I think your master closet is HUGE!! Which will be nice, but it's can be another bedroom for some people. Maybe take a spot from that closet and make a coat closet in the foyer.

I would add a closet in the office, just to consider it another bedroom, better for resale down the road.

Your living room size is a good size, not huge but comfortable.

I love your kitchen, I am going to have a very similar set up. The dining room off there is nice too.

I know nothing about basement and stair openings for that sorry, we don't have those in Florida much.

Why don't you add a drop zone where the closet is behind the stairs, I think you could fit one in there instead of a closet.

I don't like the guest room side that you have to walk through the bath to get to the closet, seems weird. I wonder if you added a closet along the kitchen wall side and then used the square footage there to add to laundry room.

A small master shower I think would be 4x4. All depends if you want a bench, shower together, etc.

I hope you get your details worked out quickly!!! We are still in the waiting process too!

I agree with Bridget about the guest bath. I would use a reach-in closet along the kitchen wall (to help with soundproofing/privacy), and increase the size of the laundry.

You have a closet at the garage entrance, but no place to put a bench. I need to sit to put on shoes or boots.

The garage proportions seem a little off. 24 x 26 is a great size - but you have so much space at the top, that the cars are going to be squished together. Our garage is 22x22, and it's a tight squeeze.

I'm not sure about the corner pantry - I've never had one. I feel like it would break up the kitchen too much, but it might be OK with the sink on the island. I'd be tempted to turn the powder room space into a pantry (and/or mudroom). Move the powder room to the master closet space

The closet is way too big. Unless you put a clothes rod down the middle (or a couch), you have a lot of wasted space. I don't think I'd like going through the bathroom to get to the closet, but the only way I can see to avoid that is to put the bedroom between the closet and bath, which eliminates windows from a bedroom wall. I also don't think windows in a closet are a good idea - your clothes are going to fade.

We built on a sloped lot and we put one garage under in the basement level and had a 2 car garage above. It helped a lot from the massing of the house so it wasn't overwhelmed by the garage...an issue esp with smaller homes. We also made the lower level garage a combo work shop so it is more temperate than a free-standing garage.

I agree the shower is too small and that closet is huge. No reason the shower can't bump into the closet.

I hope you are compensating your architect on an hourly basis until you approve a final schematic design. It's the only fair way to compensate your architect for the continual revisions and changes until you make up your mind.

The comments and critique here will be endless, and change after change can easily result. It will be up to you, after all, to finally say to your architect that the schematic design is approved and give your permission to move forward with design development, followed by construction documents.

Once schematic design is established and approved, the rest of the project can be much more manageable and controllable.

Many consumers have a hard time making up their minds in the early phase of design and the process can be endless (and frustrating to everyone) unless some discipline is applied by all parties. One way to make discipline inherent is to pay by the hour for schematic design and owner requested changes. In this way, owners share equally in the decisions for revisions and changes.

Good luck on your project.

Virgilcarter:
Gosh.....I really need to pay the architect? Who knew..

Garages are a love-hate thing, in part because they block off natural light. By dividing your garage in this way, you're allowing this major drawback to occur on TWO sides of your house. I would consider making the boat's garage a detached unit.

I share your idea of keeping the bedroom clutter-free by planning a large closet that can eliminate dressers in the bedroom, BUT this closet is oversized.

I do not like the master bath. When you walk in (assuming the toilet closet door isn't open, blocking your way), you're going to have a view of . . . the closet door. The tub seems squished into a small spot, and the shower looks too narrow for comfort. Nothing about this bathroom looks inviting or comfortable. You have plenty of space between the bath and the closet, and you absolutely can lay out something better without changing the footprint.

Your stairs look pretty much dead-on to me. The fold-back design is a space-hog, but it doesn't appear to be over-sized or under-sized.

I like the idea of ditching the closet that backs up to the stairs and replacing it with a drop zone -- it'll be a nice size. However, I would want to harness the space under those stairs somehow.

I think the kitchen is a good size -- not too big, not too small, good flow throughout -- but the pantry is too small. For this kitchen to work, you need more space, and the pantry is the best option. I'm tempted to say use the closet that backs up to the stairs as a second pantry . . . but then you don't have your drop space.

I'm not in the camp of "My laundry room must be massive with all the bells and whistles", but this one is overly cramped.

If a parent will eventually live in this bedroom, I don't think it's adequate. I mean, the room is fine, but the bathroom will be a problem if the parent needs a walker or wheelchair, and the sink is just plain too small regardless. I would consider a walk-in shower instead of a tub; it's easier for an elderly person to access, and you have space here to make it nice and big -- big enough for a shower chair. Also, the closet probably isn't enough for an adult.

Overall, I think your functional spaces on the guest room /kitchen /casual entry area side are just too small. I think you need a couple more feet to make this all comfortable.

Love the dining area and the arrangement of the kitchen and living room. Everything's connected in a comfortable way.

The front porch is too narrow for real use, but it will be a nice look and will allow you to decorate for holidays (that's pretty important in my book).

Concerns about this 2142 sq ft new plan that I can see, I really want to hear all the good and bad. :
1) Laundry room too small
2) No drop zone
3) Kitchen and kitchen pantry too small
4) Is the master closet too big? I have know idea how big it should be to hold all our clothes and things
5) Is the hole for the stairs too big
6) Worried we have simplified the foundation so much we will loose all character. Hoping to be able to add gables, interior ceiling features to boost up the character.
7) Master shower too little
Here is the new plan offered to us from the architect:

Although this isn't a small house, you still have to make sacrifices, and in my opinion, the view of a closet door as you walk into the master bath just isn't that big of a deal.

Here are some changes I would make:

I would take out two feet from two from the master closet and add a foot to the master bedroom and a foot to the master bath. I would then add two closets off of the foyer. One for stuff that you don't want guests to see, and another for coats, etc., that you can keep a bit more tidy. :)

If you are going to age in this house, the placement of the master toilet is great, but it's also a bit tight. I would enlarge that and widen the door. I would also widen the shower. I don't like huge showers (too cold), but it seems to me that this could be a bit more generously sized, especially, again, if you are going to age in place.

As mentioned, I would add a wall of closets between the kitchen and the guest room, which would mean adding square footage and redoing that whole area.

If you really don't want to add any more square footage, you could, instead, make a reach-in closet where the guest bathroom is located. Square off the bedroom to add a bit of additional space.

Turn that walk-in closet and laundry room into a larger, more luxurious hall bath. Delete the powder room and rework this area into a laundry room, and perhaps delete the closet in favor of a bench with hooks above and cubbies below. (You will have more closet space off the foyer to replace this closet.)

Good luck!

ETA - If you back up your washer and dryer against the staircase (delete the closet and delete the bench I mentioned above) then you will have better sight lines from the living areas. Just flip the laundry and bench, etc.

This post was edited by bird_lover66 on Fri, Jul 18, 14 at 19:21

KayakCove, if you want members here to stick with you I suggest not making snarky remarks to the few architects who are willing to offer free advice on the forum.

That's uncalled for Renovator. Architects draw for a living and nobody(should) expect architects to make changes and not be charged for it. If the architect makes changes because of the HO want these changes, they should be paid period. That should be understood by all parties from the very beginning.