My husband and I are building our first home and just got the plans finished. Some major critique of these plans would be appreciated! This is to be our retirement home, and we don't want a large home, nor do we want to spend more money than necessary. We like the large garage with direct access to the back yard, and love the open great room/kitchen under the vaulted ceiling. We're happy with all the bedroom and kitchen/dining/great room sizes. We love the front porch and the screened porch tucked into the house for privacy.

However, we're concerned about a few things: (1)The stairs to the bonus room being in the laundry room seems odd; we wanted "out of sight" space for the bonus room ... but wanted to be able to shut a door to the stairs so that it was "closed off." Placing the stairs along the back of the garage somehow made the roof pitch on the rest of the house too high (?). (2)We're also concerned about the size/layout of the laundry room, and (3)The fact that we're pretty sure the interior of the house is going to be too dark; the front door will face South/slightly Southwest, but with the porches, and few windows ... maybe add skylights? The size of the lot limits the length of the house - it's the most it can be and still have a side-entry garage. (4)The porch outside the garage was added simply because of something to do with the way the roof needed to overhang right there...we are okay with it, but would rather spend the money elsewhere if it's possible.

We just discovered this forum this morning, and were almost late to work reading and reading and reading ..... what an exciting find! Thank you in advance to any of you who can share some thoughts on this house plan!!!!

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