A few more details- the main floor needs to be close to 2,500 square feet. Right nows it is just my husband and me...kids are uncertain. We're fine with only one bedroom on the main floor.

Honestly, it's not bad. I do have a few comments, but I need to know where are the lake views? To the right?

PPS- Yes, the lake views are to the right of the plan. Thanks for looking. I think overall it's OK, but I think I get hung up on the couple of things I don't like...can't see the forest for the trees. Thanks for your comments.

My main comment is regarding the location of the kitchen. If the views are to the right and back, then I would want the kitchen to have great views. Especially since you want that whole wall of windows. Ditto to the dining room. Right now it seems like they have a view of the driveway and garage. The powder room/laundry room are in prime view location and that's a waste.

But I don't know the lot so I could be totally off. If you like the general room placement then here are my comments.

1. That little space between the garage and the kitchen would be great as a side entry. You would need to reconfigure the pantry, but it might be nice to go straight into the mudroom without entering the garage.

2. Also the path to the kitchen from the mudroom is very tortuous. Again if the space that is currently the pantry were part of the mudroom then you would have an entrance to the kitchen directly-which is what most people prefer.
You would then be able to eliminate that back hall behind the stairs.

3. I don't have a window in my U shape stairway and I regret it. If you move the stairs to where the powder room is and put the powder room in the mudroom then you can have a window in the staircase. Either way, I would not want a door to the downstairs, but would do an open staircase.

3. there are random pockets of space I don't understand. For example, at the office/sitting area in the master, why does the house go in and out again( behind and to the right of the tv in the master? What are you going to do with that little corner to the right of the toilet. Why not make it part of the sitting area?

I think it's a mistake not to share your ideas with your designer. Let them know what's important to you. It's not a test but a collaberation.

Overall, I don't think it's bad, either. I would definitely tell the designer what you like though because that saves a lot of time from him/her guessing. And, they can then figure out how to make the space work as you prefer it. I had a nightmare trying to get my bathroom/closet area the way I liked it. But, once I sent my designer the "requirements", he figured it out instantly and we love it now.

A few things I noticed...take them or leave them...

1) The window seat area in the master is in a weird shape. I wouldn't want that space cut out. And, I'd probably just want an open entry way, not a door.

2) I wouldn't want the butlers pantry and hall closet walls to cut into the dining room space the way they are. I'd want that dining room wall to be straight across.

3) I like how the stairs are off the family room/kitchen area, but they are kind of in the middle of that entire space causing you to walk around them when you come in from the mudroom. I'd want to be able to walk into the mudroom and go straight to the kitchen easily - think about bring groceries in the house...

4) I'd put a window in the powder room and maybe one in the mudroom/side entrance there so there's light coming in.

5) I'd measure your furniture and the master bedroom to make sure it all fits. The pic shows the nightstands barely fitting, so make sure yours will actually fit.

I'm not lovin' it either.

First off, the complex exterior shape would make building this house much more expensive than others of similar square footage and similar levels of finish and amenities. A simple rectangle is least expensive to build. Every exterior jog in-and-out adds cost b/c it results in a more complex roof line, a more complex foundation, additional exterior framing and sheathing materials, etc. Complex shapes are also more expensive to heat/cool than simpler ones because you have a higher ratio of exterior "skin" surface area to interior volume. Since heat is gained/lost thru the exterior "skin," the higher the ratio, the more it costs to keep the house at a comfortable temperature. Complex roofs are more likely to leak - because leaks tend to occur in roof valleys. Complex foundations are more likely to develop cracks. ETC.

I'm not saying everyone should build a simple rectangle.
There are basically two good reasons to add jigs-and-jogs. 1) Because they can give you more places to put windows to add light and gain access to views. 2) They can give you more interesting exterior elevations. In this case tho, I don't see that all those extra jigs/jogs allow you to gain much, if any, additional light in the house or access to your views. And, most of the jigs/jogs are on the SIDE of your house where even if they do result in a particularly interesting elevation, no one is ever going to notice it! After all, if your lake and mountain views and backyard pond are as nice as they sound, anyone who is on that side of your house is going to be looking out at the scenary, NOT at the side of your house! I say you need to simplify those elevations to save money while gaining additional useful square footage.

Second, you don't say in which rooms you spend most of your time but whichever ones they are, those are the rooms that should have the best views. While my laundry room gets lots of use, I don't actually spend very much time in it and when I am in there, I'm focused on folding clothes, etc. I do think having a window and natural light in the laundry is important - helps with matching up socks if nothing else! - but I personally don't think I'd give space on the best "view" side of the house to the laundry room.

The kitchen and dining room now - those areas I would WANT to have gorgeous views!

I think the odd shape of the masterbedroom will make furniture placement difficult. Also, you don't say which direction your house actually faces (North/south/east/west) but that tiny room with all the window could uncomfortably warm if the sun is from the wrong direction. I suspect you wanted a cozy reading nook but that looks more like a closet than a "nook." I'd rethink it.

The his/hers walk in closets are nice but the pocket doors may not work very well. Remember that your vanity sinks have plumbing pipes that HAVE to be run somewhere. Plumbing can't go into the wall where you have a pocket door.

The garden tub with windows is great - but the solid walls on the sides of the tub (for the shower and WC closet) may make the tub feel more enclosed than you would like. Basically by walling the sides, you turn a garden tub into an "alcove" tub. A bit larger than your standard builder's grade tract home alcove tub maybe, but still.... I'd want my garden tub more open.

Your shower says it is 5X5 but it clearly is more like a 5X3 shower. Certainly a 3x5 shower stall is plenty big enough for showering. But it is NOT the 5x5 shower that you apparently think you're getting. And, since the shower appears to show 3 shower heads, I'm guessing you really want a luxurious shower. Make sure you're getting what you think you are.

Access from the garage to the pantry is difficult. Do you really want to schlep bags of groceries over 50 feet thru your house - and right thru the living room - to put them away? Do you want to have to schlep bags of garbage thru the living room to carry them out to the garage?

In the pantry, the freezer door needs to be able to open out more than 90 degree. Freezer doors are typically about 4 to 5 inches thick so if you have the hinges right up against a wall of shelves, the back of the freezer door is going to strike the shelves before the door is actually fully open. If you don't already own a freezer, go look at one in the stores and you'll see what I mean.

I don't like that the kitchen is almost, but not QUITE, symetrical with respect to the living room. "Almost symmetrical" give the impression that you wanted symmetry but weren't quite able to get it. It always looks a bit "off." A dynamically balanced unsymmetrical arrangement would be a lot better.

I too don't like the closed in U-shaped staircase. It seems boxy and out of place in a home this large. And, getting furniture up and down the stairs will be a headache.

All in all, I think this plan needs MAJOR revisions...to the point of starting over fresh. Personally, I'd love to see the plans you drew up before you went to the designer. They might be a better starting point than this.

As for being "picky," you're talking about making what will probably be the single most expensive purchase you have ever made in your life. Depending on the area where you live, my guess is that this house would cost between half a million and a million dollars to build. And, you are going to be living with any mistakes every single day! You cannot afford NOT to be picky. Your DH should be applauding your pickiness. I'm sure if he were choosing a new car that cost even 1/10th what this house will cost, he would not think it was being too "picky" to insist that the car be designed to function comfortably AND safely AND fit HIS personal needs. You can bet he'd be being picky about everything: how big an engine is has, what kind of transmission, how much leg room it has in front/rear, what gas milage it gets, how much storage space it has in the trunk, what color it is painted, what kind of tires, what kind of hubcaps and radio it comes with, how darkly tinted the windows are, what kind of seats, what kind of seat covers, etc., etc., etc. You're just doing the same thing.

I don't like the oven right next to the cooktop. The only place to put something down from the oven is on the island and I don't like having to turn around to do that with something heavy and hot. I really don't like the island right in the middle between the refrigerator and the cooktop and oven do far away. It appears you have only a dining room and no breakfast area. We recently sold our house and that was a constant issue from prospective buyers. They wanted a breakfast area. You could have an island with a breakfast bar for example if you don't want a separate breakfast area.

In the office you don't really have a lot of space for a desk and chair.
I don't understand all the unused space from the garage through the mudroom. The left is OK but what about the right. One option might be to enlarge the pantry in that area and then have an entry into it from the mud area.

Master bedroom seems small and very very inflexible in use of space and lots of waster space. The little library area in there is nice but it would be more flexible just to have it as part of the room. And what's with the jogs and ins and outs of the window seat? Seems unnecessary.

The shower is clearly a rectangle and not 5x5. You have these huge closets and then a teeny tiny linen closet.

You can't put pocket doors behind those vanities. Also with such huge closets it seems off balance to have one shared vanity. Does the middle have drawers or a kneespace? Even if drawers that really isn't much storage space in the bathroom itself.

Your master bath is larger than your bedroom (even with the windowseat area). Is that really what you want? (I have to say that I really really didn't like the master bedroom)

pps7

I agree with you about the location of the kitchen, laundry room, and powder room. The kitchen is important to me as I cook a lot. I've considered moving the kitchen to the right side of the house, but then a concern is the distance for the garage for bringing in groceries. It may be a trade off between the view v. convenience once a week when I buy groceries;I think I'd pick the views.

The room I'd prefer to have the best views would be the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom.

Side entry- like this idea

Agree about kitchen to mudroom route. I think I'd rather have access from the mudroom to the kitchen, and perhaps have the panty in/as part of the mudroom.

I would prefer to have the powder room in the mudroom, which is something I've expressed to the designer before. Also, I love the idea of the window for the stairwell. I have pictures of that in my inspiration files.

The random pockets of space are probably my biggest problem. They just don't make sense to me.

To clarify, I'm not planning on not sharing my ideas with the designer. I'll definitely let them know what I think. I think I've been very clear so far, and we gave him detailed notes and pictures before he started. This is our second draft, and there were some good changes from the first draft'but also some that I don't care for that seem like we're going backwards (random pockets of space). I just wanted to gauge other's reactions to make sure I wasn't crazy. Sometimes you can get so engrossed in something you lose all sense of reason, know what I mean?

Andi_K

As mentioned above, I will definitely tell the designer what the concerns are.

Agree completely about the window seat. It was one of the things that made me say "huh?" when I got the draft. Your comments about the butler's pantry and stairway also make a lot of sense. We'll definitely make sure the furniture will fit. I've already measured pieces that we'll be reusing and recorded the dimensions.

Bevangel

One of my concerns is also the exterior shape. It seems there are a lot of jigs/jogs as you call them that don't have a really good purpose- this is one thing we mentioned to the designer from the beginning as something we did not want, along with random gables in the roof or a very complex roof.

As mentioned above, I'd prefer for the best views to be in the kitchen, living room, and master bedroom, in that order. The original plan had a hallway on the view side of the house, so I think having the laundry and powder room is an improvement over a hallway, but not the best use of the view. Maximizing the view is the reason we hired somebody to develop a plan instead of using a stock plan.

I also don't like the shape and layout of the master bedroom. I hate the tiny room with the windows. That wasn't in the first draft. Originally we had a balcony on the rear of the house off the master, and he changed it in the second draft.

I'm thinking of reworking the master closets to have one regular door, and having two separate vanities. I'm keeping the comments about pocket doors and plumbing ( and I know electrical, towel bars, etc) in mind.

What would you recommend for the tub? We weren't planning on a freestanding tub.

I'll check into the shower for sure. I won't be happy with a 5x3 shower. Good catch.

The garage to kitchen route is a concern, as mentioned above. I'd like to hear ideas on how to fix this. If I move the kitchen, my concern is distance from kitchen to garage. How about moving the garage to the area of the powder room /laundry area (obviously the area would be expanded)?

Symmetry in kitchen: that was a huge problem for me; I could not agree with you more. Especially bothersome is the way the doorway to the living room doesn't line up with the island. That was one of the things my husband thought was picky, but I know it would drive me crazy.

What type of staircase would you recommend? Where would you put it?

I'll try to get my previous plan in a shape to be posted. The idea of starting over completely is one I'd thought off, but didn't know if that was too extreme.

The issues that you all are raising are the same issues I was concerned with. I'm glad to know I haven't lost all perspective. I'd love to hear more ideas or ideas for a re-do. Thank you so much for the ideas so far!

kats_meow: Once I get a more workable plan, I plan on posting to the kitchen forum. I agree about the cooktop location and will keep that in mind. Once I get the general location, size, etc. figured out for the kitchen, I'll focus more on appliance placement.

We do not have a breakfast room, but we do plan on having seating at the island. Do you think that would work, or should we plan space for a breakfast room?

I am thinking of reworking the mudroom area to have an entry into the panty. I think the space could be utilized better

I also really, really don't like the master bedroom. The little library/room/windowseat area makes no sense to me. Furniture placement worries me.

I'm planning on splitting the vanity into two separate vanity areas with one door entering into the closet. The desire for two vanities is something I've stated from the beginning.

Thoughts on the master bedroom: nix the sitting room as it now stands, square off the corner, and add a bay window type seating area in the middle of the RH wall, facing the lake. Then move your bed up to the top wall where you have more room and can have the bed be the focal point as you enter the room.

Here's a photo of a bay window-type sitting room we added so we'd have a better lake view. It's a 10x10, and you don't need to go that big, but it's a great, relaxing spot to kick back and daydream.

Hi Ashley,

I don't have really any more suggestions that haven't already been stated, but I just wanted to chime in and say that you are definitely not alone. We too just got our 2nd draft back from our designer and I am just not loving it and thinking of starting over. But I am dreading it. Dh also thinks I'm nuts and my expectations are too high. But I figure why would I build something that I don't love?

Good luck with everything! I'm not sure if you've seen Visbeen's plans before, but I just love them (unfortunately none of them suit us perfectly, but you may get some ideas from them.)

Here is a link that might be useful: visbeen plans

Hi laurensmom,

It's good to know that I'm not the only one in this predicament. Thanks for the encouragement. There's so much pressure (self imposed) to get this right! It would have been so much easier if we could use a stock plan!

Keep at it -- we went through 3 or so drafts with our designer at first before hitting on something that worked ... all quite different, and several of those first ones had spots that made no sense. We worked them out.
Have you considered putting the kitchen roughly where the BR is? & open to dining (or with a knee wall, so you have view). Then the BR would go about where the office is. I can see that the problem with this is where does the front door go? If the road is on the left, maybe this is not such a problem, but I am imagining the road is at the bottom?

I'd be concerned that the designer didn't think about the fact that you can't have pocket doors behind those vanities.

I hate to sound negative, but I vote for going back to square one. Certainly there are individual aspects of the plan that are fine, but overall it doesn't really work. The master bedroom / bath is a major issue. From a design / decorating point-of-view, you ideally want to look at the bed from the foot of the bed when you walk into the room -- not the side of it as you would have to now. I understand you want to be able to see the view from your bed -- hence my belief this needs a total overhaul. SORRY! :(

OK, I've done a lot of thinking and considered everyone's feedback. I think it would be easier to start fresh than trying to fix the plan we have. What do you think about using the linked floor plan as a jumping off point? The things I like are that the majority of the rooms will have a view (imagine the plan mirror reversed). There are of course things that I would still like to tweak, like flipping the kitchen with the dining room. But is a plan like this a step in the right direction? Or do I need to keep thinking?

Here is a link that might be useful: Boddington by Living Concepts

I just posted feedback on someone else's plan where I had some problems with it that I also don't like on this one. I don't like the dining room between the kitchen and family room. The whole point to me of an open kitchen is (1) I can talk to people in the family room) and (2) someone in the kitchen could still see the TV). Plans like this make it difficult to do either of those. I looked a model home with the dining room in that location and really disliked it.

What's is the deal with 2 pantries? I wouldn't like that as I would never remember what was in which one.

The other problem I had with the other plan and this one also is the narrow study. I had a narrow study at the house we recently sold and the issue was that if someone came in to talk to me there was nowhere for them to sit. It was just very awkward. It could be kids coming in to talk to me (they would sit on the built in desk unfortunately) or when we had a visitor and I wanted to show them something on the computer they would just have to stand. That was a big thing I wanted to change with our new house.

Laundry room seems small. I prefer to keep my freezer there rather than in the garage. Also makes no sense to have a sink and then have the counter space across from the sink.

Also I don't like lofts and open balcony from the 2nd floor to first. I had that in another house and it just increased noise and utility bills.

3 baths upstairs seem like overkill.

Thanks,kats_meow. I have some of the same concerns, I'd want to flip the dining room with the kitchen as you pointed out, and I'd make the study larger. What I was wondering was if the general idea of the layout worked better. I've never found a floorplan that I liked everything about, but I like having a jumping off point to organize my thoughts.