Fritz Johnson is a great architect there. Call him.

Thanks for responding. We're in Auckland, New Zealand and close to the sea. Outdoor living is quite important but it does get chilly in winter so it's a balance. There are three adults and two young children in the household (one of the adults is an Au Pair who likes to spend time in her own room in the evenings). The kids will watch their cartoons generally in the morning and a bit before dinner. Then in the evening my husband and I will relax and watch TV. Right now the kids' toys are in the family room downstairs. We are foodies and like cooking. Generally when guests come over we all hang out in our small kitchen at the moment. The dining table we use for every meal time. We also like the idea of being able to get to the deck from the kitchen, rather than having to carry food in summer through the lounge/dining. The entry way is that big in order to reduce on the structural work but also in order to ensure that the door to the staircase is not in the lounge.

You could reverse the layout of the ensuite, and have the door to it through the walk in wardrobe (so you would only have one door coming off the bedroom). If I were you, I'd consider swapping the positions of the ensuite and wardrobe, so the current ensuite door becomes the wardrobe door. That way you could move the bed to the east (right), and you would have room for a seating area in the north west corner of the room (as your bedroom looks huge!). I'd also add a window on the small bit of north facing wall in that room; you already have corner windows in the living and another bedroom, so you could match those in style. Personally I don't particularly like the current layout of the main bathroom, although I can see the reasoning behind it (i.e. vanity at entrance, toilet hidden behind wall, window above bath). I think it might work better if you put the shower in the corner where the bath currently is (i.e. beside the toilet, opening to the west), and the bath on the same wall as the vanity. You'd have to move the window, of course. Alternatively, do you actually need three toilets? You could remove the toilet in the main bathroom, and you'd have room for a freestanding bath and/or a bigger shower. You could consider stealing a bit of space from the kitchen to create some storage at the entryway. I'm not sure where your garage will be, but it's really handy to have a designated place at the point of entry for all the stuff you tend to dump when you first come into the house (schoolbags, coats, mail etc). Overall, I think the layout is pretty good, but you could potentially lower the build cost by making it all a bit smaller. It's really worthwhile taking the time to figure out just how much space you actually need, and where you need it. For example, if it were my house, I'd take about half a metre off both the east bedrooms (so the house is shorter from east to west), plus I'd make it smaller north to south by slightly reducing the size of all three bedrooms, and making the kitchen a bit smaller (so the hall cupboard lines up with the back wall of the small living room). But your priorities may be completely different from mine!

As well as echoing homeprojects advice , a few other things that look a bit 'funny' to me . Firest thing I would say is I'm on a 13" tablet , so everything is small , and I can't read quite a bit , like measurements , but I think I've got a fair idea of the design . TRhe other thing is that it says proposed groundfloor , but there's no stairs I can see , so is there an upstairs , and if so , what is there , and how do you get there ? The garage looks small , if its to scale you won't fit tools or the other 1001 things in there , you'll bash the car doors on each other , no bikes , all problems , nothing much positive . The laundry looks weirdly positioned , on several 'levels' . I'd possibly move/rearrange things so the laundry was about where the pantry is , with an external door . That means though the pantry has to go somewhere , so maybe where the bathroom is , and move the bathroom to where the laundry is ? Another , more logical ( to me anyway ) option would be a long ( or wide -- widthwise behind the kitchen ) pantry , and a long laundry that slots between the 'left' bedroom and the pantry . Basically , split the existing pantry and bathroom down the middles horizontally , whereas now it is vertical . That gets that bathroom closer to the bedrooms ( by moving it to the proposed laundry site ) , but also closer to the hallway for guests . The master with ensuite in the middle is unconventional , not neccessarily bad , but most people would expect the master to be the front bedroom . More an observation than a criticism , but of course , up to you ( and whether you intend to resell ) . And my final observation -- the lounge looks cramped , even the dining is a bit of a compromise . If there is another storey , that may answer that , but its got me confused . Some rooms are quite large and not quite indulgent , but generous -- others are smaller than I'd expect . Just my weird take .