Tomorrow we meet with our designer to sign off on the plans, and I was hoping to get one last round of critiques? We don't plan on changing any major items (such as room arrangement), I am more looking for general feedback regarding door swings, corners, or anything you think we may not have considered.

Since it has been awhile since my last post, a little about us, I am currently pregnant with our first child, and we hope to have one more. The baby will start out in Bedroom 2, and when I am over my separation anxiety he will move to one of the bedrooms at the other side of the house.

My designer doesn't provide drawings with measurements at this stage, so I've added them to the images below. I've also added some close up pictures of different sections of the plan so it would be easier to see.

My only real concern at this point is the bathtub, the space is a 7' alcove (looking into a private garden, a dream of mine!) and I plan to put in a 5'6" tub (though my DH keeps lobbying for a 6'. Will this comfortably fit?

Garage space and children’s rooms. The space in front of the rooms will have built in desks and a skylight will light that area.

The single car garage will be mainly used for a shop.

Dining Room/Great Room/Kitchen/Laundry/Mudroom area

We love this space, with windows on both sides allowing for a lot of light! Oh, and the front of the house faces West and we will have solar shades on the windows in the kitchen.

Also, I need to give thanks where it is due, bevangel and naf_naf suggested some fantastic arrangements for this space that I had never considered. It will now has better form and function than I ever would have been able to design on my own.

Pool bath, nursery/future guest room/exercise room/master suite. This area came together quite nicely, especially considering the original plan had the bedroom sharing a wall with the great room. The only thing that I am till uncertain about is if there is enough space around the tub….

Front Elevation

Rear Elevation

Initially, the upstairs and downstairs will be unfinished, in the long term downstairs will be a wine cellar, utility room, and media room, and upstairs a spare bedroom and bonus room.

Another consideration in terms of door swings would be with the mudroom closet, what are you going to store there? Stuff that is outside type items or inside stuff? If inside stuff then I would swap the door swing. As is, you would enter from the kitchen and open the door partially into your soon to be exit after you get what you need. Same thing with the den closet opening into the hallway, what do you plan on getting from the closet and where would you typically go next?

In terms of your bathtub concern - measure out a 7' space somewhere, tape out the two options for bathtubs and and see what you and your hubby like best.

The mudroom closet will store outside stuff, extra coats, jackets, shoes that sort of thing, and the closet near the den will be for the guests from the front door, so it would be front door, closet, living room. I didn't even think of that though, so it is a great thought.

On the plan it doesn't show a door on the linen closet near the kids rooms, however there will be one there. Which way do you think it should swing? I have been thinking of putting a pocket door there as well....

Right now, I only see two things that might be a concern. First, there's no bathroom near the mudroom...only off the childrens' rooms. Second, there's no privacy between the master bedroom and the guest room. Maybe consider putting double doors between them and keeping that the nursery/den...and putting the guest room in the larger den area?

If you don't change the guest room...I would think about bringing furniture into that room. It seems to have three 90 degree turns to enter, which might make it difficult to bring in dressers or box springs.

You just saved me from two concerns, fitting in my built in cabinets, and hanging shelves in the mudroom! Thank you so much!

As for the bathroom near the mudroom, we really tried to make one work, but in the end it just didn't fit, and we decided we could live without it. The pool bath isn't too far, and eventually there will be a half bath downstairs and a full bath upstairs, giving our house 5 full baths and 1 1/2 bath! Was just to crazy to give up any space in order to keep it.

Regarding the entry closet, that is the closet that is around the corner near the Den. Originally I wanted it in the entryway itself, but this worked out better space wise, especially since I have all the space we need for our family stuff in the mudroom. Also, we are in California and guests wear their shoes inside and seldom have jackets to hang up!

Also, those two bathrooms won't even be used, until you have children in there. Maybe that would be the downstairs guest room for now? Then, a hall bath would still work fine...just an idea.

Finally...you said something about the baby and then "HE" does that mean you know it's a BOY??? Congratulations!!! :)

I think you misunderstood the use of Bedroom 2. At first it will be a nursery, and likely stay that way until our second child is ready to move to the other side of the house, during that time one of the bedrooms at the far end of the house will be used by guests.

Hopefully by the time our second child is ready to move to his/her permanent room we will have the upstairs finished as the main guest area (there may be a kitchenette up there as well). That said, Bedroom 2 will be a guest room for my MIL who can't climb the stairs, and we will figure out the final use of that room and the arrangement of it when we get to that distant point! :) I'm not at all concerned about the privacy of sharing the wall, as we are much much happier sharing a wall with a seldom used guest room than the great room! :)

Basically, that side of the hall would all line up with wall between the bathrooms and current desk area. So, the desk area should be fine, but you might lose a few inches in the bedrooms...but gain easier access to the bath. It all depends on what you're most comfortable with and how you use your home :)