You can start by moving the bathroom door away from the kitchen.

"First, yes, we are using a real architect and he has our basic requirements so I'll be happy to see what he comes up with."

No, you are not using an architect. Start by seeing what the architect comes up with.

One person is walking all the way around the bed to get to the WC at 3am.

Is it more common in your locale than in the US to have a WC completely separate from the bath and vanity room?

What were the basic requirements you gave the architect? Inspirations besides the bedroom headboard wall? (which I think is cool, have seen it in magazines)

Lose the hallway between the cramped primary bath and headboard wall; it's wasted space. I'd rather have a larger primary bath and walk around the bed in the middle of the night.

The entry from garage looks very cramped as well. I would dread walking into the long dark pantry tunnel. The plan is hard to read so I'll stop there. I agree with Mark, use your architect.

Rambling thoughts:

- This is all rather chunky /lacks elegance, flow and grace.

- Windows are expensive. I wouldn't spend so much on windows for the garage, especially as they take up space that otherwise could be used for shelving.

- You have a lot of doors by the family garage entrance. I'd simplify by removing the doors to the pantry and the laundry ... instead, have one door blocking off this entrance area, and make it a pocket door since it'll likely stay open most of the time.

- I like the huge pantry area, but I'd also like to see a pass-through between the pantry and the kitchen. It'll be useful to be able to slide open a panel and pass through your slow cooker or a couple cans of tomatoes.

- Does the loooong pantry have cabinets only on one side? Definitely add 1' of width to this space and double your storage.

- I'm glad you have the washer /dryer on an exterior wall. That's no small thing.

- The space in the corner by the table is awkward.

- The table space looks narrow. Why do you want bar seating + a table literally within reach of one another? I'd give up the bar seating to get a larger, more comfortable table area.

- I think you'd like to have a door from the kitchen to the porch.

- Consider that you'll receive no breezes on that "indented" porch.

- Agree that the half bath is in the worst possible position. It could be moved in any number of ways.

- Try to consolidate your plumbing so it's "back to back" with other plumbing. This is a money saver AND it minimizes the number of places you can have leaks.

- I'm a little confused about the two living room seating areas ... which have no visual or acoustical privacy.

- I like that the master bedroom has a door to the outside -- this is good for fire safety, especially as you grow older.

- What I said about the narrow pantry applies to the master closet too.

- I hate the walk-so-far-through the closet-to-reach-the-bathroom concept.

- Both bathrooms are a mess. You want to walk in and have your sink /vanity dead-ahead /in the most convenient position. Place the shower /toilet to the back of the bathroom. Duplicate sinks are not a plus -- they cost more, take away your storage /counter space and are just more to break. Go with a single sink flanked by a good set of drawers. You definitely don't want the toilet separated as it's shown in this master bath. Zero positives in either bathroom.

- I'd look at flip-flopping the second bedroom and its bathroom. I'd aim for the bedroom door to open off the same bitty hallway as the master -- opening straight into the living room isn't great.

- I'd look at reducing /making this bathroom more efficient. Then carve out some of its space for a half-bath to open off the lobby.

The space behind the bed, if you widen the aisle, is perfect for a dressing room, with reach-in closets, instead of a separate walk-in closet.

The guest bedroom door should open to the foyer, not the living room. So should the powder room door.

"I'm tinkering with the Planner 5D app and my husband is using Floor Plan Creator"

Post your husband's version too, if it's very different this could be a fun thread. Since you have an architect, DIY-design should be approached only as a method to get an understanding of things you like, or better translate ideas in your head into words/shapes others can understand.

For example:

"indoor/outdoor lifestyle"

Doesn't appear to be more involved than just a patio next to the Living Room, which is no different than any U.S. suburban house. Emphasizing "lifestyle" says to me amenities, multiple connections with those amenities, a design that incorporates the outside to the inside with massing/views/physical and visual connections to the outside.

"Function over symmetry."

Ironically the design looks wholly based on symmetry. The massing, the center entrance, the size of functional groupings. Symmetry is a very limiting factor in creativity, consider it handcuffs, but unfortunately is where beginner designers start and often can't see past it.

"Roof will be a black metal double lean-to (or shed) with clerestory windows in the gap."

"This is in the southern hemisphere, so most, if not all of you, will have to think upside down."

A high clerestory (yours looks to be facing east) is usually best in the southern (northern for the U.S.) direction for indirect reflected light. Here it appears it would be the bulk of the daily light into your main living spaces instead of having direct light. And the placement of adjacencies does not seem to utilize the best sun trajectory, for instance, the Master Bath/Bath2 takes the northern (southern for U.S.) sun, the Living/Kitchen is only getting western setting sun, and the Kitchen no east rising sun.

@GN Builders L.L.C - Any suggestions on where to put it?

@Mark Bischak, Architect - Yes, we are using an architect. He is busy and we are bored (dogsitting so our kids can vacation). His first project for us is getting a site plan/concept for the phase 1 requirement. We're just playing around with ideas and this isn't our first rodeo.

@bpath - True, one person is walking further than the other, and I'd like to switch the bathroom and the water closet, but I'm stuck making that work.

Yes, having a separate WC is common and I love it (as long as it has a wash basin in it).

We gave the architect about a page-long list of wants and needs and desired aesthetic, which he is familiar with. He is a close friend and has often visited our current home and previous one, so he is aware of our issues (ie boxes of books with no place to put them, lack of storage, toilet privacy, accessibility, etc), and yes, we are paying him full price and will not accept a friends & family "discount". We have seen some of his work and it is stunning.

The space behind the headboard wall is 18" deep cabinet and about 40" hallway width. (there is a random 36" curtain in there because I can't get the measurements to display). I like the idea of converting this into a dressing area. I'll stick a bench or maybe a vanity in the middle of the cubbies.

The idea of the headboard wall is to divide the sleeping space from the "mess". Our current master bedroom has dressers and clothes draped over chairs and a random bookshelf and dog crate and rowing machine and it's not relaxing.

Copy the guest and half-bath doors, great idea. I'll tinker with those later.

@Theresa Peterson - Appreciate your thoughts. Plenty to think about.

We probably won't have a garage anyway. I mostly just stuck it on there to show where we'd park but my hubby doesn't want one (we do have another building on the site that will park one car and workshop).

Great idea for the service area pocket door. I think I see one in the app so I'll try that later.

The scullery is 25' long with a 36" hallway. Right now it depicts a 24" deep bottom cabinets and open shelving above because it was quick to get the idea. There will be a pocket door access right there in the middle between the double oven and the tall dry pantries (flanking the 48" SZ). We will likely have a second fridge and/or freezer in there, and I'm going to try to make the section that you can see through the door (which will probably be open all the time) look like our china cabinet with glass doors and lighted shelves. When visiting acquaintances, I've noticed that they try to hide the mess in their sculleries, so my mess will be out of sight!

Very few homes there have dryers; they hang out their washing to dry (thus proximity to outside door because probably no garage). Those that have dryers don't vent outside (!) and have a water tray that has to be emptied every cycle. And they barely work.

The depicted dining table rectangle is 52x120. I'm not sure if that's a good size or not as we are not bringing our current dining table. I'll need to research that. We have seating at the bar because that's where everyone hangs out when they visit, based on 20+ years of bars and island range experience. But we'll sit down to eat at either inside or outside table.

There is a Nanowall door to the right of the beverage station. But, we still to work on the outdoor kitchen (grill, pizza oven) so if it's behind the beverage station, I can add a door where that big window is next to the cleanup area. Actually, that sounds like a good idea now that I'm thinking that out. The prevailing breeze is from the northeast, so I think we'll be okay with the shallow U shape. Generally, it's always windy as it is an island.

I'm admittedly terrible at bathrooms. I'm much better at kitchens. I mostly just tossed all the elements in there to see if they'd fit. However, the guest bath is purposeful to be wheelchair accessible. That requires a 60" diameter open space to turn around, which I might put a fake round rug in there to get the measurement right. But I also want able-bodied guests to have a soaking tub.

I originally had the doors to master and guest across from each other but I don't like that proximity, which explains the awkward guest access. Ideally, they'd be on opposite sides of the house, but I can't get that to work either. Need to work on that, but also need to fix the living room/reading nook library mess, so that might fix itself.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

@3onthetree

As requested, here's my husband's latest. I'm just about to start working on his. You can see we are very far apart except for the kitchen since we are essentially copying our last two kitchens (which were vetted through the GW Kitchen forum years ago).

Note: There will be some outdoor design soon, just haven't gotten there yet. I just tossed in some grass and trees and stuff (trampoline is a joke between us) to make it prettier while I'm working on it instead of plain graph.

Also, I think it looks symmetrical only because I'd like the entrance to look through the house to outside rather than straight at the kitchen or dining, but a path to living & dining. Hope that kind of makes sense.

You do not plan on showing the plans to your architect, right?

Regarding the "forever home", I've had three so far so don't get your hopes up.

Along those lines years ago I was sitting on the lakeside porch of a cottage I designed having a glass of wine with my client I designed the cottage for watching the sun slowly set. She looked at me and said with a tear in her eye, "This home will never be sold".

Be a good stewart of the home you build, the true bennefit will be realized long after you are gone.

Your front door looks through to the corner of a wall. I think that’s bad feng shui, but at the very least the view coild be better. A friend’s house is such that the foyer leads straight to the back garden, and it is a beautiful view, and handy when you are entertaining.

Speaking of which, how will the driveway approach the house? Where will guests park? Will it be easy for visitors to walk to the front door?

Thinking about the guest bath, if it is to accommodate someone with mobility issues, will the door swing in? That can be a danger in case of a fall, the door could be blocked. Same issue, I imagine, for the bedroom door. Check your local codes for accessible spaces, or check the US codes or design sites for good suggestions. A member here, ”nancy in mich”, I don’t recall the punctuation in her username, designed the most beautiful bathroom, that was also accessible for her.

@Mark Bischak, Architect

No, I am not planning to share this. However, the process is helping me think things out with more detail and think about what furniture I'm going to move or get rid of.

We didn't plan on moving from our current home, either, but the location hasn't worked out for us (too remote and a few other things) but it has helped us consider our next location much better. Now we have to wait the full two years before we can sell (taxes).

This will likely be a 20 year house. After that, I may just want to sit on my porch and watch the sun set over the ocean every night.

@bpath

Yeah, I didn't like that entry view either, so I already changed it up. Things still aren't lining up the way I like, but it's better.

Also, I figured out how to put pocket doors in the app so the guest bath is fixed. The compass rug is reference 60" diameter for required turn dimensions. Our current guest bath was designed to be accessible but that architect didn't do great. I had to buy the NKBA book and sort it myself so I'm using that as reference again.

Here's what I worked up today:

There you go, the door in the foyer area is much better, and move the toilet next to the vanity so everything is in line, and it's not directly in front of you as you walk in.

Good luck

fun project! we just finished a build and so glad it’s done — Not a pro but the living area where the sectional is seems undersized - I’d want to make sure I could also fit chairs facing the sofa for conversation as well as side tables and lamps etc - the kitchen/scullery seems oversized for the square footage of the home but sounds like you’ve liked this layout in the past –

i’d want a fixture over the dining table to help create that space and would want to see renderings of how a hanging fixture would look in the room with everything - could look great, could look random - i’d want to be sure

I like the smaller family room you have - it’s a good addition to a more open concept home, it’s nice to have an “away room” for other activities - we have friends with a room like this and they spend 90% of their time in there bc their wide open living room isnt as cozy

I don’t know your site, so this may not apply. I like that now the door faces the window. Notice that the back of the sofa is in the way. In our suburban living room, ”my” chair is in front of the foyer, and the front door has sidelights. I feel a little exposed sitting there, especially in the evening. And more especially when I catch a flash of light as the package delivery person drops off the box and takes the requisite photo.

One thing to look for in the architect's design is bedrooms to have outside corners to allow windows on two or three exterior walls for natural light and cross ventilation.

Doesn't look like an architect's product

It'll help if you include some location info besides island, whether you have views, which direction the main road is and if c9 is for McDonnell Douglas. I see a covered area for outdoor cooking. I'm not liking the covered indentation into the most functional living room space. I want that area as part of the large open feeling inside. I'd like to orient the house configuration to block the west sun as the day gets hotter by placing the car port on that side with a side entrance using the driveway even with the front facing side open. Landscaping can work there.

Quick observation in the backyard, because the space is currently all lawn, there’s an opportunity to create more intentional movement and usable outdoor experiences through destination walkways leading to patio areas. Rather than having the yard feel like one large open plane, pathways can help guide circulation, frame focal points, and create a stronger sense of arrival throughout the garden. This approach adds depth, structure, and a more immersive connection between the home and outdoor living spaces.