I post this list all the time. Anything in bold is not great and needs work.

First which way is north?

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. (A master through the living room is not keeping 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, living rooms 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.

Three things jump out at me, the first is the long walk and navigation of 3 doors to get to the kitchen or pantry (4 doors) with groceries from my car. The second bedroom looks very small, who is it for? The bedrooms on the lower level - who are they for? I don’t like those bedrooms using a bathroom that opens onto a living area. Try laying out the barstools and sofas to see how you feel about the size of the living area.

One more..CP always on point. That kitchen could wind up being dark with no direct windows and a covered porch.

Thank you for the great list! Lots of great points to consider.

The second bed is a guest room and it is definitely small. It won’t be used frequently, but because we do have family out of state who visit a couple times a year was something we wanted to include.

The downstairs bedrooms are kid rooms. We debated on the bathroom opening to the main area, but didn’t really want to do two baths downstairs.

Usually, when you start with a blank slate you have opportunity to provide optimal design for spaces. In this plan, there are things that are just a little off, not atrocious, but some tweaking is needed:

- Proportion of rooms: It's a 5 bedroom house, whether there are just 2 of you or not. The design mindset should be that. The kitchen is small. The upstairs bedrooms are skewed in size. The Laundry/Mudrm is larger than the Dining Room. The Great Rm cove is forcing a seating area that doesn't work well.

- Master bath: Small and efficient can work, if the rest of the plan follows that guide. However, there are large unused spaces around the Great Room and disproportionate sizes of other rooms. Again, pick a mindset and have the entire design follow through on that. And there are no windows, and the closet is smaller than most would prefer.

- Basement: You apparently have a look-out site (basement is below grade about 4' or so in back). The foundation stem walls are shown wrong, they are all shown full height. So that "Pit" will be fully enclosed up to the bottom of the deck. The retaining wing walls are problematic in location and height. The mechanical room is either a lookout or not, but it has a window. It is also placed too far from where it should be.

- Roof: The simplicity of it in back is not equal to the front. There will be many jogs in front, in presumably a hip roof. Again, pick a mindset and carry through.

Thoughts:

- I'd remove the wall dividing the three-car garage. It's just an obstacle that limits you. If you absolutely want the wall, I'd place the smaller, storage area at the back of the house. This would mean you don't have to walk through that door to enter the house, and your lawn mower, etc. would be stored to the back.

- I'd want to see a door (or at least a pass-through) between the utility room and the master closet.

- I like the big pantry, but since it's likely to stay open most of the time, I'd go with a pocket door.

- The master bedroom can have windows on three sides, giving it wonderful natural light. I'd rather have this light in a room where I'd be awake, but this has the potential to be the nicest room in the house.

- Actually, I'd skip one of those windows /go with a door between the covered porch and the master bedroom.

- Note that the refrigerator is up against the wall /meaning the door won't open all the way, and it'll be difficult to remove shelves /drawers for cleaning. It's a small thing, but it's annoying.

- The kitchen and master bath will be dark, and your living room will have filtered light. This is not a small thing. I lived 20 years in a house with a covered porch similar to the one you're proposing, and I love-love-loved the porch, but it definitely did deny lovely morning light that we could've had. I'd love to have another porch like that, but I would place it between the house and garage -- or something else.

- The master bath is a nice, simple layout.

- I fear your living and dining rooms will be on the small side once you've added furniture.

- You say you have family visit a couple times a year, and that's why you're building the guest room. That's a big investment for a couple-times-a-year use. I'd investigate combining the office and guest room.

- If you could combine the office and guest room, you could have the covered porch in the area that's now the office, and that'd make such a difference in the natural light in your living room.

- Downstairs bedrooms look good /have nice closets.

- I agree that one bath for two kids downstairs is plenty -- cleaning toilets isn't my hobby. I do wish the bathroom had natural light though. Is that vanity large enough to provide drawer storage for the kids?

- How old are the kids in question? I'd be concerned about who's coming in /going out that downstairs door.

Tell us more about your family dynamics (i.e., kids, ages, etc.)? Those factors play a HUGE factor in whether this plan is right for your family or not.

I wouldn’t want my master right off the kitchen and living area. It needs to be more removed.

The living area is not very big, I think I’d see 12 feet or is it more? If you want living furniture and island seating in that it won’t work.

Who made the plan?

Thank you everyone!

The master off the living area bothers me a bit too, but I’m unsure of a good way to change it that doesn’t just take space away from the room itself, like adding a sort of “entry alcove” or something.

We plan to use the storage part of the garage as somewhat of an extension to the mud room for overflow coats, boots, etc. (we live in the country with kids). We’ll also have a large chest freezer out there, in addition to lawn mower and yard stuff. Eventually we will be adding another building for a lot of that kind of thing. But the idea of just removing the center wall between the garages would definitely make it more convenient from the car.

There is 16’ from the front edge of the island to the fireplace. The 12’ rectangle shown is a boxed up ceiling with beams. It might be tight to try to have barstools and a couch facing the fireplace. I’m hoping to utilize side chairs and create another seating area to utilize the whole room.

The ceilings are all 10’ throughout the house, so most of our windows are 6’ tall. I’m hoping that helps the light situation in the kitchen/living. Thinking about doing some skylight tubes in the master bath and possibly the kitchen. Anyone have experience with those?

I’ve been concerned about the fridge placement. Anyone have suggestions on a better layout for the kitchen?

Thanks again!

Besides family dynamics, can you tell us what you wanted to achieve woth the plan? Everyone has needs and wants that their house should accommodate.

Who made this plan?

How does it sit on the site?

Take what you have learned from this layout and start over. It is easier to create a good layout than fix a bad layout. A good local architect would be beneficial.

I wouldn’t want my master right off the kitchen and living area. It needs to be more removed.

This wouldn't bother me.

The ceilings are all 10’ throughout the house, so most of our windows are 6’ tall. I’m hoping that helps the light situation in the kitchen/living.

I don't think so.

Thinking about doing some skylight tubes in the master bath and possibly the kitchen.

They're not a substitute for windows.

Just looking at it really quickly:

-I would flip the master bath so that the toilet is on the garage wall. I wouldnt want to hear people going potty/flushing the toilet in the kitchen.

- Why is there a bump out for the bathtub on the office side? Why pay extra for that when you can also extend the rooms to make them larger. It costs money to have bump outs in framing, roofing, etc. Maybe you can find a way to make that bathroom more private with a little extra room.

Who designed this?

What direction does the front of the house face?

How large is your property?

What does the elevation and roof look like?

What is your everyday family makeup (ages and number of kids?)

If you have not read the book, The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka, I suggest you do so before you do anything else.

The plan started as a rough drawing and then was recreated by a drafter.

The front of the house faces southwest. It will sit on a hill in a wide open pasture.

Everyday family of four with young kids.

This is the elevation

have you considered instead working with a person of design talent because this looks like it was designed by a draftsman. One with little to no design talent. Sorry to be so blunt but you can do a heck of a lot better. Including your facade.

I didn't bold this originally because I didn't know what direction the house faced. Now I do.

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

Not to be rude, but that elevation is ... lackluster at best.