Big house for just 2 people with just an occasional visitor. Its would help if you could post the layout directly in your post. I may be looking at the wrong house.

I think that is a pretty home. Do you need/want all that space? With the basement included it seems large, but it's not my place to judge what two people need. What I do like is you could potentially shut off the second floor (and the basement) and just live on the first floor for a lot of the time. If you can design the HVAC for that to be easier, do it.

The laundry is pretty far from the master closet and other bedrooms.

I'm in a similar position as the OP - empty nesters, 2 sons who will visit and presumably someday with wives and kids in tow. Plus friends and other family will visit, too. We'll be moving to a new area also and though it will be just the 2 of us, we do envision making new friends and entertaining. We don't do lavish parties now and won't in the future but like to have comfortable space for ourselves and guests.

That's all to say that it doesn't appear too large to me, but I would not opt for finished space in the basement beyond a home gym. You will need to plan for floor outlets in your great room. Even for 2 people I'd want more closet space in the back entry area. Not sure about the kitchen - there seems to be differences between the floor plan view and the model view but I haven't studied it. I'd work the kitchen plan more. Access to the master closet is through the bathroom, one of my personal pet peeves but you may feel otherwise. The upstairs bedrooms each have a bath - is that necessary? Or would one larger shared bath work? I love the porches, screened and otherwise but have not found a way to have them and also have a bright sunlit interior. That house will seem dark, I believe. You'll have nice views to the natural light but it won't be in the house. How do you feel about the garage being so prominent in the front of the house? What will the approach be like?

It's a nice plan and a great start. I look forward to seeing more of your progress.

Thank you so much to all for your comments and advice. This is still a work in progress. Hopefully I'll start the build May or June 2014. I agree with the basement left unfinished for now. The upstairs one bathroom to share is a great idea. I'm afraid that if I make the house any smaller when the kids come over for the Holidays and or vacations and also when we have grandkids it wouldn't accommodate everyone. I'm going to try and post pictures of the property so y'all can get a better idea. Again thanks to everyone for your comments.

This is the front view.

Yes its a great a idea and with the image we can get the better view of your house that's a good decision to make a big home for vacations.
sloping block specialists

This post was edited by willytaylor on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 5:52

As a generic house plan, it's very nice, but as a retirement home, I would like to see more rooms on the first floor because as you age, less and less of the house will become available to you on a daily basis. Or you just won't want to make the effort to go "down there" if you don't have to. I would want a second room for tv viewing/reading/office/sleeping, etc.

And if you have a sleepover with one younger grandchild, he is very likely not going to want to sleep alone on a separate floor. He might do so in his house, but not in someone else's house. Mine don't, anway, and I do NOT have a room for them downstairs. :(

As it appears now, three of your four living areas are on floors that may be difficult for you to access someday.

I would definitely include at least 3 additional bedrooms - one for each child and his partner and an additional bunk room for the future grandkids. If you like to have them around, they tend to stay longer if they're quarters are comfortable.

Good luck!

This post was edited by bird_lover6 on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 12:04

It's an OK house, but it's not a retirement home. Too large, and too many levels. And, it's not designed with universal design principles to make it easy to age in place. This is a home that if you broke a hip and had to have some extended convalescence, you might have to move out of and into a rehab facility.

Design a retirement home with the worst case scenario healthwise in the front of your mind. And if that never happens, it will still be an enjoyable place to live, with the space in the most needed spots.

I like the plan and think it will look lovely in the setting you have. As an older couple who will generally be living alone but who want to have space for grown kids to come visit along with their spouses and the grandkids, I'm not sure you could do a whole lot better.

There is one major change that I would make tho. Instead of the two story family room ceiling, I would use that space above the family room for a third bedroom & bath upstairs. If you want the family room ceiling to be higher than in the rest of the downstairs, perhaps you could raise it by a couple of feet and then have a second short flight of stairs upstairs leading from the loft area to the bedroom over the family room.

While the extra tall ceiling in the family room would look dramatic, I don't think it would function very well, When you have large family gatherings, I assume you're probably thinking that adults could gather in the family room while kids play up in the loft. Trust me, the overflow of noise between family room to loft in such situations will drive you crazy.

And, even if no one is using the loft, noise from people downstairs would also tend to disturb anyone trying to rest or sleep in the two bedrooms upstairs. So, no putting a little one down for a nap in bedroom 2 while the rest of the herd goes on with it's happy noisy interactions downstairs.

Plus, as we get older, many of us start having a little difficulty with our hearing anyway and rooms with soaring ceilings often tend to be echo chambers. Even when you and spouse are in the house alone, the echo effects in such a room could make it more difficult for the two of you to communicate with each other.

Additionally, since warm air rises, having that soaring family room ceiling opening out to the loft would make it difficult to keep the downstairs areas comfortably warm in the winter without overheating the upstairs.

With the space closed, you could have three bedrooms (and, if you wanted, a third bath) upstairs. Thus, a bedroom for each adult child and their spouse. Plus space for some grandchildren. No need to finish out the basement until there are enough grandkids old enough to need separate sleeping spaces that you can no longer bed them down in the loft area and third upstairs bedroom.

Also, if you got rid of the soaring family room ceiling, when it's just the two of you in the house, you could pretty much close off the upstairs except for the loft space. In the winter you would only need to heat the upstairs just enough to keep water pipes from breaking. And in the summer, you wouldn't need to cool the upstairs at all. That could make for some major energy savings.

If/when you do finish out the basement, instead of a gameroom and elaborate wet bar downstairs, I'd probably do two big bunkrooms and bathrooms (one for girls and one for boys) with a play space between them with maybe just a simple kitchenette.

If you think of the main floor as being the space you and spouse will use when you're there by yourselves, the second floor as being space you will open up and use when your children and their spouses come to visit, and the basement as space you can expand into if when the family gets too big for just the two floors, then I think the design definitely can serve your needs very well.

I actually like the design so much that I've bookmarked it for DH and me if we can ever get to the point where we can afford to build a house on some mountain land we own in Colorado. Would be perfect as a family gathering place for me and all my siblings and nieces and nephews too!

This post was edited by bevangel on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 19:05

bevangel, thanks for all the great ideas and for y'all taking the time to give me your comments. It trully is apreciated. This picture is a part of the back view of the farm.

Another picture of the back.

View toward the Appalachian Mountains.

Absolutely beautiful property. I am envious. :)