Is there a laundry room?

The second bathroom upstairs seems cramped. Think of 2 little kids, trying to get them both bathed, into pjs, teeth brushed. You'll be tripping over each other.

Does your zoning allow 4 bedrooms? Or only 3? I know in my town, the study as drawn on the plan would scream 4th bedroom, and wouldn't be allowed in a 3 bedroom zone.

I agree with pixie about the second bath...you'll definitely want that larger, and maybe more centrally located to the bedrooms. Also, when children come you'll want more storage space in the mud room area....consider lockers/cubbies or something similar.

Kitchen layout could be improved...I'd post over in kitchens...I'd prefer the sink on an outside wall with a window.

The lower level seems to lack storage space...I'd like to see another closet at least as broom and linen.

Do you need both a den downstairs and a study upstairs?

I would consider bumping out the family room wall to the right behind the garage to give you the room you want in the FR, help with the stair landing, and make the upstairs bath more functional. Adding a few sq feet will not substantially change the cost so long as it's all sheet rock, not baths and kitchens. In your case I think it would be well worth it.

I would think it would be inconvenient to have the stairs to the basement where you have them. Most people go from the garage or front door to the basement, and with your plan, everyone would have to go through the family room first.

Anne

Pixie - No regulation on bedrooms.. As of right now its just me and my fiance so we wanted an open feeling so we opted to do a master bedroom plus two spare bedrooms and then an open loft area that could be transformed later on.. So the upstairs space that is labeled study is actually just a loft which we plan to make a sitting/play area..

Annie - The den downstairs is actually going to be a dedicated office.. We wanted a dedicated space for all of our files and also we plan on starting a home business so we wanted a set area for working.. As far as bumping out hte lower level.. Trust me we have been contemplating this over and over.. The problem is that we started with wanted to keep the house at 2500sq ft and now we are already over 2700.. if we bump out the house behind the garage you have to do it to the upper and lower level and with the upper you then have to bump out over the garage and in the end you just bumped the house past 3000 square feet if we make it meet the edge of the garage.. We could probably do `1 or 2 feet but not much more.. But even that will add 100
+ sq ft and I feel like we keep saying to ourselves "its just another X feet" and we keep making it bigger and bigger.. as far as den and study as I said above the upstairs area labeled study will be more of a loft area for sitting/playing.. the downstairs den will be a dedicated office..

Jimandanne - We didn't originally want the basement door there.. The issue is that by combining the two plans we liked the door just ended up working out there.. To be honest my house now has a basement under an extension that was put on and we literally never go down there.. we use it as storage but storage for stuff we never seem to use.. granted the entrance is outside but still we never go down there.. in the front part of the house we keep soda and misc items in the garage.. So really we don't have a basement now and i feel that while its not in our "optimal" spot, i highly doubt it would be that inconvenient for us.. Plus we plan on putting an exterior entrance to it so we can store decorations and whatnot down there.. it will stay an unfinished basement for a while until we have more funds to try and finish it..

I appreciate all of the input and hopefully I will get some quotes back from some of the builders so I know where we stand.. At least with knowing where we stand for cost we can enlarge as needed.. Again we are budget building so we have to keep costs in mind..

I'd really consider that extra width. Just even having the room at the top of the stairs. That's a really tight turn to get a king bed up those stairs.

As I said before, that bathroom is really small. When your kids are little, they can't be left alone in the tub until they are about 3. Drowning issues. So imagine sitting in that bathroom for half and hour while the kiddo is in the tub. The only place to sit is on the toilet.

Then imagine your kiddos running to the bathroom in the middle of the night, across the top of the stairs.

Would you want to swap the study with bedroom #2, so you have 2 equal size bedrooms? Or else which child gets the larger bedroom? That way bedroom 3 doesn't have to be bumped out for the linen closet, the linen closet can go in the study. If the study is used for a playroom you'll have the ability to close off the room and hide the toy mess.

What about turning the stairs at the top there? Then having the top landing all be open - I think it would look really nice to have an open library/study right when you come up the stairs.

ROUGH idea of what I'm thinking. Disadvantage - I just moved the bathroom far away from all other plumbing.

Overall, I'm thinking this is NOT a particularly comfortable house -- you have THREE nice-sized public areas and TWO nice-sized eating areas, and I like the kitchen . . . but the hallways and bathrooms could all use improvement. Most of those areas are too narrow.

I'd give up some space in these public areas to make the functional parts of the house more spacious and comfortable.

Here's another very rough idea for the first floor - turning the basement stair doorway and having a laundry room on the outside wall (better for venting). But then if you do finish the basement and plan to use it regularly, I don't like having the laundry there.