairs don’t have to be in that particular spot? They lead to a shop, so maybe might be better to the left side of the house? That would allow them to be replaced by a hall to the bedrooms, and let the ”walking space“ in the living room be part of the living room.

Thank you @Architectrunnerguy, that makes me feel better. I keep wondering if we shluld even build at all! I know open kitchens are the trend but I really prefer a bit more closed so my mess can hide and noise is muffled. I feel like my entertaining space will really be the kitchen, dining, and sunroom, and family time in the living room so if one of us is in the kitchen we don’t disturb the person watching TV. I’d like to find a way to shorten the right wing of the house because the exterior looks imbalanced to me, snd the hall bath needs work. The master is bigger than I’d like. But I truly think I will enjoy this layout. I’ve lived in several houses new and old and the 1970s ranch has been my favorite!

@bpath here is the basement we could probably move the stairs

Two things that are good about the first plan vs the changed one are:

Master bedroom doesn’t share a wall with living space.

Dining and kitchen both have better light.

I had a similar kitchen to you in one iteration of our design, and here's something you may want to consider.

Flip your kitchen and push the garage etc. back. This accomplishes 2 things:

1. Right now people will come into your foyer, and if they go into the kitchen they will end up walking right by the stove. Not good! If you flip your kitchen, they will walk to the island seats. Much better.

2. Right now, you come in from the powder room/mud room/laundry room and run smack into the island. Moving that entry up will allow for direct access to that space.

Obviously this would have to work with your lot, but the kitchen would work so much better that way.

In response to your original question, I think your LR size is fine. I would, however, make sure you have at least 2' from the built ins as the location of your furniture as shown will not allow you to open the doors on those cabinets.

ETA: also, put your DW on the other side of your sink so it's out of your prep space. If you like prep sinks, your kitchen would benefit from one.

@anj_p this is wonderful!!! I would much prefer the garage pushed back and I love the kitchen flipped! A much better view when guests that dont use tbe mudroom walk in too. I hope pushing the garage back is possible. It may make that side entry have more steps which I was hoping to avoid (it’s a nice feature for accessibility if there aren’t many steps) but I like a much simpler foundation shape and would prefer the garage not be so prominent. Hopefully we could get rid of that weird alcove too that’s been bothering me. You made me glad I posted here when I was feeling really discouraged!

We dont truly need that bonus space - can anyone think of a more affordable way to do a workshop? I’m assuming a third car garage typically costs less than a basement?

Still wish I could see an example plan that had the majority of those things on your list done right. I can’t really envision it. Have any?

First Architectrunnerguy is correct. No house will have everything on the list. It's not an absolute but something to consider when designing a house. However when viewing the list, if you decide not to do something, know why you're not doing it and how it will or will not affect how you live in the house. It's similar to learning the "rules" in drawing and then knowing how and why you need or want to break the "rules".

And yes, I do have a version to show that has most things. It just so happens to be my house.

Here for example is my house layout and I'll bold all I was able to accomplish.

My house is 2870 square feet and our land is 9100 square feet and we were not allowed to have more than 35% of the house under roof and under roof included the garage, lanai and front porch.

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling (The rear of my house faces due south)

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped. (Obviously this is a U shaped house)

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 (Yes I have closets downstairs on the west wall of the house. I'm in SW FL so wanted to minimize the heat coming in from that side which is why I chose to put the hall closet and DH's closet there downstairs. Upstairs in the guest bedroom it was a last minute modification which is why the closet wound up on half of the south wall of the guest bedroom. Plus putting another window there wouldn't have worked because the roof from the first floor would have been in the way.)

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate. (The right side of the house and upstairs are considered private spaces)

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. (Technically my master closet should have been wider to have hanging on both long walls. Instead I arranged the closet so on one long wall and the back short wall, I had hanging and drawers and on the wall with the door I have a narrow floor to almost ceiling shelves for shoes, handbags, etc. Ideal? No but I was limited in terms of square footage and wanted my public space larger so made the decision to make my master suite area a bit narrower.)

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.

BTW: Here is my house in the February 2020 issue of The Old House Journal.

https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/new-old-arts-crafts-house/

CP I’ve seen your list often and just went through it with my house. Pleasantly surprised to see our only issue is we don’t have window on more than one side. That said with our city lot and neighbours being 6-8 feet away and what the views would be I’m okay with it.

@cpartist our final version of our plan also checked most of the boxes - the only one we really couldn't meet was windows on 2 walls in every room - mainly due to the attached garage and the shape of our house (it was an L with 3 rooms on the long side, so the middle rooms didn't get 2 walls of windows. We could have done it by adding corners, but that also added $$$). But I agree, if you start off with those things in mind, you can definitely design for them.

@Em regarding basement vs. garage - your lot looks like it slopes a bit so a basement might not be that much since you're already building a taller foundation...you'll have to ask your builder. Also regarding the flipped kitchen, you could put in a hidden pantry in the odd nook space behind the new spot for the range, and then move your PR to the pantry space. That would have the downside of making the pantry less accessible to grazers but would put your PR out of the mudroom space where you will for sure have people tripping over shoes unless you are crazy meticulous.

CP I’ve seen your list often and just went through it with my house. Pleasantly surprised to see our only issue is we don’t have window on more than one side. That said with our city lot and neighbours being 6-8 feet away and what the views would be I’m okay with it.

@cpartist our final version of our plan also checked most of the boxes - the only one we really couldn't meet was windows on 2 walls in every room - mainly due to the attached garage and the shape of our house (it was an L with 3 rooms on the long side, so the middle rooms didn't get 2 walls of windows. We could have done it by adding corners, but that also added $$$). But I agree, if you start off with those things in mind, you can definitely design for them.

And you prove the point that we're not going to get everything and that sometimes there are good reasons to adjust our expectaions. :)

@anj_p it doesn't sound like we have the flexibility to push the garage that far back due to the land slope. :( Wish we could find some flatter land. We would have bought this land anyway as it's beside some family property and land is an amazing investment in our town and doesn't pop up for sale often.

We were hoping to start building in March but because of all of the stress this has been we're taking a pause. We have two young kids and I feel like planning the house has taken my focus and I'm going to blink and miss these younger years and regret being so distracted. Our new house is going to cost double what our current one does and we have a 2.5% interest rate so maybe we're foolish to consider moving just a mile away when our house fits our needs "good enough" though we would def. change some things. Current house below for reference.. maybe I'm just getting a good lesson in being content with what we have! I've only put 12k into the new house so far, need to make sure we won't regret anything before I'm 600k in!

Current house per my above comment. i actually love our exterior. Def. things I would about the plan (HATE our 12 foot ceilings and we have no kitchen windows or task lighting, no bonus space BUT we dont use the dining room so could repurpose it) but there is a lot we could do.

We were hoping to start building in March but because of all of the stress this has been we're taking a pause.

That sounds like a good approach. Building a home certainly is stressful.

I've briefly perused the past discussions you've started and I believe conducting what are essentially multiple opinion polls on either the whole house or parts of the house while engaged in an ongoing design process with an architect, not only adds to your stress and self doubt, it's counter productive.

A big part of any relationship with an architect, and maybe perhaps the BIGGEST part, is trust. I've written about that many time in the past here. And it seems to me, with your multiple posts soliciting design advice from internet strangers about various design aspects of the house, the 'trust" component of your relationship with your architect may be lacking. I'd feel differently if it was a DIY or a draftsman effort. So maybe best to step back and take a breather and rethink where you are.

But the best of luck where ever your home building path leads!

Well, maybe you could pull the rest of your house UP instead.

Whatever you decide to do with your build, good luck!

I asked yesterday:

What's the building site like? Is the house the shape it is for a reason -- setbacks, slope etc.? Could it be wider or deeper? What direction does it face? There is no 2nd floor? Could the garage move to the side or back?

I'd think about flipping the house so the garage is on the west side, but you have not described or showed images of a site plan or the actual site itself.