Also the room above the garage is going to be used for storage and there will be no bathroom up there.

It seems to meet your needs. Why *couldn't* you have vaulted or cathedral ceilings! There's more than enough roof, and high ceilings are good in hot climates.

I'd keep the nook unless you always eat in the dining room. Few people want to take all their meals at a 'breakfast bar'. No nook will hurt resale.

You could eliminate the pantry and butler's pantry and have more storage space in the back hall -- where gorceries come into the house. You have lots of upper cabinetry right IN the kitchen. Few people like cooktops on islands -- problem with the exhaust hood.

I don't like the master suite either. I don't want to walk through a bathroom to access my closet. Corner tubs are a little weird. One vanity is in a walk-through area. I'd rework that whole end of the house.

I'd prefer a different setup for the Jack & Jill bathroom. This might work for same-gender kids, but the house won't always have same-gender kids in it. Toilets are cheap; get two.

You'll want a deeper porch if you plan to sit out there. You'd probably want any grill to be closer to the kitchen too.

It's a very pretty elevation.

I like the pantry and butler's pantry...the butler's pantry will be great for storage and as a staging area when dining in the dining room. I agree about keeping the nook...I think that is a very pretty spot to eat. I mean, the only other thing you could do is completely re-arrange the kitchen and put the sink in that back wall and just re-work it all and have an eating area or a larger island in the area where the kitchen is now. I agree with not having the cooktop in the island. If it is on a wall you can do a really pretty hood. I like the kid's area!

Do you all think the house will still look cute if we turn the garage to face the front of the house? Husband has now decided that he wants the garage doors on the front of the house. That means that the rest of that side of the house will move up,right? Will that even work?

We're going to keep the nook and the pantry and turn butlers part into a broom closet, I think (if there's enough room). Take out the broom closet in the laundry room and give us more counter space in there.

I think we are going to swap the master closet and bathroom around. I think that the bathroom would work with that angled wall.

In the kitchen I forgot about the cook top. I want it on a wall and not in the island.

Thanks for all of your help!!

chisue never likes accessing closets from the master bath - I happen to love them :) To me, there are several benefits. Fewer doors in master bedroom, which leaves more space for windows and furniture. Often very square footage friendly (rather than a hallway with closets on either side). The best reason for me is that my husband often is up and out by 6 am - before my alarm goes off. He can now go into the bathroom, shut the door, shower, dress etc. and not disturb me at all. There are many mornings I don't even hear him. Our new house will be the same except we will have separate closets - his off the bathroom and mine off the hall in between. My architect hated it too but we insisted his be off the bath as it works so well for our lifestyle!

Our master closet is off the bathroom and we requested it this way for the same reason as athensmomof3. DH gets up at 5:30am and I don't want to be distrurbed-LOL!

I don't think you should rotate the garage to face forward.
I would leave the Butler's pantry.

I assume the kids are the same gender. I would give the guest bedroom to one of the kids so they don't have to share bathrooms. Guests can share with one of the kids. Make sure your WIC are at least 4.5' deep. My son's is 4' and I wish we had another 6".

Just piping in to say I also prefer a closet off the bathroom... again, because DH and I have such different schedules. We never get ready at the same time.

We went a step further and added a door from our master closet to the laundry/mudroom... If you tweak your plan, you could also accomplish this if it would work for your lifestyle. For us, this is the smartest part of our design... (I just leave the bedroom and can shower, get dressed and leave the house without bothering him at all... or he can come home late from work and get ready for bed without first entering the bedroom.)

Thanks everyone! My kids are oldest girl and younger boy. We are planning to put my daughter in the back (guest) bedroom and my son will get the next bedroom with the shared bath.

The husband really wants the garage in the front of the house. So I might have to go and find a new elevation but same style of house.

I've also switched the master bath and master closet.

Also is a 14' x 12' kitchen big enough. I want room to move around in. The kitchen I have now is so flipping small, my husband and I can't do anything together in it. We end up getting into each others way.

Ok been working on new plans. I've centered the design on the above set of plans. I made some mods. Does this look right? Hows the flow? Master bedroom is very secluded from the kids area.

My new plans are not accurate on measurements. We'll take it to a blue print drawer and get a more accurate room proportion done but this is a general idea. Ugh the doors are not showing up.
Thanks again everyone!!

Kitchen: Do you have at least 42" aisles? Difficult to have any thing that *opens* into a walk-through area. I like a fridge near the eating area and somewhat out of the 'hot and heavy' cooking circuit. Post to the "Kitchen" forum when you're ready.

You've lost your powder room near the family (garage) entry. Current location is quite 'public'.

Laundry: I like a row of utility sink, washer, and dryer -- with the dryer on an outside wall to vent. I'd put this all far from the entrance to the laundry

I fill very thankful for every ones help and guidance! I show the husband the latest plans last night and we both went back and forth over the powder room and in the end he wins! LOL

He works rotating shifts and there will be periods of time where he'll be sleeping during the day while everyone is at home. The master has to be completely secluded from everyone except me (ie the laundry room). He just doesn't want anyone on that side of the house while he is trying to sleep. So I had to move the powder room. Our powder room right now is off to the living room and it doesn't bother me one bit. I did turn the old powder room into a linen closet.

I also changed up his work closet so he can enter through the bathroom.

Should there be a window in the laundry room? I keep going back and forth on this. Hubby says don't put on in but then I think natural light.

I've added the room sizes to the plan. And also marked the kitchen appliances.

Again thanks so much for all the help. If theres anything else please let me know!

Tikilyn,

You asked earlier if the house would still be "cute" if you turned the garage to face forward. Quite honestly, I think you're going to be really disappointed with your front elevation if you turn the garage toward the front.

When you have a three car garage facing the street, the garage doors become a major "design element." Garage doors are just so big that people can't help but notice them. THREE of them (or one double plus a single) are definitely going to change the style of your house completely.

Your original design has a sort of European "storybook cottage" effect. The first thing I noticed was the front door, then my eye went to the bay window (love the copper roof over that!) After that I noticed the arched windows and then the two non-matching dormers (one brick, one half-timbered). From there, my eye swooped down along that lovely curved roof line back to ground level and then back to the front door. Lots going on there, especially with the mix of stone and brick. But it all seemed to work.

With the garage turned to the front tho, I think the first (and maybe ONLY) thing anyone is going to notice are the garage doors. Even very expensive carriage house garage doors just aren't all that pretty. And three of them are going to overwhelm whatever else you do. There is no way you're going to achieve a storybook cottage look/feel.

I'm afraid that instead, you are going to wind up with something that looks like an overgrown big brother to all the "no-particular style" tract houses that are so common in suburban America.

Before you go too much further with your redesign, I'd urge you to take a look at the front elevations of as many similarly-sized houses with three front-load garage bays as you can find on the internet.

If you can find ANYTHING in a style that you really, really like, then maybe it would make sense to go ahead with your redesign. At least you'll have a syle to shoot for and some understanding of how to incorporate that many garage doors into an elevation and make it work for you.

But, if (like me) you discover that you think every 3000-3500 sq ft house you can find that has three front-load garages is just downright ugly... well, you just might want to go back to a side-load garage.

Has your DH even mentioned WHY he wants the garage to face forward? If you have a wide enough lot for a side load garage (and apparently you do) I personally can't think of any good reason to give any stranger who happens to be driving down the street when I open my garage, a good look inside at everything stored there.

One of the things I liked alot about the original plan was the rear entrance - the one on an angle - that gave access to the powder room, bench, and utility area (that I'd use as a mudroom too.) If your kids play outside alot, that's so nice, especially when they have friends over. I've always been grateful for our rear entry mudroom and nearby powder room when we've had loads of middle school boys running in and out.

The coat closet seems rather far from either entry. Can you steal some space from the theater / study to put it near the front door?

Chicagoans- there is a rear door off the breakfast nook. Just can't see it or any of the other doors in the plans. It's the program I guess. But you are right about the coat closet. I'll relocate it to the foyer like you suggested.

The house is getting there. I will have to find another elevation for the house but will stick to the European style because I love the high peaks in the roof line. My husband just likes homes with the garages on the front of the house. This is the only thing he has really asked for because our bedroom being secluded from the rest of the house.

Thanks again everyone!