Hiring an architect will be the best money you ever spend.

If you like smaller homes, this plan looks like you could easily close off the staircase...

Here is a link that might be useful: Turtle Lake Cottage

Ditto what Archson said.

We FINALLY hired an architect because of so much frustration. My hubby has designed commercial buildings but he couldn't translate it to our simple, little house. Living in the snow capital of Alaska, we have tons of snow to deal with & lots of other constraints - it was just too frustrating trying to get everything we wanted in a relatively small space.

We are SO glad we hired our architect. Hubby found him during an internet search - he's in Georgia. He has provided us so much that we feel it's well worth the money. (He designed one of the kitchens on HGTV's "Bang for your Buck" - it was the winning kitchen). He charges less than architects in Alaska so we feel we got a deal.

It's great that in this internet age we can utilize the services of pros like this. Good luck in whatever you decide :)

If you can afford an architect, that's great but if you can't it is still possible to build a home with a builder and subs.
Dh and I had the property and then met a builder. He showed us a few homes he had built and we showed him our property and what we had in mind. It took us about 2 years to find the right plan and we found it on a house plan website. He was able to make a few minor changes and now we have been in our home 2 years!! Can't believe how time flies!!
Good Luck!

We just finished building a country style 1 1/2 story house with an open floorplan and a staircase down the hall, across from the master bedroom. We don't have a door on ours, but the way it's made you could put one. The upstairs is the kid area in our house, and one of my must-haves was a conveniently located stair case, not in the front of the house.

I looked at a bunch of plans, figured out the basic layout and I wanted, and drew my own plans. Builder figured out how to get it built.

melaska- At the risk of highjacking the post, would you mind sharing the architects contact info if you've been satisfied. We are in GA, and are looking for a good architect. Thanks! katie l garth at yahoo dot com

The great thing you have going for you is time - two years is a lot of time to think about what you want.

I'd recommend the following book - It hits a lot of the things you should start thinking about:

http://www.amazon.com/Distinctive-Home-American-Institute-Architects/dp/1561585289

Yes, melaska, please if you can post some references. We have some local ones as well if anyone would suggest going that route.

askansasfarmchick, is there any chance you can share your plan? It sounds very much like what we'd like. Keeping the kiddos stuff upstairs in the bonus room, etc.

Thanks!!!!!