Could you flip the plan putting garage on E rather than W? This would place kitchen and outdoor area on east side of house and service areas on west side which would be much better in a "very hot" climate. Also, MBR projection would block hot west sun making outdoor area far more
useful year-round.

Could you flip the plan putting garage on E rather than W? This would place kitchen and outdoor area on east side of house and service areas on west side which would be much better in a "very hot" climate. Also, MBR projection would block hot west sun making outdoor area far more
useful year-round.

I would be concerned about getting furniture (bed mattresses) upstairs, but in particular into bedroom #4. How much room is there? And, is that an "open banister"?

Perhaps an angled door would work better there to give better circulation?

You also appear to have A LOT of roof from your front elevation. I'll just make that comment, and let someone like VC or Reno suggest a solution. Also, it might not "read" as bad from the actual street level than it does on 2D straight on.

The WIC in bedroom 3 will not function well. The door swing takes up 1/2 of the closet and makes everything behind it inaccessible. Consider just a normal reach in closet for that space (it doesn't appear to be a very deep closet) or use a bifold door instead.

Have you tried to "place" furniture in your lower level living spaces? Did you still have clear walkways? There are *so* many doors to/through the great room space, I am concerned the room is not sized well.

With your pantry placement, I feel like you have a long ways between the kitchen and dining room. I also think you could rearrange that mid-section to get better living/flow. Have you considered moving the powder room to the butler pantry area; sliding the butler pantry to the pantry area, and incorporating it all a little better? (Your pantry isn't large, the butler's pantry is HUGE, etc. If it were me, I'd probably ask for some re-evaluation of that space by your architect.

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This post was edited by texas_cajun on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 23:39

But, you can tell, from the side view, it has a lot of roof (you will have an attic). That *could* be remediated, if you wanted it to be.

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This post was edited by texas_cajun on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 23:40

I think the plan and elevations work well for the type of house and lot. The interors have to be condensed and elongated, cut there are some quite nice spaces in the oversized kitchen-dining and living/family. They make the most of the view to the rear and yard, such as it is.

A suggestion: Get rid of the arch shaped garage door opening. There's no other use of arch forms as far as I can tell and this is completely inconsistent with the rest of the architecture

Congratulations on your project!

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This post was edited by texas_cajun on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 23:42

Just a quick thought based on the season of life I'm in right now. If you do have children at some point, it will be a long walk from the master bedroom to their bedrooms in the middle of the night. I'm not sure what you could do about that, except maybe flip the stairs. Or I guess you could move upstairs for a season of time. Or maybe just not worry about it at this point. :)

Best of luck with your house!

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This post was edited by texas_cajun on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 23:43

texas-cajun, I don't agree that the roof is too prominent. It appears that way in the elevations, to be sure, but in perspective, as seen at human eye level from the street, I think it will be fine. The pair of dormers also provide a great visual help to attract and hold the eye away from the roof. I think it will be fine and an attractive exterior from the street. From the back yard you will be so close that you will hardly see the roof.

Good luck on your project.

I'm no architect or expert, but I very much like the roofline -- to my eyes it helps you avoid a generic Colonial look. Looks almost shingle-style. You could even make the roof some interesting material (tile?) to add texture. What are your thoughts on exterior finishes?

Another way to de-emphasize the long roof drop and give some character would be to consider a jerkin fold on the sides. My own house has a similar style and we absolutely adore the look. Here's mine, as built in 1910:

I would switch the direction of the stairs. Start it where the powder room entrance is. I'm seeing this as it is just more convenient when going to different parts of the house coming and going from upstairs. Also a bit more private to not have to walk so far in the entry area to get to the main parts of the house.

I really like the plan overall and the look of it. I do think if you can switch it like somebody suggested it will be really nice and allow you more use of the outside porch and yard if you are in the south. Ignore if in a northern climate.

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This post was edited by texas_cajun on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 23:44

It's hard to tell for sure with the small size drawings you were able to post but I think you need to double-check your master closet and master toilet room space.

1) It looks like you have a pocket door leading into the master closet with the "pocket" fitting into the wall that the toilet sits against. Water lines (necessary to serve the toilet) and pocket doors don't co-exist very well.

2) In the master closet, it looks like you have only 1 ft of space between the door openings and the right hand wall. Hanging clothing sticks out from the wall about 24 inches. So if you'd planned on using the right hand wall for hanging space (or anything other than maybe shoe racks) you may want to rethink.

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re: the western sun... I personally think you're wise to have the garage on the west side of the house where it can serve as a barrier against the western sun. I would NOT flip the house. Folks up north can't imagine how brutal the afternoon sun can be here in regions where we see temps of 100+ for weeks or even months at a time. In fact, you might want to delete those two kitchen windows that face towards the left unless they are either very small or will be shaded by vegetation or by a neighboring house.

Speaking of hot western sun, having three big windows on the west wall of my master bedroom would not be my first choice. Unless you would be looking out at an ugly fence or at a close up of the back-side of a neighbor's house, I'd consider moving those windows to the south wall.

And, will your back porch be covered? If not, what are your plans for shading or curtaining the windows in the hallway leading to the master bedroom so that the hallway doesn't become an oven in the summertime?

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In the category of "it's not really a problem per se but..."

Have you considered flipping the master bath so that the tub and shower are on the outside wall and the vanities on the inside wall? Just my opinion but a big bathtub (whirlpool) just cries out for a picture window next to it...even if the glass has to be opaque for privacy. And if the vanities are on the inside wall with the picture window behind them, the mirrors would reflect the light making your master bath more "light filled" and spacious seeming.

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I'm curious about where the door leading out of the upstairs attic/storage space goes. Does it open into the garage attic?

And, what is the skinny space between bath #3 and the walk-in closet for bedroom #2? Does your jurisdiction allow laundry shoots? If so, that looks like it might be an ideal spot for one.

Finally, have you given thought to how you will furnish the hearth room. Due to all the doorways leading into that space, I think you may find it difficult to arrange a comfortable conversation space. You might want to play around with some scaled furniture cut-outs before finalizing the design.

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This post was edited by texas_cajun on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 23:45