Neat plan. Curious how you are going to arrange your furniture in your livng area?

Option 1: Not exactly sure probably have tv on left wall. Probably will have two chairs facing the fireplace seperating the foyer/hall from the living room and a sofa parallel to the kitchen bar with enough room to comfortably walk between. Also will have some type of table in the center. with a few floor lamps either in the corners or one inbetween the sofa and one chair.

Option# 2 TV over firplace and sofa seperating the foyer/hall with a sofa table and put two chairs on left wall or one on each side. with table in center.

Have played with alot of different setups and actually two or three.

I'm not an architect or designer, just a homeowner who has built several custom homes. Overall, it's a nice family plan. Couple things I'd be concerned with.

Is the stairway to the bonus room really off your master bath? You won't be able to get anything big up there.

I assume then that the basement stairway is off the mud room area? You won't be able to get anything of any size down. It won't turn the corner. Think sofa, pool table, etc. Is the only coat closet the tiny one in the mud room?

A couple of your closets are all corners. That really takes away the hanging space you have. Measure to make sure you have enough space. They all don't seem to be on the same scale.

Good luck. It will be a beautiful home!

Just a couple things I noticed:
I'd try to eke out some space for a closet near the front door. Otherwise for guests' coats you have to walk all the way around the DR to get to the little closet by the garage door.

I don't really like the position of the refrigerator:
1) it's a long walk past the kitchen 'work' areas for someone to fetch a drink from the ref
2) if the ref is right next to the wall, you won't be able to open the door past 90 degrees, which means you won't be able to pull out the drawers on that side. (Trust me, I had a ref in a corner and it was a PITA.) If you keep the ref in that location, either put a narrow broom closet b/w the ref and the wall, or shorten the wall next to the ref so it's shorter than the box of the refrigerator (and won't impede door swing.)

Without an exterior wall for the kitchen, consider how you'll vent your cooktop. Through the attic? (That's fine as long as you plan for it in your build.) (Downdraft venting and recirculating vents aren't as effective as typical vent-to-the-outside fans.)

You have alot of doors in that hallway above the garage. I'd eliminate the one to the stairs and maybe the one to the laundry as well. If you want to keep the one to the downstairs (due to kids / safety issues) consider putting a window in the door to reduce the risk of smacking into someone coming out from the laundry room.

Do you have kids? If so you might want to plan a closet somewhere near the back door for when they come in from / out to playing in the yard.

With your master bathroom and particularly the toilet located on a shared wall with the kitchen, I'd be sure to insulate that wall for sound proofing.

I'd highly recommend posting on the kitchens forum too. There are some very talented people there who will help you get the most functionality out of your kitchen layout.

Having the staircase up to the attic bonus room off the masterbath would be a total deal-breaker for me! If you ever need to sell the house, you won't be able to even advertize that it has a "bonus room." In fact, I'd be MUCH LESS likely to buy a house with what SHOULD have been a bonus room that had been made basically inaccessible than a house with no bonus room at all...simply because it would make me feel that the entire house was badly designed.

So, if that upstairs space can only be used as an attic, don't spend the money to put in a finished staircase. Put-in a standard drop-down attic staircase (much cheaper than a second set of finished stairs) and reclaim the rest of space the upper stair case takes up for other purposes.

I'm afraid tho, that I see a number of issues in addition to the staircase issue.

1) The basement guest bedroom won't work unless you can put at least one window in it. Codes require that bedrooms have an emergency exit in addition to the door.

2) The closet for front bedroom is practically unuseable. It isn't deep enough for a walk-in so the only things you'll be able to reach are those within arm's reach of the door - and remember that access to stuff at the edges will be blocked by things hung in the middle. Basically, for a reach in closet, anything more than about 8" - 12" inches beyond the edge of the door is pretty much inaccessible The closets for the basement office and guest bedroom have the same problem but at least in those places you have the option of using double doors so the entire closet is accessible.

3) At 4'4" deep, the closet for the back bedroom is not deep enough to make it worthwhile to plan on hanging things on both the back wall and a side wall. And, at 6' wide, it is not wide enough to hang clothing along the two parallel walls.

First, as Joyce mentions, whenever you hang stuff on two perpendicular walls, you basically lose the use of the corner. Clothing sticks out about 24 inches from the wall. So, let's say you were going to put hanging rods in an L on two sides. You would have 4' of useable rod on the back wall and 2'4" of useable rod on the side wall. Total 6'6" or only 6" more than if you just put a rod along the back wall. You COULD stick some stuff into the corner on one rod but I can tell you from experience that whatever gets stuck back there never gets worn b/c you can't see it or get to it easily.

Second, if you were to put rods on the two parallel walls, you will be leaving yourself with a VERY narrow aisleway. Anything less than about 2.5 feet is going to feel EXTREMELY claustrophobic. Closet aisles really need to be pretty close to 3 ft wide to be comfortable.

4) There is another problem with that back bedroom closet as well and that is the pocket door. Pocket doors fit into hollows created by leaving out the wall studs and framing up the pocket door with very thin wood. You show a clothes rod attaching to the wall right where the pocket-door "hollow" will be. A clothes-rod typically supports a LOT of weight when clothes are hung on it and needs to be attached to something more substantial that sheetrock and the thin wood of a pocket door frame. You need a stud right where you can't have a stud bedause of the pocket door. Make sense?

5) The hallway powderroom is not big enough for a swing-in door. One would have to stand on top of the toilet or straddle it while opening or closing the door.

Those are the biggest issues but there are a bunch of other things you should think about before finalizing your plan:

1) The two boat bays suggest you're probably building in area near a lake but I can't tell that you've taken potential views into account at all.

2) The lack of windows in any of the secondary bathrooms bothers me. I like natural light when putting on makeup.

3) The lack of windows in the basement office is probably going to make that space feel like a dungeon.

4) Assuming you can even get two full-size vehicles into the garage, it narrows down at the front end to only a tiny little bit wider than the garage door. That is going to make it almost impossible to open the driver's and the front passenger's doors. Do you really want to spend your life squeezing in and out of your car? And, the mudroom sticks out in what looks to me like the perfect spot to get whacked by children opening the rear door of a car. Not good. I suspect you'll wind up just parking one vehicle in the garage. Of course, that seems to be the situation that most people with 2-car garages end up in so it might not bother you. But, why build a 2 car garage if you can't park 2 cars in it?

4) Why not put a window in the utility room?

5) Why is there only one window in back bedroom?

6) Read up on safety issues related to "ventless fireplaces" before you make a final decision on that. Ventless fireplaces are actually "room vented" fireplaces and they can deplete oxygen and emit carbon monoxide into your room. May I suggest you consider a direct-vent fireplace instead.

7) If you have views out the back of the house, wouldn't it be better to move the fireplace to a sidewall and put more windows across the back? I fear your great room and kitchen are going to seem a bit dark even if that back door is a glass french door.

8) Having the foyer wide open to the great room means anyone coming to the front door has a full view of your entire great room. Some people are fine with that. Others want a little more privacy. BTW - it feels to me like the front door should open the other way but I can't tell you why.

9) If you are in an area that gets a lot of rain or has cold winters, you need a place to hang guests coats/hats near the front entry. If you're in a warm dry climate, you may be able to skip having an entry closet.

10) The dining room is probably too small to accomodate a china cabinet or serving cabinet. If all you intend to put in there is a table and chairs, it is probably all right.

11) Since you have boat bay openings on one side of the house and garage door opening on the other side, I'm assuming your lot is pretty wide. Just make sure it is wide enough to accomodate turning vehicles on both sides.

Hope some of this helps.

joyce:
Yes the steps going up to attic is off of master bath. Plan on changing if i can but was only place i could find without adding more SF. Plan on furnishing the basement through the basment doors. I'll look into the closets.

chicagoans:
Living in the South haven't thought much about coats but will maybe. Don't have alot of people over thats not family hope they'll understand. Sounds like I need a pocket door for laundry room ( Guess you can tell I like pocket doors) Yes I can see my kids knocking me out with that door going to basement. Thanks for all the help on the Kitchen and yes sound proofing that toilet wall is a great idea.

By the way 6yo daughter and 3yo son

The master bathroom has a lot of wasted square footage, as does the closet.

The bathroom in the back bedroom seems crowded to me.

Anne

Do you have room for a turned staircase? Then you could have access to the bonus room w/o going through the master.

I did a mockup but it would need a reality check. Lost the closet near the laundry area, but the powder room is bigger. Moved the mudroom cubbies into the hall / out of garage to address the garage issue noted above. Also did some tweaking of the closets in the smaller bedrooms to see how those would work. Front bedroom bath now opens into the alcove rather than the room, so you may not need the additional powder room (although always nice to have.)

The turned staircase made some changes in the master bath.

This needs some work, but might be worth considering.

{{gwi:1403407}}

Also, are you set on having the inset front door? You have 3 different depths of your front exterior wall. This could be more expensive, because it complicates the roof lines. (Hard to tell w/out a front elevation.) You might actually save money and gain space by making that front wall straight across with the front porch extending out from the front of the house.

oops - I see where I gained space by cheating: I forgot to add back in the heating thing b/w the pantry and the powder room. So hmmm... that will have to go somewhere. Attic? Basement? Laundry room?

tweaked your plan a bit ... a bit difficult to see all of your original dimensions , but this is only a rough layout ...

i like your plan , and think that , with a few improvements , it will be a great house :-)

Thank you all for your responses as I may not respond to all but I greatly appreciate them and made us think about alot of stuff that we haven't thought about.

SummerfieldDesigns:

You make things look so neet and easy. I like Bedrooom 2 & 3 better now I think. Prefer the fireplace on the other wall but make look into. (Didn't want lose all my wall space). Master Bathroom we were trying not to share the same sink area but may have to learn to live with it. ( may could had a linen are inbetween with seating area on one side. You really opened my eyes to other ideas.

Do you care to take a stab at the basement would love to see how to make it work with the stairs going down where you have them.

Thanks again and keep them coming more is better for us first timers here.

I much prefer the fireplace on the inside wall as in the last plans. The livingroom, dining and kitchen is similar to our house we are building. I have seen the fireplace on the outside wall but it takes away so much more of the natural light and makes furniture placement difficult.

That's a nice plan Summer! Lots to like: I like how the staircase is a buffer b/w the kitchen and master bath. Also the 2 baths in the smaller bedrooms being back to back makes sense from a plumbing perspective, and the closets in those bedrooms are more functional.

Wow, summerfield, you've taken a so-so plan, and made it really work! So much better all the way around. I would have loved for you to tweak our plan. We are now under construction.

Sommerfield's design is great! But I see one potential problem with it. It puts the bonus room space up over the garage. Based on the location of the stairs up in OP's original design, I think the bonus space was orignally over the master bedroom/master bath area and that OP probably intended to have a vaulted ceiling in the Greatroom. The original design then would have had a tall roofline on the main part of the house and a lower roofline over the garage. Putting the bonus room over the garage raises the garage roofline.

I think it would be possible to turn that staircase around so that it goes up into a bonus room over the masterbedroom/bath area - but you would lose that small closet in the mud room. Maybe he/she can think of a tweak to make this work b/c I sure LOVED the rest of it.

Summer.. you've done it again! You're soooooooo talented and I can't believe you whip all this help up for free to us here on the forum!

had some time to work on your plans ... eliminated some of the corner jogs in the foundation (corners raise the building cost) ... added an egress window to the guest bedroom ... relocated the bonus room stairs to give better traffic flow ... added closets to bedroom 2 , eliminating the protruding fireplace and cutting a few feet off the depth of the house ... is certainly still possible to put the fireplace in the back , but any view that you have , and a lot of the natural light will be blocked ... gave you seperate his and hers vanities , and a dressing table ... not sure if you desire a pool table in the den , but the space is flexible ... i'll work on the elevations , when i have some time ... let me know your thoughts ...

Summerfield, Great job!!
Bedroom #2 better on the first plan(Don't care for closet in that hall on plan #2)and would just have to have fireplace jut out if it goes there.
Bedroom #3 Question. There is really no place for TV hookup.

Master Bath probably better on first plan. Don't have to walk around the tub. We can put a drop down seating area inbetween sinks and should kinda be a buffer.

Like cutting out the corners. Preferred the easy access from Garage to the Kitchen for unloading groceries. etc... on the first plan but also like where the Bonus Room Stairs would end up on second plan. Don't know if that can be flipped somehow and fit half bath in to. Can possibly live without the coat clost being in the South. (Can see that being a junk closet) Cubbies are a must for us. Too much happens right when you come through the doors.

Basement: Like it most just wished had bathroom access from den. Pool table maybe in a few years. but thats manageable later. Like the mechanical room was worried about that.

Summerfield, I think we've decided to go with the first plan. And add in the layout of the stairs going up and the half bath of the second plan. Also, will remove the corner jogs.

Basement I think we'll turn the stairs at the bottom to make the Room about 17' wide and shortern up the Guest Bedroom.

I really appreciate all that you did, will sure make it more like a home. Look forward to seeing what you do with the elevations when you have time.

Thanks again.

made the changes you requested ... as far as tv in the bedroom ... can be placed anywhere , but i was thinking in the shelf above the desk ... let me know your thoughts on these revisions...

Summerfield thats the one. All I'm going to change is one door in Laundry Room to closet to line them up. GREAT JOB!!! Really appreciate what you do.

Summerfield

What program do you use to draw all this?

you're very welcome ... be sure to run the kitchen through the kitchen forum ... they'll make sure it's right for you ... let me know if you need further changes ...

Summerfield- That's another beautiful plan! :)

Ddc- Let us know how things progess. You're going to have a wonderful new home!

I would re-arrange the baths for the smaller bedrooms. If there is a cold spell like we have now in TX then you'd be better off not having the plumbing in the exterior walls. Also if you put the vanity and toilet and changed the tub drain location to the shared wall between the two baths you could also save on plumbing costs.

Thanks Summerfield for all that you do here. Elevations would be nice to look at if you have time. I'll keep you all posted hope to start building soon.

Summerfield,

I'm also curious what software you are using? The graphics are so helpful.