forgot to put this. Ceilings on the first floor are 12 feet and second floor are 10 feet.

A walk in pantry!!! You have plenty of room with all that space. I don't think you will enjoy the cabinetry pantry The walk-in will not only be cheaper than all that cabinetry, but it will be way more functional and hold so much more. There are a lot of good threads with walk in photos in the kitchen section of gardenweb.

Is there a basement (ie, what is under the stairs?)?
Are you going to have to walk around the full length of the stairs to get to the coat closet? (kind of odd)
Yes, I second the walk in pantry. It will be much more functional that what you have.
I understand you are 2 men, no kids, mostly all adults there; but do you have a "drop zone"? Do you need a drop zone? Maybe you are incredibly tidy. What about an office?

Is it just my Mac? I'm only seeing black and no plans.

Great job on the scale-down! The plan looks like it's coming along nicely. Jumping and expanding on previous comments, my concern would be storage. Will there be a basement? If not, I would consider more closet space/storage on the first floor. As drawn the only areas are the coat closet and possibly under the stairs, so I think somewhere to store the vacuum, brooms, seasonal items, miscellaneous, would be very useful.

Also, what is the climate? Are these mountains that get snow, or is it much more temperate? Rainfall or sun? With that in mind, as drawn there are no covered areas such as the entry or part of the terrace, which will also probably be welcomed.

With the weekend guests - if both guest rooms are being used more often at the same time, and since your original plans were twice the square footage, I would try to add in separate baths for each room to give your guests the ultimate luxury/privacy. Will the loft act as a secondary seating/living area, or will it house an office space at all? If not, I would also consider another space for either work/projects/hobbies.

If there are any thoughts/drawings/ideas on the elevations, that would also be helpful for more feedback. Curious about the garage situation also, maybe there will be room above a separate garage for a work space/more guest space?

thanks for the feedback so far. I was so excited to put the plans on here I forgot some details. there will be a full basement, we're planning on putting the garage in there, under the kitchen side. The original house had a dumbwaiter on that side of the house to take groceries and such up.

I was also thinking of putting a coat closet on the front side of the stairs, the whole stairs issue has been super complicated trying to go up so far, and not use a ton of space for them. A drop zone is a definate must, I use the kitchen table for that and the other 1/2 has a chest and a desk in the front door. We like to think that we are tidy but make a mess too.

Most likely there will be some built ins in the living room too, any suggestions? we're hoping to do that room in wood paneling.

The walk in pantry is something I knew you all would say that I needed. Any ideas on how to get one in the space. At the front of the kitchen, closest to the dining room, we have a wet bar/butlers pantry area. In our current house that is one of the most used spots and seems more valuable space wise.

Land is close to asheville NC, site elevation is about 4ooo ft. So it's pretty high up for here. The living room faces south. Climate is moderate, we get all seasons up there. The one thing that I'm not sure of is how brutal the winters will be, they have been changing a lot lately. We don't need screen porches, there are not any flying insects at that elevation.

I'll try to put the original plans up too.

Thanks for your help so far!!

here are the original plans, first and second floor. There is also a basement with garage and a third floor with a library and two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The plan is a reverse plan, with the master on the first floor and the living areas on the 2nd floor.

Can't see the plans on my iPad either. Just black.

If the garage is under the kitchen, where will you come up from the garage to the house? Stairs outside on the right, maybe? Anyway, you'll want an entrance somewhere from the garage into the house, and hopefully one where you're not walking too far from car to house with bags of groceries, especially when you are buying enough to entertain guests.

I may be reading the plan wrong, but it doesn't look like your stairway lines up from first to second floor. On the 2nd floor it looks like the stairs would be coming down through the foyer.

Your master closet is in kind of a coveted corner spot, where you could instead have windows.

Can you tell us where the best views are?

I think I would put the walk-in where you currently have the pantry cabs. I would move the terrace doorway to the right and shorten the run of cabs with the sink to allow for space for a walk-in.

You have a lot of sq footage downstairs and only three rooms.... Do you think it would be wise to make another room downstairs (a little parlor) and also area in the kitchen for a table for resale?

I realize you have a large family room/living room area. Most homes of that size in that area of the country have: living room, dining room, eat in kitchen (doesn't look like you can eat in yours) and an office/study...and atleast four bedrooms upstairs. I know you say this is your forever house, but nothing lasts forever and someday you will need to sell it. While it may appeal to you and I fully appreciate where you are going, you always have to think about selling it someday...appealling to the masses. I know... I know, you don't want to hear this..but it is true. I just don't want you to get burnt in ten years.

Also, I think I would make room for a kitchen table in the kitchen. Our real estate agent was adament about having an eat in kitchen... Very bad to not have one when it comes to resale.

The kitchen is a little walled off. Is that on purpose? You say you like to entertain but the kitchen will not be part of the "entertaining" area (living room).

My partner and I have both a family room and a parlor, with the dining room kind of in between. I love this set up because after dinner, some guests retreat to the parlor while some retreat to the family room. Is a quiet place for some guests to retreat to something you desire?

Two other points/questions:

How will guests go from the first terrace to the second terrace? Right now it looks like they would have to either swim to the other terrace or walk through the grass (I think) to get to the other terrace.

Also, I notice there is a regular door leading from the kitchen to the terrace. I think a sliding or french door would be really nice there - it would let in a lot of natural light.

It also would help to know what kind of house this is going to be...will it be modern? Cabin type?

I think the stairs waste a lot of space in what could otherwise be a formal parlor or receiving area.

I'm not seeing any plans, either, just little Photobucket boxes, with Xs, like it's been erased.

for those of you who can't see the plans here is a link to them on photobucket:
http://s1258.photobucket.com/profile/glenwood705

to answer a few questions....

We are extremly formal in the way that we entertain. We eat dinner, just the two of us, every night in the dining room. I'm thinking that the left side of the kitchen island will be a bar with stools for people to sit at. Everyone always ends up in our kitchen regardless of how we plan it, so it's more important to have a large kitchen where people can "watch" me cook. the space between the two terraces will be decomposed granite or something of that nature, prob a bocce ball court.

House style is French Norman. The original bigger plan was Palladian. Symmetry is important for us, so that goes out the door with the smaller house.

The stairs are a huge bone of contention. We want 12' ceilings on the 1st floor and it takes a crazy amount of stairs to get from floor to floor. any suggestions on better stair placement would be welcome. Should we move the elevator elsewhere?

I've been working on an update and should be able to post that tomorrow hopefully. Thanks again for all your feedback.