The living room, dining room, and kitchen are all open -- the box that you see in the middle is a double-sided fireplace. The room in the front, left-hand corner of the house is a craft room/office.

I love this picture! I actually have it saved on my Pinterest board. I never even thought about reversing the hall and putting the doors out to the pool in the HALLWAY! That is what this site is good for....great idea!!! Thanks so much! :)

Not crazy about walking straight into the living room from the main door.

Thanks Dytecture....that front entry may need to be changed some. With the hip roof, the exterior can be so ugly. So, I imagine we will change up the exterior some (which may allow for a foyer area. Thanks again for your thoughts!

There are a lot of neat things about this house, and I'm sure you'll love it when it is finished. A couple of thoughts . . .

1) You asked about getting the utility room closer to the bedrooms. How about cutting down the size of the daughter's bath and working the laundry in that space? It looks like the bath is almost as big as the bedroom. Another idea is to incorporate a stacked washer / dryer in your closet (or bath) and into your daughter's closet (or bath). That puts the laundry service right where you need it.

2) How about putting either the sink and dishwasher or (preferably) the stove in the island? The biggest benefit that will give you will be freeing up wall space so you can do a counter depth fridge (or even a built in fridge).

3) You don't have a whole lot of available wall space in the kitchen / dining / living space. Where will the TV go? Above the fireplace makes the most sense. If that's where it will go, plan accordingly so that it won't be too high and that you'll have electric, HDMI, and ethernet available at that location.

4) The back of the garage wall is potentially going to be a really big, blank wall. Figure out right now what you are going to do with it. If is is just plain brick or siding or stucco, it might not look that great. Pan for some landscaping or cafe tables or chairs or something. Maybe even move the garage to the right several feet to make more room for outdoor furniture if needed.

The bedroom, as currently configured would be very dark...you need more windows, and preferably from two directions.

Porches over the main entry and patio windows along with the long narrow pool courtyard will further restrict light.

Hi Sandkshouse -
Thanks for your ideas!

1) great idea! I will keep this in mind.

2) The kitchen layout is horrible. I will move the kitchen layout around. I really like the pic of the attached kitchen, with the large window over the sink. Good idea, of putting the stove in the island.

3) I was planning on putting the TV above the fireplace. (see attached picture -- I really like the brick arches, if this could work as well).... I don't care to have a lot of wall space because I will have to decorate it ($$$)-- I would rather the windows.

4) Ewww! I have thought of this! :) I was thinking of ivy growing up brick, lights/outdoor sconces, and maybe a wall fountain. The big blank wall would drive me crazy! Especially with windows on the other sides of the pool.

Great ideas! Again, thanks so much!!! :)

hi ! love all the super constructive comments and ideas already posted !! great ideas ! I have one to add re the garage wall ... if this were my dream house and I wanted a four car garage - then I would want to see my collection of cars with some big windows into the courtyard area ! and if I hadn't quite got the collection I really wanted in there - well - a little creative licence with enormous life size poster image of my dream car would make me smile every time I walked passed ( or swam !)
it's good to dream !! :-)

I wonder...which way is north? With all those walls built up around the pool area, it will be low on sunshine in the morning and late afternoon. Hopefully, as its drawn, north is down and south is up.

Sicora Inc,
Actually the front of the house is facing South! Yikes! Is that enough to make this plan 'no good'? There is no way to reverse it. Our house has to face the street. We do live in south Mississippi where shade is a good thing....it gets scorching hot here!

Hi, a very interesting layout. I love the idea of a courtyard/pool.
A few things to think about. I agree about the long dark hallway - move the hall to the inside wall and make more of a gallery. That will allow you to shorten the hallway, and also, you could rearrange some stuff and add another bathroom off the office. You might find it very convenient, so that anyone using the office (or if it is ever used/sold as a 3rd bedroom) doesn't need to use your daughter's bathroom, or walk through the rest of the house.
Combine the utility room and powder room, putting the washer/dryer behind folding screen doors. You can make the powder room larger, while still gaining space by eliminating the untility room. I don't see much of a problem with the location - with folks coming in and using the powder room from the pool, they'll be dropping their towels there anyway.

A couple of other thoughts. Your plumbing is all over the place. You've pretty much got it laid out the very most expensive way you could. Maybe look at putting the master bath on the inside wall, with the bedroom having the 3 outside walls?
You will need a coat closet available by the front door somewhere.
If the dotted lines indicate visible ceiling beams, then you won't want the dining room window and door laid out exactly where they are, they should be centered within the beams.
The pantry closet takes up a lot of what could be counter space because of where it's placed in the corner and the way the door opens. If you've combined the utility room/powder and gained some space, you could make yourself a pantry closet there instead. Then you can bring your cabinetry all the way around that corner, and put your fridge on that wall instead of where it is - the location as it is now may tend to be a bottleneck when the doors are open.
Good luck!

A good building is not designed as an object but designed as solving relationships with the object being born out of that. For example, if I think of the front door as a hatch so to pass through a wall, that's probably all the front door will ever become. But If I think of it as an element that provides connectivity between inside and outside, light and dark, warm and cold, the front door has the potential to become so much more. And if I think of it as it relates to other elements that make up the journey from the street (curb, sidewalk, steps, driveway, eave overhang, lighting, etc). and if I handle those relationships correctly, the best object will emerge out of that.

There are thousands of these kind of relationships in the typical house, the front door being just one. Think of your house in those terms and you'll wind up with a much better house.

@Architectrunnerguy: Well said! Experience precedes essence. Existentialism of form. :-D

Also know as : shape and create space to feel how you want it to feel, not just do what you need it to do.

Wow! Great suggestions! I know the kitchen layout is a mess...I hate pantry there as well! Love the suggestion of adding another bath to the office (making it a 3 bedroom and bath house). I think moving the hall to the other side is the best idea yet! I gratefully thank each of you for your time and helping me think this though!

I agree with most of what has already been said. If you back your daughter's bath onto the master bath you will save alot of headache in the plumbing. Why is the powder room where it is? If it's only to give your husband a place to wash up after playing in his 4 car garage (my husband would love that too), then you could just put a sink in the garage. Also, I notice you have no guest room. Would this be a third function of the office/craft room? If so, then that powder room should have at least a shower in it and it should be near the office. There should be some kind of an entrance and coat closet. I have no coat closet and curse the architect daily. Love the idea of the interior hall with big windows.

The entrance from the garage and the pool area may cause some aggravation. Wet feet from the pool to the bathroom might be an issue also. Might want to rethink either the garage door into the house or location of the pool access to the bathroom. Just a suggestion - not a designer but have had a pool and doors to close together with growing children and their friends.

If you want some inspiration, check out some designs of Cliff May and other California Ranch style designers of the 30's. That's essentially what you are going after here.

"I have no coat closet and curse the architect daily."
I can't stop laughing, thinking of Inspector Clouseau!

Do you really need three bathrooms/ toilets with three people. Whenever I read about lots of bathrooms I get a mass reaction to all the toilet cleaning. I sometimes wonder if the extra toilet is for the cleaner who is necessary for all the toilet cleaning.

Your kitchen design really needs help; I counted five things quickly which need to be looked at. If you design it well up front, it will repay you every day. Perhaps you should consult with someone on just the kitchen.

There are no windows on the exterior side of the bedroom wing - is this on purpose?

We toured a home similar to your layout with a few differences. The garage is in the front (on the left side) and there is a guest house on the right to balance (not sure how much you want garage on the side). The front door opens up into the family room, dining room, kitchen open layout. The master is in the back left with an opening to the pool, and there are two other bedrooms on the right with one that opens to the pool. I know it's more room than you need, but maybe the pictures will help you with layout. I'm trying to remember where the laundry is located.

http://www.houzz.com/projects/318687/Custom-Home-in-Pablo-Creek-Reserve

Be careful of that long blank garage back wall facing the pool. It may be worth making the garage mass a few feet deeper to allow some narrow pool functions along that wall facing the pool: WC, shower, storage closet, pool equipment room, and maybe even an alcove with a BBQ or something. Just to break down that long mass of a wall.

Hi Kimberly, I love many things about your house including layout. If you plan to live there for several decades one thing you need to consider - it is nice to have kid's bedrooms close when they are young, but it is just an opposite when they get into teen years - they do want to stay up till late night hours and listen to their music loud. Later, when your daughter moves out and you might have guest staying overnight, it might be too close for comfort and privacy to have guest right next to your own bedroom. If it is at all possible, it might be a good idea to consider adding an extra bedroom on a garage side of the. It will also help house to sell later on.

Great suggestions from all of you! Can someone tell me how to tag another person when responding?

@zuze01 - very true! our daughter is 11 now. I think I may need to rethink this design A LOT! I really thank all of you for your suggestions!

For those of you commenting on the kitchen -- please don't look at it! ha. It is a MESS! A friend drew that, and I know it is awful. This is nothing like what I want the kitchen to be. I have read a lot of articles on this site about designing a kitchen, so I feel really good about the layout (triangle working space and all) :)

THanks again to all!

@Kimberly: there is currently no way to hyper-tag a user in the comments or to quote them directly like in most forum platforms. The way you've done it with the @ is about the best way at this point. I have asked similar questions before and apparently Houzz designed their own forum platform, so it has only what they put in it. But you can send a suggestion to them, I think many would welcome such features.

Good luck with the design!