LOL - welcome to the odd world of building - it's all good and will change sizes more than once!!

Trust me - you are seeing something that EVERYBODY goes through.

It's rather shocking at first. The house is playing games with you - let it have it's fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rod and DJ's House Building Adventure

You will not be able to fit all of that into your master bedroom without running into furniture. The garage is very small, even for your cars, if you will have mechanical components in it (HVAC, air handler, water heater, etc.). Depending on how many stair treads are necessary and where the stairs are located in the garage, the length of the garage may be prohibitive to actually parking a car in it. (I am not familiar with this plan...when you say "separate 2 car," do you mean that the garage is stand alone? If so, ignore the info about the stairs.) The laundry room is also small, but by using the stackable models, you will open it up a bit. My friend has a laundry room about this size without the stackable front loaders, and it is very hard to imagine working in that room! If you stack, you may gain enough room for a small utility sink. Maybe. I do not understand these mass market house plans that do not provide enough usable space for homeowners. People buy them thinking that there is space for cars in the garage, and space for w/d in the laundry room, etc., and yet we see time and again that this is not the case. This is why even if you find a plan that you love on-line, you really need to take it to someone local to have it customized for you. Some people may respond and say that you have more than enough room, but really 5'6" x 5'6" is not a laundry room...it is barely a laundry closet.

Our bedroom is 14x18 and the 14 foot side has a kingsize bed and two nightstands. We also have a highboy dresser and a low wide dresser. It fits fine. We also have room for a loveseat.

Your laundry is small. I don't think there is anyone who can make you feel better about the reality of it. Using a stackable will give you room beside for a small counter and upper cabinet for storage of laundry soaps.

My only advice is to make sure the room has plenty of light. A large, poorly lit laundry room is more difficult to work in than a small, well lit room.

You always have an option in the master bedroom to scale down your furniture and bed size. Would a queen still work for your lifestyle?

Hey Missy, Our garage is less than a 20 x 20. We can fit both of our cars in it but that will be about it. My dh will have a nice 13 x 13 workshop in the back. Here is a link to the type of storage system we will use in our garage. You can get this stuff at wal-mart for 89.88. :)

http://www.comfortchannel.com/images/Racor_PHL1R_H.jpg

Our laundry room is about the same size as yours. I can't remember the exact dimensions. I know a lot think this is too small but it is perfect for us. For me, the bigger the laundry room the bigger the mess. LOL. I am getting front loaders and will put them side by side. I am having a counter top put in directly on the top going completely from wall to wall. This will be my folding area. Above that I am putting in cabinets for storage and under the cabinets will be a bar for hanging wet clothes if needed.

I HATE laundry and had zero desire to dedicate a lot of space to that room.

Our BR is 17 x 14 or 15. We will have a queen, a dresser, chest, armoire and 1 nightstand. Everyone tells me I'll be able to get a chair in there but I'm not counting on it.

My priority in our house was to have a big (to us) kitchen and great room. I got that but at the expense of smaller laundry, master and garage. I'm fine with that.

:)

Your garage is fine!

Here the "standard" on 4,000 sf homes is 18'6" x 20'-21'4".

More space is always better. But with a Scion B, you could add a Smart Car and have 10 inches to spare.

Thanks all! I'm going to look @ the storage system, Charliedawg.

The Master Bedroom - there's gotta be a King in there. DH & I must get from 'sleeping underneath eachother' after 15yrs. of marriage - we have a Queen now. Definitely need more bed space & we're not fat people @ all! Thanks LSST, that makes me feel better abt. the MB.

There is a nice, large window in the LR so, no, it won't be dark.

Charlie & Worthy, you make me feel much better abt. the garage.

And Grinder12000, I love the color of your house's interior - it turned-out very nice!

I think combo washer/dryer deminsions are like 23-3/8" wide x 33-1/4" high x 21-1/2" deep . Stackables are like 27" wide x 75 1/2" high x 31 deep. Whether you buy a combo, a stackable or front loading singles remember you'll have to contend with the doors so add another 18" to 20" for that.
I have a feeling you're going to be fighting space every time you need to do laundry. It most likely will become your least favorite room in the house. That pocket door idea might be your best solution.

Your garage will be fine. DH and I can park two f150's in 18'6" wide 2 car garage on the house he rents and you do have to be careful getting in/out, but it is doable. His scion XA can be opened fully next to the f150 if he wanted it in there. Of course a larger garage is always nice to have, but what you have is workable.

For the master lets say you want 3ft on each side of the bed then you need about ~12 ft for that. I think another 6 ft to put a chaise will be fine.

Laundry - it is small, but how much time do you spend in there? Plan it well and with storage and you'll be just fine. I only spend time in mine when emptying and loading. I fold in front of the TV in the bedroom and I currently have a 11' by 5' one. Look at how you use it and see if you really would have needed a larger room.

missymar, I think you will be fine also. Unfortunately, the instinct is to always go for bigger and BIGGER, but the reality is that you might not be able to or want to. Everyone has to make decisions and probably compromises in your build unless you have bottomless pockets. The difference is just at what point we make those concessions.

My parents built a beautiful home about 10 years ago and it has a laundry room which is 5'-6" x 5'-0. It never occurred to me that it was a "small" laundry room, but it is a room for doing exactly what it's labeled, laundry. It has a pocket door and as you enter the washer and dryer are directly in front of you. Cabinets run along the wall above the w/d for storage of detergent, rags, etc. It definitely serves it's function and allows other areas of the home which are used more often to be larger.

I'm sure your home will be beautiful and functional. Just try to keep perspective and remember that you are building your own home which is something that many people NEVER get to do. How exciting.

I just wanted to weigh in on the Master...ours now is about 12'6" X 15. On the 15' side: Round table, King 4 Poster, Nightstand and large chair, we still have wall space for a bookcase, 60" dresser and large Armoire. It is alot of furniture for the room to some people and others find it cozy. A girlfriend of mine has a 14x17 room-I thought it was 'perfect'. When in doubt: Graph Paper is your friend! Rooms of the same size will function very differently depending on the door/window openings and traffic patterns.
I hope you are feeling better, and I always love the suggestion to focus on the joy of being able to build a home just for you. I would also add that it might be good to compare what you are getting to what you have now vs to what is not in the budget/plan for this build. That is what I do whenever I feel frustrated by our limitations.

I had to chuckle at the "tiny" master bedroom 14x17.
Ours is 14 x 13 and seems spacious to us. We have a queen sized bed, two nightstands and we share a roomy chest. Everything else is in the closet. We discovered when we moved that we did not really need a lot of the "stuff" we had.

All of our room dimensions are smallish to average. In the greatroom we have two loveseats instead of sofa/loveseat. We look for smaller scaled furniture.

While your laundry room is compact, you can make it efficent by stacking the W/D and using the extra space for storage.

Yes, your garage is small - do you have any other space for storage? Basement? Can you build a garden shed later?

I do believe that bigger is not necessarily better.

I wrote earlier that I thought you would not have a lot of leftover space in your master bedroom. I still think that you'd be better off without one of the pieces (can you move the dresser/armoire into the closet? it is more "in style" now to have less furniture in the bedrooms...not more. Not necessarily my opinion, just an observation.); however, the above posters suggestion of using graph paper would be very helpful. It really doesn't matter at all the dimensions of your room...they're just a jumping off point. What matters is your usable wall space. How many doors (entry/closet/bath) are in the room that take up wall space? How many windows do you want to completely preserve the view from and not block? Those thoughts are more important than overall dimensions. luckymom3 above wrote what is on her 15' wall...right now I have a 14' wall, and the only thing that fits on it is a 4 poster king bed and 1 nightstand (granted it is oversized). There is NO extra room for even another nightstand. Your room itself is a decent size...that's not the issue. The issue is how you want to use it.

Will you gain any room really by stacking? Seems to me side-by-side front loaders with a counter over them for folding would be as economical of space. Ours is just about your size, a tiny bit bigger, but we're not in there yet. I don't have front-loaders, but wish I did so I could have a counter. I have to take the top-loading washer with me because it's only a couple of years old.

Thanks again for all of the different perspectives. The house is sched. to be completed in Aug. so I will definitely & creatively get the LR issue configured so that doing the laundry won't be so unpleasant. What's really important to me to have in the LR is a small space for hanging clothes to dry. It seems @ this point that it will be most effectively accomplished by having the W/D stacked @ this time. Wanted to put a kitchen trash can in there, but I believe that idea has been nixed. We'll have a closet right off of the kitchen (that's under the stairwell) & will put the trash can there.

Tiny MBR - I do actually have the specified size laid out on graph paper & used furniture templates to get a feel for what we could do. This idea actually makes it appear that the King bed, 2 night stands, chaise, armoire & dresser will fit in there & still have a reasonable amt. of room to maneuver. We are highly contemplating not having a dresser, but definitely having our 14ft wide Master Closet outfitted w/ several drawers or some type of closet system.

Your MBR is not tiny!
I know you have already used graph paper and templates but the link below is a great guide in case anyone else is having the same problems. I used it to decide the placement of our furniture in our rooms before we built to make sure I had room big enough for my furniture. It worked great.

I also made templates of furniture out of craft paper and placed it in rooms. I did this in my living room with my baby grand piano to make sure it would fit with the bench out and also it aided in the placement of recessed lights.

The reason I knew all our bedroom furniture would fit in our new house was that it fit in our old house. I measured that room and made sure our new MBR was at least that size. Our old MBR was 14x17.

Here is a link that might be useful: BHG room planner

I agree with the above post by dixiedoodle. I don't believe your master bedroom is tiny. But, it will look tiny if you try to cram in too many things. Just because it all fits, doesn't mean it should all go in there.

Lsst, thanks for that link. I'll check that one out too. :)

With the advent of walk-in closets, not only are dressers and chests not needed in a BR, they are inconvenient in a BR. You are dressing IN the closet. Now...are your closets big enough? LOL

Your BR is big enough, but does it have the wall space you need where you want it? I wouldn't clog it up with a lot of furniture. You and your DH should be able to walk past one another anywhere in the room without having to "tango".

You will have to stack your W/D if you have a laundry sink on that wall. You need a minimum of six feet for those three things to be along one wall. The "laundry" area of my back hall is about 7 X 7. Sink, Washer, Dryer on one wall and an 5' X 18" deep cabinet & countertop opposite. Upper cabinets over all but sink. Window above the "aisle". In the two extra feet next to the cabinet & countertop I keep a waste can & a stool. (Gotta put that dryer lint someplace!)

BTW, how about a pull-out waste bin next to your kitchen sink? You'll get very tired of trekking to a closet with everything. We have a double deep pull-out with one bin for waste and one for recycling.

Well, I jst did the BHG Room Planner as suggested above..... Our MBR wil fit a King Bed, 2 night stands, chair w/ ottoman w/ a small table beside it & a dresser (if we choose). Thanks again Lsst, I like it better than the graph paper & templates I'd used. Wish I'd known about the BHG planner weeks ago when I spent several hrs. cutting out these tiny room templates!

Chisue, I believe I've though about all possibilities.... Has definitely thought about the pull-out trash bin next to the sink (in a cabinet). My only concern w/ that would be having stinky garbage in there!

i'm having deja vu. Wasn't there a thread on here with someone trying to reconfigure the laundry area in this plan or a similar one? My idea then was to combine the pantry and laundry areas along with that circulation to the left of both of them into one room. Wall it off from the kitchen, putting a door near the garage end of that kitchen wall. Keep the door into the family or keeping room just behind the pantry. Your pantry can stay on open shelves where it is. Or rotate the shelves. Or use cabinets for food items. Could put them on the left wall that backs up to the kitchen and free up the current pantry area. Would give you lots more possibilities by combining your pantry and laundry.

What I like about the BHG room planner is that you can print copies of your room layouts- put it in a folder and take it to the house site with you.
Also, when we were moving in, I taped the templates to the door of each room. The people helping us move knew right where the furniture was to go.

I tried the BHG room planner, it's by far the best one I have come across. Thanks for suggesting it, I put it in my favorites.

1sst - taping the templates to the door, what an awesome idea. I'll actually be able to help move things instead of acting like the foreman. :)