This is a small house. All the rooms in the house are small, especially the bedrooms. I think you can do better than this house.

Anglo, it says 4000 sq. ft. on the plan. That is small?

I am all for big houses, but I don't think most would consider that size small!

Why would you put a bedroom next to a kitchen? Seems odd.

It is so common these days to see the master suite next to the kitchen, laundry, mudroom, garage door, etc. I used to comment on it being like the maid's suite a la Hazel, but it's so common now and some people actually want to design that way, that I gave up on the comment. I suppose it IS convenient...

For midnight snacks. Or 2 am snacks or...,,etc

I would shift the master to the outside corner and put the bath and closet between the bedroom and kitchen to provide that buffer. I wouldn't want my headboard on that kitchen wall.

It's a room for two reasons, neither of which needs a lot of room.

Well, we don't know the OP, so... Lol!

We moved from our 11x14 master bedroom to 15x18. DS asked "what are you going to do with all that space?" "Dance!" It is, in fact, a bit big. 14x15 would be more than plenty. Heck, 11x14 was enough, but only barely with no grace to it. (DH wondered why our electric bill was so much higher than in the old house. Well, each room is 50% bigger, so that accounts for a lot of it. ) And we have our dressers and reach-in closets in the bedroom, too. With a big walk-in closet, what else goes into the bedroom that needs extra space?

Oops, this is becoming a different thread. The OP knows how much space they need, I imagine. Desk, display, sitting area, bassinet, dog bed for the mastiff, all kinds of things need space.

I think the pantry is absurdly large and inconvenient to the kitchen. I would reclaim that space for whatever is needed in the master bedroom that won’t fit. (Dog, desk space, whatever.). Put a shallow cabinetry pantry somewhere in the kitchen. They hold a lot and are easy to access and keep organized.

The photos show the pantry set up as a small office, which makes sense since there isn't one. And there is no basement for seasonal storage, so I think the pantry would be used for paperwork and stuff rather than kitchenware and food.

I've never seen a trash room in a house before. But you have to weave around the cars etc and open another door to get to it. And it's a small room, does it have ventilation?

I don't see how 15x15 is small. My master bedroom was 13.5 x 13.5 in my tiny cape and was plenty large enough. And I honestly don't know how much more room you could need in a master bath. There's plenty of extra floor space with two large vanities, a toilet room, a large shower and a tub.

My concern is how dark the kitchen and bedroom are going to be with the covered porch and living area. I also question why you need 2 islands in the kitchen. The other issue is the corner sink. It means your dishwasher will be on an angle to the sink, which makes it difficult to comfortable stand at the sink and load it.

Hi Barrie T-

If you are using a "stock plan," why do you need an architect?

I don't understand why your "architect " won't make any changes.

Is it that your architect is not really an architect and so does not know how to make any changes?

Is it that you paid for one service which you received and now you want additional services?

A few more questions-

Your garage seems small.

How many vehicles will you have in there?

If you will have three vehicles in there, you really don't have enough room in there for bicycles, snow machines, ATV's. lawn mowers, etc.

And keep in mind that if you live in the mountains your vehicles will be large and take up a lot of space, and if you have children, they will be driving, and if where you live has snow, does anyone want to be digging out their cars and sitting in them for 20 minutes before work/school to warm them up on a daily basis?

Do you have guests for dinner? Your dining room seems small. In order to have a dining table for 10 people, you need a table that measures 10 feet long., There would be 4 people on each side, and a person on each end, the table would be 42-25" wide on average, some are wider. (A table for 8 people measures 8 foot long.)

You need a good three feet beyond the table to allow for pulling the chair in and out.

10 people is not that many. If you have three children, that is your family, plus one other family, or your family and their partners, or some neighbors, you get the idea.

A room large enough for a 10 person table needs to be at a minimum 13 feet long x 7 feet wide. and that is with not one other stick of furniture in the room. Not a buffet/sideboard or a breakfront. A buffet is typically 20 inches. So now add another almost two feet bringing the room to 15 feet x 7 or 13 x 9.

A breakfront or hutch is also approximately 20 " deep so add that dimension if you were to have that type of furniture.

And before everyone chimes in they they only entertain that many people on Thanksgiving and Christmas, the dining room table is a great place at which the the children can do homework.

Most children prefer laptops these days, so they can bring them to the table, and the parent can stroll around to supervise, since children do need to be supervised when they are on the internet or doing their homework with their laptops, and if the parent is cooking, they are right nearby to help, and the older children can help the younger children.

Just like in the good old days. (I remember the pencil sharpener in the kitchen)

Why do you need a great room and a hearth room divided in half by a fireplace?

That is really not two different entertainment areas, because there is no privacy between the two, either visually , and not any sound barrier either. TV and partying on one room will be heard in the other.

If you have to keep this basic plan, I would make the hearth room the dining room, orient the dining table along the long axis of the room, and make what is the current dining room a study/office (for the grown ups) and build a wall with a door to close it off.

Think about whether or not you really need those chairs at the counter in the kitchen, maybe you really don't, because the dining room will be just adjacent, and for a quick cup of coffee, you may have a small cafe table and two chairs, a couch or a comfortable chair and side table in the nook.

Full disclosure- I do hate eating at a counter- it turns the parent into a short order cook, and doesn't promote good discussion at meal time.

How is it that you have photos of a home that hasn't been built?

Is this a subdivison planned community type situation and the plan is the one given to you by the builder and you spoke with an architect to tweak the plans?

Who is the architect employed by, you or the builder?

I think you can rework the laundry room, coat closet and pantry space to gain more space for the master suite.

Push the WIC into the laundry room space. Push the laundry room into the pantry space and make the laundry room function as a mud room with hanging space rather than a separate closet there.

That gives you room to expand the master bath into the WIC space.

Or steal some space from the covered porch directly off the master. I don't think this is a plan I'd choose. The great room is massive ( I know it is supposed to be "great") but if you are hunting for space for bedrooms, I'd look at shrinking that room down. The other 3 bedrooms aren't that large either. I feel like a good deal of space is wasted with hallways. I don't think I'd shrink the kitchen, but the space marked hearth, it is not clear to me what the function of that space is? Maybe push the kitchen into that hearth space by a few feet to gain it in the master area.

You could still easily access the dining room and nook from the kitchen.

I think if I were spending the money to build a 4000 sq ft house, I would make sure it was a plan that worked really well for me. Are you married to this plan at this point. If the architect isn't interested in working with you I'm certain you could find another architect who would be happy to work with you from scratch so you can get the space you want.

I know you didn't ask but 3 doors for people from the garage to outside. Are they all locked? Every night?

I think the massive window in the master is a bit much - mostly because it leads to a covered porch that will have furniture.

We are building a similar size house (2 floors). Our master suite is nearly exactly the same size as yours - smaller bedroom but bigger closet. Given ours was done custom, apparently I think your sizes are pretty reasonable. Our last bedroom was bigger - what a waste?

Personally, I would do a covered and an uncovered outdoor area but each situation is different.

Way too many daily operated pocket doors. Pockets are great for doors left open most of the time, not daily bathroom use. Particularly in the Jack and Jill where privacy from those doors is limited.

I don't like how far the powder is from the outside - backyard or garage.

I think the laundry is a bit massive - and there is only a limited space for mudroom lockers.

But hey - you didn't ask. Now tell us again why you would use a stock plan on such a big house?

We were able to see this house "in the flesh" and the master bed, bath and closet are all too small and in our minds, out of proportion with the rest of the house.

15x15 seems like an average-to-large master bedroom ... its problem is that the windows and doors are placed in such a way that they don't allow for a good bed placement, and that makes a good-sized room LOOK small.

A good master bedroom allows the bed to be placed so that you come in and see the bed (meaning you're at the foot) ... and a good master bedroom allows both spouses to walk to their sides of the bed without walking "around" the bed. It's not a small room ... it's a poor layout.

The closet's problem is that it's ridiculously wide ... but it's only deep enough to hold clothes on one side; this means it gives you no more storage than a reach-in closet half its size. It's a big closet, but it provides a small return for all that square footage.

The square footage is perfect as is.

Well, obviously not. If the size were perfect, you wouldn't be asking this question.

This is a small house. All the rooms in the house are small, especially the bedrooms. I think you can do better than this house.

I'd say it differently: At 3270 square feet, it's a very large house ... but all the individual rooms are small and choppy. The square footage is "spent" in odd ways: the kitchen is actually large, but it's crammed with as much cabinetry as possible /ignores that you need walking space too; it has miles and miles of cabinetry, but it's all so spread out that it won't function well for anyone who cooks more than frozen lasagna ... the laundry room is larger than the kids' bedrooms. The only room that seems to be an adequate size is the great room.
It is so common these days to see the master suite next to the kitchen, laundry, mudroom, garage door, etc. I used to comment on it being like the maid's suite a la Hazel, but it's so common now and some people actually want to design that way, that I gave up on the comment. I suppose it IS convenient...

I'll take the other side of that comment: The kitchen-laundry-mudroom are typically placed near the garage entrance. I like the master suite to be located near that entrance; it's convenient to come home and go straight to your bedroom to take off your shoes and put away your purse. And when you have teenagers, they have to pass by your bedroom when they come home. I've heard plenty of people say, "It's like you're in the maid's quarters!", but I can't relate to that idea at all.

Completely different comment: I wonder how many posters here "don't get" the al la Hazel comment. I get it, but my 20-something co-workers consider Hazel one of the most desirable baby names these days. One of my co-workers and her sister-in-law were expecting baby girls at the same time, and they were SERIOUSLY fighting over who would be allowed to name her baby Hazel.

I think the pantry is absurdly large and inconvenient to the kitchen.

Small kitchen + loads of storage in an adjacent pantry makes sense. Bloated kitchen + large pantry is overkill.

However, I like the location; it's between the garage entrance and the pantry.

I've never seen a trash room in a house before.

Oh, I missed that. I suppose the designer placed it in that spot to keep the stinky trash away from the house, but I agree that it'd be extremely inconvenient to walk the trash down that twisty hallway and then past all the cars. Hope you never get a hole in your trash bag.
You need a good three feet beyond the table to allow for pulling the chair in and out.

The real problem with the three eating areas is that the breakfast nook contains the only door to the back yard ... which means you'll have to scootch around the table to reach the door.

Why do you need a great room and a hearth room divided in half by a fireplace?

That is really not two different entertainment areas, because there is no privacy between the two, either visually , and not any sound barrier either. TV and partying on one room will be heard in the other.

Good point. A family house is best when it contains a good-sized room for every one to gather ... and a smaller "away room" that can be closed off for one person to read or study, practice a musical instrument, or watch TV alone. This house, although large, doesn't have any private spaces.

Other thoughts:

- The perimeter is full of jigs and jogs ... that serve no purpose.

- The exterior is much too complicated. Complicated for the sake of complicated.

- Do you really need three eating areas within reach of one another?

- The three secondary bedrooms are all on the small side ... at most you'll be able to have a double bed and a dresser (or a queen and no other furniture) in them. The two bathrooms attached to these bedrooms are minimal in size, meaning the vanities won't have much storage, and you can't even place a hamper in the bathroom.

First, my opinion on bedroom placement.

I believe a study has actually found the exact distance a parent's bedroom should be from a child's bedroom for a decent night's sleep. The required separation from kids ages 15-25 for a night of undisturbed sleep is 3 astronomical units. So if the other side of a kitchen is your best option, go with that.

----------------

Next, the plan... I am struggling to get past this...

I think you can get rid of the window in the master bath that has a great view of the tub bumpout and just extend your entire bathroom even. Not a great solution because of losing the window, but you could probably add the square footage and save money doing that.

I would personally switch the closet and sink in bedroom 3 to create a 2 doors into a sink area and one door into the bath, but I hate jack and jill baths.

How many square feet? One person said 4000, another said 3200. Both are hard to believe as my own house is 2800 and all the rooms are far larger than the ones in this house! There is square footage being wasted somewhere! I'm on an iPad so it's hard for me to see all that well, but many of those are SMALL rooms!

Anglo, the number 4,022 was written at the bottom of the floor plan. I assumed it was the size of the house. Maybe it included garages and porch?

https://www.architecturaldesigns.com/house-plans/one-story-mountain-ranch-home-with-options-23609jd

You need to read these and then find a person to design your house that is designed for your site.

http://mcmansionhell.com/post/148605513816/mcmansions-101-what-makes-a-mcmansion-bad

http://mcmansionhell.com/post/148605513816/mcmansions-101-what-makes-a-mcmansion-bad

My 2cents worth....

1. The master bedroom is plenty big. The windows are poorly placed. The bed should, ideally, be on the covered porch wall.

2. You should not have to walk thru the bathroom to get to your closet.

3. Your outdoor living "room" should be no smaller than the largest room in the house, which is 20X23.

4. What is the purpose of the "hearth" area? It makes the great room smaller and you have no walls on which you can put furniture.

There are so many other things that I personally do not like about this plan, but I do not have to live in it.

Our new build is 4400 square feet and our master is smaller than your plans. We have restrictions on our upper floor that caused us to have a smaller space but I think it is still sufficient. I’d rather have a bigger great room than master hands down.

What’s your lifestyle Barrie? Do you have kids or often guests? Like or need the almost open hearth/great room spaces? Don’t cook much enough to warrant a big kitchen... but got enough wardrobe to warrant a bedroom big enough for dressers and a big closet?

Kind of hard for me to suggest things without knowing a bit about your lifestyle.

Well - to be fair, OP was not asking about this plan. They were asking about master suite size so we did go way OT.

When you build with the WOW and 4k square feet, (which sounds like a lot but is not ) . It is NOT when you give starring role /NEARLY five hundred sq ft of it to a great room in front of the entry. Another couple hundred to a "hearth" area ......and what will happen here is nobody will actually gather in the great room, the fire will be the traffic stopper. Then you give each of three bedrooms a "walk in " closet. etc

Result? you are left with the master suite that seems ( is) out of scale to the wow in the middle. Also small scale kid/guest bedrooms.

The only answer to this plan is to lose a chunk of the "covered porch" square off the kitchen corner, bump the master suite to flush with the kitchen exterior wall.Change the window, to two on the covered porch wall and center the bed between. Plan to lose the tub for a decent shower too. Adjust bath and closet , center the entry to those with a right and left side for each.

Anything else requires a total overhaul of the plan. That would mean a second story with two beds and baths on a second floor. ..........a completely different house. But this much under roof on one floor, with allocation to functions as is ? Yup......this is what you get

Bump the master suite....or build something else.. ( square off that breakfast nook in any scenario.)

How many square feet? One person said 4000, another said 3200. Both are hard to believe as my own house is 2800 and all the rooms are far larger than the ones in this house! There is square footage being wasted somewhere! I'm on an iPad so it's hard for me to see all that well, but many of those are SMALL rooms!

I didn't see 4000 or 4200 anywhere on the website; perhaps that is an estimate of the entire square footage -- not just the interior space. Regardless, this house is an example of how square footage and usability aren't the same thing.

Well, I certainly hope the poster takes all of the comments here to heart and looks at other plans because there seems to be some real concerns about this one. It's such a big investment that "settling" is not prudent. Perhaps the architect sold these plans to a builder and it's a stock order now. I am not sure how these transactions work, but I am making a wild guess.

Hope so too! Shorten the wish list and have a better house:) Start with the site and an architect.