It looks like this is a split level plan. The master bedroom and the study are up 1/2 flight of stairs and the 1/2 flight of down stairs go to the basement. It looks like maybe where is says "built-ins" at the top of the "up" stairs would be a half height cabinet/partition and you can look down into the living room. There is also a pocket door at the top of the stairs that closes off the "master suite." What is odd is that you have to walk out of your master bedroom, around a corner, down a hall and through a cased opening to reach the closet. The linen closet is way over there too. Also, looking at the elevations, the study only has windows way up high - like basement windows. I would assume the secondary bedrooms are in the partial basement. It's just a little hard to tell exactly how this plan works.

Janni.... "On the island, the cabs that face out - are you sure you want those to be drawers? I have a series of large "empty" double door cabs - and plan to use that for my AWKWARD stuff like a rice cooker, waffle maker, etc. I actually have my food processor and waffle iron in a drawer today and I don't find them that particularly convenient." i also have several small appliances like waffle maker, food processor, rice cooker etc and this would be a good place to store these items. I wonder if they would fit better if this was divided into 2 drawers instead of three. Do you find it inconvenient because the drawers are too shallow? I wonder if more of these bulky small appliances would fit in these double door cabs than the drawers?? Definitely worth considering. I'm 60 and I dislike island sitting but I still have teens at home and grands that will want to sit there. I don't know where the best place is to put 3 seats. full height book space would be nice. Thank you for your helpful suggestions Janni. eta...still concerned about the bumped out cabinet too. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Our mudroom is also a long and narrow space....5'6" x 16'10". I don't have any definitive inspiration pics to show because I've found I want 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that' in my mind. In my real life with two girls (ages 11 and 13), a messy husband and two large dogs and in reading a ton of information on useful mudrooms I will tell you that I will be designing the following for our family: 1) About 6' worth of hooks and a bench. I'm not saying 'cubbies' because I do NOT want them to be individually divided for each person. My real world experience is that stuff spills over. Not everyone's stuff will fit neatly into 18" of space. I might take up 6" for my small purse, but my sport playing 13 year old will need 24" or more for a school backpack, sports bag, and 4 pairs of shoes. 2) Shoes will rest on the floor. Not on a perfectly painted white shelf that will look disgusting in about 4 days. They will also not be in a basket. We have that system now and shoes are always spilling out of it. Or really never get put in it, but in front of it. A wide open space will at a minimum let my kids and husband simply kick their shoes under the bench to get them out of the walkway. Good enough for me. 3) Individual shelves about the hooks. I'll have baskets here for each person to store their winter hats, gloves, scarves, etc. We live in Texas so this category is small for us. 4) About 24" of a 'drop zone'. - mail sorting section...'To Pay, To Mail, To File, To Sort, School Forms'. - closed cabinet with outlet for a paper shredder and garbage can. - One drawer for frequently used office items....pens, pencils, sharpener, envelopes, tape, scissors, etc.... - upper cabinet for other stuff that I don't want to see. Dog medicine/grooming supplies, key hooks or bowl, flashlights/extra candles and matches, extra batteries, etc. 5) 5-6' feet of 24" deep tall cabinets. I will use this for an overflow pantry. Small and infrequently used appliances, jumbo pack of paper towels, party size drink dispensers, extra step stool, paper plates/cups. All of this will go on one side of the narrow mudroom, leaving 42-48" of walkway. Plenty wide for a pass through assuming things get put where they belong. My mudroom is without a doubt the room I'm most excited about in the whole house. I've never had one with access to the backyard so this will be life changing!

I’d love to use an architect, but my husband wants me to come up with a plan and hire a draftsman so we can use that money in the house. [...] *or purchase a stock plan* ;) Okay, if you go this route, please please *please* look for skinny houses (either rectangles or letter-shaped, like L, T, U, C, H, E, etc.), where you maximize the north/south exposure and minimize the west/east exposure. And read as much as you can. CPartist has a great list of books. Also consider the possibility of a "design charrette" (search the forums here, ArchitectRunnerGuy ["ARG"] does many of these, heck he may even have coined the term, lol) -- where you receive very basic/affordable design ideas that could save you from costly mistakes. Have fun. :-)