Layout missing.

"will be lakefront with focus on the views"

Skip the tray.

No two story anything, and no 10' ceilings either. Elevator shaft design never works except for elevators.

I wouldn't do a tray ceiling,  but if the cost to go to 10' ceilings was less than $10k, I'd go for it.  In our area, 10' has become the new norm for custom homes.  9' is the default for tract homes.

Agree with the others: No to tray ceilings (not because they're "dated" but because they were always ugly), no to any ceilings above 9'. I'd say go with standard 8' ceilings in the bedrooms (where you're asleep anyway) and vaulted ceilings in the living spaces. Vaulted ceilings with beams can be done a number of ways and can bring a lot of personality into a room in a way that high ceilings cannot.

Going to 10' ceilings might cost $10K in terms of building, but you'll also need taller windows and window treatments, taller cabinets, taller doors, a taller staircase, more paint, more decor, and -- the biggie -- more heating/air conditioning forever. These are not small costs.

A 12x17 bedroom isn't small. Since you want the lake to be the focus, don't try to create a second focal point on the ceiling.

Just added floor plan. Owners bedroom isnt deep . Bed woukd be at back wall with view windows to the left. Kitchen breakfast with cabibetry etc seams small. Really just wondering if the 10 foot in the bedroom and kitchen dining will make rooms feel larger. walked thru one built and it seamed kinda compressed but they had dark cabinets floors. we would do light or white cabibets lighter floors. I like 10 foot but just cant see difference from 2 story great room…Any ideas?

Tall ceilings create a problem with scale for smaller rooms. It can actually make a room seem smaller, and colder, to people using it.

If you are able to make changes to the floor plan, consider starting a new discussion asking for suggestions to improve the plan. Post all floor plans, exterior elevations, and site plan for the best results.

So if im understanding correctly a 10 foot ceiling in powder room, small laundry, food pantry, 20x 14 combined kitchen/breakfast,smaller 10x15 dining room and bedroom 12.5x 17 is not a good thing. Better off to stay with 9 foot and in bedroom let focal point be the view ? I get the super small areas but still wonder if 1 foot higher ceiling wood make other rooms feel larger?

I feel like kitchen/breakfast is ok but doesnt feel as soacious as id like. yet i coukdnt trll much difference from a 9 to 10 foor ceiling. Where do you see the most difference when goung from rooms with different heights?

Are yiu able to make any other changes to walls, fixtures, etc?

Hi yes they have just broken ground so open to ideas.

Looking at the floorplan, I'd go 10' in the Master and Breakfast rooms with high windows to blend in with the Great room windows and ceiling height. The Kitchen doesn't show a large window area. If you go with a 10' ceiling for that area, I'd like the window height to match or look good with the Breakfast room windows. Everywhere else can be 9'. " wall of windows overlooking lake ", sounds good, but the plan seems to show maybe stacked 30x60 single hung windows. That's not a wall of windows by a long shot. I'd want to very carefully configure this segment of the house. It's the primary reason for the build, imo. It should be significant. Can you post a rendering? Large fixed glass for maximum view is more of a wall of glass.

Amen palimpsest.
In addition to the many comments about this plan, I’d discourage a two storey foyer. They serve no purpose and cause problems with sound reverberations and heating or cooling. They are a classic McMansion feature, unless of course that's what you want.

Not ceiling but walls:

Consider kind of flipping the laundry room and side closet, so that the laundry space can have a window but especially so the dryer can vent out the side of the house instead of on to the front entry.

In the bath, you are doing only rough-ins now? Be sure the door opens so that you see the vanity when you enter, instead of the shower. That is, if you keep the current layout, change the hinge to the left side. And honestly, look at the toilet closet. Absolutely not. And the shower and tub arrangement won’t work, either.

In the garage, will the steps into the house interfere with the car entering the garage, or car doors opening, or people accessing the stairs when a car is parked there?

In that side hall, you will want room for a drop and launch pad, maybe even a shredder or trash can for junk mail? and for rain gear, caps, and maybe some “out-of-season-items-but-you-never-know-when-a-chilly-day-shows-up-in-mid-June” items.

Consider adding stairs from that side porch going to the back, as well as the garage.

Will the driveway go across the front, providing parking, so that visitors don’t have to walk around the garage to knock on the front door?

How wide is your site?

100 wide

Move the "rear porch" to the side of the kitchen so it does not impede on the view of the lake from the "breakfast" and "kitchen" spaces. A walk-in closet with three exterior walls is generally not a good idea, and I avoid having to walk through a bathroom to get to a clothes closet.

Being that you just broke ground it may be too late to make improvements to the design.

Basement cutout is done and cant change anything there. Kitchen is blank canvas we will have cabinets installed ourselves not buikder grade. i too think its a shame not to see lake from breakfast area but there will be a covered screened in porch 20 x 10 outside the kitchen door. wherecwecplan to have a table and lounge furniture. We are in the Southeast so here we can use it 8-9 months a year. Its very hot so we thought the higher ceilngs might help. We get mild winters maybe a couple months in 50s and 60s so heat isnt big isssue. Problem is from kitchen even if we had less cabinets more windows wed be looking thru a screeened in porch. So not sure how to improve it. My husband is adamant about no decking etc blocking great room views. i also feel owners bedroom should have a deck or covered area . But bedroom is 12 wide wall so to grt maximum view i think id have to use a french or sliding door and windiws look prettier to me.. Plus hubbybdoednt like hus views blocked. Im also nervous because great room tv viewing wall is only 12 feet and i think its iffy…trying to just make most of floor plan. i shared ideas and he thinks we should keep 10 ft ceilings except for great room and entry and says no to tray. Its a modern farmhouse in a rural area within small neighborhood. . Best thing is lot and views. I appreciate everyones insight. it helps because everyone has valid ideas.

Just posted model home greatcroom photo. Builder said they coukdnt put windows in drywall middle area . Ssid they could do 2 smaller ones but because of engineering or support culdnt do 4. i dobt understand. I think is ok but not ideal You can see room demensions. Its built on a walkout basement. i dont see why they couldnt myself. Maybe we coukd change this? Im not sure what to ask for.

Thos id hard to reas.

Two story great room and the windows are only 6’ tall. At least add transoms so it doesn’t look like you forgot to build a floor. Also why no windows on the long exterior wall of the primary bedroom? You could easily have two windows there for a cross breeze.

Good points, Hallett. I am continually bemused at the lack of cross ventilation in these new builds. Master bedroom, dining room, kitchen all have windows on only one wall. But the great room has a two-storey ceiling, so I guess that makes up for it? In addition to the HVAC and sound problems with two storey rooms, add the difficulty of cleaning those high windows and the exorbitant cost of the 20-foot curtain panels. Also depending on the orientation, if you need to block the sunlight, you will need motorized shades, which also add to the cost.

I'd choose a 9 or 10 foot ceiling for the whole shebang. You also then get the added bonus of extra floor space/rooms on the second floor.

That is NOT a lake house design. It's a builder subdiision smaller lot design. You need to do some major changes on that, to make it feature the lake and not it's navel. It's inwardly focused, trying to hide occupants from the too close neighbors, as the design philosophy.

The lots are all 1 acre in a small rural community. Is there a way to improve this ? I can add windows I presume. what size do yiu suggest for master and great room? Also kit hen/breakfast looks out over a screened in porch and the lake but you have to look thru screened room.

You have an architect designing this house? Bring to her/him all these points and have them adjust the plan.

My vacation house is on a 1-acre lot with a view of a horse farm, not a lake. But the idea is the same--to maximize the views and the light. All my rooms have at least 2 exposures, and some have three. It's about 3000 square feet, so not huge. But it is light and airy, and we went through several iterations before we got a plan that we liked.

Another feature of our house is that we have a semi-detached garage, attached to the house by a breezeway/screened porch. This eliminates the problem of the garage taking up valuable walls that could have windows. All of the houses in our area have their garages on the north side of the property to take advantage of the south, west and east exposures, and to mitigate the cold north winds in the winter.

What if builder put 2 foot transoms above each great room window for a total of 8? Would that likely fill up the wall space so its not just drywall and improve view and look? I know they can do the transoms. What suze wi dows for Master Bedroom? Bed is a queen on wall with no windows. And if keeping 10 foot ceiking in bath tub will be vertical current wiindow above tub is 4040. Is that big enough? Tub will be 54-59 pedestal shower 60x 60 allowing for a 1 foot seat/bench. Vanity wall space across bath is currently at 120 inches . Advice ?

" Is there a way to improve this ? "

" Basement cutout is done and cant change anything there "

Then you are very much limited and most of thee changes involve redoing the entire house plan and since this is essentially a developer or tract home that will be next to impossible at this point.

And one more suggestion--instead of a tray ceiling, why not do a proper coffered ceiling? They are classic and add interest to a blank ceiling.

The next time you build, post the design for review before the construction drawings start.

Hopefully that will be a while. This is a semi custom builder in the area building on lots in various areas. Can accomadate some changes and they are pouring footing now. So i think we can take advantage of some of these ideas.

Consider changing the stair so all treads and landings are rectangles, for safety sake.

It is hard to tell, but the drawing call for "up - 7 risers" but shows eight risers.

I see a lot of room for improvement in the design.

Thank you yiyve designed some beautiful homes.

I had conventional height doors with transoms and replaced these with taller doors and the larger uninterrupted glass area was a big improvement. And I believe it was cheaper to do less but larger units.

What am I not understanding about the toilet in your bathroom? It’s inside a cupboard?

Remember ceiling heights don’t have to be the same everywhere, they should be proportional. A 10’ ceiling in the entry hall looks grand, in a half bathroom looks silly, better to drop it down a bit. As to window sizes it’s hard to say without elevations but I’ve never seen a house that should have less windows. In most cases builders do the fewest possible since they are expensive. This is the time to put them in. Please no 40x40 fixed window in the bath, it’s so 1990. Stick to all one type of window (generally)

Ok thats what they offer what woukd i ask for above a stand alone pedestal tub 59 ”? Toilet is in a small no door area super small but out if the way. I think it needs a door but no room. Also one master closet is 12.5 x 8 but has a window in middle of wall. shoukd i ask it to be faux window look like window on outside but solid wall no window inside to allow for a better closet?

Did someone switch some keys on your keyboard?

Im on an iphone dont think so but its been hard to type need to get phone looked at.

I don't understand the master bathroom layout at all. Why rough ins for future fixtures? Why a 24" vanity crammed into one corner. Why the blank space on the right and a bathtub with no real way to get into it on the left? What is the reasoning behind this layout?

I would hope you are aware that the plan and photo staircases don't match. One is open design and the plan shows it as having 2 full height walls.

As far as the windows in the great room, if you can't change the whole thing, then at least have the builder set the lower window sills at 24" to 30" from the floor. That will give you a better view where it matters, at eye level. No need to have views of your deck floor. The higher window placement will also help protect your furniture and floors from fading.

Talked to builder the reason there is drywall space on the 2 story great room between the windows is because the roof overhang with the covered deck would not allow them to add more than 2 smaller windows in the mid drywall area. As it is now we will have 4 3x6 windows near the ceiling and 4 3x6 closer to floor. A suggestion was add 1 foot transoms to windows closer to the floor but theres no room to add them to the windows closer to the ceiling. So the choice is leave alone as they are now drywall space will be approx 3 and a half feet or add transoms lower windows only and have 2 and a half drywall feet.

What would look best ? These sre the only options unless we centered 2 smaller windows in middle of drywall which im not sure about. Need to give them answer mondayI say. please help. thank you!

I would add the transom below the lower window, so you don't end up with another horizontal line up high. The transom horizontal line, placed lower down, will mostly be hidden behind furniture.

Reduce that wall space between lower and upper windows as much as possible.

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Did I see 'farmhouse' here? With a two-story great room and entry? Huh?

Overall, this plan lacks windows. Every room benefits from windows on at least two walls and you have plenty of exterior walls.

You can't put much more than a couple of rockers on a back porch that's only 6' deep.

Thank you covered porch deck is 20x10 i think may builders ar calling homes modern farmhouses due to popularity…There is no plan to put furniture in great room in front of view window . windows are now 2 feet from floor with 3 and a half feet of drywall between top wibdows which are 2 feet from top. Windows are 3x6 on a 19 and a half foot ceilng. So would i put yransoms of 1-2 feet at top of lower set of wibdows?

rhonda -- I couldn't see the 10' dimension where the plans cut off. Glad to see 10'; 12' would be even better. I planned a 40' X 10' terrace at my house, but am glad I increased it to 12'.

I've appreciated all 3' wide doorways, too. (Movers and delivery men love them.) Consider the scale you need for door and window casings as they relate to ceiling height.

Is it too late to change/reverse the primary bathroom? (That toilet 'room' won't work anyway.) I'm in and out of my BR closets more often than I use the primary bathroom, and while bathrooms benefit from windows, clothes don't.

Do you have another laundry area in the house? (This is very cramped.)