I don't know how to attach more than one picture at a time.

front elevation...i want to add a porch to the left of the door and I'd like a bigger entry to stand out more. We can pull the entry out even more.

1. perhaps dump the door in the mudroom,the right most one? Cleaner flow, methinks.
2. are you not concerned with the bathroom so close to the kitchen?
3. upstairs bedrooms 2,3,4 all share the same bath? Could get a bit cramped, no?
4. the living room is huge - i would make sure it doesn't suffer from a "museum effect". I.e. a nicely decorated room that takes up a lot of space that nobody ever goes into.

One potential issue that caught my eye is that in the kitchen the bank of cabinets and potentially the fridge on the inside wall will create a bottleneck to the areas you have behind the garage. We had this exact kitchen layout in a previous home and it was very frustrating to deal with in everyday life and exacerbated whenever we went grocery shopping.

Have you thought about switching the powder room and pantry?

You could open up a hall to go directly into the living room from the kitchen and still have room for a fairly spacious pantry if you include that closet space to the left of the powder room in the pantry. I think the flow would be better if you plan on using that living room. :)

And then you could open up that area between the kitchen and mudroom a bit, since it seems like it might be a bit problematic.

Good luck with your plans!

Seems like a very long walk from MBR to closet. I much prefer direct access from MBR to closet rather than through the bathroom but others prefer the way you have it. Think about what you have now and what you prefer in terms of access to the master closet.

I'm not a fan of the symmetrical master bath and I would redesign it but that's just me.

I like the generous size of BR 2 and 3.

Okay, I've got updated floor plans and I'm really happy with this layout. The designer took our concerns into account and this is what he came up with. I know there is still only one bathroom upstairs for 4 bedrooms but we are okay with that.

Let me know what you all think!

I much prefer the original plans. They would be perfect form my family.

I see a number of things that were fixed.

If it were me, I would:

a) think about having the MBR closet open to the room instead of the bath...think about putting clothes away, getting dressed and how you live with the space.

b) the door to the water closet in the master bath should be outswing for safety reasons

c) I'm not a fan of bedrooms that share a wall due to noise reasons.

d) I would cut out some paper dollies and place them in the family room/dining area to see how you might want to arrange the furniture...the family room is here, the dining room is there and it looks like there will be a big vacancy almost the size of a small bedroom where the hallway/doorways come together.

e) I know you wanted to add the asymmetrical porch, but I'm wondering what for. Do you plan to sit there? Is it deep enough for that? If you don't, then think about how much light you want in the office. The porch will make it much darker.

f) I don't get the upstairs "loft" area that dead ends at a wall. I would rather enclose it and make it part of a larger bedroom #2. Maybe even put BR#2 closet along the stairwell and give BR#3 a full wall of closet too.

g) I would add windows on the side of the house to BR#2 and #3 so they have a shot at getting cross ventilation. One of our key points in designing our home was all bedrooms get cross ventilation.

h) I would place appliances in the kitchen to see how it would work...with the size and shape of the island, I see it potentially as a "barrier" island where you need to skirt around it all day to get from the fridge to the sink....which would be a real shame as you have so much available sq footage in the design. Also will you have seating at the island? If so, will people be in your way when you are trying to cook?

Just a few things to think about....

If you moved the door to the closet into the master then you could likely put a tub in the master bath. Hard to tell dimensions, but I'm assuming you have at least a 5ft shower. If not then consider that your toilet room may be cutting it close on actually meeting code.

I would think about accessing the deck....if you want to have to skirt the DR furniture to get there...

I would also think about eliminating the interior wall in the kitchen so you can turn and enlarge the island so it faces the DR/FR. This way people can sit at the far side of the island and not be in you kitchen workspace while you work.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I am considering opening the MBR closet to the bedroom but accessing through the bathroom is very popular in my area. I'm torn on that right now. We removed the tub from the master bath as we don't take many baths and I found a master with no tub has not hurt resale value in the past. The door to the toilet closet will be a pocket door as will the pantry door, door to mudroom from kitchen and powder room door.

The overhang in front of the office already exists so I just wanted to turn it into a porch but it will be open with no railing. It is large enough to put down a bistro set for sunrise coffees :).
As for the kitchen island, the seating will be at the end of it so it isn't interfering. Your concern about the work area from the sink to the fridge is valid and I think I will put a prep sink in the island down near the fridge. Once I have construction drawings and all the dimensions I can tweak it some more.

I agree with Annie in converting that dead end, windowless, tiny loft area into a large closet for bedroom two. You could then double the closet size in bedroom three. You really could use more closet space in these bedrooms, imo.

You don't know realize how much closet space you're going to need until you raise a couple of kids who are pack rats and never want to part with old momentos, every book ever owned, mountains of old art work, stuffed animals, etc. (Stuffed animals at sixteen?), They can keep the stuff as long as it is in their closet, crammed into their drawers, under the beds, overflowing into the game room cabinets, etc. Sigh

Overall, I really do like your plan, and would happily live in it. :)

We were considering using the loft wall space for 12" deep shelving and a built-in desk at the dead end for the kids to use (easy to check from the stairs :). There is a window right above the main door so it will be quite bright.

As for the closet space, I'll wait until I have construction drawings and go from there. I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to paring down school stuff. As the daughter of a hoarder I have no patience for overloaded closets.

I had no patience for that stuff, either, but the younger two are very emotional about their stuff, and it gets to the point where you have to say "It's your room. You can stuff it all you want, but it has to stay reasonably clean and organized." And for that, you need good storage space. One of the two is a quite talented young artist, and has plenty of personal artwork and school art projects that really are not appropriate for my living room or the unheated attic storage space. :) Not to mention her musical instruments, music stand, etc.

Good luck!

At 4'6" , if I'm reading correctly, that's barely enough room for a desk...don't want someone to go over the railing trying to push away from the desk in a chair...it's like studying in a hallway...perhaps not the most conducive to learning when all the sounds from the rest of the house find their way up the stairwell.

Well, sort of offhand, on paper the lengthened island seems to intrude into the dining area, even without stools pictured. If you don't shorten it again, how about echoing the ceiling curve in the foyer (assuming you keep it) in the end of the island, with the curve swinging back into the kitchen on the bottom corner? The curve might be echoed in a couple of other placed, such as finishing the top of a bookcase and so on.

It is a big kitchen, but with that island breaking it into parts it's good to read that you are considering adding a cook's sink to the stove/fridge side of the island. This will turn the lower right kitchen into a complete cooking area and eliminate too much running around (literally on the around :).

Your urban lot is small, but that means every inch of land is precious, and very expensive. It looks as if you may have an undesirable view or sound problem to the...right given the lack of windows. Nevertheless, if it isn't a severe problem, that corner of the back yard formed by the kitchen and utility walls is too nicely positioned, too large, and far too expensive to turn over to just utility storage or whatever would happen there. All this a way of saying, how about placing windows on each, or one, side of the stove to create a relationship between this area and the house and another view from the kitchen?

I also second the suggestions to create cross breezes in the bedrooms and to bring in light from a second direction, another usually highly desirable asset for a room. Would the desk on the landing hold the only computer the kids have access to or something? If so, I can see the utility in having it out there. :)

@AnnieDeighnaugh...I was thinking of putting the computer at the dead end wall so it will be at least 42" wide. My kids do their homework at the dining table so this computer is just for research and fun for them. I don't allow electronics in the bedroom and I like to see what they are doing. I'm still trying to work it out in my head.

@rosie...good ideas about the curves, I will look at that. I am definitely putting in a prep sink near the fridge. I get crazy when I'm trying to clean up and the kids need a glass of water or whatever.

Our lot is actually quite large for our area. The right side of the house looks into the side of the neighbour's garage and bedrooms but that is a south wall so I will make sure there are at least transom windows for the light, maybe with privacy glass. The area behind the garage is a pantry and mudroom which is an absolute necessity in our climate (at least 6 months of winter). I could add windows by the stove just to keep an eye on the kids as they come in and out. I did that in our last 2 renos and forgot about it this time around :). I agree on the cross breezes and will look into adding windows on those walls.

Our designer is getting construction drawings ready now so I'm sure we will still tweak as we go along. Thank you for all the suggestions.

I have designed my own home and the kitchen is the most important part to think about. I like the update but the island seems to choke the efficiency of the kitchen. You need to make sure that you have easy access from fridge/sink/stove without having to walk around the island each time. I would lose the wall opposite of the updated powder and flip the island so you can have bar stools on the dining side. As it is now there is little space for bar stools and from personal use bar stools at an island will get used all the time. Make a simple L shape kitchen with large island and I guarantee it will open the space. I would put powder door so it doesn't open into the kitchen though. Powder rooms can be hard to locate b/c you want easy access for guests but private enough they feel you won't here their business. Good work