I wanted to let you know what I have found with my upstairs front loader over the past several years. I had major issues with vibration too from my 3 year old Kenmore front loader (dishes would fall off my shelves on the first floor). It died 3 weeks out of the extended warranty (isn't that always the case?). I had my husband bring my older model Kenmore front loader from our rental property. It was an older model one and it was really heavy (I would guess 400 pounds). The repairman told me the older ones actually had a rim of cement in them for added weight to dampen the vibrations. Ironically, the old heavy machine doesn't vibrate at all. The extra weight more than dampens the spin cycle vibrations and we don't have any more issues. I would choose the heaviest one I can find next time I buy one. Maybe you can trying weighting it down with a few hundred pounds to see if it improves??? My washer just sits on hardwood. I only do laundry when I am home so I don't worry about a leak. Maybe the key to fixing your machines may be to add weight to it.

Dormers are essentially required for attic (in the roof) square footage. I am not a building code expert but I am pretty sure that bedrooms require windows, assuming you want bedrooms on more than either end of the house they require dormers. As to your first drawing, houses similar to that (I forget the style) can be very striking and are very nice. I am not sure that they are cheaper to build than just going straight up, especially in Minnesota wher the snow load on the second roof is going to have to get transfered down to the foundation. If your plan has walls that will carry that load then it might be great, but that would essentially eliminate an open floorplan. I would think that the additional bracing required to have an open floorplan, modifications to the roof (essentially turning one roof into three), and the additional complexity of the plan would significantly eat into the cost savings that were the whole reason for the lesser square footage. Looking at the floorplan, I am assuming Lauren doesn't mean adding square footage over the garage roof, rather, building a second floor on most of the first floor (all that is not covered by the garage roof) and putting some additional one floor only square footage under the roof that also covers the garage. I think that would be fine, especially, if you can get the garage entrance turned sideways.

I have laundry in the basement-- have a laundry chute direct to the laundry. I have never wanted a laundry on the second floor but have wished that I had it on the main floor sometimes. Advantage to basement--usually have a lot of room (I don't). We can get really dirty sometimes, with gardening and landscaping projects. Can shuck the dirties in the garage or back entryway and drop down the laundry chute there (or in a bucket in the garage)...vs having to deal with them upstairs (where we have carpet). I wash clothes once a week. Smelly dirty laundry is in the basement; not stinking up the bedrooms. I have a clothesline strung in the unfinished part of the basement for drying rugs, mattress pads, sheets, jeans, etc. during the winter/ rainy days. As well as drip dry items that don't go in the dryer. The clothes line is also handy for hanging wet or damp dirty items to dry (like bath towels & kitchen towels) before they go into the dirty clothes hamper. I fold & sort items as I unload the dryer. Towel stack to the linen closet, DS's clothes in one stack, etc. Usually cart the basket to the main floor and someone else will haul it on upstairs. Have had three laundries that were in enclosed back porches and one just adjacent to the garage when I lived in the south. That arrangement worked really good and would be my preferred location for a laundry. Would not want W/D in a closet if it can be avoided. I use my laundry sink a lot as well as having the washer drain hose empty into the sink. (With a lint sock to keep lint and dog hair out of the sewer line--septic leach field if that's your situation.) You adapt to wherever the laundry is. Pros & cons to wherever it is. Main thing is that a home laundry beats the heck out of having to go to the laundromat! We've probably all had to do that at some time in our lives.

noise depends on what you mean by open concept. our kitchen and living room are all one room, so I think of that as open concept, but our bedrooms are down a hall. therefore, we don't have noise issues with sound from the living room. when it comes to heating/cooling, it depends on the engineering. how high are the ceilings? how much insulation? how big are the windows and what way are they facing? all of our ceilings in the whole house are vaulted but not super tall (about 11'). we don't have much of an issue with heating in the winter, but the living room is really hot in the summer, mainly due to the fact that it's not in the shade and has big south facing windows (this is Seattle, where it rarely gets over 90 deg). we had 6" of rigid insulation installed under the roof, but it's not nearly as good as having an attic with blown in insulation. I love vaulted ceilings and would absolutely have them again, but just be sure your architect is considering the best when it comes to wall, ceiling and window insulation. finally, other noise factors to consider: we have a metal roof. so that plus no attic means we can hear everything that hits it. rain? very pleasant. pinecones hitting it in a windstorm? SO LOUD. the last time it happened, we barely got any sleep. of course if you have a shingled roof, it won't be as much of an issue.