I would consider making the shower larger, if they are likely to come in and want to shower together (I love my 4x6 shower, but even 3x5 would probably be sufficient for two shower heads.

The laundry/mud room doesn't seem as if it uses space very efficiently. It's a large room, but much of it is open space. Would the w/d fit on the garage side of the room, opening up the walls for hooks/cubbies/storage/bench?

If they're the only two in the house, a pocket door from the garage is probably okay, but I'd think about a "real" door that latches.

In the guest bath, I'd consider splitting the closet--half opening into the bathroom (towels, toiletries), and the other half being a closet accessible from the hallway (blankets, pillows, misc house stuff).

If the spare bedrooms aren't going to be used regularly, then I'd consider "shrinking" them each to 11x12 (still nice sized rooms) and adding that foot to the kitchen. 11x12 is still a reasonably sized bedroom, but right now, I think the kitchen is on the cramped side--and it will get used more than the spare bedrooms.

I'd also suggest taking the kitchen layout to the kitchen forum before finalizing it.

Thank you for the comments. I'll try to address each of them. They would not be showering together and we cannot increase the square footage any. Pocket door is between bathroom and laundry, not laundry and garage. Sorry for the confusion.

Laundry room needs the open room for non-permanent items like shoes, soaking buckets, ironong board, laundry baskets, etc. We considered putting the washer and dryer on that wall, but want to keep the window there.

Can't go any smaller on the guest bedrooms due to the furniture they already have. It is already going to be a close fit and they will not buy any new furniture.

Kitchen has been through the kitchen forum. Only island size is yet to be determined and that probably will be later on during construction. Good idea about splitting the linen closet, but I don't know if you want two doors right next to each other in the hallway.

They are still debating on if they take it to an architect, a draftsman, or directly to the builder at this point. I am staying out of that argument as I can see pros and cons of each and it isn't my money or my house.

Might have a master bath switchup. Would go with a smaller tub, but larger shower. They would not want multiple shower heads, but this would give room to add a larger bench in the shower area which would be handy.

I know a lot of these things are personal preference. Some things I'd change are: (1) I'd enclose the toilet in the master bath; (2) put a larger window in the office; (3) move the hot water heater to where the dryer is so that I could have cabinets/counter wrap around the corner to that wall against the closet; (4) change door swing in guest bath so that when the door is open, it sits against closet doors instead of against the vanity; (5) change door swing to laundry from hallway so that the door swings into the laundry instead of into the hallway; (6) if that is the only place you can locate the screened in porch, I'd add skylights in the screened in porch so that your dining area isn't deprived of sunlight; (7) the windows in the spare bedrooms just seem a bit odd and randomly placed--I would either center a double set of windows or put 2 single windows on a single wall symmetrical to each other on either end; (8) if you plan to put furniture and sit on the front porch, I'd make sure that it is at least 8 ft. deep; (9) I'd put the main set of windows in the Master bedroom on the rear wall instead of the wall facing the carport; (10) slide the door from the garage into the house to the left so that the door from the front porch isn't opening onto it.

I've made a few adjustments that I haven't posted, so some of this may have been addressed.

Thanks for your comments.

1. Not our style.

2. Windows - Nothing is set on the windows. This plan has been copied and pasted and moved around so much that it is hard to even tell where windows are. That will be something for the final person drawing the plan and my parents to decide. I don't like windows so that is why I stay out of those decisions.

3.I don't know if that would leave room to wrap around or not. In my most current version, I was actually thinking of moving the water heater in with the HVAC in the office closet. Then having lower cabinets wrap around so you could still keep the window.

4.Already changed.

5. Because all groceries will be brought in through this door, we are more partial to pushing open a door with full hands. If we don't keep the swing the way it is, we might consider changing this into a pocket door.

6. We like the placement of the porch. I don't know what they will do for a roof. I don't think sunlight is important as they keep light blocking thermal curtains on all windows all the time. Windows are more to be able to see out to the woods behind the house.

7. Agree. They are still in the same spot as the original plan. I think that was so that you had the most wall space. See 2.

8. Will let them know on porch. It is more to provide shade. They have a porch now, so I think they will be able to decide on a width that fits them.

9. See 2.

10. Some changes in that area were already made.

Just uploaded the most recent changes.

Bathroom layout changed as mentioned above.

Moved water heater to office closet. Might even make its way into the garage. (Texas weather so it would be fine there as long as it had its own closet or garage door was kept shut.)

Laundry room would have lower cabinets wrap around. Dark grey above washer and dryer is upper cabinets. Between cabinet that ends above dryer and wall would be a clothes rod for temporarily hanging clothes right out of the dryer.

Reflects bethohio3's suggestion of splitting the guest bath linen closet. Don't know if they will go for this or not, but it was a good enough idea to include on the sketch.

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Maybe this sort of shows the laundry area. I think it will still leave enough empty space to function. I used a kitchen program, so just pretend those are a washer and a dryer :). Room between window and door for key hanger, etc.

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I'd put a sink in the laundry and move the water heater to the garage. We're in TX and that is where ours is. Much better too from a leaking potential stand point.

I don't think at their age adding a powder room is necessary. Just one more bath to keep clean. Not like they have kids messing up the other bath other than when they have guests. Should be ok imo.

could the little closet behind the entry partition wall be enlarged? Seems like wasted space, but I don't know the width of the spaces there.

Thank you for your comments.

I suggested the sink in the laundry right from the start, but she would rather have the space instead. The master bath sink/shower/tub is only a few feet away, so she says she can use that if needed. She has a sink in her current laundry room and does not find that she uses it enough to make up for the lost space. I guess I can see her point. A sink large enough to be worth much would take up a lot of room, and a small sink wouldn't work well for filling up a soaking bucket, etc. They take showers for the most part, so although not nice to look at, I can see her bathtub becoming a good staging area for buckets with stuff soaking in them. We are out in the country with no one to impress, so I am fine with that. Function over form.

Good idea about a larger closet behind the wall. We toyed around with that idea some, but it seemed like it blocked the kitchen some. It may be that when they get final dimensions done that is relooked at. A larger closet is always a good thing. We would turn the doors to face the kitchen instead of the living room. I'll put it back on my drawing since it is something I think would be great to have.

I'm thinking you will need an ac return shoot somewhere near the closer areas too for the living/kitchen areas.

I'd suggest to do the plumbing rough in for a sink in the laundry as it makes it easy to add one later. You never know how things will work until you live there and what you will miss.

Our MBR/closet/bath is within the same rectangular configuration but...

Door is between bath and closet hallway to keep bath warm and less drafty. We have no door between MBR and closet hall, but if they have different sleep/wake schedules they may want one there. We have pocket doors on our closets; they are almost always open. (Daylight fluorescents in closets.)

Our bath has two sinks with deep bowls backing to the closets, with oversized recessed medicine cabinets above the sinks. On the opposite wall are toilet room, tub, shower. This puts the 'bulky' and similarly deep stuff at the far side of the bathroom. Storage could be under and alongside the vanities. Could you have a skylight or solar tube in this bath?

Is there some reason the garage can't have a front entrance? Then you could build the carport beside the garage and have unobstructed light into the MBR and bath.

I'm unhappy with the garage-to-kitchen route. I'd want to have access to the kitchen (and pantry) from the right-rear corner (on your drawing), not wind around the laundry room. Maybe a door in the center of the back wall and closets along the left side? Actually, I'd prefer one BIG area where I could have laundry at one end and closets, freezer, pantry, *whatever* all in one room. More storage is always good, but I don't want it off my LR.

How often does the cook access the freezer? Could it go in the garage? Are we so far from groceries that a big pantry is necessary -- for two people? (I see 'pantries' in every city and suburban house plan these days, even where there are plenty of upper cabinets in a kitchen proper. THIS may well be a location where one is logical!)

No reason this can't fit in 2000 sq ft. We had a 3 BR + office ranch with 2.5 baths and a family room in that space. (True, the baths were not large!)

I'm curious about the constantly covered windows. That may be necessary in an older home, but not with today's good insulation and E-glass windows. Besides, someday this house needs to appeal to buyers.

IMHO entering directly into the living room is not good. I wouldn't want to be sitting on the couch and have someone enter behind me. I would move the entry closet toward the living room and create an entrance corridor.

Thanks for your comments.

A few responses:

lyfia - you may be right about the AC returns. My system and the system I grew up with do not have those type of returns, so I am a bit unsure of what is required. We mocked it up a bit more to scale this weekend and it looks like there will be another closet opening into the hallway from the bathroom. With two closets there, one can be devoted to HVAC if needed.

chisue - I'll see where they want the door for the bathroom. I think a regular door would interfere in the bathroom, but there might be room to do a pocket door. If there is room, I think they would prefer a pocket door on each closet. What size door do you have on yours?

The house originally had a front garage entrance. For aesthetics and privacy, my mother wants it moved to the side. The house will be angled to the county road, so this should keep people from being able to see into the garage if the door is open.

No telling where the carport will go - this has just been a placeholder location on the drawings. The carport will be placed whereever it needs to go to allow the house to sit at the angle my mother wants and not have to cut down any trees.

We like the garage to kitchen route, but that may be because it fits our lifestyle the best. Come in and have an immediate drop zone in the laundry room. If she has groceries, come straight to the pantry. Freezers made great landing zones for sorting groceries. Get rid of everything that would go into the pantry or freezer. Rest of the groceries then continue on to the kitchen island to be placed in the fridge, etc.

There will already be at least one more deep freeze and refigerator in the garage. At the minumum, the will need space for 2 freezer and 3 refrigerators. The pantry is not near big enough as it is. I've already come to terms that she will probably be leaving a lot of pantry items at the old house and just request that I bring them to her occasionally. They have a huge garden, do lot of canning and freezing vegetables. They also buy their meat by the 1/2 cow. One refrigerator is mostly devoted to medicine and vaccines for the livestock and will be kept in the garage. She can really only grocery shop on the weekends as she and my dad have to come straight home from work to take care of the animals.

macv - the orignal plan was completely open. We added the wall so that you wouldn't see the kitchen immediately. It also adds a bit of privacy in case she opens the door up to someone she does not know. We flipped the door direction around, so that the wall would block the kitchen and the person's body and the door would block the living room. I don't see how you could make an entrance corridor that would block both the kitchen and the living area without giving up a considerable amount of space. They do not have many guests that would be coming inside the house or using that door, so the tradeoff on loss of space doesn't seem worth...

The short hallway between our MBR and bath is 4 feet wide. Almost every doorway in our house is 3 feet wide, including the pocket doors on the closets. I've been grateful for this when recuperating from hip replacements -- using a walker or wheelchair.

The entry to our bathroom is 3 feet wide. It's recessed into the hallway 18" and has a pair of French doors that swing open against the sides of the closet walls. The framing on the closet doors abuts the framing on the bathroom opening. We only close the bathroom door to prevent drafts when one of us is bathing. (Toilet is in its own enclosure.) We almost never close the closet doors. (Leave space for a bench, a mirror and some drawers in the closets.)

Well, after having everything pretty much the way I thought they liked it, my father calls me last night. He has finally really looked at the plan and now thinks that he would like a desk in the laundry area where he could keep some of the livestock records that he could get to easily while dirty. YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THIS MONTHS AGO! :) But, he's my father, and the only other thing he was getting in the house was his recliner, so I mocked it up last night for them. Changes the master suite, office, and laundry up, but I think it works well now.

You lose the walk in closets, but at 6' wide, they weren't going to be the most user friendly in the first place. In place of them, she gets closets along one side of the bedroom. (15') It also allowed me to add a deeper, 5 1/2' closet in the landry area that will be good to hold my fathers overalls and bibs and larger coats, and my father will get a 4 1/2' desk with some shelving or cabinets above.

Oh, it also brings back the toilet closet. Still undecided if they will do it with a door or just an opening.

Excuse the lack of doors and the wall being either a foot wide or 6 inches wide. I was doing this on Excel since it is on all our computers and using 6 inch boxes.

Picture is too big to post here, but you can find the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: New floor plan

I like your plan, but is one living area going to be enough space? It doesn't look like you have a basement or bonus room. Have you ever thought about putting a bonus room over the garage, for future living space?

I think a den would be nice, but there isn't any room in the budget for any more square footage or cost. (My father is mandating they downsize so no more sq ft and they are trying to avoid taking out a mortgage, so no extra costs like a bonus room that would probably just turn into storage.)
They have two living areas now and only use one, so I guess they know what suits them. When I was growing up my parents used one living room and my sister and I used the other, so I guess my parents have always just used the one room. The chances of any grandchildren is very slim, so not that much change expected in the future.

(But, as someone who watches a lot of tv in the bedroom because my husband has sports on, it is something I would have done. It might be that the screen porch could be closed in pretty easily later on if they find the need.)

I'm not able to see all of the new plan -- computer slowdown.

Perhaps your father needs that work space within the garage or in a true 'back hall' space. Is there a place to hang coats and leave dirty boots where the odors won't enter the living space HVAC system?

I don't like an office off a bedroom.

It seems sad to use an entire outside wall for closets when there could be windows there. Most people (future buyers) like light from two sides of a room where possible.

If a 'den' is needed, there are two empty bedrooms. One could be an office too. Do these BR's have a function? (I see the need for the home to have a second toilet and sink.)

chisue - I don't understand your statement about the need to have a second toilet and sink. It is set up as a two bathroom already.

There will be some space in the garage since only one vehicle will use it. We do need a secure place for some desk items though. (Garage will probably stay partially open all the time for the cats and dogs.)

The "office" off the bedroom will be my mother's space - office, sewing, sitting, etc. - however she wants to use it.

I couldn't come up with any better place for the closets. We are going to push the carport farther back so that she will have a nice view from the tub window. If there were windows where the master bath closet it, they would just be looking at the trucks.

Spare bedrooms are for my sister and her husband and my mothers parents who visit occasionally.

Resale is not a concern. This will be their forever home. After that it will be my forever home. If something were to happen where either one of those doesn't last long it goes to my sister and she decides to sell, people will be buying it for the land and outbuildings and probably not really for the house. If we all do live long lives, by the time it was ready to be sold outside the family, I'm sure the entire house would be in need of some remodeling.

I did up the plan in my 3D software and took a snapshot of the 2D version. Maybe this will post better on here. Ignore the windows - I started putting some in, changed my mind on what type, and then decided not to even mess with it at this point in time.

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Thanks for explaining the uses for the spare BR's. I only meant that I saw the need for the house to have two bathrooms, as it does.

Looks like you have what they want now. Maybe change the swing on the toilet room door and leave 42" around the kitchen island in all directions. Would they use a prep sink in the island? It's plenty big enough for one.

I would put the reach-in closets along inside walls and have windows on the outside wall. I wouldn't build a carport a few feet from those windows, but... it's not my house! LOL

Let us know how your folks like the plan!

My mom actually uses her spare bedroom as her TV/den, with a futon...just in case she has a guest. She doesn't have a lot of out of town family, but we do get a lot of snow in the winter...so it's a nice idea, just in case.

It's a nice plan and I think they're going to love it! :)

a possibility ...

Wanted to stop by and update. I only have the internet on my phone until next week. Sorry that I can't view your plan, sunmerfield.

My parents met with the builder and he has the plans now. Only change I know of right off hand is that the air handler is being put in the attic to get it in a more central location.
After the builder studies it, it will probably go to an architect. (Builder has designed many of his own homes, so they want his input before going to an architect.)
Maybe in a few weeks I can report back as to the result. My mother was very excited to find out she would have attic storage. I thought my plan had quite a few closets drawn in, but it isn't near enough for her.

FINALLY getting a chance to get back on here and view the pictures. Very nice. They take out some closets, so my mother did not like that, but otherwise they were nice.

What she really did like was the exterior rendering. Make the roof a bit taller, lose the fire place, add in 2 or 3 dormers, and make it brick and rock and you have her vision down! She really did like the window placement in front. We did not have the front 3 windows grouped together like that, but we think it looks very nice. She may see if she can get that changed.

I won't have any digital plans to post, but as they get going more, I will try to take pictures and either add to this thread or to one of the how is your build going threads. So far they have just started prepping the site. Brought in a lot of dirt and sand on Friday.

The plan is very similar to the last thing I had posted. A few tweeks here and there to get walls to line up properly. I think they will be doing 2 separate HVAC systems. A larger one will go in the attic, at the start of the hallway by the refrigerators. A smaller unit will go in one of the closets in the spare bedroom hallway. It will be for the two spare bedrooms and that bathroom.

They are debating on if they want to put HVAC into the room in the back. It is no longer a screen room, but they haven't decided if they want HVAC, or just ceiling fans and an electric heater. If they do put HVAC in, it will probably be tied into the smaller unit.

I did lose one window battle. I found out that my mother hates windows even more than I do. I am pushing for one over the tub, even a small one, for light. I think I will win out on it, but it is still a battle. I did lose the kichen window battle though. She took it out. My kitchen window is the only window I like - lets me keep an eye on the hellions across the street occasionally while I wash dishes. But, she couldn't be convinced she needed a view to the woods. She wants to do decorative cabinetry there instead. Her kichen.

The dining room will probably be centered french doors now istead of a single door and two windows. That is not in concrete yet though.

Thank you all for your suggestions along the way.