Wow, that's inexpensive. Where I am, I'm looking at between $200-$250 sq. foot to build.

Overall I like the layout of what you're thinking of building. It has a nice flow and I like the master separated from the kids rooms, since your kids are older.

I do notice there is no den/office space. Will you only use the great room for watching tv, reading etc?

I see a couple of other small things. As I mentioned in another thread, I have a pet peeve of having to go into the bathroom to get to my WIC. Also, while I don't want to share sinks with DH, I do like having my sink next to his, in case I need something from his medicine cabinet, etc. I think overall that bathroom/WIC space could be better laid out as it feels as if you have narrow isles on either side and there's the issue of having to walk into the bathroom to get your clothes.

I also don't like the range on the island. If you're doing electric or induction, it is doable on the island, but there's still the issue of venting. If you're doing gas, I absolutely wouldn't put the range on the island.

The stairs up from the living room bother me too. It means that if you do turn the bonus into usable space at some future time, people have to trek through your great room to go upstairs and it would be right through the sitting area most likely.

Hi Padillasideas - we are building this house right now and there is another thread on the Tres Le Fleur plan that might be of interest to you:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2328995/tres-le-fleur?n=42

We are also a family of 4 but my kids are 2 and 4, so I know our thinking when making design changes must be different than yours. A few of the changes we made - we took the separate baths from the secondary bedrooms and made one hall bath. We removed the island from the kitchen and my husband built an island/farmhouse table on casters that will be prep space and casual eating space. In the foyer, we squared off the powder room and created a coat closet next to it. We scaled down the master bathroom, eliminated the tub, made the double sink side by side, and then created a small 8x10 sitting room in the master bedroom using space from the bathroom. The closet is still ample and we have incorporated a washer and dryer into that space - but we still walk through the bathroom to get to the closet. We also made it a two car garage with unfinished space over, but made it side entry and eliminated the bump out. The upstairs bedroom is our guest room. We made the rear deck smaller - covered deck off of the living room and uncovered off of the dining room. I think that's about all the major changes we made from the original plan. We're building in North Carolina - just outside of Charlotte and we are at about $85/sq ft under roof.

We have about 4 weeks left to go. Let me know if you have any questions - I'd be happy to share more on our experience so far.

Amy

Cpartist - I agree with you! I don't like the cooktop on the island. I'm thinking to put the cooktop where the sink is and flank each side with a window. The sink can either move to the island or on one of the side walls of the kitchen.

nlw2sbd- Thank you so much! Do you have pictures of your build? I would love to see them. We're very lucky to live in a low cost area to build but what comes with that low cost is lower income levels. When I say cpartist say 200+ sqft finished my jaw dropped. Yours made me say ouch but not as bad! LOL I'm off to look at the link you provided me with!

Thanks

Here's a few pics taken a little while ago. We are also pretty fortunate to have a lower cost to build than a lot of areas of the country.

This is standing in the foyer looking through the living room to our covered deck:

This is from the dining room looking into the living room:

Foyer from the back doors:

Kitchen and front door from the back doors:

Back of the house:

One more -- the front -- we kept as many trees as possible in the front so a good shot is hard to get:

Your home is so lovely. Does the living, dinig and kitchen feel spacious? I didn't realize the house plan was the Tres Le Fleur. I've seen that tread floating around. I went to that designers website and found the Laurel House plan. This house is only 1999sqft but just a lovely. The only real problem with the Laurel is that my kids want there own bathrooms. LOLhttp://www.archivaldesigns.com/home-plans/laurel-house-plan

i think this plan actually has several names (maybe with very slight changes) it is a nice plans

we live in south east texas and i'm thinking i need to move to where ever you live and get half our money back houses around here are being built for 115.00 at the very least---but it may have something to do with whether or not you have to follow windstorm guidelines

There are a few plans on the archival designs website that have a similar base plan with the kitchen in the front. We also considered the Laurel plan, but went with the Tres because the living room area was slightly larger. I'm glad my girls aren't old enough to want their own bathrooms because I don't want to be cleaning any more than I have to!

The living/dining/kitchen feels perfect to me. I was concerned it wasn't going to be a comfortable place to kick back and watch TV, but seeing now all my concerns are gone. I think it's perfect. It's a high ceiling and I'm now just waiting to see how sound carries once it's furnished, but we'll mitigate that as much as we can with area rugs and wall hangings. We're not formal people and this fits our lifestyle perfectly. The kitchen is large - as I said, we removed the fixed island. We also put two dishwashers in (one on either side of the sink) and the range on the wall shared with the laundry room. It's a great size fr eating in and entertaining in if you're like us and always seems to be congregating in the kitchen.

And just a side note to our under roof per square foot cost -- $85 is for all space under roof. For living space per square foot it's more in the $125 range.

Man what I wouldn't give to pay $85/ft! In Northern Michigan we're paying about $225.

Awesome nlw2sbd! We're not formal people at all. When we have company it usually involves a BBQ pit and the back porch. I'm favoring the Tres over the Laurel just because of the bathroom situation. I have a daughter 14 and a son 12 so even a Jack n Jill won't work. It gives them to many opportunities to sneak through the bathroom into the others room to start trouble. LOL I think I would close up the wall and stairway to control the sounds upstairs. I don't know if I will like the vaulted ceiling. Maybe turning into a coffer ceiling would be better. I've got some many things running through my head at this moment. LOL Thanks for everything and plz keep us updated with your progress. I'm excited to see how your home turns out.

Nlw- would you mind sharing where you got you r exterior doors? They are just what I'm looking for . Your home is beautiful!!

Hi Mrsfiremangw - Thank you so much! They are from DSA doors. They are in the Alexandria line. http://www.dsadoors.com/alexandria-collection.html

hope that helps!!

We are planning to build this home in the spring, we are making a few adjustments as well. Would you be willing to email me with some of the details of your plan? We will be leaving out the second floor, but finishing the basement.

Any advice and help would be amazing! We want to keep it as close to 2000sq feet as possible.

shantel_romanson@hotmail.com

Thank you