There are better people than I to address the layout issues.

What part of the country is the house in?

It looks like, from the drawing, that the exterior walls are 2x4? The moderate step to a more energy efficient house is to move to 2x6 exterior walls and open cell spray foam insulation. For a custom house of this size in central texas, this is pretty much standard now.

A lot depends on where you live and the climate.

Forget that info: House is in Northern California outskirts of Sacramento in a winery lot. The house is being built with 2 x 6s.

I can't read the image you posted and I'm not about to download something from some random internet site. I think others feel the same. Hence you have received little input.

Ok I'll try and load a high res picture. Makes no sense garden web doesn't have ability to host a PDF. Gardenweb downgrades the image.

I'll try again. The best I could do was take small high res images and I broke the plan up. Hope you can still sense the flow.

I open to suggestions on uploading a high res picture from sites you guys trust

Thanks

2nd pic

3rd pic

Final 4th pic. Sorry about this

Anyone any feedback?

RMSH, I'm not one of the floor plan experts, let alone a huge-house expert. This is just my reaction to trying to understand your plan:

I Zoomed in so I could read the dimension numbers. My desktop has a huge screen -- much larger than most folks' -- and it wasn't until a piece of the plan was 13 1/2" wide that I could read a few of the dimension numbers (substantially less than half). This is a major problem; the floor plan experts always want to know the dimensions. And some places -- between the kitchen counters, the playroom, one of the bedrooms, etc. -- there aren't any numbers to read.

I think it would help to color the courtyards a very light green, to make it immediately obvious those are outdoor spaces (at least, I'm pretty sure they are). As it is -- especially with the illegible numbers and the nearly-as-illegible room labels -- the initial impression is that you are building a maze ... maybe an underground compound: all those interior rooms.

There are many different spaces/objects which share the toffee-color. Most of the toffees are obviously kitchen counters, bathroom vanities, and other built-ins of some sort (I guess your family likes built-in office furniture). But a few are not obvious at all: for instance, the what's-it in the theater (a counter inside a closet?) and the mysterious thingies in the hall on the other side of the theater: built-in bookcases? display cases? something else?

I assume the rectangle outside the family room is a fireplace ... but fireplaces are usually indicated differently on floor plans. [It's either a fireplace or an outside closet, and fireplace is much more likely: but the point is that it wasn't obvious: I had to stop and ponder.]

And what/why is the "Cassita"? It looks like a bedroom, is next to a bedroom, is ADA-compliant, and has a several-feet-wide coffee bar: what ... why? [I assume that's "house" in one of the more obscure Romance languages, like Catalan or one of the Italian dialects? Maybe the spelling denotes a Mediterranean lifestyle thing I'm not familiar with. Certainly I'm not familiar with giant coffee bars in bedrooms.]

Could you add much larger dimension labels to the rooms? That would be a major help.

GW is a big, busy place ... too much to keep up with. And your plan, as is, just isn't user-friendly. You know what's going on: make it easy for us to understand.

It is difficult to read...but I do think you need a sink on your kitchen island. As it is right now, it looks like you have to walk between the range and sink to access the playroom. Not a good idea.

I do like the courtyard and the atrium :)

I'll work on the resolution and try and get a high resolution picture up hosted on flicker

I love a courtyard! My parents' winter home in AZ has two courtyards and a casita, as well. One thing they had thought would be nice is if there was access from the casita directly to the house, perhaps via a glass corridor, for their guests when it's really hot, or raining, or if they want to pop into the house for something at night but not use the front door. Yours will, I think, be an in-law suite, so perhaps (or not) you want total separation. But consider access should it become necessary.

Do you entertain a lot? The dining room seems a little out of the way from the kitchen.

Is that a fountain in the interior courtyard? If it is running, will it disturb someone watching a movie in the media room? Same for the front courtyard and bedroom 3.

If I had bedroom #3 or 4, I'd want a window into the courtyard, if only just a high one. And I'm pretty sure Mickey would love a window in that little office!

The playroom and office are accessed directly through the busiest part of the kitchen. I don't know how old the children are, but the bigger they get the more they bump into you passing through the aisles. Would you consider altering that?