If you have a tough lot to design for, can't find plans on-line and are having a hard time drawing it out yourself, I suggest speaking with some architects. Figure out your needs and your wants and have a professional take it from there. It can't heard to at least speak with them and see what they say they can do for you. Also, don't forget to take into consideration what direction your house will face. It makes sense to try to design a plan that will give you some passive heating and cooling.

Sorry, been away! Mark - we presently have the master at the front of the house. Only because there is a very small view from there. I am going to look critically at your image though and see if some of the adjustments are an improvement on what we have if we were to flip it over. I did discuss the idea of adjusting the stairs with my husband, and he didn't like the idea despite the square footage potential. Most houses around us are set up like the ones in our version. Not sure why... He adamantly did not like the visual of a run of stairs when entering the house. Oh well! :)

will be doing an owner/build exemption. I don't know what this means. We have what will become, our master bedroom, already built ... We know essentially what size we want BUT we dont know best layout for everything nor the roof lines and so forth ... We don't have design software experience ... couldn't find any for 24x32 floor plan ... Okay, I think this was a very complicated way of saying, "We have a small building and want to add onto it. This is a renovation /an expansion." What you are describing is a heck of a lot harder So much harder, but you have what you have. I assume this is an older house that was already on the property? Is it in good condition? What kind of foundation does it have? I wonder if you might do better to use this as a storage building ... and "start fresh" elsewhere on your 12 acres. So we built a 24 x 16 cabin thinking this would be our great room Oh, you walked into this on purpose! I'm wrong about this being an old house. Was the cabinet permitted? How is 24x16 not an ample great room? We intend to add on and it doesnt have to be that complicated. This is probably why we will just do the plans ourselves. I think you need some help with the plans. Why? You've already put money/effort into one space, which you've now determined isn't what you need. You have a gauge on the sizes you want (even though you missed on your first try with the great room) ... but you don't know where to place the rooms. This seems like a backwards way of addressing the design. Step back and ask yourself, what would you say to someone who told you what you just told us?

This is a big project and will be very expensive. Before you do anything, think about how much money you want to spend on this renovation, and then hire an interior designer to help you put together a master plan. You'll get more accurate quotes from contractors when they have something to estimate from. Then you can do the build-out in phases. By having that master plan, you can make sure all the subsequent phases will look cohesive.