Interesting having the master and guest areas in their own "wing" together. Different, but it makes sense. I wouldn't like the walk from the garage carrying groceries, but that's certainly situational, and may not be an issue for you. Looks like a nice floor plan that will serve you well.

dana, what a great project! I just saw this post because mgh was kind enough to post the link over at

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/build

Even though at the top of this page it says "Building a Home", "Design Dilemma", and "Polls", they all seem to be at Houzz rather than GardenWeb and I couldn't see them when I go to my usual landing page, at the link above.

If you want some of the regulars chiming in, you might want to cross post there as well.

I have old tired eyes and need more coffee, so I'm going to have to work on enlarging the pictures above so I can see properly : ) .

Thank you Becky. I am not sure how to post on GardenWeb. Can you assist me?

mph_pa thank you for your response. I thought about the grocery issue and decided it will be ok. Maybe I'll get a cart or put another door at the front of the garage. lol.

dana, go here

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/build

and post your post : ) .

I recommend that you also have a "people" door in the garage so that you don't only have the large garage door for exiting and entering.

beckysharp I believe it is now on the gardenweb forum also. Correct me if I'm wrong.

threers, thank you for your comment. I will consider.

Here are the plans in a clearer format. We did make a few changes to the master bedroom, bath, closet and laundry room.

That is a tidy plan. Very nice.

I have one suggestion and that is to make a door between the closet and the master bedroom. Seems an easy change and more clean.

It's always a pleasure looking at ARG's concepts. I love the way there are two clear circulation patterns in the house that organize some tricky design challenges. I especially like the light well at the balcony upstairs and between the kitchen and dining room.

dana, I can't see it on GW's Building a Home forum, but I know people have trouble sometimes seeing things between the various sites.

The bathroom/toilet seems to be a bit of a hike from the living room and kitchen, but other than that I like it -- looks like it will be very nice and bright. The elevations are lovely.

What part of the country are you in?

Summit Studio Architects, I feel I did have several design challenges for ARG. Some of them being the sq. footage, the single sided bedroom layout, the office and the window above the kitchen sink. He was understanding, I think, and I was understanding of his perspectives as well. I love the light well as well.

Very nice! I hope that you'll post progress pictures as the house is completed :).

I think this plan could benefit by a few additional square feet in some critical areas like the entry and the hall from the garage. I doubt it will affect the cost of your build to add 4-8 inches in the back hall and another foot in the entry. It will make an enormous difference.

beckysharp I went to gardenweb.com and then went to Home Forums, then selected Building a Home and I see it listed. Am I the only one that can see it?

Echoing Summit, have you thought about how you'll deal with the wall behind your bed in the master bedroom, with the non-centered window?

As much as I love the idea of a bedroom with windows on three sides, if I had to choose between that and the sort of bed-wall situation, I think I might choose to forego a window, unless you could add a few feet to even things out. But I'm aware of scope creep too : ) .

Alternately, you could consider placing the bed on the north wall and possibly moving some of the windows on that wall.

beckysharp, what are your thoughts of the bed on the north wall with a window on each side of the bed and eliminating the side windows?

dana, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't see it. I'm on a Mac laptop if that helps.

Not only can I not see your post, when I search for your name on the GW Building a Home forum, this is all that comes up for me,

beckysharp, what are your thoughts of the bed on the north wall with a window on each side of the bed and eliminating the side windows?

I'd have a window over each night stand, but keep the side windows on the east and west sides. I'd want to keep as much light and ventilation as possible.

Just measure your bedroom furniture to make sure there's enough space, and then as Summit says, maybe add a few feet. To me the light and ventilation would make that worthwhile.

And a bonus to moving the bed to the north wall is that, if you watch TV in bed, you have more centered placement for that.

beckysharp I agree with keeping as much light as possible. Not really a TV in bed watcher but I understand your point. Thank you.

Awesome plan! Your story is very very similar to our quest with the same fairy tale ending (:

unfortunately, we cannot see your story still can't be seen on GW's Building a Home forum ):

Nice plan, of course. Always something of interest -- the cupola!

The closet by the garage door, I wonder where you will typically be coming/going when you use it? If from the two-car garage, would changing the hinge side make sense? If from the porch or one-car garage, the current swing makes more sense.

(I wish it could be seen on the GW side. Maybe you need a separate GW I'd and login there? Sometimes it's hard to tell that we've been tossed from one side to another, or haven't been when we meant to be.

PG I am not understanding how I can get it posted to gardenweb.com. It keep taking me to Houzz. Thank you for your response.

dana, one workaround might be just adding to your December thread. Then everyone who was part of the original conversation could see this new plan.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5031314/need-help-with-outside-design-of-new-home

Great idea Beckysharp!

Everything looks great! Just wanted to add that I think a natural blue/gray wood cedar board and batten exterior finish or a grey bluish medium to dark paint coloured, would provided heightened curb appeal over the reddish orange we see in the drawings. Can't tell if that is supposed to be reddish or the natural red cedar wood colour?

I like the layout. I'm a fan of the cupola. Are you going to hang a decorative light in it? I do think the clouds have some room for improvement though.

Mike, I have not thought about a light but great idea. Thank you. I love the clouds.

ARG's stylized clouds have lots of fans : ) .

I really like the plan overall. I always like to examine plans for future flexibility. You might want to consider the placement of your interior doors near the garage entrance. You have the potential for a separate section of the house that could serve as space for live-in help with a lockable door to your main home area. I'm not talking about making it a separate unit for rental purposes (because that requires a lot of structural change to meet code) but just the addition a lockable door somewhere. No one likes to think about it, but life can change in an instant due to an accident like a broken bone that affects your mobility for a while. It's a huge advantage to have a portion of your home where someone (maybe an adult family member who usually lives elsewhere) to come stay with you a while. If you bring in paid live-in help temporarily, its nice to be able to control access to the rest of your home. I can't tell from your plan because it is fuzzy when I try to enlarge it, but I agree with the other comments about widening halls. While you're at it, consider paying slightly more now for wider doors throughout the house. You may appreciate it later and it doesn't impact wall space much.

Custom Home Resources, the separation is definitely something to look at as are the widths of the hall. Thank you.

Custom, I'm not sure I follow the reasoning of closing off the guest wing for a caregiver. My parents have a caregiver and the only space they'd like to close off better is my dad's study, and there they trust that closing the two doors works. A caregiver needs to get to you, wherever you are, and the laundry, kitchen, front door.

Closing it off for other reasons, maybe so. But why for a caregiver?

Dana, another lighting idea for the cupola is to have a few lights shining up into it, so that indirect light is reflected back down into the area below it.

bpathome, I agree you wouldn't lock the door in a situation like you describe in which a caregiver needed access to the rest of the house. Having the option to close it off just increases the flexibility for the use of the space in a lot of different ways. Perhaps that area is used as an office and private financial papers are stored there. Or perhaps that's the room used for someone to sleep in while recovering from surgery that requires a visiting nurse twice a day. It just increases your options.

Mike, I think it would be nice to have some lights shining up into it at night.

I would add a separate powder room (maybe take some of the master closet space which seems to have some wasted space in the middle) and I would move the door to the downstairs guest bedroom so that the bathroom is more private and true en suite.