The exterior has overly complicated roof lines, which is probably what you're picking up on. It will also increase your costs. Ask them to simplify that.

The second floor does feel awkward. The bathroom in the middle just feels in the way. Also, that "loft" space is just wasted unusable space. The U shaped hallway is also making bedroom 4 feel very isolated.

Also, your laundry room is really far away from the bedrooms where most of the laundry will come from. Consider moving it to the second floor.

I urge you to think about how you really live. Are you going to be okay walking around the corner to grab something from the pantry every time? Are you going to be okay if you hear the TV from your master? Are you okay with walking through your bathroom to grab clothing from your closet?

Part of the reason the exterior looks less like a farmhouse and more like a sub-division tract home is that the exterior is just to complex and uses too many forms and design devices, for example, the use of stacked gables, a device which should be outlawed under the Code of Good Architectural Design.

And the horizontal battens should be aligned across the elevation as if someone looked carefully at the design before handing it to the owner.

Is that handrail need across the front porch? It's certainly not very sympathetic to the façade.

I posted earlier comments about some of the interiors, especially the overly small art room which simply not functional for any serious, practicing artist. It needs to double in size in order to have a work area, storage for equipment and materials and to store finished art, which may be going and coming from exhibitions. Speaking of which, there's precious little wall display space on the first floor for artwork. I'd relocate the door to the den to the "gallery" wall and recapture the entry wall for display for starters.

Houzz apparently didn't like my comments and didn't post them. I see an ominous trend developing...

Good luck on your project.

Thoughts -

Agreed - the front elevation just looks too busy. Need to streamline it for the look you're going for (see photos below).

You'll want to bump out that storage area in the garage - you'll want more space there for a workshop/cabinets, to store tools/decorations, for landscaping equipment, ect. and it would give a little more dimension to the front elevation.

Your laundry is way too far away... from anything. If you can swing it, why not two laundry rooms? One small one the connects off/near the master closet and one on the second floor for the main, heavy duty laundry? I've seen it done in a model home for a home this size and it would be definitely more convenient for everyday life. If you move the laundry to somewhere more practical, then you'll also have more space for the art room (bonus!).

Ceilings - with a home this size consider 10 ft (or even 12ft) in the main areas/first floor and 9ft everywhere else.

I actually don't mind the second floor bedrooms being isolated like that - I think its a neat layout and gives everyone more privacy. The thing that bothers me with the second floor layout is the loft - completely unusable space. It is basically just a large landing. Might consider making the area where Bedroom #2 currently is the loft area and then *swing* all the bedrooms around the loft area so that it feels more natural.

Best of luck!!

Here's a quick copy and paste and not perfect by any means rendering of what I was talking about simplifying the facade.

edit: I know I made a long post above with some other things to consider, but I no longer see it. I wonder what happened. The lovely Houzz platform. Nevermind I think there are two posts on the same topic.

Our architect took our ideas and this is our first draft of the floorplan/exterior.

Honestly, if this house was designed by a licensed architect, I'll eat my hat. This looks like what a draftsman calling themselves a designer comes up with. It has all the cliches which is why you're not loving it.

Angled walls, stacked gables, a walk in closet on 2 outside walls, a floor plan 3+ rooms deep, fake dormers, oversized master bath, awkward flow, a master suite that will be impossible to get furniture into, lack of sound barriers in upstairs bedrooms, closets on exterior walls, etc.

Apparently "Walk-in closets" was on your wish list, since they are all over the house - whether they make sense or not. You don't say where you live, but I'm trying to imagine a family of 6 coming in from the garage, and trying to all get their coats hung up in that little WIC. Closets on outside corners make me cringe.

Lyfia... so sorry! I am new to Houzz and posted twice... (because I couldn't find my first post and thought I did it wrong... then I couldn't figure out how to delete one of my posts! I feel like an 80 year old using the internet for the first time on Houzz HAHAHA!)

AnnKH... we live in MI... and have lots of snow/coats/boots/rain boots for a good part of the year. We will have hooks/cubbies in the family entrance for kids to hang up backpacks/coats that they're using etc.. but wanted/needed a larger closet to house all the gear that we typically shove in totes and pack away (and then have to dig out when MI throws a snowstorm in April at us HAHA)

Just a thought.... I personally never want to walk through my mudroom (family entry) to get to another room. If someone comes in with wet or muddy boots and leaves some water on the floor, I don't want to step in it on my way to the laundry room.

Simplify the roof line. Farmers didn't waste money on fancy roof framing. Forget those dormers. They don't work.

Bedroom #3 needs another window.

Master bedroom needs windows on the bed wall.

I like the suggested changes to the laundry situation.

The upstairs bathrooms and hallway will need sola tubes for natural light. Get the extra beefy bathroom fans.

Do you ever plan to entertain anyone besides you six? There dining area looks cramped for more than six.

homechef59: Yes yes yes on so much of that! HAHAHA! We entertain a lot... every holiday we have both sides of our family here. a larger dining room was the first thing I noticed and wanted changed. I want a 10 person table. I posted my edits to take to the next meeting up above.... many are things you suggested (though I didn't think of the windows in the master). I'm not sure how to change the laundry room though! ACK.

The upstairs seems like it'll be dark and mehhh.

Nicole,

Be sure to run this plan past the Kitchen Forum. Architects and builders are rarely kitchen specialists. The kitchen obsessed will run this through the ringer a few times and explain why you may want to shuffle things around in the kitchen. They are wealth of information. When it comes time to select appliances, the Appliance Forum can really help out, too.

Just be sure to keep your sense of humor, don't get upset when someone doesn't fully read and understand your posts, and blow off the really rude comments you may encounter. This goes for all forums. Inside the posts will be really valuable information.

This is not the worst initial plan I've ever seen, but it has room for improvement.

Thank you homechef59! Yes, definitely room for improvement and I really appreciate all the input and things to consider. I'll look for the kitchen forum (I'm new to Houzz sooooo still figuring out how to make my way around LOL! Which is why there are 2 posts about the same thing.... I can't figure out how to delete one HA)!

These are the changes my husband and I came up with over the weekend... for the first floor.

Second floor... I don't love the bathrooms with no windows, and I hate that Bedroom 3 has a small window. Contemplating maybe expanding over the garage for bedrooms and keeping the upstairs narrower vs boxy/square??

Welcome. I've seen worse, but it needs work. I'll be brief as I'm almost off to bed.

Master. bathroom is large, impractical closet at the far end.

Deep plan, kitchen would be dark.

Kitchen is thoroughfare. A passage behind the full height cabinet wall can overcome that. Also gives the guest room a better entrance

Who sits in a row for a family meal?

Laundry and closets on external walls. Laundry far from bedrooms.

Ugggghhh! Two parallel posts on the same topic!

Virgil Carter Fine Art.... I apologized on both posts.... I didnt' realize one had posted b/c I couldn't find it... and reposted this morning. Then both showed up and I can't figure out how to delete one of them. Houzz is not new-user friendly ;P

Whatever you end up doing, someone should definitely take another look at the massing of the house around the den and the covered porch. What is drawn in elevation for the roof does not make sense for the plan. The steep sloping roof and false dormer shown over the den would actually protrude quite a ways in front of the adjacent second floor facade and the return of the porch roof would be shedding water into the side of the den's roof.

For everything to work, the den needs to be treated as an enclosed section of the porch with the same low-pitched roof slope over both.

"Ugggghhh! Two parallel posts on the same topic!"

Equivalent to a two entrance house with no indication which is the main door?

Your sketch solves the main thing that was bothering me about the original design... access to the guest suite through the kitchen. You did create another problem though. The door to the hall bath opening to the dining room.

Thanks Summit! Yes... I originally wanted that hallway there... but we were open to "conserving space" (to try to keep the house at/around 4000sf) if the architect had different ideas. I think he did a good job getting in what we need... but..... I feel like I want that hallway regardless of how much/little SF it adds to the house. I still feel like the laundry/craft room + mudroom + back pool bathroom needs reconfiguring still. Would a hall going from that back door connecting to the hall from the guest room (so the bathroom opens up into that hall) work? Or maybe move the laundry room down so its accessible from the guest hallway vs teh back corner. Hmm.

You don't need the hallway with the new stair configuration. You could simply have the door into the guest suite by the stairs.

I do like the idea of the hall if it tied more directly to the access from the garage, mudroom and laundry. Then it would be a straight shot to head upstairs, the guest room or any where else in the house without going through the kitchen.

I don't think an additional hall to the back helps you.

How does this look for the downstairs?

I like everything except the placement of the half bath. I don't think you want your guests going through the craft room to use the bathroom.

Half baths are tricky. They want to be in a public space where everyone can access them but somewhat hidden for the user's privacy. I often locate them somewhere around the foyer or stairs. Try next to the guest room or off of the hallway to the den and master.

What if you switched the 1/2 bath to the outside wall, the pantry to between the kitchen and dining and the walk in closet off the mudroom?

Move the powder room door to be adjacent to one of the two side walls. Never place a door in the center of a room's space...