And here is the Google Earth view. The pond and driveway changes were added by Nicke360, I have no idea how to do that stuff!

I guess the door to the downstairs bath looks nice centered in the hall but it would probably be opened most of the time and provide a straight view into the bathroom. Also I think that I would not like an exterior door there.

Slide the garage/mudroom door closer to the back of the garage and expand that closet.

I agree on that bathroom. Unless you have something very specific in mind, I would eliminate that exterior door there. (That would also give you room in there to turn the tub 90 degrees and add a linen closet next to the sink.) It isn't much further for someone to come in through the garage man door and walk through the mudroom to use the bathroom. With that said, did you have muddy-pond kids and a dirty-hunting husband you don't want even walking that much?

I also agree on that site line. I would at least flip the bathroom so the plumbing is on the study wall, so the door would be mostly hidden by the stairs.

Speaking of that bathroom, any guest you have who walks to use it will be able to see your mudroom mess, if there is any. So, if you suspect there would be mess there, keep that in mind. You could add a door to that hallway area for when you want to hide it.

I would not love a laundry room sharing a wall with my master, especially with pocket doors that are hardly ever closed. (Noise and your bathroom might often be visible from the hallway!) I would get rid of the pocket door in the bathroom, at least. Ideally, I would stick the laundry room in the entry to the bonus room area. That would move the noise and remove the view into your bathroom. You could replace the former laundry with another closet.

Overall I like it. I just wonder if you Need a full bath on the first floor. Is there a reason it opens up to outside? I just don't know how private that would be. I can imagine showering and someone trying to come in from outside. If you do need it do you want a linen closet in there? I didn't see one. I see you have room for hunting gear would a utility sink in the garage be helpful? With all that land would you like a larger porch to sit out on and enjoy it? I love porches so this is just my personal preference.

Overall I like it. I feel like there is a lack of linen closets though for all the bathrooms. I would rather have a small one in each bathroom than a large one to share.

The only other thing I thought about was in the master bedroom. Do you watch tv at night in your bedroom? If you do have you figured out where you will place it. You have one wall where you can place the bed between two windows. Then the tv would have to go on the closet wall.
I would just make sure you find out the dimensions between the two windows to make sure you bed/nightstands fit. That is something I figured out on a layout I was looking at. My nightstands would be in front of the windows. I wasn't sure if I wanted that or not. Just some things to think about. Enjoy the process!! :)

Hard to tell from the google earth view, but in a few years if you wanted to build an addition and expand the house (maybe a large screened porch and deck), will you have the room or will it be too close to the pond?

The goal is to build a large deck off the back of the house as close to the pond as possible. That will be a few years after the house is built.

We will put a tv in the master, although that is something we have never done before. I am working on trying to arrange furniture to see if a window or doors need to be moved.

MUCH MUCH NICER!

Still a few things that could be improved tho...

1) Those windows in the two upstairs closets (for bedrooms 2 and 3) won't work well. While you do need windows over the porch for the exterior facade to look right, you don't want them on a closet wall where you will want to hang things! Wondering if there might be some way to use the space with windows for bathroom space instead and move the closets to interior spaces. Maybe bedroom 3 could have a reach-in closet like bedroom 4 and the closet for bedroom 2 could move to where its bathroom is currently. Then both bathrooms could be back to back in the space between bedrooms 2 and 3.

It's a great idea to have a full bath downstairs so that, if you ever have someone unable to climb stairs (temporarily or permanently) the study could easily become a bedroom for them and they'd have a full bath to use.

I rather like the exterior door for the downstairs bathroom. Easy to run in/out and not track mud into the house! Sure the garage door is not that much further around but when a kid's gotta go, they WILL take the route that they perceive to be shortest. NOT having a door directly into the bathroom from outside makes it more likely, I think, that they'll decide to come in thru the patio doors cut thru the living room. And, I wouldn't worry about someone trying to come in while you're showering. You're going to be out in the country and that door is well hidden from the driveway. So the only folks who'll ever know it is there will be family members. Having one of them try to open the exterior door while you're showering is no different than family members possibly walking in on one another via an interior door. Not something to freak out about.

I do think you should flip that downstairs bath tho so that you don't have a view directly into the bathroom from next to the fridge. I know that would put the plumbing into the wall shared with the study which isn't the greatest but you can greatly reduce the sounds of flushing water by using cast iron drain pipes so I don't really think that would be a huge problem.

I don't like that there are no windows in the master bath upstairs and I also think it would be better to move the laundry a bit further away from the master bedroom. Wonder if you could move the laundry down to where the toilet and shower are and make the masterbath more squarish? If the vanities were then put on an interior wall, maybe there would be room for at least one window in the masterbath. I don't know about you but when I'm getting ready in the mornings, I really like having natural light in the bathroom. It helps me wake up! Plus, its easier to get one's makeup looking right and make sure one's socks actually MATCH under natural light. A dark blue sock and a black sock can look identical under artificial light - especially when you're half asleep anyway. LOL!

You may get some negative feedback about the dogleg-shaped island in the kitchen. There are folks on this forum who think that that particular island shape is overdone. I like it however. It gives you a nice large work surface that is easily accessible on the kitchen side. And the bar seating on the back side allows for conversation between folks sitting there...unlike a long straight island that forces everyone to sit in a row like birds on a telephone wire.

I love the way the staircase is open to the dining room. That is going to make that space feel very spacious. If you hang a pretty chandelier in the dining room, you'll get to see it from the staircase as you descend and maybe even be able to glimpse it from upstairs.

I don't like that the laundry is right across from the stairs from the dining room tho...especially since the design shows an open railing between laundry room and staircase. If the door to the laundry room is left open, you would be able to stand downstairs in the dining room and look up and see into the laundry room. And, if you're doing laundry and leave the laundry room doors open while you have dinner, you'll be able to hear the washer and dryer running from the dining room. So...Another reason to move the laundry room down closer to the bonus room.

Overall tho, this is a terrific design. Simple, classic, space efficient, and organized. I'm so glad you and NickE found each other on this forum. You're on your way to a lovely home and NickE is probably thrilled to have a chance to create a real life design for his architectural portfolio and see it actually get built! I doubt that there are that many architectural students who can show potential employers pictures of a house they designed and the client actually built.

Keep us posted on revisions and I can't wait to see you start posting pics on the monthly "How is your build going?" thread.

Besides the previously mentioned, I think a big issue is the lack of windows in the bathrooms. Also, not crazy about the upstairs shared bath access being able to be viewed from the living room. Overall, the space seems well utilized and planned. Good luck!

Put a prep sink on that island if you want it to be useful space. Otherwise, it's just a big waystation on the way to the main sink, and you'll end up prepping in the corner between the sink and range. The DW location isn't shown, but it should be to the right of the main sink. Adding a prep sink lets there be at least 4 different work stations in the kitchen without getting into each other's way.

If you have to have that double height hard to heat and cool great room, be sure to use 2x6 framing for the wall of Bedroom #4 that will have all of that noise echoing into it. Then spray foam that wall and be sure the door has a sweep on it.

Other than that, there's a big improvement in flow and how the house works.

I don't have a problem with the laundry layout. I like that it's accessible from both the hallway and bathroom. Just remember to keep the door closed :)

I agree about flipping the first floor bathroom. That site line right into it would bug me. also I would slide the mud room door into the garage to the left a bit and make that closet bigger (I'm not good a drawing doors).

I also like windows in the bathroom, so maybe a port hole style window between the sinks in the master bath? And I've rearranged your second floor bathroom for you ... LOL. Mostly 'cause I just like playing with paint! Sorry the pics are so fuzzy.

Hmm just noticed, I should have also flipped the doors around on the first floor bathroom so they open to the wall like you have them in the original :)

I just recently built our home and my kitchen is exactly the same as yours (including island shape) and I love it. While I don't use my island for washing prep I definitely use it for assembly and dry goods prep with no problems. When there's two people cooking in the kitchen we both have plenty of space to work and we can have guests sitting around the island for easy conversation. I can't wait to see how your build goes!

Here is a link that might be useful: House-Building Blog