A couple of things you may want to think about:

1. The entrance door faces North and is close to a corner, you may get snow build up there in winter months.
2. A laundry is nice to have as opposed to a closet, reason being that it gives you somewhere to put dirty clothes while waiting for the next wash cycle. It gives you room to work when loading and unloading the appliances. Also can be used for storage of cleaning items, like brooms, vacuums etc..
3. In Canada we put the utilities in the basement and a good reason for this is that if your HWT leaks it leaks on a concrete floor as opposed to wood floor that can cause lots of damage. Another reason is for more space on the main floor. Where the mudroom is you may want to consider putting closets in there for storage of coats and boots.
4. You may want to maximize your windows on the South to get some valuable heat gain in winter. Provide some type of shading in the summer like trees or large roof overhangs. A sun study can help with this part of the design.
5. Instead of the nook in the kitchen what about a island or peninsula? This way you can interact with people while in the kitchen and they have somewhere to sit. Open the kitchen up to the living space and have a larger area for a table between the kitchen and the living room. Having a eating table in the kitchen takes up a lot of valuable kitchen space and can be an annoyance when cooking or having a get together. If yo have guests over you want them out of the kitchen space so that you can have room to prepare the meal. By following the above mentioned design your guests can still interact with you but be out of your way.

These are just some of my opinions and you may or may not agree with them but that is OK as it your home and you get to decide what works best for and your family.

Hope this at least helps a little. Contact if you would like to discuss more options or require further assistance.

Thanks,

Rob

This post was edited by BlueBrick on Fri, Jan 9, 15 at 9:55

The problem BlueBrick is what your doing is against the rules you agreed to abide by when you signed up. Your post is considered SPAM due to your little link at the end of your post. You may be able to edit it out before the moderators find it and delete it but........

I think the master bedroom entrance (sharp turn) is going to make it hard to get furniture in and out.

It also seems that the entry is large in relation to the rest of the rooms and is a poor use of space.

Bluebrick - good points all, except I really, really, really don't like the open concept kitchen. I want to be able to have acoustic and visual privacy - at times - while also providing at least one place to sit. A challenge, I know!
Numbers - yeah, I'm not a fan of that master bedroom entrance either, but I can't figure how to get rid of it AND still have a closet close to the bathroom AND get the plumbing off the outside walls AND...you get the picture. The furniture only has to go in once. But I'll work on it.
Ditto the entry - I love big entryways, and every other way I do this seems to make it more convoluted and cramped. I'm trying to keep the stairs oriented that direction so that they come out in the right place downstairs, but that limits the options...
And of course I'd love to get it down to 2000 sq ft...but I don't think that's possible when I want a laundry room AND a walk-in closet AND an eat-in kitchen that closes off....
:)

Actually, you should be able to fit all of that nicely in a 3 br ranch. We had one that was 1500 sq ft. So with an extra 500 sq ft you should be able to fit the walk in, mbath and laundry. But your mbath is huge and inefficient.

Take a look at 50s ranch plans and you'll find lots of ideas.

For me, some problems are the bedrooms that share a wall with no sound abatement like closets. The entrances into the bedrooms and furniture moving. The fireplace in the middle of the wall rather than creating a separate living and dining area.

Annie - I agree, it can all go into 1500 square feet; we lived in a 1200 sq ft three bed for a couple of years- of course, the powder room's door was in the dining room, the fridge was in the mud porch, there was no entry at all, etc, etc. So the problem is not fitting it all in, the problem is fitting it all in the way I want it :)
Will google 50's ranches, thanks!

"In Canada we put the utilities in the basement "

Ummm,, we do that in the USA too (not unique to Canada)!

western_pa_luann,

Why even comment about that? But thanks for the clearing that up!

Why did you feel the need to bring it up?
Basements (and utilities in the basement) are common in many places, not just in Canada (as you made it sound).

Oh for -

I appreciate BlueBrick's comments, as they actually had something to do with the question of my house plan. And all he was saying was that *in his area,* this is how they work the utilities.

I think I might have figured out how to fix that pesky master bedroom entrance, although it makes the master bedroom too big, really. Still working on the other bits...

For anyone who is still following...here's the latest. Fixed the entry to the master, put closets between beds 2 and 3 (although the rooms are a *little* on the small side now...) and made a better eat-in kitchen (I think.) Not sure whether to maybe swap the range and sink...?

Since you are empty nesters, do you need to have all three bedrooms up if you have a walk-out basement? You could put one bedroom on the "club level" and have a little more room to play with upstairs.

You know, that is a really good question, and one I actually can't answer. My husband is retiring in a few months - will he still use his office the way he does now? Probably not. But whether he will use it more, or less, or whether he would like to have, perhaps, a bigger space in the basement for whatever hobbies he decides to pursue, and maybe just a little nook upstairs to stash the laptop...I don't know. I do know we were trying to have all the essential spaces on one level, but...this will require some thought...!

I like that you changed the master bedroom door to avoid the 90 degree turn. Yes, it's true that you won't need to move your furniture in /out often, but with that turn it might not have been possible. My grandparents once purchased a tall bed with shelves underneath . . . and it had to be assembled IN the room. Of course, later, it had to be disassembled so that they could change the carpet . . . and then later they had to disassemble it again so that a hospital bed could be brought into the room for my grandfather.

I'd flip the master bath and the master closet. You don't want to waste a corner on a closet -- if you put the bathroom in this spot, you can have windows on two sides of the room, which is always nicer.

I'm not loving that long, dark hallway full of doorways. If this is really what you need to have, I'd look into some type of skylight or sun-tube, or at least automatic motion lights.

I agree that moving the bedrooms to the basement could be a good idea -- and a money saver.

I have no personal experience with stacked W/Ds, but I've read repeatedly that people have had bad experiences with them -- even though they're sometimes the best option. Perhaps you could start a thread to get personal stories on this subject.

I'd like to see a pantry in the kitchen.
And a bay window near that small table would open it up tremendously. Perhaps even a built-in banquette seat in the bay.

I understand that you're not in to open concept, but I think the walls between the entry /kitchen /dining are awkward. Perhaps some open shelves would be better?

I do like the fireplace acting as a divider between the living and dining rooms.

The door from the garage to the mudroom should swing into the house.

MrsPete, thanks. I have the master bath/closet like that so that both baths' plumbing are on the same wall...do you think it's worth giving that up, for the corner? I do have one tiny little window on the end of the vanity; not ideal. Cost savings/efficiency, or more light?
LOVE the idea of the bay window...not sure how to get a pantry into the kitchen...will have to play around with those two things and see if doing one will make the other possible.
The "extra" short wall over by the dining room is only there to put furniture against - either a tall china cupboard or a shorter buffet; both need to go there somewhere -- if I have the south wall full of windows, my options are limited, so I'm at a loss. You'd think there'd be plenty of room...but there's a piano to contend with (and the possibility that my hubby will want to upgrade to a baby grand!) But I do like the idea of doing something different with the entry wall...maybe a half wall with open shelves above. I'd lose that coat closet though. Maybe I can just make it smaller...
I *might* be able to put one of the bedrooms downstairs, but not the other; I'm in and out of my office 50 times a day, so running up and down the stairs would get really old.
I think I have too much furniture :/
Good ideas to play around with, thanks!

pps7 - does it? Thinking through all the entry doors I've seen...yeah. I'll fix it, thanks.

Okay, here's the latest. I moved one bedroom (my husband's office) downstairs. I moved the garage back to eliminate the corner at the rear, and rearranged the master, putting in French doors to a small patio (not necessary, but otherwise the bedroom is huge). Had room for a bathtub, and managed two walk-in closets. I moved the stairs forward into the entry, which makes that not as oversized, plus makes more room in the mudroom, and also in the laundry, where I now have room for an extra fridge. I put in some open shelves in the entry (that black obelisk) while leaving a small coat closet. I took out the extra wall in the dining area (had to move the door to get the wall space, but subbed in a window), and managed to get a pantry and a bay window in the kitchen. AND - it's 1999 sq ft :)
I threw some furniture into the plan (pieces we own) for a little perspective.
Improved...?

You said you were trying to consolidate plumbing -- flip-flop the washer /dryer and the hall bath, and you'll accomplish that task. Those items can all share a wall.

True, the master bath can't get in on that action, but everything just can't work.

It's a small thing, but where do you expect to vent your dryer? Venting through the roof is possible, but not ideal.

Will the shelving between the entry and living room be half height? I think that would help a lot with flow. Also, I would shorten the shelving wall so that the passageway into the living room is in line with the bedroom hallway. I think the jog you have there now is awkward. Then I'd line the woodstove up with the opening.

That would have the added benefit of getting the woodstove further away from the piano (I'm guessing the heat fluctuation will be hard on the instrument).

Zone4 -
Not a small thing at all, and something that got lost in the general shuffle. We had a dryer vent through the roof in a house in NC, and it was awful - took forever to dry. If I switch the W/D to the opposite wall, it'll be about 18 feet to the back wall of the house, so that might *just* work. Someone needs to invent a legal way to vent into the garage!
I'm envisioning the shelving between the entry and living as a half wall topped by open shelving, so that when you come in, the view at eye level is more open, but the bottom is still solid. I have the wall/shelves extending that far specifically to hide the view down the hallway from the living room; that is a pet peeve of mine - no privacy down into the bedroom area? It's a 4 foot wide opening with no door, so I don't think it will be an issue. For me, at least.
I am iffy on the effect of the stove on the piano...I must do some research there, because that would certainly be a game changer. I could still probably center that stove on the wall though...

Opinions vary, but keeping the piano 5 ft away from the heat source seems to be the general consensus, as well as using a humidifier and perhaps a screen. I can separate the two by 6 ft if I center the stove, so I think that's okay (and makes the windows look better from the outside, to boot.)

Also, if 18 feet is too far for a dryer vent run, I can switch the laundry and guest bath.

I wouldn't want an 18 foot dryer vent run.

If I switch the laundry and guest bath, it'll be about 12 feet. Puts the bath closer to the bedroom/office, so that's better too. I don't see another way to do it - unless I start over on the plan :)