Elevation

Your exterior looks very much like our home. So of course I like it.

I don't have much in the way of advice or comments, other than to say I'm not sure about the dining room location either, and to advise your to rethink your bedroom layout. Ours is almost identical, except we have one large closet, versus 2, and put dressers back to back down the middle. Although the layout works for me just fine, most people do not like being able to look directly down the hall to your bed. And the windows can be difficult. Is that enough light for your bedroom? We did put a row of high windows over our bed, which does bring in more light. Keep in mind that the bathroom and closet are occupying the best floor space. If you would like pictures of our bedroom just let me know. Good luck.

Joyce, it would be nice to see pictures of your bedroom layout. My husband and I have been going around in circles with this floor plan and being in a time crunch. Also the guy our general contractor hired to do our blueprints hasn't been too easy to work with. The original plan was to have the dining across from the kitchen and then the great room, fireplace and steps to the left of it. But when I was shown what they came up with, I hated the roof line of the house. It looked like a 1970 ranch house with no character. So thats when we came up with this. Move the great room to align the higher rafters to ad the character to the outside. We plan on building in a month and all I can think about is the dining room location.
And the master bedroom, I also wanted the closets by the bathroom but the hallway affected that idea. Im just looking to see if anyone has any other options for me that Im not seeing here. Thanks for your post Joyce!

Back view of the elevation

What is the orientation of the plan? All of that glass will lead to a lot of solar gain and make it difficult for your HVAC to keep things cool in the summer. I'm not at all a fan of the double gable on the left front. It only adds expense, and looks odd on the exterior. And the central peak is out of proportion with the rest of the home.It needs to align in height with the central mass of the roof, not become taller and more prominent. It's a secondary component, not a primary one. It's being given a prominence it doesn't deserve and throws the balance off. That, along with the hip roofs make things much more complex and expensive than they need to be. A simple standard gable over the garage that intersects with a simple gable over the main structure and a less prominent central forward facing gable would be much more attractive. Perhaps a higher pitch and removing the hip on the central roof mass would do the trick of integrating the elements better as a whole rather than the bits and parts it currently presents as.

Think about switching the dining room with the office. Then rework the kitchen to place the pantry together with the laundry room as one larger space. You can then have a door in the kitchen to the foyer. If you use obscure glass, you can get light into the kitchen from the entry and have an easy way to serve to the dining room across the hall.

Or switch the kitchen and great room. Most people find it more objectionable to have a kitchen on the front (public) side of the home than they do having a living space on the front.

Hi Lacey519 ~

How exciting that you're planning to break ground next month! Finalizing things can certainly be daunting...

I like Live Wire Oak's ideas... "Think about switching the dining room with the office. Then rework the kitchen to place the pantry together with the laundry room as one larger space. You can then have a door in the kitchen to the foyer. If you use obscure glass, you can get light into the kitchen from the entry and have an easy way to serve to the dining room across the hall. Or switch the kitchen and great room. Most people find it more objectionable to have a kitchen on the front (public) side of the home than they do having a living space on the front."

I also agree with Live Wire Oak concerning the roof ~ all of the various elements seem choppy to me. Simplifying and unifying would, in my opinion, make for a more attractive look.

I would not want a powder room directly across from the dining room. Your laundry room looks fairly generous ~ perhaps you could move your powder room to that side (or have guests use the secondary full bathroom instead). I would also consider switching the master bedroom and bathroom. Windows on two sides would be important to me.

Keep playing with it... eventually the puzzle pieces will come together! Best of luck to you!

I fear your entryway will feel a bit like a bowling alley. Perhaps this could be alleviated with an open pass-through type thing allowing you to see into the kitchen . . . and/or a larger door into the office.

I share your concerns about the dining room. It's definitely too far from the kitchen.

You could fix the dining room problem by scooting the entryway /stairs to the other side of the living room /kitchen. Then you could have an opening to let you view the dining room from the living room. The only negative: You'd lose your doorway into the office; however, this could be reworked easily enough.

The L-shaped secondary bathroom is a bit awkward. I think it's because you have SO MUCH empty space in front of the toilet -- I think it might feel . . . exposed? sitting on the toilet. I might be alone in my thoughts on that subject.

No fireplace? Is that typical for your area? It wouldn't fly here -- except in a real entry-level home or perhaps in a condo.

I'd flip-flop the master bedroom and the master bath. The goal being to get the bedroom to the back of the house, which would allow you to have windows on two walls -- much nicer!