If you straighten everything out things will work a lot better. 
I would never want my bedroom wall up against the garage.

Why is the plan angled?

For what it's worth, this is a stock plan. We have to have an angled or side entry garage per indentures. And we like the idea of a prep kitchen/large hidden pantry as we entertain a lot and prefer to have somewhere to keep the messy entertaining hidden as well as somewhere generally for the food and small appliances, even a second dishwasher or fridge for our 5 kids.

But that is such a BAD plan to build Why would you want to settle for it?

You would be better off eliminating the angle and have a side entry garage. Straight plans are 23%* more efficient than angled plans.

(*I made that number up for those people that like statistics)

"We found a floor plan that has everything we are looking for, but will be making some changes."

There is something wrong with that statement?

Efficient in what way. If I'm here, I'm obviously not an expert.... And who says I'm settling? It has all the things I'm looking for and the ability to accommodate the things on my "want" list with some minor changes.

There’s no dining space? Is that intentional or an oversight?

Idk. I'm here to learn so I'll be here to listen to the experts/pros, people with more experience. I would not want this plan. Kitchen and family room....where people spend the most amount of time, will have no windows. That'd be a no for me. Your office will have no view, but your pantry might. Your master bedroom closet has potential for view from 2 angles... but who wants to look out a window in their closet? Looks like the massive shower will have a 3-way view--maybe the best view of all! From outside or inside ;)

Why is there a sitting area next to the foyer? Is that a mudroom, of sorts? Could just turn that into a closet.

Houses need to be situated and sited for the best views, the best passive solar/reduction of glare in the main areas, oriented advantageously. I don't think a "stock plan" is ever going to get there....and it might not even be cheaper to build, given all the angles and parts and pieces jutting out and in.

This is just me, a personal preference. I'd prefer a house with a large kitchen and bigger bathrooms, and I wouldn't want a game room. And that's me talking, with a big family who might think a game room is a great idea, in theory. But I'd like a house to live bigger than it is, and for me, that means enlarging the rooms we spend the most time in: kitchen/family and utility rooms, while forgoing a separate game room. But maybe the game room is what drew you to this plan, so I understand that.

(p.s. what do you mean "indentures")

They are looking for help, not criticism y'all, get it together.  

I think your layout idea of the pantry and coat closet are good for what you're looking for.  I'm not sure if its necessary for you for the study to be connected to the bathroom, but this option would provide you the opportunity for a larger sink and shower, and give the user more privacy.  Good luck and don't let the naysayers crush your dreams!

Thank you Mindy! I'm more than open to receiving constructive criticism, but goodness not much was helpful there for a minute. We thought about switching some things up in that office bathroom area (which can be seen as a 4th bedroom for future sale with the extra full bath and closet if desired) but it's kind of perfect for when my husband wants to have his guys nights for board games and they can stay very sequestered without disturbing much of the rest of the house. 

The sitting room will be a library in my mind and just another separation for guests while we entertain without having them be in a completely separated room. And I suppose I don't see how there wouldn't be any windows in the family room? We plan to have a while wall of them! And one large window in the office is more than sufficient.

Part of the family room will serve as a breakfast room of sorts. I don't want a formal dining room. Similar to these photos. 

The rec/game room is high priority for us. We hate homeschoolers and having a space for that is important, as well as somewhere for the toys and video games to exist.

I completely agree about enlarging the rooms we use the most!

Did you mean to say that you ARE homeschoolers?

The angle is inefficient in use of wood and other building products. This makes it also less energy efficient because more exposed wall area that you get little from. So costs more initially and long term with no tangible benefit - that is what efficient means in this case.

Since no one has really said it yet, you usually get more of what you want with a plan designed for you and the site.

No matter how this is sited (ie direction), there will be a lack of natural light. Nearly, all your windows are covered or not in the common area.

This plan in my opinion is meant to look good on paper and impress visitors (I guess) but having things like 11 foot ceilings in secondary bedrooms is just out of proportion. I mean I like high ceilings a bit more than the average here but would never do 11 ft ceilings in a bedroom.

The outdoor area may be a good design for privacy but we don't really know without the whole story. Generally it may feel a little closed in by the 2 wings of the house on either side.

I find the enormous master suite relative to the rest of the house not typically what a person with 5 kids being home schooled would want.

Remember, forums are filled with people giving opinions. No one is going to get on here and say how wonderful your stock plan is.

On the kitchen side of things, I think you really need a better sketch and a better description of what you plan to do in there. I am of the opinion that a sunny bright kitchen is the single most important thing in house design. I would never want to prep in an area with no windows and sized like a pantry. I get that prep kitchens are a common new design element and I see the value (in a bigger house). We have an area that is our "ugly appliance" area. But throwing something in the pressure cooker is not "prep".

You might consider the size of the children's bathrooms. Two and three children sharing a bathroom might need more drawers and countertop. The storage closet in their wing is similar to one in my house, deep and narrow, and I don't like it at all.

Are there two showers in the master, one in the closet?

Reconsider all the double doors. They present difficulties such as placement of light switches, ease of use when you have something in one hand, ineffective at blocking light and sound.

Will you add a closet somewhere for mop, broom, vacuum, etc?

Is there enough storage for travel and sports gear, seasonal decor, books besides homeschooling materials, music, and so on?

If you entertain a lot, and have an open concept, and like people in your kitchen while you entertain or food assembly is part of your entertaining, I can see the desire for a back kitchen, especially for cleanup, a place to remove used dishes to until the guests go home. Most of the prep and its associated cleanup will already be done before guests arrive.

For daily use, good place to let bread rise, manage science projects that need a sink or heat.

Do you have such a second kitchen now?

Five children in two 12 x 14 bedrooms? No dining room for a Thanksgiving or family dinners or entertaining? So much money is going to over height ceilings and angled walls, joists, trusses, roof valleys, but it seems the actual living spaces are too small and disjointed. This plan, as someone else said, just looks like it is trying to impress the company, but not take care of your family. I know you can get better. With all your requirements, home schooling, entertaining, cooking, you need an architect. Take your whole list of wants, wishes, needs. A family of seven has specific needs. Putting all the little ones in two bedrooms might seem cozy now, but what happens as they get older? Teenagers need closet space, study space, makeup space, and privacy. When the older two are playing games and music in the game room/schoolroom, how do the younger ones sleep? Laundry is an issue for a family of this size and my friend planned two washers and two dryers plus a long wall of hanging space, divided into areas for each of her five kids so putting away clean clothes was easy for each child.

Why don't you start with a diagram of what things you want adjacent to each other and then move to a piece of graph paper and create a rectangular great room with an adjacent open kitchen and a pantry/scullery back kitchen tucked behind that and go from there? Or find a plan with the back kitchen since this has been trending in some markets?

Maybe you have decision fatigue, or maybe you are checking off a list of rooms, but this house does not have the main thing you are looking for and it also doesn't have the things you need down the line like reasonably sized or numbered bedrooms for 5 kids. I would think they would be more appreciative of a bigger bedroom or some possibility of some privacy than a kitchen area they are allowed to get dirtier than the show kitchen (that's what the front kitchen is often called.

People get very defensive about these stock plans they post, but really you shouldn't be, you have nothing actually invested in it, you didn't design it. (Actually nobody did , not really, they plugged a bunch of boilerplate rooms off a checklist into some software). But not only is this plan inappropriate for your actual needs, this is one of the worst plans I have ever seen posted here. And you can get all offended at me or whatever, but I don't know you, nor you me, but I would talk my best friend out of building this if all the further along they were was on a piece of paper.

That is seriously 1.2 M being thrown away, and you’ll have to move within 2 years as the kids completely outgrow everything. You've outgrown that right now, but you won’t find out until you move in, and endure a dark cramped space for 2 years.

Unless you want to turn the master into a dorm bunk room? And move into one of the smaller secondary bedrooms? That is the only way that the master even begins to make sense as being so dispoportionately large and poorly designed.

I’ve lived with a triangular closet and don’t recommend it. I hated ours. So much wasted space and you lose too much hanging space. Stuff get lost or is unaccessable in the back corner

You asked earlier why the angled walls are inefficient....I have an angled garage which results in an angled laundry room, and an angled stair, which results in angled....everything else. Hate it. Every angle that is less than 90 degrees wastes space. Those 45 degree angles in your proposed coat closet and pantry will result in at least a foot of useless space on each side of the corner. To see if that will not be a problem for you, draw a line connecting  the two walls about a foot or so from the corner and see how much smaller your room becomes. Maybe you won't mind. But it really bothers me to pay for that space that is only good for sticking a couple tools of wrapping paper.

​If you put a closet in that room, that would qualify it as a bedroom.  As your kids get older, if you don't have a basement, one could use that as a room for a while.  Sharing a room isn't a bad thing, in fact I think it makes you a more well rounded individual.  Having a space for your kids to hang out is a huge plus as they get older.  Also, if you're thinking future resale, if someone wanted a formal dining room, which I've rarely seen used by those I know that have them, they could always utilize the sitting room for it or turn it into an office space.  The natural light you'll get from your wall of windows should adequately filter into your kitchen.  Would some of the other suggestions suit others, sure, many people that buy a house would change something about it, but this house seems very well suited for your needs and someone will appreciate it when the time comes for you to sell.

We have two homes with angles….as you say, to fit them on the lot. It’s not a lot of wasted space. I am laughing a little at “we want a prep kitchen, to hide the mess, but not a formal dining….” Because the closed off kitchen with a formal dining room took care of that problem! That being said, you could call it a scullery…especially with a large family, I can see two dishwashers being really handy. I tend to like the concept of zones…in my kitchens, I have the teenager zone…fridge, pantry, microwave, out of the cooking zone…and then a cleanup zone.
Your mud room/laundry room would really benefit from direct access to that bathroom off the study.

I don't see stairs to a basement or second floor, is that accurate? Are you having 5 kids share 2 bedrooms? I'm not sure having bedroom 3 as a bathroom access thru is a good idea. Also, is that outdoor lounge really outdoor, or will it be fully enclosed as part of the house? Because with the layout now, the kids in bedroom 3 need to go thru a bathroom and outdoors to get back into the house? Perhaps consider making that game room into a bedroom 4, and shifting that thru bathroom so all the kids bedrooms can have a bath and also not be accessed thru bathrooms. Or have to go outside if that lounge is really outdoor. That study/wc/storage/bath cluster could be neatened up to make an additional bedroom as well.

I think a triangular closet can be awkward, perhaps square it off and leave that small bit with the blue X on it as part of the pantry.

Where is your HAVAC located? Is it part of the utility room along with what appears to be your laundry?

I am not against angled plans specifically, there are some great modernist houses with angled plans that often express themselves in a living room with the dining room at the angle, or a transition from "public" to bedroom areas.

But it's actually not a design feature here at all, the design is actually trying to apologize for it or conceal it by burying most of it in concealed secondary rooms and closets and such, resulting in a number of mean windowless spaces.

I have to say that looking over this plan got me upset…..for you! You have some very specific needs/wants and although my mantra is not always to “hire an architect” (for some it’s not feasible), for you, I can’t emphasize this enough. You’re already hacking up this stock plan and it’s more than just simply “moving a few walls”.

There are a ton of plans that are posted here that are sub par, but this one really agitated me (I’m sorry). I do not question any of your specific desires (prep kitchen, school room etc.). I have a fairly large prep kitchen/scullery myself, and it’s probably one of the most useful areas in my home. I do wonder though where the fifth child will sleep. With only 3 bedrooms, and with the two secondary bedrooms at only 12x14 (which will be cozy to start with two beds), I don’t see where the extra bed will go unless you do bunks. Great that each bedroom has it’s own bath, but with such small vanities, things will be tight for storage with so many kids sharing that space. And remember, kids grow up and become teenagers and acquire a lot more “stuff”.

You gave no indication which way the back of the house faces, but even if it’s facing south, with the 16 foot deep covering on the outdoor lounge, there will not be a huge amount of light that infiltrates into the family room, let alone the kitchen area (contrary to what one of the posters above stated). And if the back faces north, and natural light is at all important to you, it will be that much darker and dreary even on a sunny day. That small window by the sink will afford very little in brightening up the kitchen (the “view” out of which will be tunnel-like due to the roof of the lounge on the one side, and the angled corner of the house on the other). Also, realize that your main sink is squished into a very small area with a little over 24 inches of counter space on the left and about 12” on the right. This just makes no sense with the available square footage you have for the kitchen. Where will your dishes be stored? With only a very small space available above the dishwasher for cabinetry and room for a very small stack of drawers to the right of the sink, you will be all over that kitchen when emptying it. And the fridge is tucked all the way over (21 feet away) on the opposite side of the room. You will need to have the lights on during the day when trying to accomplish any kitchen chores, and your prep kitchen will be very dark as well (no window). I see no mention of how important natural light is to you (for some it’s not high on their priority list), but if you want a bright kitchen area, you will not get one with this plan.

You can certainly have the required side load garage without all the angles.

I don’t relish criticizing ones house plan or enjoy bursting their bubble, but you can do so much better than this by hiring an architect who has the ability to create a plan that is customized to your exact specifications/needs, while at the same time creating one that is suited perfectly for your lot and exposure. This is likely the largest expenditure you will ever make and you have the opportunity to make it fantastic….so my advice is to nix this plan.

I am not sure the OP is even following anymore, but a friend of mine grew up in a house that was a simple rectangle, and had a lot of things the OP seems to want: it had a dormitory-type set up for the boys, with an adjacent den-type rec room and largish bathroom for them, and a shared bedroom for the two girls (six kids I think?) with a study area and bathroom for them, and the other level was a great room with a largish eat in kitchen and a utility/pantry/scullery type thing behind that. The parents had a master suite on that level. I think there was an elevator (I know they had a dumb waiter) because it was two levels and a steep site. It seemed to have room for everything they needed but it was also a very straight forward and compact plan on a small site. It was L shaped. The same thing could have been accomplished on one level on a different site. The whole thing was rather utilitarian but there could just as easily been more architectural detail and a bump up in finishes with exactly the same plan.

First while you may not like the negative comments, if it helps you to see what a POOR plan this is, then we've done our job. Just because some hack played tetris with boxes and called them rooms, does not create a home.

I post this all the time, Anything in bold is what does NOT work for this plan.

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.

Add to the above:

The game room is in reality a hallway to the two bedrooms and not an actual room.

Angles make it harder to furnish rooms and add nothing but cost more to build. A lot more!

How will you arrange furniture in the family room considering the entry to the two bedrooms is to the right of the fireplace and you also want to include a dining area in the family room?

How will you get furniture into bedroom 2?

Where will you store all the stuff needed for a family of 7? There's a serious lack of storage,

Where is the mechanical room?

Op, I think you have specific needs for your family and I'm not questioning any of them. I'm not even questioning the sizes if that's ok with you, but the house will be dark. Maybe you're ok with a dark house with little natural light. I'm not. But overall, you can do a heck of a lot better than this plan.

I am a big fan of the prep kitchen/scullery concept. If you’re looking at stock plans, consider googling ‘house plan with scullery’ etc. that idea is common in Asia/Oceania, even with production builders, so I expect you’ll find some inspiration.

Thank you, everyone for your additional help and I apologize for the delayed response. Like I said, 5 kids and homeschooling lol.

Let me give a little more background and our thought processes since I really only came here with the specific question in regards to the kitchen/pantry area, but we've begun discussing the house as a whole and you absolutely correct, I'm dropping a LOT of money on this house, I want it to be well-thought out, which, contrary to what it seems I've been thinking about floor plans A LOT for the past several years. I don't know if I will address everything people have said successfully, but I truly am open to suggestions/opinions/constructive criticism. "But that is such a BAD plan to build Why would you want to settle for it?" is not helpful, but rather condescending and useless.

Background: We are a family of 7 - myself, my husband, 10 yo girl, 8 yo boy, 5 yo girl, and 6 mo old twins. We are building on 3 acres and the house will be on a walkout basement where my parents will have a living quarters (I AM NOT HERE TO DISCUSS THAT SO PLEASE NO OPINIONS). We will have extra storage in the basement and are currently discussing the best location for the stairs (likely to be in the garage, or possibly behind the pantry in lieu of the coat closet). All HVAC, etc. will be in the basement. I am waiting on some clarification on what some of the areas are in the plan from the seller.

I mentioned the main desires for our house: Large living room and main areas that are set up well for entertaining, 2 large bedrooms for the kids to share (we've decided that room sharing is inevitable and are embracing it as we don't want kids in the basement and resale on a 6 bedroom house will be difficult to say the least). By the time the little boys/girls are big enough to be taking up too much space, the big boy/girl will be starting the fly the nest. We also need a large rec/game room for the kids to use as their hangout space and serve as a homeschool area. I know that is unique to us, but it's non-negotiable. I love the idea of the sitting room being a library that can also serve as a slight separation for guests when we are hosting the 60 person Italian family gatherings on holidays. The office needs to be large enough to serve my husband as he works from home and also for his buddies to come over and game while not disturbing the rest of the house (not by the kids bedrooms and not right next to mine). I really am interested in a scullery to have the space for behind the scenes things while hosting and also possibly a second dishwasher, fridge, and even microwave. The laundry room also, of course, needs to be large and I hope to put two washers/dryers in there (maybe a set of stackable dryers to save space?).

I agree with expanding the master being unnecessary, but DH is in favor (you win some and lose some). I also think the master bath is a bit much, but feel like it will be a positive selling point in the future and I love the walkthrough shower. I would rather not have a tub at all, but feel like if we turn around to put a 1M+ house on the market and the master doesn't have a tub, we'll pay for it. I also am not a fan of GIGANTIC master closets. We don't need it, we aren't those types of people and I'll take the risk on resale with that later.

I've added a few other changes we were going to make as well (our builder says moving any interior walls isn't a problem) which is why we were just tweaking this plan.

The kids bedrooms will be expanded by moving around the closet situation. Once I get exact measurements I'm thinking the rooms will measure more like 12x17 or even 12x18.

As far as the angle is concerned, I'm glad to have further information about and the inefficiencies, etc. We do like the way it looks, but didn't consider too much an uptick in cost. We are required to have a side entry or angled garage so we may revisit. This is definitely something I'm interested in changing now.

We will not be covering the back porch, and there will likely be a deck there, so if that is where the concern for natural light comes from that should be helped. It's interesting, because I actually thought the back of this house would possibly provide a good amount of natural light.

Honestly, EVERYTHING currently feels like an upgrade from the 7 of us living in our current 1200 sq ft.

Here are just a few things I notice:

• That's going to be a heck of a roof, with all those angles and bump-outs / corners.
• Very few windows on the left side walls. Why not add some to those bedrooms?
• Your master bath is bigger than the kids' rooms, and has better window opportunities than your master bedroom.
• The kitchen will have very little natural light.

Op….which direction does the back of the house face?

"I want it to be well-thought out"

So you picked a plan that was someone else's thought, and now you're trying to fix it.

Based upon your 'little more background', I would advise you to engage a local architect that will design a home with you that meets your unique needs and fits your site. Some major general things I see wrong is the bedrooms should be all grouped together, rethink more that two kids in one bedroom, angled houses are more expensive (and inefficient), and having any bedroom in a basement.

I'm so glad you're still here. If 7 of you are living in 1200 sq ft, I can understand why this looks like a dream come true, but, please look past what sounds like condescension and see if anyone is sharing valid concerns. Just my experience- our starter home was fine, nothing special, nothing wrong with it. Our second home was designed really nicely but I didn't realize it until our third home, which breaks nearly every rule in CPArtist's list and is not pleasant to live in. It's plenty big, would check all your list except the prep kitchen, and I want out. I've been hanging out on Houzz since shortly after we moved in and I've learned so much. I didn't even know why I didn't like this house until I started learning on this site. It's not just the angled walls, it's the traffic pattern through the living room that makes furniture placement a pain, it's the west facing windows that mean I keep curtains closed all afternoon, it's the too-big master bath that's freezing cold. (replaced the open shower with one with a door when it felt like our bums were about to freeze to the wall), and on. The local architect we've started working with operates independently, and his rate will wind up being not too much more than buying and modifying a stock plan. Just be careful and really think. I agree that some folks on here don't have the gift of excessive tact, but that doesn't mean they don't have good advice.

I suggest that all the people who actually critique plans on here for absolutely free because they are interested in design only to be called condescending for not saying that a plan is the most perfect thing they have ever seen except for the three square feet the poster is asking about make a New Years Resolution and go on general strike and not help anyone with anything because too many of these people don't Want an opinion, they want validation.

I will gladly validate the selection of a local architect.

We were hoping to have a "prep kitchen" of sorts and this house is also missing a coat closet.

How do you see this prep kitchen working? If you work through that, you're more likely to get what you want.

The kitchen in the plan could be better ... for starters, bring the "main players" (sink, range and refrigerator) closer together.

And who says I'm settling? It has all the things I'm looking for and the ability to accommodate the things on my "want" list with some minor changes.

I suggest you take your time committing to this project; do some reading on this site (and elsewhere) and read about what makes a plan work well. You have nothing to lose -- at the worst, you spend some time deciding that you were right all along. If you decide to make some changes, you'll make them with confidence.

Looks like the massive shower

Yeah, I don't like the shower ... but it could easily be cut down to something more reasonable in size /less expensive to build.

The sitting room will be a library in my mind

I like the idea of a sitting room in this spot ... with a big window, it'll be nice and bright. 1-2 comfortable chairs with a table between them could be a nice spot that's not too far from the action. But I don't see this spot working well as a library ... not unless you're going to lose the nice window and add walls for more bookshelves.

Two and three children sharing a bathroom might need more drawers and countertop.

Yes, these bathrooms are small and have essentially no storage. Where will the kids store towels, extra toiletries, etc.? What about a hamper?

Will you add a closet somewhere for mop, broom, vacuum, etc?

A cleaning closet would be a great addition.

Putting all the little ones in two bedrooms might seem cozy now, but what happens as they get older?

These are good-sized bedrooms, and the kids will have the game room too ... but the bedroom shared by three will be challenging. With shared bedrooms, you should really splurge on closets.

That is the only way that the master even begins to make sense as being so dispoportionately large and poorly designed.

I have to agree that the master is oversized /not all that appealing.
Your mud room/laundry room would really benefit from direct access to that bathroom off the study.

That's a good idea.

walkout basement where my parents will have a living quarters

I don't see a connection between the house and the basement.

I mentioned the main desires for our house: Large living room and main areas that are set up well for entertaining,

These are sensible goals, but what type of entertaining do you anticipate? Where would a TV be placed in the living room? How many people would you want to seat? How do you serve meals? Plated meals or buffets, or what? Look at your kitchen and ask yourself, "Where would I set out drinks? Desserts?"

2 large bedrooms for the kids to share (we've decided that room sharing is inevitable and are embracing it as we don't want kids in the basement and resale on a 6 bedroom house will be difficult to say the least).

Sharing is fine ... but I think I'd want a small separate bedroom for the 10-year old girl, who is so much older than the twins ... then a shared bedroom for the twin girls ... and a shared bedroom for the boys. I'd rather have a small separate bedroom for the oldest girl rather than a library AND an office.

when we are hosting the 60 person Italian family gatherings on holidays.

I don't see this space holding 60 people.

The office needs to be large enough to serve my husband as he works from home

If he works from home, yes, an office is a necessity.

I also think the master bath is a bit much, but feel like it will be a positive selling point ... I also am not a fan of GIGANTIC master closets.

Build for yourself, not a hypothetical future buyer.

I suspect a person who'd want this giant bath would also want a large closet. People who want to splurge on the master suite will probably want "the whole thing".

We do like the way it looks, but didn't consider too much an uptick in cost.

I think the angled garage will cost more than you expect ... especially because it drives the roofline to complex, expensive proportions.

Honestly, EVERYTHING currently feels like an upgrade from the 7 of us living in our current 1200 sq ft.

And it probably is, but you don't want just an upgrade ... you want to spend your money as carefully and efficiently as possible.

First you mention lots of non-negotiables. Great. When anyone builds, they have a list of non-negotiables. And everyone's non-negotiables are different depending on how they live and who lives with tghem.

However, you can do it like this was done in a poorly laid out version that will live very poorly and not feel right or you can work with a person of design talent to truly create a house that will work for you now, 10 years from now and even 20 years from now, if that's what you want.

Thank you, everyone for your additional help and I apologize for the delayed response. Like I said, 5 kids and homeschooling lol.

I certainly give you a heck of a lot of credit. I raised 2 kids and that was plenty. LOL.

I'm dropping a LOT of money on this house,

This house will wind up being high 6 to high 7 figures depending on where you live.

"But that is such a BAD plan to build Why would you want to settle for it?" is not helpful, but rather condescending and useless.

No one is looking to be condescending, Well most aren't, but most of us have a love of houses and good design and unfortunately, nothing is going to turn this layout into a good design.

And further how does this house sit on the property? How does it take advantage of the 3 acres?

Background: We are a family of 7 - myself, my husband, 10 yo girl, 8 yo boy, 5 yo girl, and 6 mo old twins. We are building on 3 acres and the house will be on a walkout basement where my parents will have a living quarters (I AM NOT HERE TO DISCUSS THAT SO PLEASE NO OPINIONS).

This is even MORE REASON why you need to work with a person of design talent to create a house that will not only live well for you and your kids, but also for your parents. They too, I'm sure have their own needs and if they don't now, they may in the not so distant future.

I mentioned the main desires for our house: Large living room and main areas that are set up well for entertaining, 2 large bedrooms for the kids to share (we've decided that room sharing is inevitable and are embracing it as we don't want kids in the basement and resale on a 6 bedroom house will be difficult to say the least).

Right now I see a 3 bedroom house. Add your parent's bedroom downstairs and it's now a 4-5 bedroom house. And just because you would be using it for a 6 bedroom house, doesn't mean some future buyer wouldn't use the rooms for something else.

And you talk about resale. How long are you planning on staying in this house? If it's 15+ years, you have no clue as to what will be selling then or how someone else will use the spaces.

By the time the little boys/girls are big enough to be taking up too much space, the big boy/girl will be starting the fly the nest.

So you're planning on the big kids having to share with the little kids? Sharing is fine if the children are close in age, but there will come a time when the older kids will want some privacy. What other means can you arrange so they can have some privacy as they grow into their preteen and teen years?

We also need a large rec/game room for the kids to use as their hangout space and serve as a homeschool area. I know that is unique to us, but it's non-negotiable.

The game room is NOT 15' x 18' of usable space. It's in reality because of pathways more like 9'-10' x 15' and the room will be dark unless that window is south facing.

Another thought. Do you really want the kid's school room/game room in the private bedroom wing or should that be located in an area that is slightly more public?

I love the idea of the sitting room being a library that can also serve as a slight separation for guests when we are hosting the 60 person Italian family gatherings on holidays.

I hope you realize that your family room will NOT be large enough for 60 people when you add in the pathways, etc. In reality, that 20' x 31' family room will have 6' lopped off on the sitting/living side because of the french doors to the private area and the french doors to the backyard. So instead of being 20', it wll only allow for 14' and that's assuming you put furniture up against the wall opposite the windows to the outside.

Then between the kitchen island and any dining table you'll need a minimum of 5' for moving around between the two. You have 1' already so right then you'll need to cut off another 4' bringing the 31' down to 27'. Plus you'll need 3' for walking in front of the fireplace which brings the room down to 24'. Figure your dining table is 4' wide and now you're down to 20'. Again between the dining table and any seating in the living room, you'll need at minimum 4' so now you're down to 16' for seating in the seating area of the family room. Layout furniture and see what I mean.

I really am interested in a scullery to have the space for behind the scenes things while hosting and also possibly a second dishwasher, fridge, and even microwave.

Yes but done well you can have the scullery and the kitchen both have lots of natural light. Or you can keep what's here and have two dark spaces.

I agree with expanding the master being unnecessary, but DH is in favor (you win some and lose some). I also think the master bath is a bit much, but feel like it will be a positive selling point in the future and I love the walkthrough shower.

It won't be a positive selling point if the rest of the house doesn't make sense.

And nothing wrong with a large, right-sized master versus one that only the Queen of England would feel cozy in.

I would rather not have a tub at all, but feel like if we turn around to put a 1M+ house on the market and the master doesn't have a tub, we'll pay for it. I also am not a fan of GIGANTIC master closets. We don't need it, we aren't those types of people and I'll take the risk on resale with that later.

You keep talking resale. When are you planning on moving? I can tell you that what people wanted in houses 10 or even 7 years ago are not what they want now,

As for a tub, more and more DO NOT want a tub in the master. They are taking tubs out. As long as there is a tub in the house.

We do like the way it looks,

Have you seen angled walls in reality? Just because it looks "cool" on a floor plan doesn't mean it lives well.

Honestly, EVERYTHING currently feels like an upgrade from the 7 of us living in our current 1200 sq ft.

It's not an upgrade if it doesn't live well. More space doesn't mean well designed. In fact sometimes smaller spaces can live better if designed well. And if you're spending 6-7 figures of your hard earned money, do you just want something that feels like an upgrade or something that will be a pleasure to live in every single day of the year?

If you haven't read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susankah, I highly recommend you do so.

Three of us were crammed into our college dorm room, the size of your children’s bedrooms. I had the upper bunk. Although one wall was closet and built in drawers, none of us had adequate clothes space. Three very small desks and three chairs filled the rest of the space. There was no floor space. One roommate partied and slept in late, then complained because I got up early for 8 o’clock classes. We had no privacy, solitude, individual space. One wanted music all evening, one wanted to read. Not every personality is suited for prison living! I had shared a bedroom with my sister so I had experience with sharing. My daughters shared a room, only because we couldn’t find a four bedroom house in our budget at the time. But, when we finally built our dream house, one of them said, “ no wonder we argued all the time! We were on top of each other and had no privacy!” Now we come to your parents...a stairway in the garage? How gracious and welcoming! You have picked a plan that doesn’t even have a way to get grandparents and grandchildren together without going through the garage? Is that how your parents are going to enter their living quarters? They are going to have friends over for coffee and dessert and expect them to go down the stairway in the garage? Wow!

Now we come to your parents...a stairway in the garage? How gracious and welcoming! You have picked a plan that doesn’t even have a way to get grandparents and grandchildren together without going through the garage? Is that how your parents are going to enter their living quarters? They are going to have friends over for coffee and dessert and expect them to go down the stairway in the garage? Wow!

OMG. I missed that part. I just assumed it would be a walkout basement.

So what happens when grandparents can no longer do stairs? Are they forever stuck in the basement?

And what about egress for elderly parents?

And yes, why would you want your parents having to go to their home through a stairway in the garage?

Controlling water off this roof will be extremely difficult. This is something people never seem to think about. Even if the plan was perfect otherwise, I would not choose it for that reason.

Even if it is a walkout basement, the plan doesn’t show where the parents would park and where they would enter the basement.

Nidnay, the grandparents can access their living quarters by walking down the hill to the walkout or by the stairs that maybe are going through the garage. But my point was the total unsuitability of this floor plan. Every thing in the kitchen is planned for big family-20 people+-gatherings, but nothing is done for the children and the grandparents. This plan is meant to impress the visitors. High ceilings, two kitchens, a study-office for the guys’ retreat. But it is perfect for a three generation family of nine.

I was simply informing cp that it WAS a walkout since she mentioned otherwise.

As far as “parking” ….none of us have ANY clue regarding their family situation (driving, parking etc) or how this family conducts their daily lives.

As far as the kitchen (or home) being geared (or suitable) for large gatherings, I beg to differ. The kitchen’s lack of functionality is NOT good for large gatherings…nor is the family room. Once you make room for kitchen stools, a dining table and chairs, and the space required to walk around them, that 31 feet gets much, much smaller than it appears on paper and would not be comfortable for gatherings of 60 (as the op mentioned).

As far as the plan being meant to impress visitors, I refuse to speculate as to the intent of the potential homeowners or the creator of the plan. How would anyone know this is so?

In any case, my advice to the op was to scrap the plan and get an architect, while trying to do so without judgement or scolding.

-All the random jigs, jogs and bump outs on the exterior walls will add to cost and create a complicated roofline.

-The secondary bedrooms, bathrooms, closets are too small to accommodate five children total and their storage needs.

-The pathway from the mud room to these secondary bedrooms forces the kids to navigate around a lot of furniture in both the family room and game room to get to their own rooms. The constant in and out of kids going to and from their rooms will also be disruptive to those in the family room.

-The kids have to walk through the game room/study room to go to another part of the house, which leaves them little privacy and is disruptive to the people using the game room/study room.

-The exterior door through the powder room and so near the kids' rooms causes concern for security (and you may not like it when the kids' are teenagers too...trust me).

-The sitting room is very small once you accommodate the clearance for the French doors.

-The mud room is very small for such a large family. There is no closed closet space that I think you will want for overflow storage, especially considering how small the closets are in the kids' rooms. In the custom homes I design, we try to always include a walk-in closet in the mud room. This is important especially if you live in a climate with a change of seasons.

-The master bedroom and bathroom and so large they are inefficient with a ton of wasted space.

-All of the built-ins shown on the plan will create a lot of extra expense and are not the most efficient use of the space.

There are enough negative issues with the plan, mainly as it relates to flow, privacy and storage, that I think you should scrap it all together. Do you have a builder yet? If so, ask them for architect referrals. Instead of telling the architect how you want to lay out your home, or showing them a stock plan you like, tell them all of your requirements...give them a list of wants and needs. All of the new build homes I work on (I'm currently designing seven) are from custom-designed architectural plans. Given the size and grandeur of the home you want to build, I think it's a necessary investment.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. 

As the consensus seems to be to consult with an architect, I'll start seeking one out.

This plan was conceived for Florida or Texas. Telltale signs:

- bathrooms at farthest outerreach and corners

- game room split by bedrooms

- building massing to create a pool courtyard on a tight lot

- covered lanai/porch

- pool use outdoor access powder room

AFAIK, FL & TX are not predominant with basements and cold weather. When you build in an area that allows a basement and requires heat, the result is usually a concept that groups plumbing more closely together, considers basement ceiling height with respect to running ductwork and plumbing, does not revolve around an enclosed pool courtyard unless it is dead-on south facing, and (at least the last 50 years) considers the basement as livable space and the stair is located for that prominence.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback.

As the consensus seems to be to consult with an architect, I'll start seeking one out.

I think you'll be so much happier.

Also do read the book I suggested.

And let us know how it goes for you.

following

And another family has been saved!

Congratulations to the OP for not giving up..and for coming to see the sense of all these comments. I hope she will return with a much better house plan.