sorry if that last pic is huge. I resized it in photobucket but for some reason it's still showing up huge?

Love it!!! Seems like the 3rd time is the charm for you! I don't see alot that I would change. These are the things I would look at:

Screen Porch--I see 2 options on this one. You could wrap the porch around to the back porch and connect the two allowing access from the door in the eating area. Or you could replace one or both of the windows flanking the range with a glass door instead, allowing for direct access from the kitchen. The doors would be the less expensive option of the two.

Family Entry--I would either add a "man-door" to the garage just beyond the garage door closest to the heated living area and family would enter through the garage, or I would simply use the screened porch entry behind the garage as the family entrance. Another thought is to not worry about a "family entry" at all. Immediate family enters through garage (that is after all where everyone hops out of the car), and everyone else uses the front door. You have an absolutely beautiful front entry planned, go ahead and get some use & enjoyment out of it--otherwise its just sales people and delivery people that get to use it and that seems like such a waste.

-Master bath toilet room needs outswing door for safety reasons. If someone is sick or passes out in there, their body will likely block the door making it extremely difficult to get in the room to assist them.

-Upstairs bedroom/closet entry issues-- the bedroom on the left off the loft area and the back bedroom are very limited on furniture placement as drawn. The rooflines are part of this--but those can't be changed without completely changing that lovely exterior. What can be changed is where the closet doors are located which will allow greater wall space for furniture placement. I would move the closet door in the left bedroom to either your right just as you enter the bedroom or to your right just as you enter the bathroom (if you wanted, you could extend the back wall of the closet all the way over to the attic storage wall and place the bathroom door there, leaving just a doorway/alcove area off the bedroom that you use to enter the closet and the bathroom. For the rear bedroom, I would delete the shelves as you enter the J&J bath and place the closet door on that side of the closet.

Overall, I think it's a great plan and you definitely seem to be on the right track--congratulations!

Hope this helps!

Don't know what your vision is for your kitchen, but I just saw this thread and thought of your plan...

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen for Sale

Will you have a circular drive? When I see plans like this I always wonder how guests find the front door from the drive...

Well of course I am biased....so you know I love it. That exterior is gorg! Making me want to call him up and change mine....lol. I have a screaming baby right now so I will go over the details tonight, but it looks great!

thanks everyone!

Annie - I agree. I wish the front of the garage didn't stick out quite so far. We are open to a circle drive. We'll figure it all out once the plan is set.

mydreamhome - thanks so much for your suggestions! I will have to think about the screen porch. My other option is to put it on the back of the house, but I really want it to be near the garage/driveway because we're planning to put up a basketball hoop and it would be nice to sit on the porch and watch my kiddos play ball :) Great ideas about the wall space in the bedrooms too, I hadn't really thought about furn. placement yet. I asked the architect for "attic type ceilings" because I just love the character they invoke. But I guess I need to think of the practical stuff too, huh? And a lot of the bathroom doors will convert into pocket doors to save space - am waiting for the final plan to do all that.

Thanks georgia! I really appreciate all your help! I can't wait to watch your house be built - I love yours too!

anyone know how I can edit my previous post to take out the huge file? tia!

What is the difference in function for the two rear porches? Seems like they could be combined and the mud areas shifted around to be able to pull the garage back from the house. That is the only egregious sin that I spot on this. It's like Cyrano's nose on an otherwise lovely design.

Well, that's not entirely true. It's a little too symmetrical for Shingle style. That feels a little forced into formality. It should feel a bit more rambling and asymmetrical in nature, sort of like it grew in place as more room was needed. Maybe shed dormers instead of gabled dormers would knock down the formality a tad. I'd absolutely take that center window and turn it into an eyebrow detail though. And I'd add some windows to the left side of the master and the office. You have the exterior wall exposure, go for the added light.

livewire - I'm not sure I'm envisioning what you mean. How would we move the garage back? would it still be a side load? would an angled garage or maybe a small enclosed breezeway attached to the garage be better?

this is part of the problem - I want a bank of windows over my kitchen sink and I really prefer NOT to have the windows looking into my porch. But then I also need for the garage drive/mudroom & screen porch to somehow be in the same vicinity... any other ides would be great!

thanks again to all of you!

Have you seen the work/ laundry room from the SL Idea house 2009. I think that could work for your craft needs. If you ever need more room down the road you could finish part of that bonus room.It is the room to the front left corner. I also posted a video...scroll over to get to the friends entry/ workroom one.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/idea-houses/georgia-idea-house-floor-plans-00400000051080/

I tweaked it a bit. This was done in paint and is very rough. But hopefully it gives you an idea. Also I have no clue how this will effect the upstairs.

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I like this first floor plan much better. The flow is great and the screened porch becomes a part of the living area. So much better for entertaining or holidays!

Again, same disclaimers from before. I thought this would hide the garage. Since you aren't restricted by lot size you house can sprawl a bit.

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Here is something similar he did. But the garage faces forward. But it is toward the back of the house.

Thanks SO much georgia! That's so funny because I've been playing around with it in photoshop and I had the kitchen pushed back just like you did in the first mock up! And I LOVE that southern living multipurpose room too - so gorgeous. Unfortunately, I may have to nix mine since we're so far over on sq footage but we'll see :)

Also, I can't really have the garage too far back because that's where our main views are I envision putting the kids' playset back there. So I'd prefer to have the garage toward the front or side somewhere, but still leave that far back right hand side open to views... This is why I've been at this for so long - because what I want is hard to figure out with all the restrictions, but maybe I need to change my wants? ha!

here is a bubble diagram that I had sent him that I might want to explore. what do you think of these room placements?

thanks again!

The only thing I am not fond of on that one is walking through the dining room to get to the rest of the house.
Question...would you be okay without the steps in the front of the house? One staircase towards the kitchen would function better since your kids are the ones using it. Also would be convenient for laundry if the steps are right there. Also they would trek dirt all over if they are coming from outside and going up to their rooms. You could also access the bonus room from up there it would be cheaper.

Also it would cut your sq ft. overall.

I shrunk the craft room and removed the front steps.

I love it- very nicely done.

Our floorplan is very similar. I think it will live very well. We go through the Mudroom to get to our covered patio and it's no problem. But we can also go though our dining as our 2 patios are connected. I cannot imagine asking guests to go through our Mudroom.

I would consider a single 42" front door instead of the double door. there doesn't seem to be any breathing room between the door and stairs.

As far as the large sticking out garage- here are a few brainstorming ideas.

How about leaving the kitchen, dining, family room and master as is, but putting the master bath in front of the master bedroom, shifting the office/ guest, entry, craft room the right, putting the garage to the right of the kitchen/ Mudroom and the screen porch behind the garage.

Do you really need a 3 car attached garage? or is the 3 rd garage for lawn mower, bikes, tools, gardening etc? Would you consider having a single detached garage. It seems like you have plenty of land.

Or we did 2 side entry with one forward facing garage set back. both attached.

The huge picture is making this hard to read/see, but I don't think there is any way to edit your post. Boo.

My usual comment is to please make sure your master water closet door is not an inswing door.

I like your plan a lot, and I think that it is a nice 2 story for a large piece of land.

I do sort of feel like it looks a little Gothic... I think it has to do with the pointy peaks. And, maybe just the ink from the hand-drawing. The way you choose your exterior though, could influence the look in this direction quite a bit, so if that isn't what you are striving for, be cognizant of it.

I love the facade. I love shingle style. I love symmetry.

I would try to come up with some way for family and guest to enter the home from the side without having to walk through the laundry room (I have that now and dislike it) or through the garage.

I have saved this picture for my future architect. I love how the garage is set back and there is a cute little side porch to enter the house, hopefully into a cute area. It would work for you with all that ground.

I am in Central Illinois and I want a shingle style home as well. Can't wait to see how yours turns out.

Red_lover,
I also live in Central IL (the very center). Thank you for your nice words on another post. If you do not see me around, please, pm me - I'll be happy to help. I also would like my future home to be shingle/eclectic style.

Lauren,
I like your plans, in general.
Re: the eclectic exterior elevation, I find that the Shingle/french/classic/craftsman elements put together work nicely!
A few elements remind me of a Chicago suburb residence that I like, which is somewhat symmetrical with a bumped out garage (attached).
the main suggestion I have for the plan, it to integrate the screened porch a little bit better with the kitchen and the rest of the house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicago country side residence