First Round of Ideas

Here is a picture of our house currently (circa Jan. 2008.)

Here is a fairly accurate representation of our 980 sq. ft. home as built. The HVAC is in the crawlspace (very low ~2-3ft) only one return in the hallway and 1 floor register in each room (2 in living room, none in office.) with the AC unit just outside the back bedroom on the back of the house. The water heater(tankless) is just outside the office next to washer and dryer.  

Here is the very simple addition plan that my wife likes, because it keeps the house 1 story. 20 ft are added to the back of the house and we gain a master, a more reasonably sized dining room, a multi function room, and possibly a half bath.  I kept the plumbing all in a centralized location, perhaps the water heater could be moved to that region of the house for quicker hot/cold response.  

This is a very quickly done composite sketch of a house with three dormers and a farmhouse style front porch.  Our house has full sun exposure on the back porch area and the front yard is excellent in the afternoon.  I would like to hear your thoughts on adding a larger porch to the front.  (Possibly 8-12 ft depth) to accomodate a table or if that is out of proportion with the tiny house it would be attached to, perhaps just a rocking chair depth porch. (6ft).

Here is my Idea for a a second story.  Please bear in mind I have no knowledge of where walls need to be for support/ where considerations like HVAC, Electrical, and Plumbing should go, nor the complexities of a low roofline and dormers.  The essence of this sketch is that I wouldn't mind if the stairwell took off from the dining room as that will be a very central location in the home.  I personally have never really liked that most homes have stairwells that terminate a few feet from the front door.  Upstairs I am looking to have a guest suite (smaller second master suite), a common use bathroom and bedroom, and the rest can be a recreational open floor plan or some storage closets/ other bedrooms.   If the three dormers would be too much, I am fine with just two.  

While showing my plans to a coworker they saw the awkward space under the stairs (behind kitchen, next to pantry) and said that would be where the stairs down to the basement should go.  Since then I have wondered about the possibility of an excavated basement under part of the new construction area (this is my least important feature - just something I'd like to know the feasibility of).