I think you are going to enjoy the open family, dining, and kitchen. My current home is open between our den and kitchen and it is wonderful! If there was a way to take-out my wall into my dining room I would but that's just not possibe.

Now, I will preface this next part with a disclaimer that I have never built a home before. My husband and I are in the planning and dreaming stage of the process right now. All that said, this is what would concern me:

I don't like walking through the master closet in order to access the bathroom. Would it be possible to switch the placement of the two? Also, the windows in the master bath are going to make it difficult to place mirrors over the sinks - I would definitely need the mirrors for getting ready in the mornings. If you have to keep the bathroom where it's at, could you rearrange the rest of the master so that the closet is long but narrow and runs the length of the bedroom? This would give you a deeper bedroom and take some of the width but at least you wouldn't have to walk through the closet to access the bathroom.

The back bedroom doesn't have a closet. I live in an older home right now and our closet space is limited, so I will tell you firsthand that you are going to regret not having a closet in there.

The nook between the bedrooms looks like it has space for a closet, so I would make that a linen closet because I don't see one in the shared bath.

Is the deck to the garage going to be covered? Again, my garage is detached now and there's no cover over our walkway and I despise getting drenched from rain but alas that is what occurs whenever it rains. I would add a cover if at all possible - especially considering you are going to have to carry laundry to and from the garage. If you can't cover it all, at least do the portion above the back door because you aren't going to like getting wet as you try to unlock the door with groceries in your arms - BTDT for the last 7 years!

Is a pantry important to you?

Hi ETR,

Thank You for your feedback. It is really helpful to read your comments and suggestions.

Originally, we had planned to place the Master Bedroom where the Master Bath is shown but we ended up with less usable sq ft due to having a large hallway in between Mbath and Closet. If a more skilled designer can show or tell us how to make this change, it would be great. We are hoping to stay below 2400 SqFt and making the bedroom areas larger increases the complexity of the build and also increases the overall SqFt of plan.

We will add a closet in the back bedroom in the next version of the plans and will likely change out the Nook for a linen closet.

The deck area will be covered all the way to the garage.

The Pantry will be taller type pantry with slide outs next to the fridge/freezer.

Generally I like it, especially the central coutyard setup. I love that you walk in and see through the house and into the courtyard. I also have one large open space and it functions well for us.

You didn't mention what part of the country you are in or what your family looks like so it's hard to comment, but here are a few thoughts:

The bedroom in the back is only 8 1/2 feet wide. I would be very hesitant to build a bedroom less than 10 1/2 feet wide. There seems to be enough space to do it, I just think the designer needs to play around with the space back there. There's some wasted hall space back there. Also, there are alot of patio doors in this bedroom wing. Patio doors are a lot more expensive than windows.

I would flip the master bedroom and master bath. I know hall space is wasted space but some hall space between the Family room and master will be nice. The guest bedroom at my SIL's house is right off the family room like that and let me tell you, we can hear everything in the family and kitchen.

Are you sure you need a tub and shower in the master bath?

There's a large area of empty space when you enter the home. This also isolates the kitchen/dining form the family room. You could perhaps shift the family room to the right by 3 feet, shift the wall between the family and office to the right also. This allows you to shift the office so it's 10' from left to right and 8' front to back. The extra space can then be incorporated into the master suite.

Good luck!

I agree with everything ETR said. I'm not an architect or designer, so my opinions are strictly personal.

I really like your open area and the patio area is going to be a great area for family and entertaining.

I'm curious about your window placements. Some of them just don't make sense to me. Also, you might check your door swings as a couple of them seem awkward. I dislike doors that open in the middle of the room, and not next to a wall.

Major issues for me would be the laundry in the garage and no mud room area. But we live in the snowy north where tracking stuff into the house is an issue.

With two windows, and two doors in your master closet, it leaves little area for clothes rods or shelving. And you might check the width..is it wide enough for two clothes rods? I think ETR had a good idea to switch the bath and closet.

Can you add a door into the tub/toilet area of the Jack/Jill bath? Adds a little privacy when two are using the bathroom.

Wishing you well in getting your plan together. It's a long process, and you have a good start.

I didn't have a lot of time, but played around with your plan a little. It's choppy as I just cut and pasted in paint.

I would want more privacy for the master than you currently have. I also think the office and back bedroom should be a little bigger.

You could easily add some cubbies behind the kitchen door. The fridge should be located closed to the stove/sink area, so that you don't have to walk around the island to reach it.

There's a lot of wasted space in the middle of the family area.

Anyway here are a couple of ideas....

I will definitely make some changes to the plan based on your advice.

The home is being built inland San Diego. Much warmer temps than the coast, especially throughout the summer/fall.

I am going to work with the designer and change the following based on your recommendations:

(1) Increase back bedroom size and add a closet.
(2) Remove a few of patio doors to save money.
(3) Flip Master Bedroom and Bath
(4) Increase office size and slide family room to the right to reduce the amount of empty space at the entrance.
(5) Adjust door and window placements.
(6) Add storage cubbies behind the kitchen door.
(7) Rearrange fridge location

The designer also suggested possibly adding laundry / mud room area between kitchen and garage.

I will post a revision to the plan ASAP. Thank You again for your suggestions, help and advice.

No coat closet.

Those tall pull out pantry's are expensive and while cool at first are a lot less practical than a reach in pantry. There is not a doubt in my mind that building in a pantry is cheaper. I did a remodel and used one of those pieces and it made sense in that setting. But I don't think it makes sense in new construction.

Also - you have designed a kitchen with very few uppers. That maybe by design but you should realize that. A relatively small kitchen with no real pantry and no uppers makes for a storage problem.

Is there a reason for a detached garage? I realize you have the space but it is cheaper to combine walls during construction. Now - maybe you build the garage to a different standard and it isn't as much of an issue (ie siding style etc). But I imagine brick or stone and you are only adding expense by detaching it. A attached garage has issues of decreasing HVAC requirements a little and saves the occassional rain issues. Obviously, where you live it doesn't matter much but still.

Teens? Too many escape routes at night

High electric rates? lots of windows and 4 sliding glass doors. That is an a/c nightmare. I know inland LA area a bit and my BIL lives like a vampire because of his a/c bill. Mind you, closing blinds on windows helps some but it is better to not have a window if you are going to close it off all day long. Posting orientation helps figure how much of a problem that is going to be.

Privacy in master. I am on a personal crusade to get people to stop this - putting glass doors onto public decks from bedrooms. There is no good stylish way to get privacy. It might not matter to you but at least think about your master in full view from public areas.

What is that thing in the middle of the house with one inside and one outside? Fireplace?

I'm so glad your designer mentioned a mudroom/laundry between the garage and house. That's one of the first things I look for in a design and many designers seem to ignore the fact that most people need a place to take off shoes after working in the yard; put sports equipment and backpacks for kids; etc.

Also noticed as mentioned above that there is no closet by the front door. Although you don't need winter coats like we do, there will probably be times when people need to hang jackets, etc. Or you'll want a place to store the vacuum cleaner. (If you have a nice sized attached mudroom/laundry, that could solve some of the storage issues. And if it is something like a breeze-way between your garage and the rest of the house, that will keep the house light and open.)

Just as you've done with the FR furniture, you might want to draw scale size images of your bedroom furniture to see how and where it will fit (dressers, chests of drawers, nightstands etc.) It looks like space in the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms will be tight.

I would also recommend posting on the kitchen forum your whole plan and a close up / detail plan for the kitchen. There are some talented folks there with good advice re: making a layout efficient.

This will be a lovely home full of light, and I think with a few tweaks it will also be very efficient.

posted a plan for you ...
have you given any thought to the exterior style of the house?

Hi David,

Thank You for the additional feedback. You have given us many additional items to consider. I wasn't too concerned about not having a coat closet as it rare here in San Diego to be wearing a coat. It would be nice to have.

The pantry system that we really liked was similar to a traditional taller pantry but with a combination of slide out drawers inside of a taller cabinet and with additional racks on the doors. The slide drawers seemed to allow easier access to the rear of each shelf. Does this make sense?

We would like to have mainly have shelving in place of upper cabinets to make the room open and lighter. We would like to have one upper cabinet to the right of the sink that will hold glassware. We also are considering pushing out the kitchen a small bit to allow deeper drawers near the L. A kitchen designer we spoke with suggested that deeper drawers up to 30" deep cabinet will provide for a lot of good accessible storage otherwise not available. In an average-size kitchen, this is equivalent to three additional base cabinets. The designer also told us that the deeper cabinets will allow appliance storage on the counter-top for frequently used items and still leave useful working counter-top depth.
We liked the idea of having a detached barn style garage and we may also not build this immediately. It will likely be built to a lower standard. If we can avoid HVAC inside of it that would be great as it will add additional costs. We have also looked into a mini-split system for the garage. These units are not very popular here, but seem to work well...

No Teens yet, we are young couple, but limiting escape routes may be a good idea to consider in the future. Hopefully they don't want to escape!

Unfortunately, we will likely have high energy costs during the summer and fall. We would like to reduce the energy usage by building with efficient walls and ceilings (R-40+) and deep overhangs on the more exposed sides of the house. The house will be positioned so that the entrance faces west. Here are aerial images of the lot. We will plan and wire for solar so that the house is "solar ready" but likely not be able to afford to install it.

We had not really worried about privacy in the master as we will have significantly more room than where we live now....But privacy is something to consider.

We wanted to have a Fireplace both inside and outside, and were wondering if it would make sense to have it located where it could serve the great room and from other side the outdoor living space. I am not certain if it makes sense.

Thanks Again for your feedback.

Aerials showing orientation posted below

Hi SummerfieldDesigns, we really like the changes and suggestions that you have made to the design, it seems much cleaner. We need to think about this. We were trying to use our creative juices and make every inch count avoiding having dead-spaces, but this may inevitable with a courtyard layout. With all of the ideas out there we have been a bit overwhelmed with information.

We have also thought about pushing out the master bedroom more to allow for additional bedroom or office.

I will post examples of the exterior style that we are planning to build. Lap siding, single story ranch.

Have you spent much time in a house this shape? Unless you are able to leave doors unlocked and can walk though the courtyard night and day, it is tedious to have to walk around a 'horseshoe'.

Let's say you have young children. 'They' are on one side of the house. 'You' are on the other. I see no room for young children to play and inadequate laundry space for a family. Where would family enter the house? Is there a toilet facility nearby? Will you have a pool? (Changing facility?)

This plan is very much like the House Beautiful/Architectural Digest plans I loved as a young married, before parenthood. There are a few historic remodeled stables in our area with this shape plan. They are hard to sell.

Hi, I think your floor plan is very interesting, but is based on the idea that there is no view from your lot. The view all goes out to the courtyard...which is why this design is so popular in large urban areas...like Mexico City. When your only view is the one you can create, a courtyard is a wonderful choice.

However, you're going to be on a fairly large rural lot, so you can create views on many sides of your property. Since you have a rectangular lot, I would try to find a house plan that makes the best use of your space. If you want to have a backyard for the kids to play in...you need to be able to see it from the kitchen. If you want to have a private patio/deck off the master bedroom (maybe a hot tub) it could easily be screened and provide another nice view.

If it were me, I would find a more rectangular floor plan, that puts the bedrooms on one side with the living spaces on the other. You can provide some separation from the kids' bedrooms, by your closet and bathroom placement.

For the fireplace, what about a big fireplace in your main living area, on the outside wall, which backs up to your entertainment patio? This way, you can have another fireplace on the outside. Instead of boxing it in, you could have the patio stretch out along the back of the house and have the play area beyond. This way you're close to entertaining spaces, but still able to see the kids, while they're playing.

If you live in San Diego, think about making some space for gardens, too. I know you can entertain outside, year round, but growing some of your own food (fruits, veggies, herbs) is not only healthy, but fun for the kids.

Hope this helps. There are SO many house plans available, I would look for something more like a traditional ranch plan. You can always have an L, with the garage in front, with an entry area/smaller front yard. Work with your lot...right now it's your best feature...so enjoy it :)

Hi Chisue,

Thanks for your comments. Distance to walk around the house is something that we need to consider, as we had not placed much thought into this.

We have not spent a lot of time in this exact shape house. They are rare here. There are many Spanish/California Spanish style homes with smaller courtyards here and they seem to have a nice feel.

We would like to add a pool in the back of the house at some point but will likely not be able to afford to do it at first. We are leaning towards adding a laundry room in between the garage and kitchen. The family would enter the house from here. In my next post I will put an updated plan with some different ideas. Thanks Again.