I would put the school room and powder room on the left side of the stairs, then I'd put the living room where the school room is currently, and add french doors between the dining room and living room. If you ever entertain large groups of people, you would then have one nice large area for crowd congregation. :) And as you open the front door, I think the initial impression would be greatly enhanced (instead of looking at a blank wall).

Your school room would then be closer to your kitchen, which would probably make your life a bit easier. Of course, the kids are getting older and don't need as much direct teaching and supervision.

I can't help but notice that you have a lot of real estate tied up in your scrapbooking room. Do you have any other plans for this room? Now or in the future?

Another thing - I'm really not seeing any closet space downstairs, although I'm assuming you'll have a closet underneath the stairs.

I realize that we all have different wants and desires, but the current plan just doesn't grab me at all.

Good luck!

I like that the scrapbook room is near an entrance and the powder room so that clients don't have to enter your main house. A hard question: is this scrapbook business profitable enough to justify building a room? I know several people who do this and make essentially nothing. I know one person who really works at it, and I think she makes some money . . . But she doesn't even have a room. She rents a church hall for her crops.

I like most of the house, but I think the living room is long and narrow and will be hard to furnish.

Can you walk from the mud room directly to the dining room area? You seem to have a solid wall there, but a door would be easy and convenient.

I wouldn't build two powder rooms. No purpose, very expensive.

I would make sure you have a full bath downstairs for the eventuality that you may need to be on the first floor. I like the swapping school and living rooms. Then, when you are no longer schooling, it can be a formal dining room. You may be able to do some sort of butlers pantry between kitchen and school room and use it now for storing supplies, or for the "teachers desk." Your scrapbook room is about the same size as our gameroom in our new build. That size works great for a playroom or theater room, too, so keep in mind other ways you may use the space in the future. I would include a closet there and make the powder a full bath so it could be used as a downstairs bedroom if it is needed in the future. If you insist on two baths downstairs' move the other powder to under the stairs which gives you more usable space between those two rooms.

You are correct that the scrapbook room is near an entrance for customers. I have had my business for 9 years now and have no plans of quitting anytime soon. It is profitable enough for a room. Currently, it is in our basement with a size slightly smaller than what we have drawn up for plans.

There will basement stairs also, so we would not be able to walk through the area.

I may be misreading your plans, but it seems you have few if any windows to the sides -- what is the reason for this? On a smaller lot, this would give you more privacy, but on 4 acres, it would be nice to have the light and the view.

I guess I'm not really sure where else would put windows, unless we added another to the school room.

The family room would have a window and french door on the south side. The west side gives us a wall for some built ins and the tv.

The dining room has a window -- 5 ft x 6 ft 4.

The school room has a window in the front of it -- 5 ft x 6 ft 4.

Do we need more on that side of the house? I'm not sure how I would add more in without giving up useable walls.

This post was edited by neroselover on Fri, May 3, 13 at 21:07

You have a dead space in that hallway between the school room door and the bathroom. It would not be difficult to add a tub to that bathroom and bump the door to it closer to the school room (therefore, having less wasted space.)

That room can then transition as needed to a room for when the stairs are no longer an option (or temporarily not an option).

Re: windows -- One thing that bothers me is that you cannot see the area behind the garage from the house. Could you add a window in the kitchen on that side? We had a "blind spot" in our home and it drove me crazy not being able to see that area. It can be a security issue, too.

And it's a matter of preference, but I would rather have a smaller opening between the family room and dining room, with built-ins moved there, and added windows in the family room.

Which direction is the lake?

I Since you have two big walls to the outside in your craft room, why not put a direct door to the outside? My cousin has this setup and has a door going into her house as well as an outside door.

You may be a better housekeeper than I, but I know my mudroom wouldn't always be in the best shape for company to see, especially customers.

I also agree with the comments about the living room being long and narrow.

Hi!
We homeschool too. :)

I like the idea of swapping the living room and school room, and not adding a separate powder room. Then you would have a lot of great wall space in your school room for a white board or maps or whatever, and you could put a second window in your living room, which would make it a prettier space. Also I think the dimensions of the living room work better for a school room. and vice versa.

Upstairs, I would be inclined to have just one bathroom for the kid/guest rooms because I think the bedrooms on the left are kind of tight, and removing that bathroom would make them a lot more comfortable. I would also look at adding a window on the other wall to all the bedrooms that have corners-- a room with light from two directions feels like a much nicer space.

I can't read the dimensions of the master bedroom-- have you laid out your furniture in there? I'm not sure how I'd use a room that shape.

Way too many gables and too many materials on the exterior. It's disjointed, not cohesive. Eliminate some of the gables and use no more than two siding materials.

I understand the why's of what you've designed, but there's a lot to be desired in this plan in terms of how the house will look and live. For example, having the foyer come into a long wall along one side is not comfortable. The dining room is too far from the kitchen. The shape of the rooms seems long and narrow. (I can't see the dimension on the drawing.) I think it would benefit by putting some furniture in the space like sofas and tables so you get a better sense of how the space will live. For example, in the living room, where would you put the sofa so you could enjoy the fireplace and how would the conversation cluster work around it?

I like the orientation and the walk out. I'd consider putting 9' finished ceilings in the basement...we did and it's critical to making the lower level feel like livable space. However, if you cover up the windowed part of the basement with a deck above, you will lose all your light and sense of openness. Consider putting the deck behind the garage and leave as much light available to the lower level as possible.

As a scrapbooker, I'm envious of your scrapbook room and would love to come crop there(however I'm in southeastern pa so I don't think that will happen). Love that there is lots of rooms for tables for scrappers and looks like plenty of room for supplies. Enjoy!