Couple of things I noticed are disconnected the back porch is from the rest of the house. The only way to get to it is through a single door in kitchen. Another things is I hate open to second floor or open loft spaces. They just carry the noise from below up and impact sleeping.

If the garage and back porch are used a lot, then that sends a lot of traffic through your kitchen. Also, do you not plan to spend time outside (like a bbq, etc)? You don’t seem to have very good access to the outdoors.

If the house faces north, then the back of the house is south, the sunny side. If the back porch is covered, the kitchen will be very dark. Also, the garage is on the southeast corner, a prime orientation for morning light and sun. If the lot is large, I would consider pulling the garage away from the house, maybe connected by a breezeway, and open up the house to more light and air. And you may have already intended this, but the dining room and game room exterior doors should open out to a wraparound terrace oriented to afternoon light.

I have no problem with the loft, it's a nice feature that makes the interior spaces and ceilings more interesting.

The flow seems a bit of and choppy and on the diagonals.

And the foot of the stairs is a traffic jam. and traffic jamming in the kitchen, and interrupting the living room to get to the game room.

It might help a little to swap the tv and the gameroom door,

Upstairs is better. I don’t care for the butt-to-butt vanities, but I’ll bet the kids will never be in there at the same time (I know mine never were) so this will give them their own space. Be sure they have plenty of drawers, more than cabinet.

I’ve never understood the toilet and shower/tub in their own room. If someone is bathing, the other person has to dash down the stairs and through the house to the half-bath?

After a lot of re-thinking, we started over. See the new thread on the new floorplan, would love feedback: Feedback on Floorplan

I think you need to start over again.

Who is designing this?

Thank you everyone for your perspective again!

Really great comments on the porch only being accessible through the mudroom. The idea (as RappArchitecture mentioned) is to have a patio that wraps from the game room around to the back porch, though I agree this may still limit how easily the backyard is accessed. We did consider detaching the garage, but have honestly grown very accustomed to having an attached one, but do see what you mean about the light so we will need ot think about this one.

bpath — thank you for taking the time to draw out the flow paths. I agree that switching the fireplace and the game room door may be worth exploring.

PPF — are there one or two specific changes you would suggest? I’d prefer to keep the discussion focused on the plan rather than calling someone out.

You could do a lot better I dislike the kitchen so maybe start there with an independant KD The pantry eats space you do not have. I never like open to the loft ideas they distort sound and always a PITA for anyone trying to sleep when noise is downstairs . IMO a good interior deisner might be the best thing you even spent money on.

This plan is useful for identifying spaces you want. And the thinking goes on. The good part is no building has yet begun.

PPF — are there one or two specific changes you would suggest? I’d prefer to keep the discussion focused on the plan rather than calling someone out.

Mark has addressed the who.

I could suggest many changes, but I don't want to encourage you to keep this plan.

What you show looks more like a bad remodel instead of a new build.

Ugh, master bathroom with no window for natural light. That should never happen in a custom house.

The kitchen is a back hallway with cabinets.

Living room is a hallway with a sectional.

Wasted sq.ft. in the center of the house.

I do recognize that a lot has changed from the last plan(s). Some things have been addressed, but I don't know if overall they were improvements. It certainly has moved in a better direction.

It appears that this is DIY-designed and using a CAD drafter. In the last plan, there were grave mistakes with regards to things you can only know if able to visualize in 3-D, and some things that shows little knowledge in design and building. Typically, a CAD drafter cannot make up for defiencies a DIYer might have in designing a house from scratch.

This doesn't mean doing it yourself won't satisfy your immediate needs. It doesn't mean you won't be proud of building a house. It doesn't mean it's not an improvement over your current house. Any human can adapt to any living space no matter how good or bad it is perceived, and their happiness level is set by their own accord.

But, I see this a lot in my decades of experience. People have one or two unique ways of living (and sometimes that "uniqueness" is just because they didn't know there was another way, or are resistant to change). I also see very strong headed homeowners that are so deep in their currect period of their life, and can't see past that, where decisions are made that they regret later (e.g. a SAHM with 3 toddlers/infants, or 20's DINKs who party a lot with other geographically close DINKs). And they might be "doers" rather than "followers." So they attempt to design a house, the most important inanimate object that affects their lives in countless ways. And it becomes a muddled mess. They will not be living the best life that they can in their entire time in that house, because the opportunity passed and the cost to make it better later is too much or too difficult.

Luckily, house design has been tried and built upon over centuries, and mostly houses are very similar in their guts and concept. How you move about a house. How things are placed in relation to each other. How light, size, proportion, and balance makes you feel and looks pleasing.

I would suggest taking some time and just browsing house plans you find on the internet. Find ones that has things you like about it. Even taking sections of houses you connect with. There is nothing wrong with using something as inspiration, or even downright copying it.

"There is nothing wrong with . . . downright copying it."

Well, there MIGHT be something wrong with copying it; be careful.

I notice that the kitchen’s back door is designed for coming and going to the garage. If you are grilling, you might want easier access. There might be some benefit to adding some “breathing room” between the kitchen and the mudroom/garage/pantry/backdoor. I also wonder if you would like the laundry room to be close to the back door, and garage, so that clean laundry can go outside on nice days to dry, and sports or camping stuff can go straight to the laundry tub and washer. If that left side can move left a bit, you can create more space, and even passage from front of house to back without going through the kitchen.

That allows for one of my favorite features in a house: circulation. Ability to move about the house without backtracking.

I notice that the master bath has no natural light. And the bed is a straight shot view from the foyer. Rearranging that part of the house might allow the bathroom to have a window, and the bed to move out of view.