ok, here is floor plan number N + 1 ;-)

Here is Bob's first sketch. It has good clarity. The carrying ideas are preservation of the 180 degree undisturbed view E-S-W from almost any place in the home and a Glass House concept with see through / transparency (privacy will have to be secured by a combination of an electrical gate and landscape elements on the driveway side). Funny to revisit the glass house - which was the very first vision I had about the house when I first decided to buy it.




Bob’s sketch captures the following changes:
- Make current LR, kitchen, study and hallway into a single open room, with the kitchen sitting between the new family room and the LR.
- Open the wall between garage and living room to allow for a study niche with build-in shelving (total conversion to conditioned space = 86 sf)
- Push the north facing wall out 4’ to make a new hallway; take a corner from the guest bedroom (total addition = 74 sf)
- Reorganize 2 south-facing narrow bathrooms into 1 larger master BA and a powder room.
- Replace all windows and sliders with picture windows and sliders that sit between beams; bring windows/doors all the way up to the ceiling along north and south walls.
- Possibly redo the guest bathroom to become better proportioned
- Resurface fireplace


And here are some of my first questions to his sketch:
"1. What exactly is gained by pushing out the current entry wall some 18-24"? The current landing does not go all the way to the garage wall; there is a 20" (or so) gap. So this solution would require addition to the current slab. BTW, does the landing qualify as a (part of a) slab for interior use? Or would the landing have to be demolished and re-poured?
2. Can you say a few words about the sense of floating-in-air and the marking of wall cabinets in the sketch? I am assuming that the dashed lines mean wall cabinets, right? If so: I wonder if you are thinking of an old-fashioned reach-through opening below wall cabinets. I kind-of doubt it. would provide the desired openness. And if there is no wall cabinets, we are left with very little cabinet space. And the floating-in-air sense does demand a bit more ceiling height than the current 8'
3. Although I love the idea of the location of this study I am concerned about two things: (1) it would have to have steps down to provide a decent ceiling height (what is code requiring?) and (2) the price tag of integrating sub-optimal garage space: would the cost of relocating utilities (electrical subpanel, WH and Furnace), raising the ceiling and insulating the floor perhaps be better spent somewhere else?
4. Thinking ahead to the future: I am not entirely sure how much you envision would be used for future hall: would it be all 5 feet (closet + current hallway)?
5. The configuration of the bedroom section is OK, but it would have been great had it been less maze-like."