I'm a very visual person but I think I would change a few things about the floor plan. I think I would not have the two story ceiling and instead opt for more square feet upstairs.

Here is what the outside looks like of the model

http://oakbrookonline.com/Portals/7/CrossArticle/35/Exterior 001.jpg
sorry i'm trying to figure out how to post an image but its not working for me

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by gingerjenny on Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 0:23

one last post...i can't figure out how to add multiple links either. A little about us. We are building in Indiana. We have two lots we are considering. This house would be ideal for the corner lot we looked at. We are a family of 4. We have a boy and and a girl.

Here are photos of the model home finished. any concerns about the layout. I like that there are 2 1/2 baths. I also like that you can walk in from garage to kitchen area without stepping over laundry. I like the open concept kitchen. I don't like the high ceilings but I can change that. I also don't like windows in closets.

Here is a link that might be useful: more photos

I actually like it. I too would like to see more space upstairs, but without a back view, I am not sure how possible that is without significant changes to the roof.

There is plenty-to-too-much space for the master bathroom/closet. And, I'd prefer to have a secondary living area (like, a family room somewhere--maybe up, or if you have a basement, that can be done there, I guess).

I'm of 2 minds with the laundry downstairs... I just switched to having a laundry up, and I like it a lot. But, in this house, you have the master down; so maybe that is okay. On the otherhand, you'll always be trucking it, because I don't see a good way to get a chute or some other means of getting the laundry down.

Also, what is your kid situation? I find it a little dissatisfying to have the 2 upstairs rooms so asymmetrical. It might be nice to figure out how to get another bedroom, and bath (and maybe second laundry) upstairs...

Hi, gingerjenny! Fellow Hoosier here!

I like the house. One thing you might consider since you have a boy and a girl sharing a bath is to make the bath a little larger (possibly taking from the bedroom closest to it). My daughter and SIL have the kids bedrooms and shared bath upstairs like this house. They have the tub/toilet and double vanity separated by a pocket door. That way one child can be brushing teeth or fixing hair while the other one is taking shower. The older they get the more this will be an issue.

They also have a play area at the top of their stairs outside both bedrooms.

Thanks for sharing the links to the interior of this home. It gave me an idea. We are building a one-story with a vault with a flat center ceiling in the family room. Our FR ceiling won't be two stories high but will be higher than the 9 ft ceilings in the rest of the home. We are doing a coffered ceiling like the link below.

We are putting our fireplace on the back wall like the model home with window seats on each side. I like how the model home had the trim going up from the fireplace mantel. I wanted something to draw the eyes up. The trim might be the answer. Thanks!

When are you planning on making decision on building?

Here is a link that might be useful: [Coffered vaulted ceiling[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/tudor-on-the-point-traditional-living-room-minneapolis-phvw-vp~372724)

The home has a lot to offer, but here are the drawbacks I see. Here are my thoughts...

• If you are looking to be more efficient in using your construction dollars, there is a lot of cubic footage with no sq footage including the high ceilings in the LR and the foyer. I would think about adding more sq footage upstairs if you are going to add a second story. Further, I am not a fan of balconies open to the lower level as from a noise control point of view, it is difficult. It also keeps the LR from feeling "cozy" if that's a feeling that's important to you.

• Think green...you will be losing a lot of heat downstairs to the vaulted ceilings. At a minimum, I would put a ceiling on the foyer and add the sq footage upstairs...maybe a second bath, maybe a study or play room.

• There is no formal dining room, which is OK if you don't want or need one, but for me, I wanted a DR that was not open to the cooking mess.

• There is a lot of sq ft in the laundry room. I would definitely add mud room functions like a bench and cubbies in there.

• I'm not a fan of the main sink in the "island" as anyone who sits at the counter will be overlooking the dirty dishes...not very appetizing.

• I like the idea of separating the sink from the rest of the bath or even adding 2 sinks for the kids for the upstairs bath as it can be an area of contention, esp in the teen years.

• The upstairs bedrooms don't have cross vent or light from more than one wall which will make the rooms darker

• I do like that the garage is not the most prominent thing on the front facade and that the front door is very apparent in the design.

• I do like the openness of the design, but would miss having an "away" room where one could go for quiet like a study.

• I like that the living area is away from the front of the house.

• I do like that the rooms upstairs don't share a common wall.

Hoosierbred- We have to sell our current home before we can build. We just relisted it after doing some work to it. I really like that ceiling. Our issue with the beams and 17ft ceiling is where to put the tv. It didn't give us that cozy feeling. I like the photo of the ceiling you showed! :) I think beams might look nice in there.

Kirkhall-We have two kids. My daughter is 10 and my son is about 8. They will be in different schools here soon. One will be in middle school and the other elementary. They won't over lap schools but a couple of years. The start times for schools are an hour different. My husband reasons that they won't be in the bathroom very long. But if we don't do the high ceilings we might be able to make the upstairs larger. If I get rid of the double foyer we might be able to do another bath upstairs. Of course this is more expensive and we are trying to stick with a budget.

Annie- Thank you for your feedback. I have considered some of your points. I was also bothered by the high ceilings. The other plan I was looking at had a jack and jill bath with double sinks and a pocket door that closed off the bath/toilet area. I thought that would be good for when they are teenagers. I might be able to incorporate something like that here as well.

I really love the porch on this house too.

How many sq ft are in this plan? Do you even have any flexibility in changing the plan?

It is very nice for the money. Is this the base price or the price for the model?

If you can really build a home this nice for this price, sounds really reasonable.

The only thing I would really hate is that plant ledge. I had one in my first house. It was in my 2 story foyer (like yours) above the door. I never knew what to do with it. It was impossible to clean. Just a pain.

That is the price of the model. It was actually listed a lot cheaper before they added all the landscaping. We do have the ability to change the model. It is with a custom builder. We are very visual though so its good for us to get an idea of what a plan looks like in person before changing it. I would get rid of the plant ledge too because I don't like two story foyers. Building in Indiana is reasonable compared to other areas in the country. The plan is around 2170 square feet. We dont want to make it any larger. We wanted to stick as close to $250K as possible. Around here though I can get a house that is only a few years old and about 2400 sq feet with a finished basement for that price. But I really am willing to give up the larger house to build my own and customize it without a finished basement. If we found the right house I guess we would buy it though but I have yet to see that "perfect" house on the market. I'm sure when we build there will be things I wish we had done differently but overall it will be what we need and want.

I think one of the bigger differences you will see in Indiana is the price of land. That may be why the price seems low. But people also get paid less in Indiana than other areas of the county in certain fields.

Hi gingerjenny. For the kids bath - you could stick with one bath but reconfigure it so the shower and toilet are behind a second door so one could be using those facilities privately while the other is using the sink. It actually looks like as drawn you might be able to add a pocket door between the toilet and sink.

We have 2 boys about the same age as your kids and while gender isn't the issue for us a certain amount of privacy still is. I wanted double sinks but dh insisted that they can 'get by' (lol) with one sink in their bathroom since our childhood homes only had one bathroom for the whole entire family. :)

We are in MI and the same goes here for cost of living. We encountered the same thing when looking at existing houses and came up with the same conclusion on building our own as well. Good luck!

Autumn, We grew up with one bathroom for a family of four. We didn't even have a bathtub just a stand up shower. We made it work! :) My husband only had one full bath and a stand up shower in the basement. Amazing that we survived! LOL

This plan is much smaller at 2000 sq feet but to me it just feels bigger? What do you think?

of this layout and the very first one i posted (2 story) which to you all like more?

Well, they are very different, actually.

Would you prefer to have a separate dining room?

This house has the garage as a prominent feature.
And, you will be climbing through the laundry room.

Will you have a basement? If not, what will you do with those stairs/space?

(personally, I like option 1 better, but close in that second story GR. You can keep the foyer 2 stories high if you want, as I like the stair/railing, etc, but I'd put another room over the family/great room.

Of course, I live in an area where basements aren't common).

I would prefer a formal dining room. I know the second layout has some problems too. We thought about putting the laundry in the basement til we were older and then moving it up to the current location on the layout. In the mean time that laundry space would be a mud area. What I do like about this layout is the jack and jill bath and the kitchen area. Basements are common a round here and it will have a basement. I like the split bedrooms with kids on one side of the house. I like that its all on one level, as we age we could have problems with stairs.

I prefer the second layout because we would have a formal dining room and a very large master closet. The kitchen feels bigger on this layout.

The first layout I prefer because of the porch and side loading garage. The laundry is out of the way too. I am not 100% sold on the idea of a 2 story house but I know its less expensive. I like the look of the kitchen in the first one but it feels like there is very little cabinet space (it is still probably larger than the one i have now)

With all the decisions of floor plans I am wondering if I'll ever get it right! When it comes to the decor part inside I know exactly what I like and don't lol

Saw the model in person today. A lot of the things I worried about were not an issue in the actual house. I actually love the tall ceiling in the family room (I thought I would hate it). there was a lot of natural light and made it seem so open

ginger.....allot cheaper before the landscape....if ya don't mind me asking, how much less? The GC is going to mark it up substantially.

Robin, It was 15K cheaper when the house was first finished. They had shown it in a home show. Then a few months later listed it with finished landscaping with a realtor. Not sure if the price went up due to the realtor or the landscaping.

First house: Like but don't love.

- It seems to have nice-sized rooms and is nicely laid-out.

- The kitchen could be better arranged, and I'd give up some of that laundry room to get a little more pantry.

- I would close off the second door to the bathroom.

- I don't think anything's being done with all that space under the U-turn stairs. This is a great deal of storage! I'd want a shorty-door . . . OR the pantry could continue into this under-stair area. It'd be half-height space, but it would still be very useful.

- Lots of empty space in the middle of the master bath.

- I also am not a big fan of two-story rooms, but a friend of mine built a similar house and had the "upper family room" closed off upstairs, and it's a small media room. It's a room that sees a lot of use in her house.

Second house -- I think I like this one better:

- I like the kids' bathroom better.

- I like the kitchen much, much better, and I like its connection to the great room.

- What's that one little 2-3' derpy wall between the great room and the kitchen? It'd have to go!

- The dining room is too far from the kitchen, but I personally don't think I'd use it as a dining room -- you have a good-sized eating area by the kitchen, and I do like the way it's arranged (though I would probably go with a built-in banquette). Instead, I think I'd put glass doors on the dining room and make it an away room of some sort. This is an open floorplan, and some acoustical separation would be worthwhile.

- I like the simple, straightforward master bath, except that a vanity that size isn't meant to support two sinks. If you put two sinks into that area, you'll have no drawers underneath.

- What is a "vestier"? It looks to be a nice-sized closet, but I don't know this word!

- I'd absolutely demand a pass-through between the master closet -- or, vestier -- and the laundry room.

- I don't love the front-facing garage.

- One-story vs. two-story. I read an in-depth explaination of what makes one more expensive than the other, and the bottom line seemed to be, "It varies". If you strongly prefer one or the other, I don't think the cost is going to be enough to deter that decision.

Mrs Pete, Thanks for your reply and feedback.

I am torn between these two houses. I love the look of a 2 story house but worry about what will happen as we age. That is why I at least insist on a first floor master. I think we would put an office or study upstairs above the living room if we picked this first layout. We would also only have one entry into the the closet so we had more closet space.

I don't know what is going on with the depry wall (no idea what that word means but know what your talking about :) This was a mock up with furniture someone made for me on this board. It wouldn't be there or the kitchen would be extended. the original layout had a entry from the garage to the kitchen. an open door way next to the Fridge.

Again the person that made the layout called it a vestier...to me its just a closet. :) Not fancy enough for a "vestier" but I am very grateful for the mock up they made.

The thing that really has me with the 2 story is the visual appeal from the outside. I am in love with the porch and columns. I wouldn't get that look with a one story house.
I also like the side loading garage on the two story.

The one story feels bigger to me on the inside than the 2 story and we thought about the layout a lot. There are still a few things I don't like about it such as where the laundry room is.

We would actually use the dining room as an office until we finished the basement.

I just posted the kitchen layout on the kitchen board..>WOW they hate it. I was hoping I'd just get a few tips to improve on it but now I'm thinking I should just wad up the plan and throw it out the window. I am looking at the layout and trying to figure out what I could do. I thought about closing off one of the entrances to the kitchen by adding more cabinets and counters but that doesn't seem to create good flow.

Also if I add space above the living room that is going to add 270 sq feet to the house..I am worried its getting too big..Yeah I realize I just added a floor to walls that were already there. My current house is 1600 sq feet with no basement. What am I going to do with all this room? LOL

Yeah, I hate the kitchen too.

BUT if you like the rest of the house, don't toss the baby with the bathwater. You have the square footage, and changing the kitchen (before build, of course) is probably easier than changing other rooms. Why? Because in this situation you're looking at an open floor plan, so you're really just looking at where you'll place the cabinets -- not moving any walls.

Well, I have thought about this for a few days. We are going to talk to the builder and see if we can just get the living room with a 9ft ceiling and maybe a bonus room above.

I'm coming to terms with the windows in the closets. I figure they are small little square windows and they are under the porch so not too much light will be coming in. I feel like the front of the house needs the windows there to look right.

I'm going to talk to them about possible other kitchen layouts in the same space.

I also thought about changing the patio doors to just a bank of windows and putting a regular door or patio door on the left dining room wall. That would then open up to the deck or putting windows on the left dining room wall and leaving the patio door. I really want a regular door somewhere on the back that I can put a storm door doggie door on.

We have narrowed it down to two lots. One would having the dining room and living room facing east with the porch on the west. The other would be opposite. the lot with the dining room facing the east is much deeper of a lot. They are both the same width.

The second entry into the master bath would be walled off too for more closet wall space. I would just keep one entry. I'm thinking of keeping the entry from the bath. What do you think?

We may rework the upstairs bedroom/bath area. Honestly after seeing the size of the upstairs bathroom I think they could just share. It is much larger than the current bathroom they share. Then again I grew up with a family of four sharing one bathroom that just had a little stand up shower in it. I can't even remember it being much of an issue even as a teenager. My sister and I mostly got ready in our room in front of a dresser. We also shared a tiny room and other than her snoring we got along fine. lol
I think walking through the model helped me a lot!

Another question I wanted to throw out there. Has anyone else ever taken a plan and reduced the ceiling height to put another room above it? how much did that change your quote? I know its different by region but this builder told us to estimate $100 per sq foot on a ranch and 90 to 95 on a 2 story depending on how complicated it is. I'm thinking if we got a quote on the house as a model would we be adding $20,000 just to get that room above the living room? I'm guessing it would be 14x15

Ginger- Did you see my suggestion about swapping the sink and range?

lavender I did. I do worry about having a range in the island though when kids are sitting there. I also worry about how it would vent. That would be a huge vent hanging there right?

Ginerjenny, You seemed discouraged. Noticed you haven't come back to your kitchen thread.

Unfortunately many/most stock home plans are not the best. It takes some work to get a stock plan to be functional. I don't know who designs these plans but they don't not think function. They seem to try to stick in things like, cathedral ceiling, fireplace, granite, angled islands, etc. Those are the fancy things many people are attracted too. Not too many ooh and ahh at functional layouts.

Re your question above, you are not only gaining a good sized room, but you are making the living room much more energy efficient which will pay off over the life of the house, making the living room a more comfortable space to be in, and adding more quiet and livability to the upstairs rooms which you will enjoy for the entire time you are in the house. That's a lot for not a lot of money.

I would be surprised if you added all that much cost with this change-- you'd likely use cheaper windows in the upstairs room than the model has in the upper part of the great room, and all you're adding is a floor-- the ceiling and most of the walls are there.

I agree with Annie that it's worth it. That high ceiling makes a nicely sized great room look tiny.

I am a little discouraged. I can't seem to get the right layout. We are working on a limited budget so I want to be careful about adding too much to the model or changing things.