Thanks for all the comments- I will try to respond. It seems like most people agree that it is a long trek from the garage to the kitchen but believe me, I have already lost the battle with the bonus room. We definitely do not "need" the space, but my husband wants it. I agree its' use will be limited but he will not budge on this. Due to the size and slope of the lot, we are limited to how much we can change the design. The house already sits as far forward as it can go because of the set back requirement (50 feet) and I can't really see how we could move the garage closer. If you have any ideas, please share. To answer some questions- -there are 2 small coat closets flanking the front door and a 4x6 walk in pantry in the far right hand side of the the kitchen. Is this not big enough for a walk in? - the laundry space does seem small to me too- this is one of my biggest concerns. we are planning on putting a 2nd washer/dryer upstairs (stacking) but I'm worried about how efficient that will be too. - the surface for all the floors on the 1st floor will be 3' hardwood. - the original design of the house had the family room coming off the back of the house- rather than the side but because of the lot, had to be moved. I realize that this will effect the impact of the view but we are planning to hang the TV on the side wall of the family room- not over the fireplace. I was thinking that it would allow the TV and fireplace to be focal points and with the furniture arranged to face the TV, the view of the back yard will also be seen (at least from some of the seating). The doorway to the FR is also 6 feet wide so I'm thinking it will be somewhat easy to see from the kitchen area. Again- any thoughts or suggestions for improvement will be appreciated. - the deck is not drawn properly on the picture. It will actually be a tiered patio that will be graded down to the space outside the walk out basement. There will be a retaining wall and we are working on a plan to incorporate stone steps and a landing area into the walkway to make the grading more appealing. I hope I described that right- we just met with a landscaper and it is still a bit confusing to me. - I hadn't really thought about the lack of side windows in the LR and DR. I thought with french doors at either end of the open space, there would be enough light. I also thought the lack of side windows would make furniture placement easier. Do you think the space will need more light? Would you include windows in both rooms or just one and where? Thanks again. This is very helpful and I appreciate the honest feedback.

OK, using your black & white floor plan, any reason you couldn't turn the stairs 90 degrees, so that you would go up or down from the left side? Very roughly, since I don't have time to figure out the numbers, then move the stairs towards the front door so that the (open) wall of the up stairs hits where the non-hinge side of the door to the MBR is (get rid of that door). Put a coat/storage closet to the right of the front door to provide a buffer between this new foyer and the MBR wall. This will create a very nice place for people to enter, a place to put raincoats, and their first view as they enter will be to your great view to the west through the great room instead of the kitchen, which is now blocked off for the most part and which can be pulled back to the right partly into where the stairs were. You have plenty of space on that left side to create 3 spaces: With both kids and guests, it is very nice to have a room that can be a little apart from the main goings on. In that back left corner where you have the DR, wall it off with double pocket doors facing the front to make it a den, TV room, playroom, whatever--it's use would change over the years. The middle of that 40' space can be the DR, with plenty of space left in the left front corner for the great room. Now put the MBR entrance coming in from the top left side of the room, with the WIC closet door on the top right side of the BR (not ideal to go around the bed to the bath/closet--maybe someone else can work this out better), & the bed can go between these on the long wall, which uses the space better than if it's on the short wall. You have enough room behind all of this if you get rid of the excess space in the WIC & master bath to have a separate laundry (most people seem to strongly prefer this), the powder room, and mudroom. I'd move the door separating the kitchen & pantries to the right side of the pantries--if this part of the plan still keeps this form. Anne

No arguments about the awful pantry. We had it changed before we even started this thread. I'd go with something like this, which gives you a way to get groceries into the pantry without carrying them around the corner and through the kitchen's main workway; however, as shown, it's too close to the back door and would create a bottleneck: Still smaller than we want. Obviously not a MUST have with the amount of cabinet space we have, but I'm definitely a buy-in-bulk shopper, and don't want to have to store it all in the basement. I don't like to store food in cabinets. First, it's easy to "lose things" in the back of a dark cabinet. Second, cabinets are expensive storage, whereas pantry shelves are very cheap to build. I'd gladly give up some cabinet space to get more pantry. The living room is the room we question. I'm sure we'll sit and read in it cause it's there and nice, but obviously not entertain formally every week. But we want to be able to entertain away from the kitchen & family room. Should we shrink it a couple feet and add that to the used every day family room? Definitely worth debating, but it's the first room people see coming in after the foyer; should it be small? I think the proportions of the house would be off if we shrunk the foyer and living room a lot, and you entered into our large house and saw such small spaces. But we're here for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 100th opinions, so feel free to disagree. The Not So Big House series has been recommended over and over. It will address this issue -- in detail -- with photographs. That just didn't make sense to us. The #1 thing that just doesn't make sense is moving forward with a project when you're not 100% dead sold on the house. And I don't hear that from you. Whatever sunk costs you have in these plans, the building of the house will be exponentially more -- so don't hurry. playroom So in addition to the great room - living room - study - basement, we're talking about a playroom? I think the real issue here is that the OP hasn't really defined how each room will be used -- aside from expressing a desire for an adult space and a children's space. THAT is the issue. If you have a nice wall of cabinets in the family room, it could contain toys for now, and it would be convenient for toddlers while the parents are cooking. Or you could contain toys in the study for now and later it could become a teen space or an actual study. Or you could have an all-toys-to-bedrooms-by-dinner rule. The mudroom is big enough to contain a desk and work space, and it's convenient to the kitchen. All sorts of things could work ... but more rooms, more rooms, more rooms without definition isn't the right answer. Will each space have a TV? Where will books and board games be stored? Where will the kids have video games one day? Where is a quiet place for an adult to sit and read or work? Where can a kid practice a musical instrument? Once you clearly define how each room will be used, you can efficiently decide how much space each room needs. I'm not convinced that's really been addressed.

Hi Allie , Looks like you've gotten, 'Houzzed!' That syndrome where a bunch of people beat you up for not going to architecture school, or have they budget they pretend their current clients do have. Let's see if we can actually help you - which I've been assured by my Houzz representative is the actual point of the forums. Being you have no design experience - that actually gives you greater insight to what a homebuyer wants as opposed to a designer/architect whose main want is to be published. So step 1: Forget so much what the other houses are doing, and ask yourself what YOU would want in a new home. Start with 5, 'must haves,' then toss in 5 'nice to haves.' A quick call to the realtor helping you sell the property will confirm, remove or add to that list. A good plan doesn't show ALL we know, it shows WHAT we know, basically saying quality of space over quantity. Currently it looks like you're cramming in amenities. Step 2: Prioritize. Is a tiny dining nook in the middle of a walkway to the stairs really more important than 3 oddly sized bedrooms? If yes, go to 2 nicely laid out bedrooms (1 true master) and 1 decent sized dining room. If not, lose the dining room - its in the middle of the kids running up & down stairs anyways. Step 3: Organize. Would you live in a master bedroom that buts up against the garage? Is the privacy a master bedroom needs really achieved by having it as close to the front door as it is? Would it be better if the kitchen were pulled back so that when you pull your car in to the garage you can easily get your groceries to the fridge? Step 4: Simplify. If your floorplan is doing a lot of left & rights and parts of it looks like a maze, it will be as hard to build as it is to look at. We have a term, 'acrobatics.' I.E. there's oa lot of acrobatics to get a linen closet, hallway bathroom & laundry room near the entry of your first floor. This kinds of sums up all the steps - 1, would YOU squeeze into a bathroom that size? 2, is the linen closet really worth it there? 3, Do you want your guests getting a towel from next to your master bedroom door? Hope that helped. I know it was a long answer, its usually why we start every project with a free 15 min. strategy session. Just hit us up on our profile! I'll even go a step further - send me a message here on houzz & I'll sketch both upstairs and downstairs in the same exact footprint for free. Thanks,a -frank build beautiful