There is no front closet?

If I were you I'd ditch the too-small formal dining room space and possibly the office space (unless you actually use it) re-work the space for a more generous single eating area, a front closet, a larger shared bedroom with larger closet for the two sharing.

Also, either each kid gets their own sink, or they don't. These things matter to kids! And each kid should get approx the same closet space and room square footage.

Also, it looks like one set of kids has to share their bathroom with "the public" when guests are over? I'd try to squeeze out a modest powder room from the office/dining space re-do, too.

The kitchen folks would say that cooktop is waaay far from the sink, with pots of boiling pasta water.

If you think your kiddos will want to be jr. chefs alongside parents, you might want to grow the island and shrink the bar real estate.

I'd also consider a single shared master closet, trimming down the total master closet square footage and sharing some of that real estate with the kids. I'd rather my kid have that space in a bedroom than me in my closet. (Of course, not literally using the same space, but re-arranging the total available square footage, allocating less toward master closet and more toward kiddo bedroom.)

This post was edited by beautybutdebtfree on Fri, May 23, 14 at 15:33

Don't know your climate, but if it were me (I have three kids), I'd want WAY more mudroom/storage space for coats, backpacks, etc.

Thank you for the reviews! We are in Texas and it is something we will reevaluate!

Totally agree with Michelle1973. Whichever way those four kiddos will be coming into the house all the time, give them an easy access entrance (such as a door into garage instead of having to come into garage door itself) and when first inside the house then a large dump stuff/mud/laundry zone.

re: building in Texas

I used to live in Texas and the thing about living there is there is NO basement and NO attic storage, so plan as much storage as you can. Also plan on NOT using the garage for cars but rather for bikes, skateboards, scooters, cans of paint, etc. Plan on a shed for the lawnmower, etc. Knowing this location, I would even tighten the bedroom real estate for everyone shifting 10% into closet space. You will be amazed how you will kick yourself if you don't plan lots of walk in closet space and ample garage space.

Because whatever stuff doesn't fit into a closet or into the garage, ends up SOMEWHERE, that is NOT in a closet, or NOT in the garage! With four kids you have a lot of stuff!

This post was edited by beautybutdebtfree on Fri, May 23, 14 at 16:37

2600 sq ft is not that small. If the rooms are not redundant rooms. And are used efficiently. We had a 2500 sq ft home with 4 bedrooms yrs ago and the secondary rooms were not small.

It sounds like you could lose the office and could you lose the smallish formal dining room. I've had 3. Not worth the space (just mho).

I agree with Beauty. Four kids...you need kid storage for kid junk. Maybe an outdoor entrance for dirty kids.

What are the measurements of your lot? That will dictate what you can do of course and what we can look for. Here's an idea of the kind of thing I'm talking about. It's only 2100. I know it won't work for you, but just to illustrate what you can do. Perhaps you could buy something and have it modified. Or at least get ideas.

Love all of the input, thank you!! We are currently in a 4br/2 bath with a study that is 1920 square feet. Our lot is three acres so we are not limited by space ( only budget!) ! The "office" is more like a big closet once the designer adds in stairs that lead to an unfinished bonus space. What is a standard dining room?

"Standard" dining room is sorta useless term. You have four kids, so the MINIMUM you need would be space for a table for six plus any side furniture to fit into the room, plus adding any additional seating if you want a dining room for more than just you six, say for holiday meals. So you have to think of your needs, and see what space that furniture would take, and then see what size room it would need. The more seating you have in an eating space, the more space you also have to plan for where to put the food, etc. such as sideboard, china cabinet, etc. For that, you need wall space and floor space.

The truth is that the space would be much better used consolidated to only one dining/table/chairs space in a house rather than two, if space is tight. The same for formal living room and den space. Why duplicate, especially if the space would be much better, and more often, used differently? Now, if you were homeschooling four kids and needed desk space for them and doubled a formal dining table as desk/conference use daily, then certainly it would be warranted to have the second table space in a case such as that, see?

Your objectives are very do-able with good planning and design, especially in Texas where things are more reasonable from labor to materials.