thanks all for the lovely comments! i'm just now getting around to the questions/comments as i've been busy bargain hunting on ebay. (picked up a beautiful chandy w/ matching smaller yesterday ...see below) for just under $200 including ship! comfortdog: if anything, the gallery seems to have reduced cost as it reduced the square footage. we're thinking of popping holes in every ceiling. ;^) lyfia: the closet for that bedroom will be a built in so i didn't want any surrounding walls. it won't be a walk in or a reach in. the drawers and cubbies will be exposed. canobielake: i have a rough plan for the kitchen which seems to change daily... see below: sweeby: thanks for the tips and yes, the kitchen is large. and i'm working with it to hopefully use as an advantage. i have a good idea where everything will go and feel comfortable with the size. the house will be used for a lot of entertaining and we will be here for many years. while the architects plan shows only general placement it's not at all what the final layout will look like. the fridge and freezer are the thermador freedom towers and they will be separated so the fridge is closest to the range (all 60" of it) on the opposite wall. there will be at least one prep sink in addition to a beverage fridge and two dishwashers. the 12' wall closest to dining room will house a desk, wet bar (there will be a sink) and baking center. i've spent a good two years working it out so far so hopefully it will operate as intentioned. you will see a LOT of me at the kitchen forum a LOT more as the planning develops. i'll be the one begging for help! about the master closet: i also have plans for that area which has somehow grown on me. the rear of that space wlll at some point serve as a cedar lined closet. until then we will use it as a bowling alley. if you think i'm kidding, just ask my four and five year olds! jaymielo: the small space at the end of the L is a small sitting room. as for the two lavs, it was the one of the first things i thought of! we've been married for fifteen years. i know what goes on in the bathroom when dh is there. i have no need to spend all of my time with him, if you kwim! rhome410: the kids (as well as dh and i) will use the mudroom entrance through the garage. there is an entrance to the garage from the back yard as well. there's also a small secondary powder room right outside the mudroom. for dirty clothes a stackable washer dryer will be housed inside the mudroom closet. we plan eight feet for cubbies which will include open space for hanging and also drawers and open shelves. there is also another six foot fun of cabinets for additional storage: cleaning supplies, extra pantry and just plain stuff. this my bargain of the day. a six light chandy. i bought the matching four light as well: Here is a link that might be useful: cool chandy

just a thought or two - but did you research your planners pretty good? we thought we did - but apparently didnt. we got lured in by the fancy smancy computer drawings and when we met with the fella - he wanted to do everything by email, no face to face time. we convinced him to meet with us several times, but he had very little input into our actual design as far as giving assitance, if we had said we wanted a wall to be 10.37546 inches - he would have drawn it that way - instead of telling us what is more practical from a builders standpoint while keeping our ideas in mind. we ended up with a nice plan - but we did every bit of it and all he did was put it in his program. $3k. hindsight. we probably could have selected a default plan and had the company modify it for less. lesson learned. you have to remember - the way they are viewing it is the planner/architect is drawing out only what you express to them. if there is a breakdown in communication - that is where people go -- "what tha ....?" lady i work with is designing one and just got her plans back and she was griping left and right about nothing was right about the plan - when we asked her if she told the designer if that is what she wanted - she said no, "she figured she knew what she was trying to build..."

Garages are a love-hate thing, in part because they block off natural light. By dividing your garage in this way, you're allowing this major drawback to occur on TWO sides of your house. I would consider making the boat's garage a detached unit. I share your idea of keeping the bedroom clutter-free by planning a large closet that can eliminate dressers in the bedroom, BUT this closet is oversized. I do not like the master bath. When you walk in (assuming the toilet closet door isn't open, blocking your way), you're going to have a view of . . . the closet door. The tub seems squished into a small spot, and the shower looks too narrow for comfort. Nothing about this bathroom looks inviting or comfortable. You have plenty of space between the bath and the closet, and you absolutely can lay out something better without changing the footprint. Your stairs look pretty much dead-on to me. The fold-back design is a space-hog, but it doesn't appear to be over-sized or under-sized. I like the idea of ditching the closet that backs up to the stairs and replacing it with a drop zone -- it'll be a nice size. However, I would want to harness the space under those stairs somehow. I think the kitchen is a good size -- not too big, not too small, good flow throughout -- but the pantry is too small. For this kitchen to work, you need more space, and the pantry is the best option. I'm tempted to say use the closet that backs up to the stairs as a second pantry . . . but then you don't have your drop space. I'm not in the camp of "My laundry room must be massive with all the bells and whistles", but this one is overly cramped. If a parent will eventually live in this bedroom, I don't think it's adequate. I mean, the room is fine, but the bathroom will be a problem if the parent needs a walker or wheelchair, and the sink is just plain too small regardless. I would consider a walk-in shower instead of a tub; it's easier for an elderly person to access, and you have space here to make it nice and big -- big enough for a shower chair. Also, the closet probably isn't enough for an adult. Overall, I think your functional spaces on the guest room /kitchen /casual entry area side are just too small. I think you need a couple more feet to make this all comfortable. Love the dining area and the arrangement of the kitchen and living room. Everything's connected in a comfortable way. The front porch is too narrow for real use, but it will be a nice look and will allow you to decorate for holidays (that's pretty important in my book). Concerns about this 2142 sq ft new plan that I can see, I really want to hear all the good and bad. : 1) Laundry room too small 2) No drop zone 3) Kitchen and kitchen pantry too small 4) Is the master closet too big? I have know idea how big it should be to hold all our clothes and things 5) Is the hole for the stairs too big 6) Worried we have simplified the foundation so much we will loose all character. Hoping to be able to add gables, interior ceiling features to boost up the character. 7) Master shower too little Here is the new plan offered to us from the architect:

Tikilyn, This is a bit bigger than the 3000 sq ft you said you wanted but, if you like it, you might be able to pare it down some IF you're willing to cut room sizes down a bit. For the most part tho, I think the room sizes you mentioned in your post are pretty good. Not dinky but not overly huge either. So, I tried to include all the rooms you showed on your sketch tho I wasn't quite sure what that room between the living room and the kids' bedrooms was supposed to be. I guessed that it was a computer room or playroom or something like that. I also stuck in a powderroom because that seemed to be missing. I wanted to simplify the footprint as much as possible because all the "corners" you had make for a very expensive build. And, to do that, I wound up moving the secondary bedrooms behind the 3 car garage. With the width of the 3 car garage, the secondary bedroom just fit behind it better than the master did. This arrangement allows all of the bedrooms except the guest room to have windows facing in two directions if you want. (Having windows that face two directions is GREAT for natural light and you won't believe what it does for the ambiance of a room!) In case you're wondering, the secondary bathrooms are all 5'x7' which allows you to have a standard-sized alcove tub/shower combo, a toilet and a 24 to 28 inch wide vanity. All interior doors except a couple of closet doors are 32" wide or wider so it is possible to get a wheelchair thru if you need to. Exterior doors and doors leading to the laundry are 36" wide or wider. Master bedroom is buffered from the noise of the living room by the fireplace, built-in bookcases, and its own recessed door. Tub in the master bath is 36"x72" and could be wider. Shower is 48"x60" and could be up 48"x72". One bay of the garage is made slightly deeper than the other two in case you have a big car or truck but even the two shallow bays are deeper than many garages. You could also put a nice deep front porch on this house if you wanted to. And/or you could add a screened porch on the back. Good luck with whatever route you decide to take.