Sketch

I love the port cochere but otherwise…. It’s very deep and shockingly windowless. The interior seems like it will be dark and lifeless. Odd also to have a parking court but no nice guest access into the house- the flex space could open into the gallery.

I noticed this as well, I love and want lots of windows so all rooms & bathrooms on exterior wall will have windows even the kitchen will open to the courtyard.
I’m not sure if my architect wanted to discuss window placement after because even some rooms don’t have windows in this drawing.
Thank you for your feedback, I’m considering gallery in the flex space as well.

How many people/ages will live here?

What are the two panties at the front end of the kitchen? I can’t quite read them.

Consider a door from the ”flex room” to the foyer. (What will it be used for?)

Family of four (kids are 6 & 2) will be (8 &4) by completion. The flex room will have an arch opening.
The pantries are Working pantry and butler pantry.

with all of this space why are the children’s bedrooms so small?

Hi, bedroom #2 - I don’t get it. Is there a door that I am missing or do you enter it by way of primary bedroom? It seems to be very difficult to get in and out of, it’s a dead end. In fact the primary seems to be a maze to me. I agree about lack of windows. I love the 2 laundry rooms!

Will anyone be learning to drive while living in the house?

@nicole its is off the gallery, next to the powder room

@mark no, not in our family

What is the difference between a working pantry and a kitchen?

Consider a stair from the game room area to the main floor.

Do you want to traipse past backpacks, shoes, and hoodies to go watch movies after dinner?

Are the 2 outdoor living areas going to be covered? if so no matter what you do the family areas are not going to be light and bright.

are you going to have caterers often? if not i’d reconsider working kitchen. who wants to be in a tiny windowless closet??

9 toilets? Holy cow! I got a little queasy thinking of cleaning all those bathrooms. i assume you will have a cleaning service?

Not a fan of double islands. Butlers pantries should be near the dining room.

I would not want to walk through the mudroom to get to the media room.

Is the family room open to the floor above? If so all that sound will travel up to the bedrooms.

Words have meaning.

Butler's Pantry: a service room between kitchen and dining room.

I avoid garages that needs above average skill to negotiate, garage doors that are just wide enough for two cars to squeeze into, entries that only purpose is to shelter those waiting for the front door to open, overly large foyers, curved stairs, having to walk through a bathroom to get to a clothes closet, "flex" spaces with no purpose, cabinets that turn corners in a laundry room. clothes closets where hanging clothes turn a corner, gas chambers, free standing tub up against a wall(s), double doors for an opening less than five feet wide, living (family) rooms with tunnel vision to the outdoors, doors to the exterior in a family room that limits furniture placement, overly large work triangles in a kitchen, kitchen sink or dishwasher directly across the isle from the stove, Labeling a space "butler's pantry" that is not connecting a kitchen to a dining room, cabinets that turn corners in a pantry, bathrooms with more than one entry door, a master bedroom labeled "primary suite", outdoor kitchen remote from the kitchen, a space with an exterior wall without a window in it, pocket doors in spaces that get used a lot, two story foyers, double doors into spaces that do not deserve them, and an awkward space labeled "gallery".

Thank you all for you gracious comments thus far..I’m glad I posted this floor plan at the beginning phase so I can be armed with information when meeting with the architect to review it.
@mark I wasn’t going to have a butler’s pantry since I didn’t want a formal dining, a big pantry is sufficient. I have it currently and it’s my daughter’s art center.
I wish Houzz had a reply function on comments so it’s easier to reply people individually.
@Iharpie thank you for your great insight, I have a bright amazing living room right now that sun rises in, It’d have been a costly mistake to have a dark room. That patio isn’t my style honestly so we will fix that.
@vinmarks and @bpath yes I do have a cleaner. Appreciate your feedback on mud room location, will change it. And yes, i’m planning on a second stairs off the garage entry. The pantry will have a window as I don’t really need a butler’s pantry.

At least one kid will be a long way from parents at night. Your kiddos may be different, but mine is 10 and just starting to be okay being further away than just down the hall.

There are quite a few things I am not a big fan of in this plan, but a lot of them are taste specific. I will say I HATE two story anything....Foyer or living room, etc. They mess with temperature control unbelievably, and sound carries soooo badly. Do I recall that tile is a fairly standard floor for living rooms in Texas? Imagine sounds bouncing off that, then off all those walls and up into your loft areas and into the bedrooms upstairs. It seems ridiculous, but it really happens.

Does it seem a bit unbalanced that a bedroom, bathroom, and closet for two people is as big as the kitchen, dining, and living space for four people plus guests?

In the master bath, why not just have his and hers bathrooms, since there is two of everything?

Agree with Bpath - you'll both have to walk past two toilets to get to the closet.

The kitchen needs to be configured for function. It's an important area. A much larger floorplan to scale with lots of easily readable measurements will be helpful. Make it large and readable when clicked on.

Seems designed to appear very grand, rather than being a pleasant and gracious space to live and work within. The only people that a home needs to impress is the family that occupies it, and has to deal with the darkness, the thermal inefficiency, the aural inefficiency, the duplicate after duplicate after duplicate of similar functions that bloats the overall square footage to no functional benefit but the builder's wallet.

Combine all of the duplicate functions. Build 1 space well, rather than 3 spaces poorly.

C'mon. Fess up; an architect didn't create this.

How would you even get the bedroom furniture in the rooms? Why do you need 4 bathrooms for 2 children upstairs? Why are there multiple spaces that have no current purpose?

I think we need to understand your intentions for your new house. What was on your wants-and-needs list for your architect, regarding how your family lives, how your entertain, storage and activity/hobby/sports needs, etc.

Is the driveway to be located to the right of the garages and motor court, or at the bottom (under the porte cochere and small garage), or both? Either way, seems like some tight turns to get into and out of the garages.

In the front entry, what's the distance between the left side door, when open, and the bottom stair? For such a large house it seems like you're right on top of the stairs upon entry. I'd want to either shift to a single door moved toward the right, or shift the whole entry down. I'd also want a closet near the front entry. (Where will you put guests' jackets, umbrellas, etc.?)

I'm assuming that the dining room will be casual dining, since it's a passthrough from the mudroom and between the kitchen and any grilling / outdoor entertaining you may do. If you want a more formal dining room I'm not sure that's the right spot.

How far can the motor court surface extend to the right, to allow for turning around? My friend has a motor court, and I’m always afraid I’m going to go off the surface when I turn around. I wish she also had driveway passing in front of the front door, for easy visits.

For starters make flex and study equal sized rooms. then reverse them. you want a study w the connection to coffee and things in pantry. enter from outside into the flex room which should be in the lower spot….add closet to flex room and doorway into foyer. the study can have french doors onto foyer. the flex space w at minimum a closet will take some burden off mudroom off dining room. thats wierd area leading to media….but if its truly theater seating and screen then you really want more from the study as a quiet zone. your living room is not that big…youll retreat to the study often i think. put more on the long kitchen wall w stove only so far, then try for a single bigger island…..

"All hat and no cattle."

Can I use that?

Is this a stock plan from your builder's in-house "architect" that they are customizing for you? Trying to understand how this plan came to be considering that you are building on 1 acre of land.

"I wasn’t going to have a butler’s pantry since I didn’t want a formal dining, a big pantry is sufficient. I have it currently and it’s my daughter’s art center."

Reviews can only be done with the information presented.

^^^^ My house is on less than a quarter acre suburban lot with windows on all sides and only two rooms deep. I also don’t understand why this plan is so deep and dark.

I'll take a stab at it:

1.) Master Bathroom - with all the duplicates just have a his and her bath. Your marriage will be happier for it.

2.) Master Closet - I prefer two large rather than one shared (see marriage point in number 1).

3.) HATE that you have to go through a bathroom to get to your Master Closet.

3.) I do not like that the Master Closet, Bath, and Bedroom can be accessed by a laundry room off of the main foyer.

4.) Bedroom 2 - Turn the powder room into a full bath to eliminate one bathroom. The powder room is in an awkward location and will be rarely used anyway.

5.) What is in the back of the house? The Master sitting will have the best view of it. I personally like to sit in my bed and look out onto a gorgeous view, which I have of the ocean in my beach house.

6.) HATE the double island. This is a home, not a Golden Corral buffet

7.) HATE the sink and dishwasher in the other island. You have a large space for the kitchen, there is no need for this. Please work with a competent kitchen designer.

8.) The media room and flex room are in awkward locations and will rarely be used because of it.

9.) Your upstairs loft is a gigantic waste of space.

10.) Your motor court and garage placement are going to be the cause of your auto insurance rates doubling.

Honestly, you can do SO much better! This house has no organized spine, it reminds me of a Tetris game where rooms just keep getting stacked on. Was this really designed by an architect?

^^^^ My house is on less than a quarter acre suburban lot with windows on all sides and only two rooms deep. I also don’t understand why this plan is so deep and dark.

And my house is on a 90 x 95 lot and every single room except the bathrooms has windows on at least two walls. And my house is not tiny either.

Did you check that your "architect" was licensed by the state? If he is, I suggest you find another one. If he isn't, I suggest you find a person of design talent, He isn't it. (Sorry to be so blunt)

I post this all the time. Anything in bold really needs to be rethought

The best homes are designed to suit the site and are a marriage of a well designed interior and exterior.

The best houses come in at or under the design target square footage

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling (I checked this one because even if the house was oriented for the public rooms facing south, there is too much in the way for it to be useful.)

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped. (Well it's sort of a U but not a good one)

The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case. (This is so light enters every room!)

The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.)

The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls.

The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls (I count 4 closets on outside walls. In fact one is taking up a prime corner!)

The best houses do not have diagonal interior walls making for odd spaces.

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate. (I bolded this because to get to the game room, you have to walk right past bedroom 4.)

The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room.

The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen.

The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms.

The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls or public areas.

The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside. (Those closets in the other bedrooms are too small.)

The best houses have separation, such as closets, between bedrooms and between bedrooms and public rooms.

The best houses do not have roofs that are overly large, and dominate the exterior of the house.

The best houses do not have stick on exterior materials only on the front façade.

The best houses do not have multiple gables within gables.

The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense. Meaning they don’t have meandering circulation paths.

The best houses design the inside, the outside and how the house sits on the site all at the same time.

So what do the elevations look like and how is the house situated on the lot?

It's often suggested to trace out your daily routine. Imagine the family is in the car in the 2-car garage and you forgot a sweater. Trace out your journey from the car to the closet and back. :(

@Seabornman I was thinking the same thing, but wasn’t brave enough to say it. An architect did not create that design. Impossible. Either a junior draftsman, or someone cobbled together some drawings available online.

But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the OP realizes she needs to start over, and with a licensed experienced architect

I'm curious how the house is situated on the lot, and which direction the house faces. I'm also curious abut the need for a 5-bedroom house for a family of 4 (so far - perhaps you're planning for more?) What is a decked attic?

I agree with those questioning whether this was actually drawn by an architect. Bedrooms 2 and 5 have such tight turns you'll never get a queen box spring into those rooms. There is a ridiculous amount of wasted space, and not nearly enough space where you need it. Unless you have specific plans for the study, flex room (?), media room, loft, game room, and "future", along with 2 more bedrooms than you have kids, you are going to be building, heating and cooling a LOT of space that isn't going to get used. I also agree with those who object to the 2-story living room and foyer.

At age 4 (and even 8), I would want to be able to see my kids when they play in the back yard. The only place you can do that is in the master bedroom sitting area, which might be very pleasant, but doesn't allow one to start supper while the kids are outside.

You have a large lot, and presumably a large budget (if this square footage is any indication); you can do SO much better!

"It's often suggested to trace out your daily routine."

Do not show it to anyone, it will reveal where you stash the Oreo Cookies.

i'm adding the rough sketch i made, not sure if it helps but maybe it reduces the questions about the extra rooms that I do not have answers for as well and plan to cut out. I'll be saving all my questions for my architect when we review the plan, again this is just a preliminary sketch and it is important to note that we looked at multiple house in the neigborhood to match the comps, we are young won't probably retire here..

5 bedroom is just right for our family. Our kids their own rooms, never shared room, our parents are out of the country and stay few months per visits, we also have a nannies occassionally. My kids sleep upstairs in their own room in current house so that is not an issue for house, downstairs extra bedroom will be for when they are sick or we have short term visitors.

Flex room will be living room for us we kind of miss not having this currently for our family needs, especially for kids but can be a formal dining for future owners.

The lot is much longer than it is wide.

Thank you all.

What you sketched while still not great, is far better than what your architect gave you.

If this is a licensed architect why is he giving you finished CAD drawings with no elevations or showing how the house sits om the lot? Thats more like draftsmen do

@cpartist I’m thinking that will done after we review, edit and i approve the plan. He will be doing elevations and 3D renderings as well.

Try labeling rooms with what you plan to do in them, instead of the usual names for rooms. That will help you, and us, understand what you really want from your home.

@cpartist I’m thinking that will done after we review, edit and i approve the plan. He will be doing elevations and 3D renderings as well.

I'll repeat this:

The best homes are designed to suit the site and are a marriage of a well designed interior and exterior.

The best houses design the inside, the outside and how the house sits on the site all at the same time.

Draftsmen design one floor at a time and then stick a facade on. If you want to see what I mean, check out the work of architectrunnerguy on these forums.

That is, see architectrunnerguy for examples of designing the whole house. he doesn’t make a plan and stick the façade on.

Like Hallet and CPArtist, my house is on a small suburban lot, about 1/3 of an acre, built almost 100 years ago, and is 2 rooms deep and all rooms have windows on at least 2 sides. It's also not small--about 3000 square feet. You can do SO much better!

Mark, we all know you will use that!

I just reread your original post and see that you have an acre. What is the lot like? Can you build a “letter”-shaped house as in cpartist’s list, that will give more rooms windows on two sides? The ”back yard” and pool don’t have to be in the back of the house, or at least not completely. But as I said above, a lot depends on how you live, work, play, and entertain, and what your lot and neighborhood are like.