Love the big covered porch. This looks like an awesome plan. I did notice that the big window in the master bedroom is not centered on the wall from the inside. That might be done to make something look right on the exterior. It wouldn't bother me but some people would hate it.

So the screened porch is on the north side of the house? And the walkout portion is located where? Are you located in a hot climate then that shade and dim light is more valued than sun exposure? And you have none of the family time rooms located to see those views to the south? Just the food production space? What are the views like to the north where you'll be spending the bulk of your time?

Based on the little info provided, it looks like the house needs to be flipped.

Our neighbors have a floor plan similar to yours. Kitchen is almost identical and it is very nice. A bit too open for me, but they are a family of 5 and it works well.

I haven't looked terribly closely, but do have a couple suggestions. Referencing the guest room on the main floor, I would move the door to the bathroom out to be even with the closet. Right now when the door is open it would be in the way for someone standing at the sink, and would be right in front of the window. I like your big mud room area with the big walk in closet. Nice garage, too. Have you considered a walk in garage door on the front in that notched area. Right now everyone has to come in the front door, or walk around to the other side of the garage. Kind of a family/friends entrance.

Good luck. Going to be beautiful!

Thanks, JDez - I actually just noticed the other day that the Master bedroom window isn't centered. I'm still trying to decide if it will bother me! The good thing about it is freeing up a little more wall space for furniture. The downside is that I like symmetry, so I'm going to have to do some thinking about this. :-)

Joyce - thanks for your helpful insights. Your thoughts about the guest bathroom and the long walk to the front door are spot on. Thank you. I'm going to explore changing both of those things.

Live_wire_oak - your questions are good ones. The back of our home (north side) will face some woods. There's also another home back there, but it shouldn't be super visible from the back of our house. I do appreciate your thoughts about the shady exposure, though. Based on your thoughts, I'm wondering if we should put the screened-in porch or at a minimum, the patio (which isn't drawn on our plan yet) on the northwest side of the house so it gets the afternoon/evening sun. My thoughts about putting the kitchen in the front is because that's where I spend the majority of my time during the day and from there, I can see my kids at the bus stop, playing out front, riding bikes, and see the pretty views of the hills to our south. But the backyard won't have bad views, either. I just wanted to make sure a house plan tried to capture views of both vistas (the front and the back of the house).

Thanks again! Your comments are incredibly helpful and you've all noticed things that I didn't think about initially, so I really do appreciate the insights you've all provided!

Kelly

I'm not sure where you're building, but in my latitude, your house would be dark much of the year, given that most of your windows are to the North. I lived in a house where almost all the windows to the South were shaded by a porch and all the big windows were North facing. It was a really depressing house to live in during the winter. I have only struggled with seasonal depression while living in that house. Our current home is a little further North, but because we built with natural light in mind, I don't have any issues.

Given that you have a corner lot, could you change the orientation by 90 degrees so that the back of the house faces West instead of North? Then you'd get some light in the main living spaces of the house. If you mirrored the plan too, you could enjoy the Southern view from your screened porch. It would let you enjoy the view while you relax, and share it with friends. With your current design, guests would only see the view as they come and go from your house, unless they're looking out the window over your kitchen sink.

If you're building in the South, this design may be fine, but if not, think long and hard about whether or not you value sunny rooms.

I would straighten the stairs, or introduce the angle a different way. The acute inside angle is difficult to finish, costs more and IMO not useful or attractive. In descent, it points you directly at a wall corner, isn't that bad feng shui?
Casey

Look up photos of the plan Tres LeFleur. The kitchen and dining layout is similar, it may help you visualize.