I am bumping this up because for some reason it didn't post until today. Any thoughts?

You said it’s a down-facing lot with views to the N-NW - which way are you thinking this house should face? In other words, are the preferred views visible from the front porch or the deck/screen porch/sunroom?

I would try to eliminate the angled walls, especially the kitchen wall and make it an L shape. I also agree about removing the corner pantry and relocating the laundry to put the pantry there. I would also eliminate the second door from the bedroom into that bathroom, it creates awkward moments. Personally I’d love a screen porch but having off the master will make that bedroom dark.

littlebug - The preferred views are from the sunroom/deck and that is what will face N/NW so front porch faces S/SE. Sorry I wasn't clear on that.

Tracey - Great idea straightening that out. Would you do that by taking from the kitchen? Would that make the kitchen too small? Good news is it will make BR 2 more functional. Good point about the pocket door. I guess I need a mudroom - how would you configure the pantry mudroom (assuming laundry gets moved?)

You don't say what age you are but if you have grandchildren have you considered aging in place? Meaning maybe you need to consider adding an elevator as a just in case.

Your living room will not be 17'6" wide because you have the pathway to the bedroom on the right and then the pathway to the bedroom and laundry on the left. In reality, it will be more like 10'6" of usable space. Meaning only 10'6" wide for placing furniture.

Additionally, do you really want to be shlepping laundry from the main room of use (your master) to the opposite end of the house? Think again as you age in place. Laundry is best if closest to where it winds up.

Plus where in that too small, claustrophobic room would you sort and hang laundry?

Speaking of laundry and bathroom on a front corner of the house? Public rooms and bedrooms should be reserved for the house corners so you can get natural light from two walls.

Angled interior walls make for awkward spaces and show the "designer" really doesn't know what they're doing.

Clothes in closets cannot turn corners and unless that closet is 7' wide minimum cannot have hanging clothing on two walls.

How will you block sound from the living room into bedroom 2 and the master bedroom?

And speaking of that bathroom, the door from the bedroom will hit the toilet when you enter from the bedroom.

And which grandchild or child has to share their bathroom with the rest of the house? (Not that I find that a problem, except every other bathroom in the house is en suite.)

Is that an attached garage? And even if not, that's a very narrow pathway to enter and leave.

Agree the kitchen is poorly laid out including that angled wall which means poor storage.

Have you considered instead of wasting your time looking for a plan online, working with a talented architect? There is one here who works remotely and creates gorgeous work. His name is architectrunnerguy and you can search the forums for him.

Additionally by you putting closets, bathroom and bedroom in the front like that, you're blocking the best passive solar heating/cooling which is south. Add to that by not having sunlight from the south, your house will be bright but dark throughout the day.

hi @flamomo your floorplan and site orientation is VERY similar to the home we are currently building. I don't have time to reply in detail right now, but will later today. If you're interested in how we refined a similar plan and what it's turned out like, check out my thread here:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5803931/thoughts-on-this-plan-for-lakefront-build

I'll respond with more details and feedback on your plan later today.

Two points: I agree that the Great Room is not so great. It’s got so many traffic patterns crossing it I don’t see how you could arrange living room type furniture AND dining room furniture and have it work well. I think I’d adapt the sunroom behind the kitchen as my dining room instead to relieve some pressure from the Great Room.

I also agree that since you mention grandchildren that you should strongly consider aging in place tactics. Number One in my book would be getting the laundry much much closer to the master bath. Like maybe even adjacent to the master closet somehow. I am 65 and we recently moved to a house with the washer/dryer in a closet accessed through the master bath. I LOVE it.

cpartist - I will definitely consider an architect as there is a lot to consider. You've given me a lot to think about and discuss with an architect. One question though - if all the views are out the back of the house how to do maximize both the light/passive solar heating/cooling and the views?

sbdrh - Thanks for the link to your thread!

Littlebug - glad to hear you love it - I'm sure I will to since currently I have to go up and down stairs.

I have to seriously consider the aging in place concerns. This will be a second home so I originally thought I would age in place in our primary home but maybe not. Aging in place with a wonderful view is something that would be great.

How to deal with passive solar when the views are to the north depends on what kind of climate we are talking about. I'm in a hot climate, so having lots of windows on the north is just dandy (lots of even light without direct sun coming in, so long as you have enough overhang for the summer). But in many other climates, where it is cold, southern sun is important.

It sounds like you could end up going in a completely different direction, but I'm trying to keep my mind off the US election, so:

If it's a summer home, I might just turn bedroom 2 into more of an office/study (or even play room for when the grandkids are little), with french doors off the great room. I would do the two lower bedrooms the same with closets to block noise from the 'rec' room. I'd also consider just doing one larger bathroom for the basement, instead of en suites, so that there's a restroom accessible from the rec room, but that may depend on how you intend to use the space and/or if you think you'll ever want easy access to a bathroom from the back yard.

jslazart - I'm with you on the election. Thank you for the drawings! The lot is in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I had planned for that bedroom to be mainly an office and a bedroom if needed. Love the french doors idea - that would add some light. I was only going to have one bathroom in the basement to help with the budget.

cpartist - I will definitely consider an architect as there is a lot to consider. You've given me a lot to think about and discuss with an architect. One question though - if all the views are out the back of the house how to do maximize both the light/passive solar heating/cooling and the views?

You actually started well in that your house is only 2 rooms deep front to back. However it's done by how it's laid out and that is determined by the land you're building on too. Consider an L, U, H, T, or I shaped house. Also a good architect can come up with ideas you may not have even thought of to create the home of your dreams.

For example. My house is a U shaped house so my public rooms get both north and south light. Since I'm in FL, my south rooms have a lanai out the back. What happens is in summer because the sun is higher in the sky, that lanai and my public rooms stay bright with not direct sun all day long, all summer. Now that we're headed into winter, the sun is lower in the sky and now it starts to stream into my public rooms which is perfect for natural heating/cooling.

I would also consider lumping bedrooms together on one side to create public and private areas of your home. You won't need separate spaces for kids & adults since you & DH will be the only full time occupants.

Absolutely. When public and private areas are separated, it makes it much more pleasurable with how you live. Do you really want your master right off the living room or one of the guest rooms right off the front entry? Again, in our house, our public areas are public and our private areas are separate and distinct.

Again, I also want to stress the idea of if it's a two story home, seriously considering putting in an elevator for long term use. Because we're on a narrow city lot, we had to build up instead of out and being we're in an area where the average age is retired, we put in an elevator. I've had friends use it and it's great for hauling up boxes, luggage, etc for now. My studio is upstairs so for now, I get lots of exercise going up and down the stairs multiple times a day but it's good knowing the elevator is there if I need it. There are other things we added too that make the house more age friendly.

Another thing to consider is how you actually live and how to make rooms do double duty so you can get away with less square footage or better use of square footage. For example, we have a large living/dining/kitchen area since we like to entertain casually. Our living room and dining room have sliders that open to our lanai for indoor/outdoor entertaining. Dinner in our dining area, and Jeopardy and the news in the living room when we don't have guests (which we don't now.) We also have an office downstairs for DH that could double as extra bedroom space for a grandchild since there's a powder room right nearby.

We have our master suite wing on the other side of the U shape and upstairs we have 2 bedrooms. However one has a murphy bed and doubles as my exercise room and the other has a pull out queen bed sofa that is my art room. Every room gets used daily. You show 4 bedrooms, a rec room and a living room. Do you need all those rooms and if so, how often will they all be used? We have 2 1/2 baths. One upstairs for the 2 bedrooms there, the master bath and a powder room. Will you need 4 full baths?

So the best thing first to do is consider how you live and want to live and what your actual needs are and what your wouldn't it be nice to haves are. Put together some photos of houses and interiors you like and then contact an architect to work with you.

The passive solar from the south side probably depends to since excellent on how steep the mountain is, and how close behind the house the slope is.

Further comments based on your post. We are building a similar house with a similar N-NW view from the rear of the house. We are in north central NC not far from the VA border (for reference). With a wall of windows across the entire back of the house, it will NOT be dark inside despite facing N-NW.

We also made changes to the front left corner of the plan we chose, rearranging the laundry, mudroom and pantry layouts. I think you can rework this space to make it flow much better and also create a more functional kitchen layout. Would you use the sunroom area as your dining space?

No it won't be dark in the traditional sense. It will just not be bright.

SBDRH - I finally got a chance to go through your thread and you must be very excited. Almost there. It is very similar to the floor plan I posted. Trying to take advantage of all the wonderful views and keep the house functional is challenging. You appear to have accomplished that and your house looks great. I am sure you are going to enjoy it for years to come. I will keep following and I hope you get in before Thanksgiving.

Get rid of all the angled walls.