The upstairs

I'm definitely not one of the experts on this board, but here's what I see at first glance.

I like the kitchen/dining/great room, one of the first plans I got "stuck" on had this layout.

The entry way is HUGE!!! That's a lot of valuable space alotted to a place you don't spend much time in.
We're currently building, and I've got a bigger entry than I really wanted, but it's less than half the size of this.

Do you really spend that much time in your MBR? What do you have planned for that extra space?
I would totally move some of that into the laundry room somehow. You can never have too much room in the laundry room, and maybe some extra storage. Again, you can never have enough.

I'd change the double vanity upstairs to a single bowl. I have no idea why people try to stick two sinks in a small space. At my house we don't fight over the sink, we fight over the counter space. Really how many times are two people needing to brush their teeth at the exact same time. I can stand patiently long enough to let my hubby finish doing what he's doing. YMMV...

How do draftsmen measure combined spaces? Re the front hall, is that 8' to the stairs, or to the outside wall of the stairs? My hall is 8.5' to the stairs, and it's a very nice size (13.5' long). Yours is, what, say 13-14' long before you get to the closet, and that's a long way. If it's 8' to the stairs, that's a nice width. If it's 8' to the wall, it's only 5' wide and a tunnel. (Just asking because when we were house-hunting we learned to carry a tape measure because realtors are "creative" in their measurements!)

Open the wall between the "flex" room and the dining room. And name that room!

You can take out the wall and door between the vanity area and the tub room for your child.

Move the master br door to opposite the linen closet. It will allow you to place the bed in the right-hand space, so no one as to walk around the bed. or is that going to be your exercise space?

How do you plan to use the loft?

What do the elevations look like as floor plan without elevations is just that. They all need to tie in together........

Move the closet to under the stairs and use some additional space carved out from that HUGE entryway to give a shower to the downstairs powder room. The flex space can then double as a 2nd master/guest suite for those that find climbing stairs difficult, including perfectly healthy people with a temporary problem.

The kitchen space could use an island to direct the through traffic from the garage entry in a pattern that won't disturb the cook. I'd put a prep sink on it to make it really useful space.

All of the open space on the 2nd floor will be difficult to heat and cool, as well as allow sound to travel up to the sleeping areas. If anyone stays up late watching TV, it will keep up the household because of the noise. Plus, it will always be hot up there and cold at people level below.

The master suite is entirely too large. You could carve out a whole other bedroom from the amount of wasted space there. Between it and that oversized entry, you are paying to construct about 200 square feet that won't end up justifying itself through use. It's also situated over the garage, which means additional insulation and support is needed to keep it temperature controlled and quiet. A better location would be to take away the hard to heat and cool double height space and place it there. Use the space over the garage as the ubiquitous "bonus room" space for a future owner to create living space if they want.

Thank you all, some very good points we had totally over looked. An 18' entry way seems like quite a long corridor now that it's pointed out, and no clear fix for it without a major re-draw.
Yes island with prep sink will be on the builders plans.
Defiantly will look at tweeking the master to gain some valuable space.

Unless you have specific plans for the north wall of the "flex" room would put at least a door to the dining room so that you can access the kitchen more easily.

The entry looks like a good size to me with the stair way in there. I'd get rid of the loft and open up the entry way to the second story so that the whole space feels like the great room, but that's purely preference.

I know someone with almost the same floor plan on the main level. They have the stairs start in the entry way, but on the other side of the foyer and then turn and go up over the space where you have the powder room now. Then their powder room door is opposite where yours is, and uses the space you've got planned for a pantry.

The doors to the flex space are at the bottom of the stairs, and they change the flooring to match the greatroom at the front of the stair landing (about where your closet is). I don't think the foyer feels too long in their house.

They do have a double height great room, and it has always seem awkward and cold to me, but I'm not a fan of double height spaces in general. It looks like the height may be the largest of any of the dimensions of the room, and I think that makes for an uncomfortable space.

I would also suggest placing some furniture templates into the Great room to check the size. Although the plans says it's 14 ft, you will lose some of that space since a portion of the room will be used as a "hallway" into the kitchen.

I would be tempted to switch the mudroom and the pantry locations. This way people entering won't have to completely come through the kitchen and also you have more walking space with that very large dining area. I would also try to attempt an easy access to the half bath from the mudroom so somebody dirty doesn't have to track through the whole house.

How were you planning to place the furniture in the master? I also think it isn't very private from the other bedrooms. and from the sound that will carry from the two story great room. Also being above the garage carries a whole other set of things to consider such as the open span there and the beams to support the upstairs and extra insulation needed from the garage - as well as the noise of garage door openers etc. to consider. Are there other arrangements you've tried or do you want the loft and the two story great room also commonly known as noise shaft?

You're dedicating 162 sq ft to the entryway. I'd call that too much.

I wonder if the great room will be big enough once you have furniture in place.

I don't love the bathroom just off the dining room. Are you doing a basement? If not, I'd bump the closet over under the stairs, then move the bathroom door to what's now the closet door.

You have so much space in the master bedroom, then loads of walking space in the middle of the bathroom . . . but two teeny little sinks, only about 24" of space in front of the toilet, and a small shower. I'm thinking the space could be better used.

The laundry room, too, has odd proportions. It's only as wide as the machines, which means you'll walk into that long, narrow room, but you'll have no room to install shelves, etc. for folding. I'd look into reshaping the laundry and the master closet. I think the closet is fine "as is", but it could be rearranged without any problems, and it could give a better proportion to the laundry room. You may lose the laundry window, but I'd be willing to do that.

Consider those double-doors in the bedroom: You open the doors, walk in, and reach for the light switch . . . which is located behind the door. You must close the door and fumble about in the dark to find it. No thanks.

I really like the kitchen/dining room/great room.

My thoughts
What happens if someone breaks a leg and can't get up the stairs to shower. Or when you are 80 years old and do fine walking but have difficult with stairs? I would try to put a small shower in the bathroom downstairs that you could use later if needed. The closet could probably fit under the stairs.

What is the flex room for? office? guests? needs a purpose for now so you can see if the layout works for your family? play room?

Will the master bedroom be also an office/exercise room/sitting room? it is very large. Bigger than your Great room.

What will you use the loft for? You could wall it off and make a huge laundry room there. Then the master closet could be a lot bigger! I love huge master closets.

If you reversed the downstairs bathroom and moved the closet you could close in that little square and expand the pantry.

I Love the size of your master bedroom :) Although mine won't be nearly as big. But it would help you sell the house because people like that sort of thing!. Could you steal space from the closet next to the laundry? That 1 1/2 feet could do WONDERS to your laundry space. Then you could make that bedroom a little smaller...you said only one kid right?
Personally, I would switch the pantry and mudroom locations and move the garage door so that it comes into the new mudroom location. Then your pantry items would be contained in the kitchen, and people wouldn't have to walk into the kitchen from the garage. But I have 3 kids who come in our side door through the kitchen now, so I may be overrating this!
Otherwise, I really like your overall plan. The foyer is large, but you could do something creative and fun there.

I think the garage is a bit narrow. My 2-car garage is 22' wide, and it's a tight squeeze, though we do have shelves along one wall. My mom's 2-car garage is 26'x26'. They used to stack firewood at one end, but the width doesn't seem like way too much.

I'm not a fan of walking through the master bath to get to the closet. I'd open that up directly to the bedroom, and eliminate the hard-to-use corners. At 6 feet wide, you can only put clothes rods on one side. If you can sneak some more space from the bath, you can double the amount of clothes you can hang there - or add shelves on one wall.

I agree with most everything others have brought up. The master bedroom/bath are huge, but everything else on the second floor is small. The laundry room is so small. So is the secondary bath upstairs. The other two bedrooms are not big, but are okay.

How is the loft being used? Will company (not overnight guests) be up there? If so, will your child be okay with them using their bathroom.

I would get rid of the open great room and use that space for a larger laundry room, a bigger or an additional bath room upstairs. I would definitely want a bigger master bedroom closet.

Oh, and I would make sure that you have a sink out in the workshop. It is really far to walk with messy stuff from workshop to kitchen sink.

I also think that the great room and dining room are small. You need room to walk from great room to kitchen, and room to get out to the deck. Allowing for those walkways, the dining room is really only 12 x 11.

I've had to walk through the master bath to get to the closet in the last three houses I've lived in. I like this arrangement very much. When my husband gets ready in the morning, he goes into the bathroom and doesn't come back out until he is completely ready and dressed. He doesn't have to disturb me if I'm sleeping, nor does he need to remember to get his clothes out the night before. Another added benefit is that my bedroom would have less wall space if I had two more doors in it. :( It is a very, very common arrangement here in all prices ranges.

I agree that you should steal a little space and make that a full bath downstairs. It will be great for resale, great for anyone temporarily or permanently infirmed, and great for guests who overflow to the downstairs flex room.

This post was edited by bird_lover6 on Thu, Nov 7, 13 at 19:12

Thank you everyone for the suggestion. Laundry room expansion looks like a must. We will see if we can cut some of the MBR down and in large laundry and closet. Guest only happen every so offen so the jack and Jill bathroom should be fine, we will probably drop it down to one sink though. Swapping mud room and pantry also seems like a great idea. This sqft. is what is our price range as building in Alaska can get costly so upping sqft is not an option. Thank you again this is a wonderful forum and y'all have been very helpful.

Your laundry room is currently wasted space. As set up, you can cut it down by half (length wise) and it will still function the same. Consider turning the machines 90* and get a counter in there somewhere.

A guest will walk through your entire lower floor to get to the kitchen. Is that what you want?