You like angles. I do too, but there are a lot of interior angles in this house... All those angles eats up some usable space. Just remember that (and it will cost more for the carpenters).

The garage is of sufficient size for 2 real cars. Good job.

Some things... The area between the dining table and the peninsula/bar area is too narrow. That will be a main through area for the house, and it just simply won't function. Even as drawn, with chairs and stools "empty" and tucked in, you can see there isn't room. Imagine someone was sitting at just 1 chair or stool.

Other smaller things.

Master toilet room needs an outswing or bi-swing door on it, not an inswing, for safety.

In general, I feel like you have WAY too many doors in your master suite. Like you couldn't decide between a door here or a door there, so you put a door in both places. Sometimes that works, for a single door, but you've done it 2 or 3 times within the master suite. Pick a location for the master bath entry--1 location. Pick a location for the Master closet entry. etc. Also, although french doors may feel grand, to your bathroom, they are not very practical.

J&J baths are not popular on this forum and aren't very practical for a family that will have both bedrooms occupied. Someone locks out someone else all the time. How will those rooms be utilized?

Thank you so much for your input. I am so happy I found this site. I, of course, did not think about the area b/t the dining and kitchen being too small (shows how much I know). I am going to talk to the architect about this soon.

As far as the master suite goes, I felt something was a little awkward about it and I think you're right about the doors. We planned it like this because my husband works for the railroad and is on call 24/7 and I'm finishing up law school and will have a normal 8-5 schedule. We thought it would help out with the sleep disturbances. I don't see how nixing a few doors will make a difference though.

I am starting to remember being locked out of our J & J bath when I was a child by my brother. You're absolute right about that. We just have one child, however, and the other room will be a guest BR so it shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks again for your help!

The layout overall seems good but your kitchen is going to be depressingly absent of natural light.

One thing I noticed is that your main living spaces don't seem like they will have much natural light, since they are wrapped by the bedrooms, especially if that back porch is covered. It is always nice to try to have rooms with light from 2 directions if possible. Maybe that isn't a priority for you, but it is something we've been trying to incorporate with our plan.

Good point! This is also something I didn't think of and will need to discuss with my architect. We are in the deep south though so more natural light means more heat...

Have you seen an elevation? The roof is going to be huge because the floor plan is both wide and deep.
If you had an L or T shaped house instead of a big rectangle, the roof could be in better proportion to the rest of the house. It would also give you the opportunity to get more light into the main living spaces. You could emphasize windows to the North to limit heat gain.

FYI, as things stand if you leave the doors open, there's a view into the master shower from the foyer. I don't think you need the door there in addition to the other 2 doors into the bathroom, and I'd get rid of it if it were my house-- then you could put a piece of art on the wall there.

Good luck with your build! I'm sure your home will be lovely.

Thank you zone4newby.

We haven't started on the elevations yet. The subdivision requires the homes to be reminiscent of 1900 Natchez Mississippi which I take to mean plantation, farmhouse or cottage. We are wanting to do a farmhouse cottage with touches of craftsman and I'm hoping the layout will work.

I didn't even notice the fact that you could see right to the shower, lol. I'm definitely going to do something about all those doors.

All good points from previous posters. The angles make for some odd closet shapes (coat, linen, broom), and I'm not sure how functional those spaces will be.

The DR pinch point is a definite issue. You could consider changing the DR french door to a triple window. It will bring more light to the kitchen area, and allow you to build in a banquette in the resulting L-shaped space. It would limit your future choices with furniture, but would shift the center of the DR table toward the wall. Also, with a family of three, you'd probably have at least two of you wanting to sit on the banquette, with the third in the chair that backs to the FR. You wouldn't have to keep the kitchen-side chairs there on a day-to-day basis.

The BR3 closet seems to be trying to make up for lack of width by being a bit deeper. But I don't see what that extra deepness is getting you, other than perhaps that little niche area -- are those meant to be small shelves in the closet? You might split the difference with that area by having the BR3 closet be shallower, and allowing for a closet/cabinet/shelving in the mud room. And what is happening at the window in the mud room? If you shift the W/D down toward the window, you can make BR3's closet wider.

I agree there are too many doors in the MBR. I would lose the double doors into the bath. Double doors aren't as effective in blocking light and noise (which I think is what you're wanting if hubby gets called in in the middle of the night), and it makes more sense to have him just exit the sleeping area completely and access the bath and closet from the MBR hall area. This will also give you another wall in the MBR in the event you want a second dresser in there.

In the family room, is the TV going to go above the fireplace? If not, then consider where you're going to place it and factor that in to your furniture plan.

Finally, you've got a lot of open space in the foyer area. I'd love to twinkle my nose and spread that space out among the other rooms in your house.

Is your kitchen layout set? Your fridge is right in the walkway to the kitchen from the dining area. If someone is getting something from the fridge and someone needs by to access the other part of the kitchen, it will be tight/awkward. I used to have a kitchen setup like that and hated it!

Good luck!

No, it isn't set but that is definitely something I will keep in mind. Thanks.

You really need to think about the elevations as well and how the entire thing will fit together (if it will).

I agree with much of what's been said, and I think you can improve upon this layout:

Garage: A back entry garage is going to require a turn-around type driveway. Do you have space to make this turn comfortably? I'm thinking this back garage concept is only workable if you're building on a corner lot.

Your kitchen isn't spacious. Does this fit with your cooking style?

You have something of a door log-jam around the garage-kitchen entrance. I'd consider having the garage-entrance door in the utility room and eliminating the broom closet altogther -- nothing's going to fit in that tiny triangular room anyway, and you have a good-sized utility room right there. Opening up that corner will not add functional space, but it will add visual space.

Your dining area is tiny; really, it's the same size as your laundry room, and your master bath is larger. PLUS the dining area IS the walkway from the garage. In reality, the table you've pictured will not fit there; you'd comfortably be able to have a small 4-person table in that area, but it still would be a bit cramped. I think this is the biggest problem with this layout.

I totally agree with the poster who says that the dining room French doors should become windows. You still keep the light, but windows are cheaper, and they are one less set of doors to secure every night. And with another set of doors right there in the living room, the dining room doors are not necessary.

You asked about cost-effective. All those angles are the exact opposite of cost-effective. And for little purpose; for example, the triangular linen closet by the secondary bedrooms isn't even going to hold towels.

Your public living spaces are quite cramped, yet your foyer is spacious. This isn't where I would allot my square footage.

My best suggestion for opening up this public room space: square off the back wall of the house. That is, extend the living room /dining room area a bit. Since angles are so expensive, this will probably end up being almost a wash financially. This'll give you space to breathe in your dining room area (remember, this is a main walkway too), and it won't hurt the living room area.

You can still have the back porch -- and without the angles, it'll be more serviceable.

Unlike lots of people here, I do like the jack-and-jill bathroom concept, but that's personal preference. IF you were to change to a hall-bath, you could elminate the half-bath.

If you were to eliminate the half-bath and take a little space away from the master closet, you could use that area as a small office. If you place the desk against the wall, you'd have a small but usable space. Why? Because then the current office could become the dining room, solving the biggest problem in this layout.

Six doors in the master suite is an awful lot, but I would eliminate only one: The bathroom door between the linen closet and the sinks. It's only a few steps to the right or the left to enter through another door -- this door isn't needed. Plus it eliminates that seeing-the-shower-from-the-foyer problem. Still on the subject of doors, I would get rid of the silly little double-doors in two places: They pose a problem when it comes to light switch placement, and mixed doors in the same space are just odd.

I think you've allotted too much space to the master bedroom closet -- too much, that is, in proportion with the rest of the house. This closet is as big as the kitchen, larger than the dining room. I do, however, love that one spouse can go into the closet, turn on the light and make noise without disturbing the other sleeping spouse. I think the layout of the whole bedroom area will function well.

The master closet, though, is far from the laundry room. Carrying laundry baskets through the living room and kitchen/dining area, threading your way through furniture, is going to get old. With all that space, you could include a stack-up washer/dryer in the master closet and eliminate the carrying.

One note of caution about the location of this master suite: Where will you locate the TV /stereo in the living room? If the answer is above or beside the fireplace, you're going to want to include extra insulation or gyp-board between the living room and the master. Otherwise a person going to bed early is going to be disturbed by the noises in the living room. This isn't a design problem -- just a detail of which to be aware during building.

I would take the window out of the shower and move it to the toilet room. Actually, I wouldn't have the toilet in a separate room -- closing oneself in a tiny cabinet to use the toilet feels too enclosed -- but that's an unpopular choice around here.

My overall impression of this house: It's okay, but nothing great. It looks like a starter house (in terms of size) but with a nicer master suite. With some tweaking, it could be much nicer.

In addition to the points made above, I might consider straightening out that back wall so that the exterior wall on the master bedroom ran straight across to connect with the garage. i think that would give you more usable space and eliminate what seem like some awkward angles. Of course, you may like the angles. Have you been in a house with a similar layout?

Also, I don't think you can divorce the interior from how the exterior will look. Changes to the exterior may affect the interior, and vice-versa. I would want to see an exterior elevation soon. You may find that you don't like the way this floor plan makes the exterior look, and I'd want to know that before I got too far along.

Good luck!
Ashley

Thanks everyone for the input. I agreed with many of your suggestions and made a few changes. I should be getting updated plans soon!!!

I agree with lots of what is posted here, but to reiterate, you have a lot of square footage in the foyer, but very small closets. I think your architect is more concerned with looks than livability, unless, of course, you requested this. :)

I would get rid of the extra turn of the peninsula next to the cooktop. It's just going to make that area feel cramped and have more to walk around from the living area.

In fact, I would make that an island (and I'm not an all island, all the time type of gal!) by getting rid of that small pantry, and finding a place for a larger pantry. I would then eliminate that kitchen door into the hallway. I would also get rid of every angle in the kitchen/dining area and have that area become a rectangle shape. No hallway. Your laundry room and garage would open right into the breakfast room. May not be exactly idea, but at least it's not cramped.

Then, If you push the garage back by two to four feet, you could probably reconfigure larger closets and a larger pantry, as well as a powder room. With kids, it's nice to have a toilet in the back so they aren't constantly tracking dirt through the house. And you could rework that front powder room into a small office, so you will have,perhaps, his and her offices, a dining room, or extra bedroom, if ever needed. :)

And while the french doors are pretty, too many french doors will make opening the house to breezes difficult - they let the buggies right in. :)

Good luck!

This post was edited by bird_lover6 on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 14:07