Overall, it's looking great. Here are my comments (take them or leave them!) And don't take offense to anything as everyone's opinions are different! :)

A few things I noticed...

1)You have some doors that could be left open and then 'in the way' when kids don't shut them. (it's a huge pet peeve of mine to walk down a hallway and have to shut the door to get by bc my little ones leave them open all the time...) It may not bother you at all :) But, I see this with the Master/Office doors, Basement door and the Jack/Jill bathroom upstairs.

2) Bath #2 seems a little tight - it would be nice if you could bump that a litte more than 5'

3)) Master Bath sinks - I assume the smaller one is 'his' :) I think the location is a little bit of a snug fit to the entry way. (But could be wrong bc I can't tell the length of that wall) He'll always be in the way when you are coming in/out of the bathroom

In response to some of your questions I didn't catch above...

1) I'm big on symmetry also - if you move the kitchen sink to align with the island...it will not be centered with the kitchen window. And, I think you'd rather have the window centered with the sink aligned with that?

2) The screened porch location isn't bad, you just can't get to it easily. Can you put a door from the family room to the porch instead of the espace?

3) I think I agree with aligning the front door in the foyer with the back porch/dining room opening.

4) Love wider hallways...just know that it makes your total sq footage increase...it happened to me. Took me forever to figure out how the same house I drew up increased so much once the designer sent me the first draft of plans!

5) Your garage stairs seem fine where they are and the space seems nice. If you move them more 'into' the the garage space, make sure your ceilings in the garage don't screw up anything...and you can still have room for kids junk!

6) You could put a linen closet on the back wall of the loft area (where it backs to the other closets)

To get permits, you might have to have an architect sign the plans - have you checked that part? Are you sure you are making plans that can pass code and get permits?

The designer is doing exactly what he's trained to do - take YOUR ideas and make drawings.

Have the DH read this:
http://www.demesne.info/Improve-Your-Home/Architect-or-Designer.htm

I'm looking at all the places where you have odd angles and wall bump-outs and roofline changes and wonder if you know how much that drives up the cost of the house.

If you break your leg, it's nice to have wide hallways, but that short flight of stairs to the MBR suite is going to mean you sleep on the couch. Why is it there?

Run through some activities and traffic flows, including interactions with the exterior of the house. How do I get from the family room to sit on the porches? Through the dining room or through the nook, kitchen, and the "E-space? Every day?

Test the porch sizes ... are they big enough for comfy sitting and traffic too?

Check where the windows are ... those stairs will need artificial light all day long as designed.

Looking at the window in bedroom #3 and the cathedral ceiling in the family room: are you sure that window will fit? That's going to be a lightless garret. An architect would think through the structural implications of the design and keep things like this from happening. What's going on with the rooflines on the other outside wall?

That exterior is a landscaping nightmare - little corners where trash collects that are too small for anything but a petunia.

Looks EXTREMELY expensive to build. All those jigs and jags on the foundation. Not to mention what the roofline will look like.

Do we know where you are building? I see a lot of double-height rooms -- unuseable space, sound conduits and hard to heat. I wonder if this wouldn't feel like a very imposing EXterior and surprisingly small INterior. The BR's, and especially the kitchen and bathrooms are small for a house that looks this big on the outside.

thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it. I'm just having a hard time figuring out if I should move on with this plan or scrap it and start completely over...

Andi k, thanks for your input. I agree with you about the door thing. I'll probably use pocket doors in the J&J bath upstairs. I also like your idea of a closet up there along the back of the bed room closets. I'm also thinking of stealing some space from the attic for the bedroom closets.

lazygardens, thanks for your advice also. We are in a rural area so we do not need an architect to sign off on permits. But you have a good point. I read your link - thanks for offering it. We are currently using an architectural designer - he has over 20 years of experience, but mostly designs spec homes for the builders in our area.

The small stairs to the master/study were put there at my request. I want some unique features for the house and that is one of them. I also like the fact that we can get a room under those in the basement with daylight windows, due to the fact the master & study will be raised slightly.

I'm curious as to why you think the landscaping will be difficult. Could I not plant knock-out roses or some other dwarf bush in the corner there under the pantry? My brother is a landscape architect, so I'm sure he'll have plenty of advice.

littlebug5, this is why it's hard for me to choose a plan. I want a complicated roofline and lots of nooks & cranies (dormers, bumpouts, window seats, etc.). So how do I know how much x plan will cost compared to y plan? When you say it looks EXTREMELY expensive, do you mean 20% more, 40% more or what? I've always been one to need actual numbers first and then weigh my options and make a decision. Much to my hubby's dismay as well. He tried to tell me that 9 ft ceilings would be more than 8ft. but I need to know HOW much more. Is it $2000 more or $20,000 more?

thanks again!

Hi Laurensmom--Wow!!! You did a great job on the redesign! I don't have a lot of time to review with a fine tooth comb, but the thing that stood out right away to me was the master bath. I agree with AndiK on DH's sink. If it was mine, I would turn the shower 90 degrees so it runs along the back wall that borders the study and then turn the sink 90 degrees so it backs up to the side wall that borders the hallway. You should be able to get a larger sink in there for DH with that configuration too. We saw a couple houses at our local Parade of Homes the last 2 weekends that had a similar layout to what I described & it flowed really well. When I have the time, I'll examine it a little more and let you know if I see anything else & respond to the questions you posted. Hope this helps!

Laurensmom - Those little exterior nooks are hard to plant because they usually have a different sun exposure than the wall just around the corner. They also tend to accumulate wind-blown trash and snow.

I've lived in houses with short, flights of stairs and the raised dining rooms, sunken living rooms and "conversation pits" just impede traffic.

Only a builder can really tell you how much it adds to the cost to have those jogs in the walls and fancy rooflines. But it takes more framing, more sheathing, more insulation, more roofing, more flashing, and more labor than a simpler roof.

You may have already finalized this but I still had 2 comments (in addition to those others have).

We were working with a builder on a 1 story house about a year ago (about 2600 sf) that was standard 8' ceilings. To go to standard 9' ceilings was an increase in the plate height of the house and was about $5800. Don't know what it would have been for a 2 story.

I also couldn't help but suggest to you to really, really, really think about those steps up to the master bedroom. First, as mentioned, if you have an injury and can't go up and down steps you will have a real problem. A few years ago I broke my ankle and it really has influenced me in building our new house. One of the advantages of a master on the main floor is that it is accessible without using steps. You destroy that with your plan. Which... brings up the next point.

Our neighbor to our old house took 3 years to sell their house. A lot of it was because they had built the house to their tastes and needs. It made it very hard to sell later on as it didn't meet the needs and desires of many people. It had a sunken living room for example and people just didn't like it. If you ever need to sell your house those steps up to the master are going to be a huge drawback.

Do it if you love it but just be aware that it may really cost you.

On the master bath layout, I'd suggest rotating the shower 90 degrees and putting it along the bottom wall instead of leaving a "hallway" between the shower and toilet room. Then you can rotate the smaller sink 90 degrees so the person using it is out of the doorway.

Alternatively, still rotate the shower, but move the entrance door to the top (where the long sink is now), and do one long vanity along the RH wall.

On the J&J bath, my parents have one in their house with exactly the same layout except no door going into the toilet/shower area. The in-swing doors work fine, but the bathroom is 6' wide, and it looks like yours is just 5'. If you can steal another foot, it should work ok.

I would nix the stairs to the master. That would give you a chunk more extra space upstairs. If you want higher basement ceilings, dig the foundation lower. :-)

You need storage upstairs. Linen closet, game/toy storage, whatever.

It seems a little choppy to have both a covered porch and a screened-in porch, and separated from each other, and with weird access to the screened porch. I would prefer one larger eating/entertaining/gathering area. Also consider the position of the kitchen relative to both, as you'll likely be hauling food through the other rooms to get it outside to the porch. Maybe swap the kitchen and breakfast nook?

What's the purpose of the "E-space" room?

kats - thanks for your suggestions. Nope, we're no where near finalizing anything, unfortunately. I've actually told my designer that I'm taking a break for a few weeks to reconsider everything. This plan just does not wow me at all and if I'm going to spend a bunch of money building my 'dream home' I want to really LOVE it, kwim?

I have been rethinking the steps to the master, and I think I am going to nix them. I love the idea of something different like that, but I think it probably should be eliminated for practical reasons (I really hate being practical though!) I don't really care too much about resale at this point, because we plan to be here for at least the next 15ish years. And we're on 10 acres of land where land in our area is a definite premium and highly sought after. But even so, I'm not going to build something totally undesirable for the next person.

chisue, we are building in central IL.

weedyacres, thanks for your thoughts about the bathroom. I do like your suggestions about rotating the shower. I'm still undecided on a j&j bath. Some people love them and others hate them. So I'm not sure...

I definitely agree with you on the storage issue! I need to add LOTS of closets and built-ins.

Unfortunately, we can't dig the foundation lower since we're so swampy around here. We're not in flood plain, but our sumps run CONSTANTLY in our current house. So we were thinking of other ideas on how to still have a basement (we need one due to tornadoes) but possibly not going down as far. any other ideas?

My dilemma is what to do with the center of the home. Most all plans I've seen have the great room in the middle of the home, but we want ours bumped off the back with lots of windows. We don't need 2 great rooms, so what do we put in the middle? I also need to have my kitchen on an ext. wall because I want lots of windows above my sink. I do agree with you on the choppiness though, so I'm probably going to nix this plan and start over. ugh.

the e-space is more of a homework/blogging space for my 3 kiddos and I. I don't want them to have computers in their bedrooms, so I need for this space to be centrally located so I can keep an eye on their computer use :)

thanks again for all the input! I keep surfing house plan sites hoping I'll stumble upon the perfect plan, but after 3-4 years of searching I'm not very hopeful...

You can build a safe room on the first floor -- maybe have it double as a pantry or closet. It needs a firm anchor and walls that will withstand impact. Search on the web and you will see many companies providing solutions.

You might get some interesting ideas by searching for "courtyard" plans. Since the courtyards are generally in the center, the great rooms are usually elsewhere like you want. You could either keep the courtyard, which is probably way out there but would be totally cool, or put something else where the courtyard is in the center but take the rest of the ideas if they work for you. Obviously, none of the ones below are right for your plan, but it might get the ideas going :)

Courtyard plans:

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I'm not sure I understand the front part of the house...when guests come to your house they will either have to walk through the kitchen, and then the nook to your family room, or through the formal dining room to the family room.

We've been looking at some plans and the ones that make the most frustrated are ones that you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the family room, or ones where the first thing you see is the kitchen.

And IMHO, two steps is not a huge deal. If you become old and feeble or in a wheelchair, you can always put a slight ramp there...after all it is only two steps. I like the separation it imparts between the private and public area of the home.