Take a look at "The Carolina Island House" from eplans.com, #

HWEPL14961.   The non-architect took a first look at this plan and was wowed by its graciousness, its open living area and its elegance.  But it took the real brains in the office to see some of the flaws in this very pretty house.  We've always loved homes featured in Southern Living, even though they're often not so practical for our cold Midwest climate.  This one's no exception, but there are some notable problems with the plan that would escape the starry-eyed new house dreamer.

While the spacious and beautiful living/dining room would make a wonderful open area to host your holiday parties (or as one of us said, "an Iowa Caucus"!), the very fact of its wide open space can pose a problem for year-round living.  So let's start with the entry.  First, in our winters the blast of cold air into that huge room will certainly be unwelcome to those within. And the view as seen by the guest at the door is less than  inspiring - a straight shot at a stairway, a door and a blank wall.  Usually in homes of this style, the stairway is front and center, an elegant design feature, but this one's tucked away as if the designer doesn't want it to be seen.

The major problem here is that in order to get to the "working" part of the house - the kitchen - one must pass through the dining room, in front of the fireplace and probably around a dining table, then through the "keeping room".  We're not too sure about the "media room", as its design appears to be more of a pantry than a place for relaxing with Tivo or a DVD. 

There's no garage shown, so we'd design a garage and breezeway to connect the house at that back porch.  There are also no coat closets in this plan - even in the deep South, people have jackets, boots, umbrellas and the like!  We'd turn that back porch into a mudroom so at least those entering at the back will have a place to hang their coats even if the hapless visitor to the front must hang on to hers.  We'd make the media room a breakfast room and pantry by removing the built-in storage on the window wall and replacing it with a table & chairs for cozy, casual meals.  The keeping room* actually would serve as a better family room and a place for your TV, Wii and other family activities.

We like the large living/dining room, but in order to make it really livable year 'round, we'd come up with some lovely design details to both visually separate the rooms and to create more of a sense of intimate and varied gathering spaces.  Think of what happens when you throw a large party or host your extended family at the holidays.  People tend to separate, creating small conversation groups, some sitting, some standing, some loud and others needing quiet space to hear what's being said to them.  As designed, this room wouldn't be as "gathering-friendly" as one might imagine when first viewing the plan.  Details like columns, perhaps some low shelving for books or art, perhaps even building in more of a grand entrance - complete with coat closets! - all would make for a better space, both for entertaining and for everyday family use. 

Upstairs, we'd shove the bump out on the right wall towards the back of the house and reduce the two bathrooms into one shared bathroom.  This makes for more symmetry on that side of the house and would also improve the street view.  And, while we normally love lots of windows for natural light, there are really too many windows to be practical in these bedrooms.  We'd delete a few of them so that there's ample space for bed and furniture placement without blocking windows.  There would also still be plenty of windows for light as well as for cross-ventilation - important from an energy-saving standpoint. In the laundry room, we'd build a wall to create a private walk-in closet. 

We all love the exterior look of this house - the grand porches, the roofing and siding materials, including the louvered materials beneath the porch in lieu of lattice - all combine to make for a beautiful, gracious house.  Orientation is important with this plan - consider your site carefully both to ensure there's room for a detached garage and breezeway and to maximize solar gain in Northern climates, or summer shade in the Southern climes. 

As is, we'd give this plan a 2 - with our fixes, though, the house could rise to a 3.5 rating.