I have been agonizing over this floor plan and for the most part like except the long hall to the master bed...such a waste of space.

My alternative is to just put a door off the living room into the master bedroom and make the master closet and bath larger.  any thoughts?

You pose a good questions. I would have the entrance come in from the family room and let me explain why. This is not my favorite setup, but it works. The main reason I would go with it like this is to increase the size of the walk-in closet. I have a walk-in about that size and I hear about it everyday from my wife how we should have made it bigger. I agree with her, additional walk-in closet space in a master suite is much needed. It will be a great seeling point as well in the future. Since women typically make the call on which home is purchased, it is best to cater to them. This is my ten cents worth. I hope it helps you out. Keep us informed on what you go with and why.

Good luck!

I think I wold do neither option. If you put the doorway from the living you are losing valuable wall pace in the one room in the house where you generally need the most. I would suggest putting the master bath in the back of the home and put the master bedroom where the master bath is, eliminating the hallway except for a small section to allow access to bedrooms and the hall bath. This should give you more room to work with the master bath and closet, as well as make the master bedroom larger. Hallways really are a waste of space, so I try to avoid making them too large as much as possible.

Take a look here as an axample of swapping the bath and bedroom. This is a smaller bed and bath, but it will give you an idea of what I mean.

Example house plans

Thanks both for your replies!

JEngland, I really like your idea, but we have already framed everything in and were trying to decide the best spot for the door.  The back of the house is all open fields and woods, we didn't want the bathroom back there.  Now that I can see everything, I wish I would have pushed the master bath and closet to the right  and made the house longer, doing exactly as you say but keeping the bedroom still to the back, dang!

I think we'll wind up putting the door to the master bedroom right off the living room, i don't really like it either.  We have thought about french doors and also building a little inset into the bedroom to make a small hallway, but no matter, the bedroom still opens into the living room and I am concerned that this would be a huge mistake when trying to sell someday....I can hear them now..."why did they put the door right off the living room?"

One more question, is it normal to have these types of changes so late in the design/build process?

thanks again!

I know with my own personal residence we were making changes to the design, adding closets here, or putting a door there throughout the entire framing process. I think changes like that are inevitable in the building process. Sometimes it can be a pain, but it is best to have it done right while the framers are still there.

....I can hear them now..."why did they put the door right off the living room?"

[/quote]

Heard that one before. Actually while walking through new homes I've said that before.

It is normal to have changes during construction. If you do plan to sell... the good thing is if you ever build again, you will know what you like and don't like about the plan and next time you can do something different. One of the advantages of moving (one of the few as it's quite a pain) is that you can try out different homes and determine what you like and what you really don't. Its hard to know sometimes until you live in it.