The guest bathroom could probably be improved, so that you don't have a long (useless) hallway around it.....
The opening between the kitchen and the living room (will it be open plan?) could be adjusted so that your kitchen layout is optimized... maybe it already is, ?

Hi sstar, thanks for that,

Re: guest bedroom, I thought about putting the WC towards the wider part of the unusual space to get rid of the (your right) useless space, but then then that eats into the most useful (widest) living area? What do you think?

The kitchen/living room is just draft here. We would prefer the kitchen to be closed but we are exploring ideas like a large sliding perspex door so we have both. I imagined that running from the kitchen outer wall.

The choice of 2 large bedrooms or 3 medium bedrooms is purely a personal one, based on your household's needs. A 3 bedroom house is often more saleable because more families can use it, but this wouldn't be true in certain communities (retirement, urban etc.)

People often ask for input on floorplans, and to provide intelligent advice, we really need to know your goals, climate, family, activities, way of life, siting, compass directions, noise issues, etc. Are you a childless 25-year old harpsichordist in Fairbanks, Alaska? We can only guess.

In a cold or wet climate, provision for storing, doffing and donning footwear and coats near the main entrance is essential. Warm areas need special attention for sun control and outdoor living. If neighbor are near, privacy for windows is important, especially bed and bath. Families with children need eating areas with easy-clean flooring. A forever house needs main floor washroom access.

On your specific plan, I agree that the guest hallway is all wasted space. I would have the door to that bedroom be in the living area. (Perhaps you have a specific reason for the current layout, e.g. you want a high degree of separation for the guest room such that you could e.g. rent it out. We don't know that.)

How high are your ceilings? What in your plans is fixed, and what can be changed?

Also not seeing a closet in guest room

dclostboy,
Re: the headroom in the WC under the stairs. That's a v good point and I will need work that into the final plan. I took vague inspiration from the following image (adding rails and such). I guess I will need to see if I have space to work in the extra area needed for the stairs.
Thanks!

dclostboy,
Definitely haven't got to the closet stage but again, see the image. I am not looking to replicate it, but will build some storage into the design. Thanks again. Please point anything else.
Invaluable.

Can the first floor footprint be made larger? Push out the wall where the bath is currently drawn in. Put the large bath where study is currently. Enlarge the ensuite and use remaining space for study.

soberg,

Thanks for breaking that down.

Probably the only thing that is fixed is keeping the guest bedroom to the side. I considered moving it to where the lounge, as this would allow the WC to move to the side and max the kitchen. However, the light that comes in through the lounge window is something we don't want to sacrifice. Ground floor, that would be the only fixed.

1st Floor, we're sticking partly to an older footprint (this is a refurb and extend). However, at a push everything is fairly flexible except that we would prefer the bathroom to the rear.

You are right re: the guest bedroom. We may rent short-term. Longer term it would give a bit of independence if my mother needs to come and stay with us as she gets older.

The ceilings are not very high, 2.4m-2.5m, why do you ask?

Thanks v much.

Ideally, there should be a bath for every bedroom, from a re-sale/value perspective. I like the 2 bedroom option, but three bathroom seems excessive here and costs you square footage which may well be better utilized. Consider eliminating the ensuite guest bath and making the adjacent bath accessible from both hall and guest room. Configure the now possibly larger bath so that it has to two commodes and sinks, separated by shower/tub with doors on either end so that when you have a guest in house, they will have "private bath" accessibility, but other visitors will also have powder room availability on this level.

dclostboy,
Unfortunately, that is the max footprint the planners will allow.
I do like the idea of putting the study where you said. However, we would prefer the bathroom to be at the rear.
There might be scope to enlarge the ensuite as it is a little small at the moment.
Thanks,

Daniel Dionne Designs llc,
Thanks, you may well be right. We may have overegged the en-suites. Maybe be a good idea to lose one. Thanks, that's got me thinking.

I think your alteration to guest bath is a very good idea, and would probably be ideal except for our potential plan of short term renting the guest room. We would prefer it to be very serparate. I am beginning to wonder if the rental plan is a compromise too far.

Why not shift the guest bath to the other side of the loft stair?

Into the wider part of the guest area?
Avoided doing that as it leaves a narrow living area.

I sketched some modifications to your proposed first floor plan for two bedrooms. This approach would cost you your sleeping mezzanine below, but honestly that creates more problems than solutions. I do have some possible alternatives, also quirky and interesting. More on that later.

Sorry. I cannot get the image to attach for some reason. AAArrrghh!

So I will describe: Mezzanine becomes guest bath with a closet also on that end of the space, opposite the window, slightly wider. Bath accessed to the right of this. Powder room stays. Study becomes walk-in closet, Ensuite goes away. Existing closet (behind ensuite, adjacent powder room) becomes Master Bath. closet, entry and bath doors end up in the entry corner, essentially, creating convenient, efficient traffic and maximizing usable square footage.

Thanks, Daniel !
Is this what you meant? (quick draft)
I like the idea. I guess it is all about considering whether we can sacrifice the study (probably with the space downstairs) and the mezzanine (maybe).
Thanks for the ideas.

In terms of getting rid of the mezzanine, I considered the attached ... ideas are starting to get wacky.
I like this except that it compromises the living area too much.
I guess it's all about compromises/sacrifices and balancing it all up ... I wish that were not the case!

Bumping for input : )

One doesn't really spend much time in the bathroom. I would go for the 3 bedroom, en suite idea, which is more saleable. Then use one of the bedrooms as closet storage dressing room space.

Why not get a good architect to design it for you?! ;)

There are so many things to take into account and it's clear that these plans don't make best use of space. An architect will make the floor plan work for you and your budget by maximising your floor area so you're not spending unnecessary money building corridors and unusable restricted spaces as you have in these layouts.

i definitely think you don't need all those ensuites - it's just more cleaning to be done! Also, your kitchen seems extremely small...have you planned the kitchen layout?That should be a starting point, not an afterthought.

Zombie post ! 2013 !!!

Zombie post but there's still life in the old dog! : ) We are close to starting work in the summer and are still (!) finalising the layout. We have concluded on some variation of the attached. I agreed with the recent comments about the ensuites and the size of the kitchen and changed it a while back. We might increase the kitchen size further but think it is at it's absolute minimum now. Am dwelling on putting a WC/washroom in the groundfloor space next to the stairs and front lounge, as the area isn't really serving a purpose (hmm, though the access to the main living room is nice). Would have preferred to have a better downstairs hallway (connecting all the individual downstairs elements) but space restricts. Any further comments welcome.

p.s. excuse the quality of the drawings, they are just real rough sketches!