Is there a reason you’re designing it with a draftsperson and not working with an architect?

Off topic but with the kitchen in the center surrounded by rooms, I think it will be dark

Uh oh. Brace yourself for the comments coming. There are many extremely knowledgeable and talented persons on this forum, but some can be quite blunt.

Plans are typically drawn with the front at the bottom of the drawing.

Drafters, and the general public (typical homeowner) often are not designers.

Consider that we know nothing of you or your family, your building site, where you are building and so many other things that should be considered when designing a home.

If this is the best you and your drafter can do, then it's probably time to add an actual design professional to your team.

I never love a myraid of roof gables and angles so probably why I love MCM. For me the house is exterior is too busy and tryng to be too many styles. All the jigs and jogs in the interior and exterior create many issues when trying to furnish inside .I cannot tell what most of the spaces are but a kitchen in the middle of a house with no windows always bad planning. IMO a mess get an architect now before this is everbuilt . If you want help here then we need a ton of info as toyour life . Draftsman are not architects all they do is draw what you want and right now most of that is not good.

I think you can do better. Simple lines, more light by having less deep of a home, smaller roof massing so it looks better from street.

I appreciate all the feedback. I’ve been helping my family with this design since I’m currently studying Interior Design. While I’m not an architect, I wanted to contribute in any way I could while still in school.

Regarding the kitchen, if you're looking at my plans, I didn’t include all the windows or doors because my focus was on visualizing the half-bathroom layout. The living room will have accordion-style doors with transom windows above to bring in natural light. The dining room will also feature large windows, so I believe it will be well-lit. Additionally, since the kitchen, living, and dining areas follow the layout my family requested, I think incorporating sufficient artificial lighting will help enhance the space.

That said, I’ve been trying my best, but I haven’t been able to give this project my full attention. I completely agree that having an architect would be the best choice for them to bring their dream home to life. As for choosing a drafter, it was primarily a cost-based decision, but I now see how working with an architect could be beneficial in the long run. I’ll share this insight with my family.

Also, if any one knows any good Architects in Arkansas that would be helpful as well.

I'm not understanding the wrap-around hallway for the Ensuite bathroom. It seems like a waste of space and like it would be a dark maze. I agree the Great Room in the middle feels closed in. A Living Room at the front of the house works well....tried and true method.

This is a poor design. Many of the rooms are the wrong size and the flow to some of the rooms is a maze.

1) The block with the bathroom and closets is more than double the size of the primary bedroom. Either the BR is tiny or the bathroom/closet space is huge. The only access to the closets is through the bathroom, so, to ensure privacy for the toilet, they've put it in a tiny, cramped cubby.

2) The bathroom on the right juts out, so it will probably be sunny, but who cares if a bathroom is sunny. The adjacent bedroom has only one window, so it may be dark.

3) The kitchen looks tiny and it's certainly smaller than the laundry room.

4) The flow is impeded. Look at the path to the den.

5) The exterior is has poor proportions and none of the windows are the same size. Compare to your second inspo pic. The entryway is oversized for the house.

6) The rendering does not match the floorplan. The rendering clearly shows that the rightmost mass is definitely not at a right angle to the main mass, but the floor plan shows only right angles. The floorplan shows that the two rooms next to the entrance jut out beyond the main front wall, but the rendering shows only the rightmost mass juts out beyond the main wall. The rendering shows the rightmost mass (the one at an angle) much further from main front wall than the floor plan shows. (Note, all the of the left/right are from the rendering, the floor plan, being upside down is the opposite.

Since the floorplan doesn't match the rendering, you don't know what you will actually get if you build this house. Either an exterior that is quite different from the rendering or a floorplan that is quite different.

Frankly, I would not waste time trying to fix this, instead, I'd start over with a drafter who is significantly more competent than the one you have.

I believe there is a professional architect or two here who works from home remotely.

As mentioned, much more information is needed to give meaningful advice. What does the building site look like? How big is it? City or country? How many people will live here? What stage of life (newlyweds, young children, retirees)? Any special needs for entertaining, physical handicaps, hobbies etc etc)? Budget build or the sky is the limit? As drawn, this appears to be approaching a $1 million build.

Reposting from cpartist’s post from long ago.

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling
The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped.
The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case.

• [ ] 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
  The best houses keep public and private spaces separate.
  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 dining areas.
  The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside.
  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.

Angles while they look interesting on a plan will make the house live poorly. All those angles trying to fit furniture in? Angled corners in closets means unusable space.

The drafter is incompetent because the floor plans don't match the rendering. His work is not usable by any builder. If he is the builder, he's incompetent. I outlined how the renderings don't match the floor plan in my previous post, but you need someone competent who actually knows how to create house plans.

@Sigrid

The plan (look at the 1st image) and rendering do match, and the rendering is just distorted, it's not showing anything angled.

Well, it's neither attractive nor well-planned. Who wants a bedroom smaller than the closet and bathroom or a kitchen smaller than the laundry room.

MY advice is the best way to hwlp is hire an architect and design school is great but obviusly you are along way from finished .

I think most people have covered a lot. My pet peeve here is the kitchen not being on an outside wall. What sort of climate are you in? Do you do a lot of outdoor living especially grilling? No one wants to walk through a living room with trays of foods and stuff for a party.

That hallway around the master suite! Seems like a big waste of space.

Personally, I do not like all the jogs in and out of the rooms - way too much! Pull out the front entry, even out the sides, where the bump out is for the bathrooms, make bedroom three come out as far and move the closet so it's not bumping into the back room ( furniture placement in there will be difficult).

You might want to spend some time online looking at house plans and then making changes as needed to fit .

Best of luck!

Why do kitchens need to be on an outside wall? Using the kitchen work zones requires a lot of light to be safe and effective prep spaces. 450 lumens at the work surface for task lighting is the bare minimum. Kitchen lighting is layered with general ambient lighting as a second layer to light the complete space. Accent/decorative lighting can be a third layer. The correct lighting plan cannot rely on daylight. It isn't always available. Take night for example. Windows and even a attractive view should be part of the design if possible. You can say that for any space. Not just the kitchen.

You'd have to shift some rooms around to get the staggered height for the plate line and roofs if you wanted that front facade to work out. This is with shift the front door over, adding a bump out in the gym and shifting the pantry and then balancing the front:

@dan1888 Hi! The only reason I mentioned the kitchen on an outside wall is simply for ease of accessing outside spaces. I lived in a rental for a short while where I did not have that direct access to outside and it made me crazy. So maybe it's just me! Yikes!

I didn't see any indications of a door to get outside from either the dining room or the back living room - probably my over sight.

Thanks!

Brace yourself for the comments coming.

Oh, yes, comments are coming. If this is a first draft, you have plenty of opportunity to turn this bloated mismatch into something nice. Thoughts -- please note I'm having trouble reading some of the words on the plan:

- The footprint is incredibly complicated -- for no purpose. Today people have a terrible fear of their house being "too simple", so they go overboard with the corners and jig-jogs (did I count 29?), which leads to a very expensive, complicated house -- and that's a mistake. It also drives the roofline to a complex shape, which is expensive and prone to leaks. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY.

- You said the roofline looks too low? I don't think that's it -- I think it's the hipped shape, which chops off the corners, that makes it look oddly proportional to the bulk of the house. A different roof shape could fix this problem.

- Not loving that two-story porch -- just doesn't fit in.

- The interior entrance looks nice.

- The office is nicely set away for a bit of privacy and seems to be a comfortable size for someone who works from home.

- I like that the den has a half-bath so it could potentially be a workout room or guest room (even though the guest would have to go elsewhere to shower). But I don't like that this half-bath is so far away from all the other plumbing. It'll require long pipes to get water to that area -- ideally your plumbing would be more consolidated /shorter pipes /reduction of possibility of leaks.

- The two secondary bedrooms look good. I'd lose the pocket doors on the bathrooms -- these are great for doors that remain open most of the time, but they're more difficult to open /close, and with constant use the question isn't, Will they break and need professional fixing? It's When will they break and need professional fixing?

- Do you really want to clean /maintain two bathrooms? These two could easily share a bathroom.

- I hate -- no, I HATE -- the living room and the kitchen, the rooms where you'll spend most of your waking hours. The problem is you've created a FAThouse, and these most-used rooms are squished in the middle. They'll be dark and uninviting. When you look at photographs of nice rooms, one of the most appealing features is so easy to overlook -- but we're all attracted to it: Lovely natural light pouring in, preferably from two sides. Your two most-used rooms have zero natural light. This alone is reason to abandon this plan. Please take this comment seriously: it's the biggest issue with this house.

- Note that the position of the fireplace on the patio will block light too. If it were moved to the side to share a wall with the house, it'd open up the patio.

- With light in mind, I'd add more windows to the master, the bedroom at the bottom of the layout, and the den -- though they already have better lighting than the main living space. And I'd add a glass door between the dining room and the patio.

- The kitchen is large and acceptable, but not anything outstanding. I always love a good pantry, but this one is overkill. Note that a window in a pantry is not a positive -- light is the enemy of food storage. The right window covering could mitigate this problem.

- Too much space is wasted in that super-long U-shaped hallway by the master. With no light, this space will be dark and uninviting -- you could add motion-sensored lights, but that's really just a band-aid. As you choose a way to reduce this hallway, consider that you'll need to bring through large furniture at some point -- so beware of sharp turns.

- Move that master bedroom hallway door to the right -- so it's even with the edge of the bedroom. Then eliminate that derpy little hallway. This'll make your bedroom a bit larger.

- I like to see an exterior door in a master bedroom -- you know, for fire safety. In a better plan, this could also lead you out to the back yard or the patio.

- The master bath is oversized, but that size doesn't add any function. It's just bloat. Most people would like to have a nice window over the tub -- do you read in the tub? Will you have a light shining on your book appropriately? Consider that the tile for that two-sided shower will be incredibly expensive -- will you use it enough to justify its cost? You're going with duplicate sinks, but the vanity doesn't look large enough to hold drawers; everyone needs storage AT the sink.

- Think twice and three times about the negatives of putting your toilet in a closet -- note that this one could have had a window /but doesn't. And note that once you're in that room, you won't be able to close the door -- your body will be in the door's swing space. In one plan you've drawn in duplicate toilet closets for the master -- this is a lot to build, then a lot to clean /maintain for the few minutes per day a person spends on the toilet.

- Do you really need that much closet space in the master?

- Note that the laundry is physically close to the master closet, but you'll have to carry baskets back and forth through that long hallway. A carefully placed door could save so many steps.

- Your washer /dryer (well, really just your dryer) should be on an exterior wall. This allows it to vent directly to the outside, which is cheaper to build, easier to keep clean, and more fire-safe. This is an easy fix -- swap the machines for the closet. This will also allow you to have a window above the washer /dryer.

- I'd combine the narrow entry hallway (which will be dark) with the laundry -- it'll make a more pleasant arrival home.

- Have you thought through the driveway for the side-entry garage? The danger with this type of garage is that your guests will follow the drive to its end /won't have an obvious place to park -- and they'll be around the corner /no view of the front door, which is their goal. This doesn't have to be a problem -- if you think it through and provide obvious clues to guests about where they should park /place them close to the front door.

- Do you really need a garage that large?

We don't like the small windows or how low the walls/ceiling looks

Small windows are sometimes appropriate, but I agree they're doing nothing for the front-view of the house.

Both pictures above are inspo we sent the our Drafter...We wanted something similar/same vibe. (Note: both pictures are one-story houses)

Those houses are overly complicated. I'll say again SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY.

I never love a myraid of roof gables and angles

Absolutely, and this is a problem both inside and out.

I think you can do better. Simple lines, more light by having less deep of a home, smaller roof massing so it looks better from street.

Yes, I've said twice SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY - and one way to do that is to avoid a "fat house". 2 rooms deep at the most -- and porches count as rooms. This'll fix SO MANY problems.

Regarding the kitchen, if you're looking at my plans, I didn’t include all the windows or doors because my focus was on visualizing the half-bathroom layout.

You have to recognize this makes no sense. The two are nowhere near one another, and the kitchen lacks windows because it's pushed to the interior of the house.

The living room will have accordion-style doors with transom windows above to bring in natural light.

No -- these accordian doors and transom will bring in some light, but it will not be a lovely, light-filled space that people will enjoy.

I think incorporating sufficient artificial lighting will help enhance the space.

No.

3) The kitchen looks tiny and it's certainly smaller than the laundry room.

I don't mind a small kitchen -- as long as it's attached to a good pantry, which can absorb all the storage. This can be a good choice, as the small kitchen can be "a jewel" -- always clean --with lovely finishes, and then the cheap pine shelves in the pantry can hold all the crock pots, punch bowls, and cans of ravioli.

BUT you do address a good question: Proportion. Some spaces in this house are oddly sized -- a laundry room larger than the kitchen, a bathroom larger than the master, huge master closet, while the secondary bedrooms are builder-basic sized. Proportion matters.

As drawn, this appears to be approaching a $1 million build.

Disagree -- this house, with its excessive jigs and jogs and bloated spaces, will top 1M -- and that'd be in my low cost of living area.

Why do kitchens need to be on an outside wall?

Several reasons: Because hauling in groceries is a never-ending chore, the kitchen should be next to the most-used door, so that all-but necessitates an exterior wall. One of the most time-honored kitchen design features is the window over the sink -- sinks that face a wall tend to look "off". People like to place kitchens near their back door so they can carry food directly out to grill. True, natural light isn't always available, but that doens't mean we shouldn't harness it when we can. Light in every room is just more pleasant, and the kitchen is a workhorse of a room.