Wow, I missed that the garage was in the basement. That is the kiss of death for resale if most of your competition have main floor garages.

Lots of homes in parts of Boston have that because of steep hills. Not that I'd want it either.

I think the plan works nicely, and I would not force someone else to live like I do. It's done well in many areas, some improvements which are part of this early process is a normal occurrence. Some comments:

- Ceiling heights: the rooms are generously proportioned, so having 9' heights probably fits better with that upstairs. Though the windows on the elevation look like it's setup for 8' heights (2nd floor eave line, 1st floor 10' with no transoms). The garage only has 1 step down, so going down to 8' in the basement would not be good on that alone.

- Elevation: I recognize the decision for a hip roof over the Garage mass to reduce the ridge height above a 3-story wall. I don't know if that's the right move without sketching, but with the hip you would only get a tray ceiling in the Master (vault would be odd). That wall above the garage doors is pretty blank and little aesthetic thought has been put into it. And I'm not sure if the gable over the Master Closet is very successful looking at the windows on that massing and comparing it to the other, more formal side of house. Over the Living window bay roof, the bumpout roof stopping with a flat vertical plane next to the Porch roof is odd (on the plan it was changed to a hip, but that is not an improvement).

- Cost: Always a tough compromise with what you want and what you can get. Without knowing any context of the project, all I can say is that some aspects of the design lead to higher costs, but there is no solution other than a complete rework. For instance, in the Garage all those steel beams and LVLs are because of the spans set up for the rooms above, and then the Great Room wall has a bunch of posts and beams. In general the floor spans are set on 2x12, instead of a typical 2x10, and are doubled up in the Great Room. A lot of the jogs in footprint do not align, causing a little more complexity. A 3rd floor bonus room requires another stair flight, more floor joists and stick roof/dormer construction, and difficult HVAC. But, you'd have to reconceive rooms sizes and amenities, you can't just keep what's inherent with this design while making it more efficient. And, if you are worried about cost at a big scale, reducing materials finishes will not make a noticeable dent.

- Sun: I recognize the Dining Room is walled off to be more formal. It would be nice to get some south sun across the back part of house, but I have no ideas without a complete rework (the Dining cabinet looks very out of place). The basement I would open up more of the Rec Area south wall (a large well).

- Mech: At first I thought that area in basement was reserved for a future elevator, but didn't line up wholly across floors. I think it says "possible mech," which leads me to say the HVAC and MEP needs to be thought about by the architect, from the get-go. If forced air, you will have 2 furnaces and lots of ductwork/chases to worry about going under lots of flush beams. Soffits tend to ruin all the work put into lining up walls and views and expensive structure. That "possible" also brings up putting in an elevator, at least dedicating a shaft for a future one for this level of house.

- Garage: For the size of house and amenities, agree the garage is very small. No room for storage or flexible work area, even tight walking around cars to get to the Mudroom. Counting on a shed or even another detached garage doesn't cut it for this genre the rest of the house portrays. No "backhouse" access. Agree that Mudroom needs some windows, and on having space for flexibility of other amenities such as a dog wash, dirty space, etc as mentioned by others.

- Guest Bedroom: It should have an alcove for the door off the Great Room (shifted to next to beam or reworked with Pantry door). At 15x15 for a Guest Room there is plenty of space to work in an alcove.

- Master Ensuite: There is plenty of space to have a vestibule for the bath and closet (e.g. enter alcove, left to one door, right to the other). I would shift it to either the Sitting area or work with fireplace alignment. I might scheme even flipping the bath with closet to either aid in the vestibule and/or windows/elevation aesthetics (e.g. getting the tub window off the front elevation).

I played around with the guest room on this quiet holiday afternoon, and besides finding a new home for the fridge and oven, consider this. It gives more privacy to the guest room, but also accessibility to it. and adds more circulation to the downstairs.

How did you find this architect? Is he part of a design/build firm? Or is he independent?

Cpartist, the architect was indeed recommended by one of the builders that I have been discussing with. I had ot look up what you meant by porkchop eaves :). I didn't realize that would add significant costs and can get rid of it.

bpath, Thanks so much for taking your time on this holiday afternoon and providing suggestion on guestroom entrance. If we move the refrigerator and oven to the dinette wall, this can reduce the previously mentioned concern about island barrier. We can also consider turning that half bath into full bath and get rid of the bathroom in the guestroom. Pantry is a must for my wife, so will need to work on it.

Chispa --> "" Wow, I missed that the garage was in the basement. That is the kiss of death for resale if most of your competition have main floor garages"

Unfortunately, this is something we have to live with given the current lot. Not sure about resale issue though, as it is quite common to see this in newly built homes as well.

@cpartist, that first house and our second were in the Boston suburbs. A garage under was still a negative for many buyers. I had to laugh at steep hills in the Boston area... not compared to LA! 😁

3onethetree, thank you for the detailed inputs, very helpful. I hadn't thought about Alcove and vestibule, will discuss with the architect.

@g m, I would expect it in a spec house, because a garage under is cheaper, but I would try to avoid it if it was a custom home. Just my experience, but I know sometimes we don't have the choice of the perfect lot and compromises have to be made.

@cpartist "So rear will be west. That will work in winter but might not be fun in summer. That sunroom will be an oven in summer with the west facing windows".

The good thing is our house is surrounded by trees and the backyard abutts conservation area. So, our current sunroom (has a ceiling fan) is not that hot in the summer.

Cpartist, the architect was indeed recommended by one of the builders that I have been discussing with. I had ot look up what you meant by porkchop eaves :). I didn't realize that would add significant costs and can get rid of it.

I asked because some of what was put into the house and the porkchop eaves, screamed builder because they are easier for a builder to do than more traditional eave ends.

Also IF an architect works for the builder, then they will make compromises to make it easier for the builder to build the house. It may or may not be what's best for you.

@cpartist, that first house and our second were in the Boston suburbs. A garage under was still a negative for many buyers. I had to laugh at steep hills in the Boston area... not compared to LA!

LMAO. Having just returned from LA to visit my kids, I do have to agree with you.

However it's how the houses in Boston are built and I hear you about it being a negative.

GM, can you show your plat and how the house will sit on it?

And I like what BP did for the guest bedroom. As for the pantry, the pantry you had wasn't truly workable because there was barely room to be inside of it. What would be better is a wall of reach in pantry on that back wall against the bathroom that BP showed.

Additionally is the question again if you need those 3 eating areas which would also change how the kitchen works. There is definitely a much better kitchen design.

The good thing is our house is surrounded by trees and the backyard abutts conservation area. So, our current sunroom (has a ceiling fan) is not that hot in the summer.

Well that's good to hear but wondering if there's a better location for the sunroom.

Lastly, may I say you're taking all this quite well which makes it more pleasurable for us to brainstorm with you.

Ask the architect to print out each floor on 17x22 or 22x32 with a scale. then cut out your furniture to layout the space. You have large rooms, but you may find you have a bit of space that youll need-to fill with stuff but will never actually use. The master bed sitting area would be unused in my house,but may be something you use often.

As others said, simplify the outside, remove stone on areas other than foundation. Remove gables. Change hip roof over garage to gable end.

If you can afford, work with an independent architect. If you have no experience building, you want an architect on your side first. The builder is invariably going to want to change things to make construction easier and youll need someone knowledgeable to advocate for you. Also discuss how often the architect can do walk throughs during construction (either personally or one of their staff). A key in keeping costs in check is having a well thoight out set of plans,not changing your mind during build, and frequent job site walk throughs.

This is a typical house design for my neighborhood, or at least it is as far as square footage and spaces (although we dont have sun rooms). I do not see anything wrong with the number of bathrooms. They all have a purpose. I would keep the shower downstairs. Since you are building and plumbing anyway, I don’t think deleting a bathroom will save as much money as you might think. I have eight foot ceilings and am happy with them, but I have an original midcentury modern home, narrow in width with floor to ceiling windows, flooded with light. If I was to build a new home, I would go for 9-10 foot ceilings. I think this will be important for resale, but will a lot more expensive than 8 foot. Now if your house is sitting in a neighborhood of older homes with 8 foot ceilings, you might be okay. What about the sun room? Is that necessary? Can you add it later? If you can afford the kit and kaboodle, then I would go for the whole plan because adding on later will likely be at a higher cost then doing it now. As far as exterior changes I have to defer to the experts above. they are usually right on about picking up excessive details. I do like that your architect kept the windows the same size. I would shore up unessesary jogs in the exterior to save money.

@cpartist @Indecisiveness @rockybird Thanks again for your feedback, very helpful. Will work on modifying the exterior and incorporate other suggestions mentioned anove.

@cpartist, I dont have the plot plan yet. Will share it later.

The architect should have designed the house how it sits on the plot. To see what I mean look up user architectuserguy on this forum to see how he shows the house sitting on the land. I'm surprised an architect wouldn't have done that.

This house may be just the way you want it which is fine! But mediocre closets and all en-suite showers would be a major turn off to me. I'd much rather have better closets and a larger shared bathroom with a tub, especially with little kids. You need a tub other than master and I'd honestly rather have a share bath off hallway for bedtime. Love the upstairs laundry, but I would definitely not want it on my bedroom wall. Agree kitchen needs work - the barrier island situation is not going to work happily. Not sure where you are proposing moving it to but you may need to switch sink to the island if it goes on the longer run. You don't want fridge - cooktop - sink. I'd also want double ovens in a house this size (I'd love them in a tiny house my size but it's just not possible!).

No advice, but wanted to say hi. We are also building in the Boston suburbs (we are in Hopkinton). This house also looks to be a common design for new build in our area, as are underground garages. Our builder was pushing for us to do a underground garage but MH was very against it. We have a large lot but with many conservation restrictions which narrowed our buildable space.

bpath, Thanks so much for taking your time on this holiday afternoon and providing suggestion on guestroom entrance. If we move the refrigerator and oven to the dinette wall, this can reduce the previously mentioned concern about island barrier. We can also consider turning that half bath into full bath and get rid of the bathroom in the guestroom. Pantry is a must for my wife, so will need to work on it.

Oh don't get rid of the en-suite for the guestroom. Guests will find it supremely uncomfortable to have to walk across a hall open to public areas of the house to do their business.

I stayed in a house where the guest room-den had a door to the shower room, which had a pocket door to the powder room, which had a door to the hall. It was an efficient and, I thought, optimal arrangement, that didn’t waste an entire little-used bathroom.

The exterior of your home is very pretty, the stone at the foundation very appropriate.

Anyone can build any size house he/she wants, obviously. But: the OP was asking about ways to save on costs, so this is where reducing the size (if not ALL spaces will be necessary) of the house becomes a valid suggestion, just like reducing ceiling height (I wouldn’t go lower than 9’) to reduce heating costs in the future. Having a large house in Boston translates to high heating bills, of course. We still don’t know (as far as I can tell) how many people live in this house on a permanent basis…knowing that would be a good start. Children? How many and what ages? Unless your children are tiny (and of course today’s baby monitors with screens etc help tremendously), I’d try to get the master on the main level; A. it’s much more convenient, and B. it will give you some privacy and quiet once the kids get older. Just something to think about, esp if you plan to be in this house for many years.

@lharpie @coray @cpartist @bpath Thanks again for your inputs, working on the modifications. To address some questions- there will be 5 residents in the house, kids are in the middle school now.

Based on all the great feedback so far, have proposed these changes on the second floor - we will now have a jack and jill bath that the two corner bedrooms will share. The third bedroom will have its own bath. Since both of us work from home most of the time, the idea was to use the master bed sitting room as an office space as well. We may be end up either reducing the sitting room area or getting rid of it to accommodate larger baths and closets. As @3onthetree suggested, the master bath and closet will also be swapped with a potential vestibule.

On the first floor, I like the proposed solution by bpath on creating an entrance to the guest bedroom for privacy and accessibility. Will be converting the half bath to full bath with dual access from hall & guest bedroom, so no need to walk to public areas to get to the bath. This does require moving the pantry (size 6 x 6) and reducing the office size. The kitchen is also being redesigned for better movement and accessibility to refrigerator.

@Kyla McSweeney Hi, great to hear you are building in hopkinton.

@User ~10%

Jack & Jill bathrooms are perfect for developing sibling relationship that can last a lifetime. One kid can assist the other when they hear them "talking to Ralph on the big white phone". Learn anatomy when they walk through unintentionally unlocked door. Learn finished carpentry in repairing the door jam after having to kick in the door that was accidentally left locked. A jack & jill bathroom helps siblings learn how to resolve conflict, challenge memory, and enhances vocabulary. A catalyst of human development.

In other words, forgo the jack & jill bathrooms.

No Jack and Jill bathroom. The kids can walk out their rooms into the hall to use the bathroom. See Mark's comments.

gm I'm glad to see you reworking several of the areas.

Now having said that, again I ask:

Do you need the island, dinette, and dining room for eating? Plus I'm guessing you'll also have outdoor eating in summer?

Do you need a great room, living room and sunroom? Or could one of those rooms be an actual second office?

Or if you intend to make the bedroom sitting area an office, why not make it an actual office closed off from the bedroom?

In reality, if it were me, I'd make 1/2 the living room into the second office, so both offices are across one another in the foyer. I'd then move the kitchen to the dining room and create an L shaped kitchen and move the dining room to where the kitchen is now.

Yes you lose the living room, but I know for me, I'd never use it. Of course YMMV. And by doing that, I'd probably make the house a bit smaller too.

Yes you'd lose the living room, but it would also allow you to add an elevator and probably make the house a bit smaller without all the bump outs.

In defense of three eating spaces: the second home I grew up in had a formal dining room, breakfast nook in the kitchen, and a game table in the family room. Granted Granted, these were three distinct rooms, but connected one to another. And we never felt it was overkill. The dining room was for parties, breakfast nook for most meals growning up, and later the family room game table was for supper, and sometimes lunch. It’s nice to eat where the ambience meal and mood!

For this plan, on another topic. I still think more thought needs to go into the arrival points coming up the stairs. Will the door to the basement usually be open or closed? Either way, it is a hindrance at all times. and each stair arrives at a narrow landing, which is inconvenient for carrying furniture, shopping, luggage, backpacks, and stuff. Not to mention traffic jams of people.

I don't have a problem with having all those spaces if they are actually used. Our previous house had 2 seats at an island, a kitchen table, a separate dining room, a family room and a living room. Dining room was used twice a year(waste). Living room we basically called the Christmas tree room because that is all it was ever used for(waste). We used the seating at the island and kitchen table daily. In our current house we have seating at our island and a dining table area with large table where we can seat up to 10 people so can be used for the occasional holiday meals but also used daily for all our meals. We have one family room which is used daily to watch tv. We got rid of the wasted rooms.

I think people have to think about how they "really" live. Will all those spaces be used or is it some fantasy of having all these holiday gatherings and do all this entertaining and it never happens?

Agree vinmarks that if those spaces will be used on a continual basis, it's worth including. However if they're only used occassionally isn't there better use of the space?

I've worked from home, and I would HATE having my office in my bedroom. Have you done this successfully in the past? I would rather set up an office in the guest bedroom on the main floor, where I could walk away at the end of my work day.

I agree with Mark about the Jack and Jill bath. Make a nice bathroom accessed from the hall, with just one sink and plenty of storage. As a parent who never entered my kids' bedrooms without their permission, certainly by the time they were in middle school, I would want to be able to peek into their bathroom once in a while to make sure it's getting cleaned, or to drop off towels or toothpaste, without barging through someone's bedroom.

I appreciate how you are listening to the advice given, and willing to make changes to your plan!

With the addition of attractive doors in the archways, the sitting room can be easily set apart from the bedroom. And, DH and I wouldn’t mind that setup when one of us wakes in the night and wants to read or watch something quietly.

I love having a kitchen table and a formal dining room. if i had room for an island i might go crazy and do stools too. But my kitchen table is a cozy nook area with great light and diningroom is directly through a door from kitchen. small house so dining room is also used for lots of things. it seems duplicative to have a dinette as big as the dining room that you have to walk around to get to the dining room. if you took cpartists idea of corner L shaped kitchen you could keep all the seating but have the dining room directly off the kitchen. and a better kitchen layout!

Stay with 9/10/9 tall ceilings, so worth it.

@cpartist great questions, thanks again. Our current house has a similar format as in the design minus the formal dining room. We have an open kitchen format with L shaped kitchen that has a breakfast granite counter with 4 stools, a dining area for a table and 6 chairs, 3 season sunroom, family room and a small living room. The living room has a couch, TV and a desk/chair that is my office as well. We do use all these spaces very well. We also have frequent gatherings with friends throughout the year and find space is always an issue. So, the new design is in a similar format with an island in the kitchen, a formal dining room and living room. We do think of how we live :), have our own experiences and see-through different lenses. I admit there can be some adjustments made.

@AnnKH Yes, my wife currently works out from our so-called master bed (which is technically our smallest bedroom) and has a desk/monitor next to the bed. My office is in the living room. :)

@Mark Bischak, Architect On jack and Jill, we didn't like it as much either and hence we had ensuite bathroom in the design I shared. In doing so the bathroom and closets ended being smaller and heard a lot of comments above. I do see this Jack and jill design now in most new homes as well. Will rethink!

From what I can see from this design, I would think your architect is fully capable of starting over and coming up with a new design that is more efficient and better.

I also see where they drew a dimension line without dimensions. I am glad I am not the only one that does that.

Have you surveyed your use of space in your current home and actually determined your actual needs? We tend to imagine how we will use space much differently than we actually use space.

Measure every room, closet and cabinet in every room of your current home. Analyze what works and what doesn't work.

How much additional cabinet space do you need in your kitchen?

How much pantry space do you need, how much space do you need for small appliances?

Pots and pans? Silverware/dishes/serving dishes? How much stuff do you have that you don't really use?

Can you and your wife share a space while working from home?

Why do you need an office downstairs when you are planning to use the sitting room as an office? How much space do you need for working from home?

Where do the kids do their homework?

How much space does each person need for clothing? Hanging space? Drawer space?

How much space does each person need for their personal care needs?

How much space is needed for each daily activity?

How much time do you spend staring at the fireplace?

How much time do you spend in front of the TV?

Where should the fireplace be located and where should the TV be located?

Do you watch TV while cooking or while eating?

You have a living room, great room, rec room and sun room for 5 people.

How much time will you spend in each room?

What types of activities do you do each day?

Do you need space for crafting activities, playing board games, building puzzles?

How often do you have guests?

How many guests at a time and what type of activities?

My sister built a Jack and Jill bathroom for her daughters, but placed their vanities in their bedrooms and just had the bath/shower, toilet and small sink in the shared space. 3 kids could share one bathroom for showers and toilet activities. I grew up in a home where we had 6 kids and one bath, but also had a vanity in the girls bedroom and boys bedroom. Yes we shared bedrooms with our same sex siblings (3 girls / 3 boys).

Great design is all about realistically fulfilling the needs of your family. The more money you spend on building and maintaining unused space the less money you have for family vacations and other activities that will enrich your lives.

Just to clarify what I think I read, you are already talking with a couple builders, and the architect is one that was just mentioned by one of the builders. So the architect is fully independent. I think you are approaching this project in a good manner.

You say you are looking at reducing cost by about ~10%. Let's say a builder delivers this to you for $950K, you want to reduce it to $875K. At an actual cost of $750K, that 10% could be close to the difference between 2 builders bidding on the very same construction documents. So when refining the design you have to consider the context of what criteria you gave to the architect, the context of where this house is, and what you want the end result of the design to be.

That is the context that most threads on this forum disregard when commenters state their preferences for how they eat, or how they work from home. This is a 4 level ~5000sf house + 1400sf basement (~6400sf total living) and maybe it is going into a neighborhood of similar houses. Maybe all those houses at similar size and value have bedroom ensuites, and those bedrooms are proportioned beginning at 15x13 instead of 12x10. They might have a separate Guest Ensuite instead of a shared Powder Room. Houses of this size certainly have a separate formal Dining, Breakfast, and island seating, whether they are used or not. So any prominent changes should be tempered by the initial conception of the design - otherwise, you have to reconceive the house.

That's my problem, I eat in the dining room, dinette, kitchen, and living room.

@3onthetree , You brought up a good point except for the statement that the OP made in the comments: "The plan is to tear down the current home (1550 sqft) that was built in 1956 on a 0.5 acre lot." Now I am wondering if the house is overbuilt for the neighborhood. Can the neighborhood that had the modest 1500 sf home really support a 6400 sq ft home? Is it a good investment?

The architect will design what you ask them to design, the builder will build whatever you hand him to build. They aren't going to tell you no if you say you want to build on the lot you already own even if it isn't a good fit for the neighborhood.

Then you think of the fact that this family has been living in 1500 sf - do they really need 4 times this amount of space? They have 3 kids that are in middle school. 6 more years and they are off to college.

Even though the house is quite large, the general style appears to be modest enough to be called vernacular so the absence of formal cornice returns may be OK but I find the portico to be a bit out of place or maybe its just too large for the porch. Or maybe its the odd arch that's bothering me.

I'm also concerned that the major forms of the facade only project a foot and might not be as strong when built as they appear to be in the 2D elevation drawing.

The drawings indicate your architect is quite competent but old fashioned (not a bad thing) so I fear a perspective drawing or computer model is needed but not available.

PS

A name change was necessary to allow me to send and receive messages.

I quite like the design of the house, looks to have lots of natural light. I agree costs could be reduced with less ensuites..but I don’t know your needs. However, if you are considering Jack and Jill, I would rethink that. A better bathroom layout for a shared bathroom is a larger bath open from the hall that allows the tub/shower and toilet to behind a door from the vanity. Then one child could be showering while another is brushing teeth and whatnot at the vanity.

How much is saving from 9/10/9 to 8/9/8? It really should be little to overall coast, but for large home like this it will be horrible choice…

Few more comments, Front door should be much larger of double doors. No to skinny rounded columns. Dining room should be more open to kitchen, and dinette should be on another side of kitchen.

@Jennifer Hogan agree with what you say in general. I would guess that the OP could get a basic 2400sf-2800sf house built, that is layed out pretty similar to this one, for ~$650K. Room sizes starting 12x10, J&J, truss roof, 2 story Family Room, we all know that plan. The OP is a step or two above that. Larger rooms, 3rd floor, ensuites, full Master sitting. So having a 1950's house worth $400K, tearing it down, and building just a $650K house doesn't seem to move the needle, regardless if this is being built for 1 person or 5. And I would guess the OP can afford much more, and that they have already seen this higher value supported in their HCOL area near Boston.

My point was that advice should recognize what the house is conceived as. The data points on a 7000sf house are different than an 1100sf off-grid house review. The OP had to set the course at the beginning of the project, dictating the size, amenities, and budget. Whether the inspiration came from other houses on the block, the builder's portfolio, new subdivisions in the next town, an internet plan, whatever, the architect was directed by something.

Many of the comments say to eliminate the ensuites. Maybe the formal Dining or Living. Have a guest share a hall bath thus eliminating flexibility for a lower-level Master. Mostly reasons being the commenter doesn't need those amenities. All that makes this house into the $650K house plan we all know. That flies in the face of what this project is presented as. If the OP chooses to go in that direction, then the whole project has to be reconceived.

@3onthetree @res2architect @Jennifer Hogan @User @sofikbr @Mark Bischak, Architect. Thanks all for your comments.

Jack and jill is out. We will now have a shared bathroom in the hall that can be accessed easily from the rear bedroom and the third bedroom. The left front bedroom will have its own bath.

@Jennifer Hogan Our neighborhood has evolved over the years and now has more homes that are either in similar size or larger than the new construction. There are several builders tearing down older homes (like my current one) and selling them at 2-3 times the construction cost. FYI, the town has one of the best school districts in the state and not easy to find homes even pre pandemic.

Do you need the sun room? It will block light entering the dinette and the kichen. I would personally get rid of it.

I’m glad you got rid of the jack and jill. A hall bath is a good solution. In my neighborhood, all new builds have en suites for every bedroom room, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Also, 3ontree has a good point that you might save 10% just between different builders.

Thank you for answering my questions.

I'm wondering if she really thought about it if your wife would prefer her office downstairs versus upstairs. I realize that's what you did before, but you're building new, so why conflate the bedroom/sitting area with a work area? Of course I say that with my studio upstairs but I put mine upstairs because it allowed me to have windows on 3 walls and as an artist, I need the light. Plus our master suite is downstairs so the only thing upstairs is the guest/exercise room, one bathroom and my studio. (We are retirees so our house is "smaller" at 2870 sq feet.)

Even if you don't lose the sitting room (since you're building to neighborhood standards) then it's just a nice private space for the 2 of you. I could actually see part of it becoming a dressing room area with even a makeup/hair area to get ready.

Which leads me to one more comment. I would prefer to see the bathroom and closet switched so the bathroom can have windows on 2 walls. Then the closet would be closer to the sitting area/possible dressing area.

@rockybird thanks. We do have a sunroom now and love it, so hard to get rid of it but is a good option to consider.

@cpartist thanks. Yes, she does prefer to use sitting room as office. Good idea about using it as dressing area as well.

On your last comment, we are indeed swapping the master bath and closet, and adding windows on the side as wall. Also, a path/vestibule for access between bath and closet

I might consider moving the sunroom to behind the dining room. My thought is the dinette area will be used daily for both breakfast and lunch, so you'll want the view out the rear as you eat. Plust it will allow for more light into the kitchen if you extend the windows across the whole back of the kitchen wall (except the stove area.)

Whereas when we normally have dinner in the dining room, we're conversing with guests and family and dining rooms are usually for dinners when it's dark for 6 months of the year.