Not a pro but a couple of things jump out of me:

• Dining room far from kitchen and seems kind of jammed in near stairs

• front entry has no closet area

• kitchen seems far away from pool area which is I assume a nice view etc

Is there another floor that didn’t load?

I'm having a bit of a hard time reading labels and dimensions (I'm on a laptop)... Any way you could post larger images? Maybe in different, zoomed-in sections? Thanks!

You have what is a large house yet the powder room is what would normally be put in an old house where there's no room downstairs except under the stairs. If anyone ever needs a walker or even crutches, that room is useless to them.

Why the convoluted hallway to the master bedroom?

Look at how far you need to go to get to your master closet and then if you forget something (your scarf or the handbag you wanted) look at the route you need to take to go get it. Why not design it so there's an exit from the closet to the convoluted hallway?

Why would you want double doors into a bathroom? Is the bathroom that special?

Are you ok with one of you having to walk clear around the bed in the middle of the night to use the bathroom?

Are you ok with the fact your living room will be dark with almost no natural light?

According to the plans, you have to walk through your dining room for guests to put coats away in the coat closet. Is that ok?

What is the size of the dining room? It looks small.

How can you have a gallery when there's no walls to hang artwork?

You'll need roller skates just to move between the sink on the island and the cooktop because it looks like there's about 7' between the two.

Why is the laundry room so far from your master?

I see a very large kitchen that will mean you'll get your 10,000 steps in a day, and I see a butler's pantry but I don't see a pantry for food storage, etc.

The best houses have windows on at least two walls in all public rooms and in all bedrooms to bring in natural light and for cross breezes on those days we do open the windows. This house will be dark and lacks natural light.

In the breakfast nook, how many people will you be seating? By the time you put in a table and a few chairs, no one will be able to see the fireplace.

Find one of these and walk through it if it’s a plan and not custom. If the doors to the dining room and study have a porch overhang, consider the doors opening out instead of in so on the RARE occasions you open them, they don’t take up valuable wall space on the interior. I agree with the comments above. Please see if you can find the gated community the plan is in, that will help the most.

I appreciate everyone’s honest opinions and insights. @RES, architect- I agree with your statement that currently it is overwhelming. Do you have any suggestions that allow keeping the large front porch with the French country structure?

For the kitchen nook/hearth area I have considered just placing to reading chairs for a seating area.

There is a second floor as well however, it currently works well for our needs. It has 2bedrooms and 2 bathrooms as well as a playroom.

If you're spending this kind of money, it might be better to select a design that still reflects the French style but in an updated fashion. After all, we're not still wearing the shoulder pads from the 80's anymore are we?

https://www.mcalpinehouse.com/curative-homes/

I agree that the front porch does not look good at all. We have purchased the blue prints and paid a designer to help with modifications. We wanted to add a front porch and this is the only option she has given us even though we have stated twice that we are unhappy with the design. I have offered the suggestion of making the cedar post much thicker and adding an arch cedar post to the main entry door however she did not provide that in this updated modification. I am hopeful that someone on here will be able to provided suggestions or sketches of what changes they believe would look best. If anyone has any suggestions that we should consider I would greatly appreciate it but, I’m aware that the current plan is not acceptable. It is a lot of hard earned money being spent so I want to get it right.

The challenge is that you are taking a plan and trying to change it vs building a custom home designed for your needs. They are two very different things.

A French "manor house" was more than a country residence; it was the administrative center of a "manor" in the feudal system. It might have been protected by a wall or moat but it would d not have had a porch. I'm not saying you can't have a porch but it would look a little silly on a grand manor house.

Why would you need a porch with a pool out back?

Is there no beam supporting the stone above the porch?

Its very strange to see front facing gables and columns on a late Medieval French building. You might search the internet and find some modern American examples but you won't see them in France.

If you're going to copy something, do it well.

What does the original front elevation look like?

Why do you want to add a porch?

Have you considered working with the original designer? If this is someones best effort, I'd ask for a refund.

You'd be better off working with a talented architect to get a house that meets your design style and is light and bright without convoluted hallways and dark rooms. You can do so much better and trust me the money you spent so far is nothing compared to what you'll spend if and when you're unhappy with your results.

This is an American architect's idea of a French manor house. Its not very French but it has a porch.

@RES, architect thank you for the example pic. Do you think there is a way for me to incorporate any sort of porch. I have just always wanted a large front porch because I grew up having them and feel like it feels welcoming.

@PPF - below is the original plan
We purchased on line through architectural designs and they contracted a designer for us. This is our first time building and just followed what we were told to do.

"Porchere"

It troubles me when I find words on construction drawings that I can not find in a dictionary. Is it "Porte cochere" or "there is a porch here"?

Get rid of all angled walls (equal treads are safer and easier to negotiate).

Rethink the garages configuration, the current presents hazards.

You may want to connect the "copper finals" to a lightning management wire system.

Doors work better when they do not hit an obstruction before they open a full 90 Degrees.

The exterior fireplace should serve some other purpose than to heat the french doors.

I do not care for gas chambers.

I do not care for forcing anyone to have to travel through a bathroom to get to a walk-in closet.

And I do not have time to list all the problems with this design.

What kind of porch is that? Any way to incorporate it into the design better?

Example:

Unless you're fully committed to this plan by contract, do at least seriously consider alternatives with a less "busy" roof line and a porch that works with the roof line -- one that has a more practical floor plan -- not as chopped up into small rooms and no angled walls.

https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/exteriors/curb-appeal/country-french-style/

You can choose any exterior siding materials and color you want (but I do like the stone).

I say this kindly and sincerely, but I think you should bite the bullet, walk away, chalk it up to lesson learned, and keep looking; or hire a design/build firm, and get exactly what you want.....from what has been said on this post, this is like lipstick on a pig, and I do not think you want that....if you think it is expensive now, just wait till you want to change things.....everything has to support everything else in the house and often 'changing' something means changing everything.....do you live in Oklahoma?

That Bobby McAlpine link above has some lovely, lovely examples of home design...while you may not be wanting to hire that firm, bc, well....money, 😂 but just spending time studying the photos and how the homes seen thoughtfully designed with fairly minimal added ”accessories“ is a great exercise. Every corner, window, doorway, alcove...everything seems purposeful.

"I’m aware that the current plan is not acceptable. It is a lot of hard earned money being spent so I want to get it right"

What you're asking for is going to require a comprehensive redo effort involving elevations AND floor plans. For best results, that's beyond the superficial band-aid fix, a huge, time consuming task. You reference your "hard earned money" but that's how folks that do those tasks well make their "hard earned money" and in your case it will be "hard earned".

I'm glad you've concluded "the current plan is unacceptable". I sympathize with your bumpy design start but my best suggestion now is to find another architect. The good news is, it's not too late as we see so often here.

So these are my idea of French manor houses beautiful exterior with not a bunch of mismatched ideas all floating around and lovely sized rooms inside for entertaining.I guess you could add a porch if you really want one.The house you show is way too over the top for good design and the floor plan IMO does not function well. The food will be cold by the time it reaches the DR , a long walk to unload groceries. Wlk through bathrooms to reach closets always bad planning. If an architect was in on the this design from the beginning they should have told you no for a lot of this.If this was astock plan you have been tweaking get an architect.So much convoluted spaces with no proper planning of how you will live .

To be a “cottage” it would need to be halved, and all of the overbearing details compketekybeliminated. You don’t have anything close to a coyttage. Adding a porch won’t fix that. It will only be worse potato head.

This is a local home that I love. I feel like it Has a mix of architectural designs with the high pitched roof mixed with the jerkenhead gables.

This house you love has no opportunity for a porch at all. If a porch is important you need to have a different plan.

This is not a house I planned on building. I was showing it because, I feel like it has a mix of architectural designs but, it is nicely done.

But it has a lot in common with the house you want to build which also cannot Have a front porch.

Why are you so hesitant to start from scratch with someone who can design the house that meets your needs from scratch not from altering a plan?

I feel like a talented person could incorporate a front porch and that if designs are mixed well the end result can still be a beautiful welcoming home. I am aware that the person assigned to our plans did not do a good job. She is young and new so we have discussed needing other examples and her superior is involved in the project. If after being patient we are still not satisfied then we will look at going another route.

I guess, having gone the custom route not packaged plan route, I just see so many benefits for the home being exactly what you want from the start. Not forcing changes on something but creating the home together from start to finish. This isn’t a renovation where you have to live with what you have. It’s a brand new huge house and should be exactly what you want and need.

We went to our design meetings with extremely specific floor plan suggestions and back porch ideas. She easily took those and used them to create our house that is made just for us.

At the bottom of this link is an after photo of a Tudor house with a porch. Perhaps you could modify the idea for your house. https://www.hgtv.com/shows/fixer-upper/stylish-update-for-a-vintage-tudor-pictures

I feel like a talented person could incorporate a front porch and that if designs are mixed well the end result can still be a beautiful welcoming home

No they can't anymore than you could turn Lyle Lovett into George Clooney.

Mononhemeter- thank you for the suggestion. I do like that.

I think both is these are beautiful

What do you think is beautiful about them?

She clearly likes the perception of porches. Probably time to let this go OP is happy with what they have

^^^ Agreed. :)