You seem to have a lot of square footage for hallways and staircases, especially as a percentage of the square footage. Your last post indicated that you were still calling architects, yet you have cabinets already labeled for cups/plates/etc.

What is an appropriate percentage for halls and stairs? We really like the front stairs, but we added the back stairs just for some flexibility. We did try to limit halls, and are open to suggestions to cut them.

We are still trying to figure out what to do as far as hiring a professional. We are hoping to do as much as possible and then have our work checked for errors. Is that not recommended?

We did start labeling cabinets, just because we are hoping to have no uppers in the kitchen and were checking the amount of space against what our needs are.

Thank you, Nostaligicfarm. I'd love to hear suggestions.

Lethargy, sometimes when a post doesn't get comments, it's because people just can't make sense of it.
What is the square footage you have on your main floor? I'm guessing under 2,000? That extra staircase is going to cost you a lot over the life of the house, it is expensive to build (in a cost per square foot sort of way), you pay taxes on that square footage, and you hear and cool it. Yes, it may be cool to have but probably not appropriate use of family funds...(not being judge mental, just trying to make it make sense...I have 3 kids under 10 that still need fed, clothed, college, weddings, spoiling grandkids...does that make sense?). I do like the style of staircase by the front door, I have so many pretty staircases saved on Houzz, unfortunately, I think I have ruled out a second story from a practicality standpoint (we live in Nebraska, where almost everybody has a full basement, and I can get everything I want with a really nice finished walkout basement that has my kiddos rooms...not something for everyone, and I really wanted that staircase!!! But the staircase was the only real thing I wanted out of that second story, and the cost of the second floor/staircase makes an expensive staircase!). I'm kinda running circles here, but trying to explain that I get it but sometimes things just aren't practical!
So
1). What square footage do you have for your main floor?
2). What is the total square footage of your living areas on the main floor?
3). What is the square footage of your living areas plus bathrooms/pantry?
I think you will be surprised at the size of your actual living spaces compared to total main floor square footage. Remember that square footage gets calculated from outside wall to outside wall (not interior wall, although I have seen some places where they calculate from middle of exterior stud to middles of exterior stud). It's not about a certain percentage so to speak, but what you are getting for your space. Your back mudroom/back stairs/hallway area takes up a huge amount of space. Your front entry area/stairs takes up a huge amount of space for what appears to be a smallish cramped living room. The dining room also appears cramped (what dining table width do you have placed there? My dining table is 40 inches wide...barely big enough to set platters of food in the middle with place setting on each side.).

Another thing to think about...what square footage is your home now compared to this? For 50% (or whatever) more square footage, what are you gaining? If your rooms are all 10% larger and you gained a pantry for example, then what happened to the extra 40% you are paying custom pricing for?

NostalgicFarm, thank you so much for explaining all of that! I appreciate your input and time! I've attached our PDF to make everything easier to see, I hope that helps. (Which I found is incompatible, so ignore that, sorry! What is the best way to share plans?)

Our sq. ft has to be a min. 3000 sq ft for a 2-story. We made a list of rooms and what the rooms dimensions, characteristics, views, use, etc and used those dimensions in our plan. For example, in the kitchen we want an 8 ft island, and ample space to work around, within a 20 ft wide space. We ended up at 19' wide. The living room, I believe is almost 20'x20', (the measurement shown is incorrect.) We wanted a 20'x17' living room. The dining table shown is our table with extensions, I wanted to see how it would sit when we have guests.

I get your advice to be practical! I do, really. Not everything shown will make the cut, but if we are to dream-this is it! We will temper practicality with comfort within our budget, hopefully creating the best home for our family.

Thankyou again!

I can't read much of the wording on your floorplan. So what is the square footage of your main floor?

It would have been better to have continued with this latest plan on your Oct 27 thread. Most people are not going to go back to read what you and others said there (and for some reason lavender lass' version of your plan does not show up for me there). Also, the second floor should be posted here.

For the first floor, try taking a photo of just the stairs/GR/DR/K section and another of the Mudroom/Bath/BR section and posting those. Since it's impossible to read most of the labels on this plan, and without each room's measurements, it's difficult to know what's what. However, I'll take a stab at it until you can post a clearer plan with more detailed measurements.

You indicated in an earlier thread that you must stay under $300,000 for this build. The indoor sports court and second stairway don't work towards that. All of the bathrooms really will up your costs--and do you really want to clean SIX, assuming there will be one in the basement? Also, you have a lot of doors, and buying, framing, and trimming them all adds up, ask me how I know! ;o) With your sloped lot, will you need any retaining walls to keep the driveway area from washing away? If so, they are expensive, so allow funds for them. Don't dream unrealistically, or this project will never get underway. You have wasted space on both floors, but since you have to have 3000, let's make it useful space!

Is there going to be a workshop in the basement? If so, I would keep the stairs going down by the garage to make it easy to get project materials in and out of the basement, unless you wouldn't mind bringing them in through the foyer. Would company other than family be entertained in the basement? If not, I'd get rid of the down stairs in the foyer. But even 2 separate one story stairs are more expensive than having them combined, I think.

I would get rid of the powder room by the foyer, line up the bedroom wall with the kitchen wall, get rid of the door between the vanity & the toilet, and have no problem with putting the space gained in the mudroom area. With 3 kids, all of their paraphernalia, and our need for multiple coats, boots, etc. for the constantly changing weather of the 4 seasons, this is one of the most used areas of the house. When I was designing our house, it was hard to get used to how much space I was putting in that back entry from the garage area. But with 6 of us coming and going, I love every inch of it now that it's there!

In one of your other posts, you indicated that your garage will be 26x30. Ours is 25 x 31; it could have been 24 and still been fine, and I wish it were 32' to make it easier to fit things along both sides & also fit my daughter's van and ours better when vehicle doors are opened.

Gotta go finish up outside before the cold temps hit tonight. Will look at your areas more specifically when you get the closeups of the plan posted.

Anne

I'm sorry NostalgicFarm, I was having trouble earlier posting, and just stuck the same jpeg on the post. I will follow Anne's advice about taking several smaller pgotks.

Anne, yes we've adjusted our budget, and we were fortunate enough to purchase a lot for much less than we had expected. We bought a 'problem lot'.

I think we will need a small retaining wall, to ease the slope of the drive. It would be 2-4' high and about 30' in the worst case scenario. DH doesn't want any wall though... we'll see how that plays out as we continue to exam the project.

We won't have a work room in the basement, but we will have a water softner and be making frequent trips from the garage to the basement. We like the back stairs for the kids running in and out, they forget something and need to run and grab it as we're leaving. Also, some of that stems from a previous home; we used to have stairs to the 2nd floor on the opposite side of the house from the drive/garage. The layout required entering through the basement, up a flight of stairs, go across the first floor, return back across the first floor, and then go up another flight of stairs. We can cut the back stairs though, if necessary.

I was cleaning 5 bathrooms previously, so 6 isn't a big strech! I am open to only one bath on the 1st floor, but I don't want a public view of the mudroom area. We also want guests to be able to access the bath privately (my mother doesn't feel it's neseccary to wear clothes when walking to the shower! So for ALL our sake's she needs to be able to do so from the guest room.) We also would like to ensure that a bedroom on the 1st floor can be used as a master if needed, in case parents need to move in, or there is some other short term need (casts, crutches, wheelchair, etc). Not a permanent fix, not needing handicap accessibility.

The bedroom wall was originally even with the kitchen wall...not sure what happened there!

I would make the mudroom bigger if we had an endless budget! There truly needs to be a mud ROOM, not a hallway. We may do away with the walk through pantry because it just seems excessively wasteful of space. We also want to rework the kitchen. And the garage dimensions... I'll get those next.

This is the northeast corner. There is a house to the rear about 300' from the back of the house, through the woods. Not a clear view.

Main road is to the east, about 500', and our road to the south, will be about 45'from the front.

This is the east side of the house. We're thinking we'll do a 2-door and a 1-door garage. There will be an office above the garage,, we haven't added that to the plans yet.

2nd story, from foyer stairs.

Noreheat corner, above living rom and dining room.

East side of 2nd story

If you were talking about one budget on Oct 27th, and have since bought a different lot, I don't think you are prepared to have a floor plan that you designed reviewed on here. This is really the same plan as you had on Oct 27th, only with an added staircase and some lockers drawn in. If you want to make your own floorplan, then you need to spend more time studying other floor plans. If you are intending to get an architect, then your time would be much better spent writing a list of your needs, wishes, and dreams. I can't make enough straight lines to calculate your main floor square footage. You should know exactly what that number is.
I get that you are excited to build, but we can only tweek your plan, not completely rework it. Find a plan you like, then widen the kitchen to fit your 8 foot island, shrink the master to a guest bedroom size, etc. or decide to get a house designer or architect, leave this plan at home, and let them do their job. This is not to be mean, but this plan is not ready for tweeking.

Your directions are confusing. If the upper right side is northeast, and your road is to the south 45' from the front, how can the left side be east?

Please explain the part labeled HVAC in the GR. I think in a previous post you mentioned wanting an energy efficient home. Putting the fireplace on an interior instead of an exterior wall would capture more of the heat.

Not sure why the small couch is pulled away from the wall on the right side of the GR when it looks like you'll need that space elsewhere. Why don't you put in the buffet (or whatever it was you'd previously mentioned) that will be between the DR & the GR, and focus more on the furniture arrangement in those rooms. If you will be using all of your existing furniture, see if your design program lets you size the furniture for better accuracy.

What are the measurements of the first floor BR?

The measurements of the bath, vanities, and closets between the 2 BR will not work as drawn and need to be reconfigured.

Spend a little time working on your door swings and sizes--you've got several problem areas. Also, it's usually best if the door can swing open flat against a wall, especially in closets like the master. The closet for the right BR needs to get more space from the hall. I'd angle the door for the MBath toilet room.

Anne

NostalgicFarm, to respond, we've been looking at plans for years-I guess we haven't been looking at them the right way? The internet is making your points somewhat fuzzy. I'm getting basically, our plan is a mess and you can't possibly advise. Yet, you haven't said a single constructive piece of advice. Not to be mean. We didn't discuss our budget on Oct. 27th. This is the same plan from Oct. 27th. I'm not familiar enough with this site to know the most efficient way to post my plans. I did ask for help with that as well.
Our main floor sq footage is 1601.
The living room sq ft is roughly 385 sqft
The dining room is 183
The kitchen is 218
The mudroom is 123
The study is 225
Guest bath is 50
Poweder is 23
Foyer is 67
Didn't include study closet or foyer coat closet, rounded down for all numbers.
=1274 (79% of floor space)

Anne, Sorry! That last 'east' was meant to be west! We were concerned about placement of the HVAC runs and stuck that in until we can figure out what we'll need. The fireplace is meant to be viewed from the foyer, upon entry. The furniture placement is all willy nilly, and will be moved

We measured the space for the 2 brs shared bath, we'll double check that.Having the foyer stairs come up to the center will move the laundry to the front, and we'll gain more room for the closets, and bath, but lose the 2story foyer.

Yes, many door swings need to be fixed.

Yes, to the angled toilet door.

We're not looking for a complete rework, just advice if we're going in the right direction.
Thank you! We appreciate your time and input!

I think having two staircases is excessive for a home this size. One option would be to give up the back staircase to have a larger mudroom, and more freedom in room placement upstairs, but another would be to ax the fancy staircase in the foyer and spend some of that saved space on a larger mudroom. Staircases in entries date to a time when the ground level was the domain of servants and the family entertained upstairs, so it made sense to have a staircase near the front door. Your entertaining space is on the main level, so having stairs by the front door doesn't really make sense functionally.

A way to have visible stairs that are closer to the garage would be to put them where the walkthrough pantry is now. As an added bonus, the bedroom in that corner could have windows on two sides, if you moved the stairs to the center of the house.

I see you have a shower in the mudroom. How do you plan to use that? It doesn't seem like a very private place to shower, and there's a full bath right there...

How do you expect guests to approach your home? If they park in front of the garage, then they will be walking past your mudroom door on their way to the front door, and many will likely want to enter there. An alternative could be putting a man door into the garage, so you could access the mudroom from outside through the garage.

I reworked the shared bath. There was definitely NOT enough space. Also, I really wanted a way where the kids wouldn't lock each other out. I've placed the toilet and bath separately so that door can be locked. Is the door placement okay?

Zone4newby, thanks for your advice on the stairs. Yes, I'm aware of the 'front stair' origins. We will need to have guests access the basement, so a back stair isn't a good solution either. I'll play with moving them to the pantry location. I have seen plans with similar layouts and we both liked them.

The shower in the mudroom is for the dog, boots, children's toys, hang snowpants/swimsuits above to dry. Yes, I thought it may be redundant to have a full bath so close, but I also think it's best to have things where they're used. We constantly have boots by the door, soccer cleats in the garage, snow pants hanging off door knobs... and I can't stand getting my socks wet while getting the kids out of their snow gear. It could be cut for a better soluttion! We are surely open to input!

Thank you again!

For the J & J vanity setup, slide the doors to where the vanities are and move the vanities to the left wall. Make each vanity ~4' wide, with a 2' wide linen cabinet between. You need elbow room at an "enclosed" vanity.

Anne

We've reworked the j and j as you suggested Anne, and made the bath entry doors pocket doors. They can mostly be left open. Thanks for the suggestion, I couldn't figure out why that space felt weird.

We reworked the foyer stairs, slightly, and straightened the 2nd story hall. That shrunk the laundry, and gave the bedroom, closet, and ensuite bath more room. We're reworking the master bathroom.

We see where the kitchen, study/guest room, pantry, mudroom is a mess! We're doing the first floor now. DH wants 2 stairs, and the powder room. If we were to lose the powder room, I suggested moving the gyest bath back to the dining room wall. We have a lot of work to do on the first floor!

Thanks for the advice and help, from everyone! Obviously we're newbies and we appreciate your experience and insight!

We've been working on getting things 'right', which is an ongoing process, obviously. We've spent some time with demensions, door swings, etc.

Some things we did: cut 3' from the width of the house, removing the powder room and coat closet In the foyer. Changed the pantry, the dog's area by the side door, the screened porch on the back, added Butler's pantry type cabinets, changed master bath, j and j bath, 4th bed bath and closet, and some more subtle things.

We're at 3040 sq ft, so we're doing really good there. We've considered taking out the back stairs. The thing is they are useful for delivery to the basement, and DH needs daily access to his office, which will be over the garage. Those stairs allow him to come and go without gaining the attention of the kids, who hound him whenever possible. We are both rather attached to the idea of the front stairs in the foyer as well. We have had stairs the came straight at you as you came in the door, and we didn't care for those. We had a foyer that led directly into the living room, which was terrible. We both would prefer a foyer with stairs, a smaller area with glimpses of the the house. I would like to take some space from the kitchen, but we use the kitchen every day, often, and the foyer is just for guests. Suggestions?

The way we have it now, the bath on the study is against the garage. Would it be terrible to have the bathroom wall back to the dining room?

Any other advice?

Northeast corner of 1st floor

West side of house- 1st story, attached garage

New master bath layout, northwest corner 2nd story

New bed with ensuite bath and closet

New jandj bath, nobody is locking out anyone else on accident...

I suggest hiring a professional. They will be able to help guide you through the process and help try and keep you within your budget. There are a lot of things that you may have overlooked or didn't think about. Some of the spans look a little large which will cost a lot in engineering and materials. A lot of the rooms just look like they don't fit together and are out of place. If the design isn't correct, it can cost a lot of extra money and time down the road. If this is your dream home, it is worth it to not start off on the wrong foot.

Thank you for your input Jason. We're hesitant to hire a professional. We haven't had good luck in our interviews, either cost or design styles or personality didn't mesh well. We are currently in a relative's house that was designed by an architect. This house is a nightmare. The design is terrible. We're finding hiring a professional a tough pill to swallow when there's no guarantee they'll do better than our shoddy go at design.

If you see any obvious mistakes, we would love to hear them. We aren't doing poorly on purpose! We are giving it an honest try and researching and referring to similar plans.

We do plan for a support columns and beam between the living room and dining area. The dining area will have a lower ceiling too, but we haven't gotten there yet. That is the widest point right, and what you're referring to as needing engineering?

Thanks!

A good designer should be able to take what you have and make it better without changing everything. You should also not have to pay if you are not 100% happy with what they give you, or they should work on it until you are. They should be able to adapt to your desing style. If they are only good at one style, they better be the best at it to stay in business. I don't always love the houses I desing, but at the end of the day, I just love desiging houses, and it's what my clients want, not me.

I have a hard time giving feedback because there isn't just one thing I would change. I think the overall flow just needs some work. Changing one thing, may change another, and another, and so forth. Just be very sure of your room sizes, door locations, flow, natural light, and think ahead about where you would put things like light switches, plugs, towel bars, etc. These seem like llittle things, but they can make the all the difference in the end.

I think it is great that you are designing your own home. Nobody knows what you want, more than you. All I am saying is you may want to have somebody take what you have when you are happy with it, and check it over to make sure you didn't forget or miss anything. I would hate to see you invest this much time and money to have something happen later down the line. Good luck and enjoy the ride.

We are currently in a relative's house that was designed by an architect. This house is a nightmare. The design is terrible.

Are you sure that the problem was the architect and not that the architect did what the client wanted?

A degree in architecture doesn't make you a good designer, much like medical school doesn't garuntee you will be a great doctor. Could have been the client or the architect. Some focus too much on asthetics and not enough on function.

I totally get what you're saying, it would be helpful to have someone interpret what our ideas are into good design- functionally and aesthetically.

I just don't know who that someone is, and there are over 400 architects and designers within 25 miles.

They should have portfolios for you to view on their websites. Find one that does a lot within the style you like and are going for. I would get at least three quotes on prices and what is included. Most should be charging per square foot. Architects will most likely be more expensive than a designer. Keep in mind that they aren't always better.