Raj - What you say is true that a lot of interior design's margin is in furniture. I will not sugar coat it. And many designers may seem to be more interested in that when you bring them in. But I have had several clients call me over the years saying they are building a new home and would like to consult primarily on layout. When you speak to someone is tell them you are not ready to order furnishings or window treatments, but that you would like a contract that focuses on layout, planning, and interior detailing (i.e. doors, trims, floors) - i.e. the bones of the house. What I would suggest is when you call for a designer, you be prepared to pay a good consultation fee. A good rule of thumb is that you can expect to pay between $3-$10 per square foot of your home depending on the area of your country and the expertise/experience of the designer. If you are not averse to paying this type of fee, and communicate to the designer that your interest is in getting the best solutions, not in purchasing furniture at this time, I'm sure you will be able to get the level of service you desire. If someone you talk to doesn't seem thrilled to provide this kind of service, move on to the next person. Don't rely on "fame" or how well known someone is. They may be well known for doing show houses or just because they've been in the field the longest in your area. Not because they're the right fit for you. You could also check the Houzz directory for good designers in your area. The difficulty is that there are often decorators whose expertise and focus is really just on furnishings not so much on construction - and they serve a purpose for their clients. But there are other designers who provide more of a wholistic approach and have more familiarity with building a new home. These are the people you should seek out. Houzz is a fantastic community - and as I said you may get good advice here but there's really no replacement for someone to work with you in person. Sorry for the super long post but I feel passionately about this and I think this advice will best suit your needs.

I strongly second One Plan's idea about looking for another architect. If this one is not motivated, all the fame in the world is not going to help. An alternative approach to finding an architect is to find some good contractors who have built things you like. Ask them for architects' names. Make sure they work in your price range. In the meantime, you can find out from your local building department what the set back and height restrictions are. Are you required to build parking areas or garage space, what kind of airspace restrictions do you have for neighbors' views and sunlight, that kind of thing. Often this stuff is on city websites or handouts at the office.

Interesting seeing designs from another country. Assuming the PUJA is located in the right location and the entrance to your home is the set of double doors adjacent to the car, I have the following comments/suggestions: 1. Regarding the bathroom on the bottom of the picture: a. It appears you have a walkway taking you from the large double doors(gate?) to the bathroom window. Is this correct and is this what you want? b. The room is sufficiently wide to add a bathtub or a shower. Switch the locations of the sink and the toilet, have the toilet turned to face into the room. This would provide easier use. You might also want to consider using a pocket door, will make the room feel more spacious. 2. Regarding the bedroom on the bootom of the picture: In the US we have built in closets but I kow other cultures use stand alone wardrobes. Not knowing what is custom in your country or what your preferences are, I would suggest moving the door over a couple feet and providing a building in closet the full length of the wall. This would allow you to completely customize the room's storage capacility - will it be filled with shoes and clothing or will is have boxes of files, luggage, etc. 3. The drawing room: a. If outsiders are not to use your family space, the orientation of the room will force people to see/walkthru your family lounge. b. If possible, can you shift or resize the drawing room such that it align better with the family lounge? If it can be shifted downward a few feet, you could angle the entry into the kitchen and the view from the family lounge would look better. c. As an alternative, could you reverse the stairs such that the main family lounge area shifts upward? recognize you will likely need to move the bedroom doors and possible reverse the bedroom and bathroom on the lower part of the picture to make sure the doors would work. 4. Kitchen: By US standards this is an average to smaller kitchen. we certainly have smaller ones in condos, apartments, and small homes. That said, I do believe in maximizing capacity and capability. The kitchen traditionally gets a lot of use by the family and has to be able to meet a multitude of needs. I am assuming the plan for the frig is to be located immediately next to the sink - where the empty space is. here are some thoughts: a. Do you need a door for the kitchen? If not, remove, if yes then make it a pocket door. b. Center the window to the OPEN area over the cabinets and align the sink in the center of the window. this will help with symetry. When in the kitchen, typically people spend a lot of time there - prepping, washing, drying, etc. It would give a nicer view than a blank wall or upper cabinets. c. Center the stove - this again helps with symmetry whioch in turn helps with aesthetics. d. Do you have sufficient storage in the house - think of everything that you have and the food products, kitchen items you will need to store. Again, culture differences mandate different needs. In the US we tend to do a bit of bulk shopping and generally have more "stuff" than we need so it is hard to determine what the right level is for you. Make a list of ALL the items you have for the place and assign a space to them on the plan. This is the best time (and least costly) to make changes to construction. 5. Regarding the bedroom on the upper wall - is there a reason the windows are different sizes, why not stick to the same size? 6. Storage room: Is there a way to relocate the "Low Height" restriction at teh entrance? Not sure is this simply means you aren't going to loose a couple inches or if this means a few feet. Big diffeence on how usable that space is. I hope some of these comment are useful. Best of luck with your project!

Hello Abhishek, If the layout is still under planning ,then you can ask your architect to shift the column position on the staircase wall. For the load distribution you can have two column on that wall for better strength. Your vastu is all good. You don't need to change it. For the kitchen size, you need to inform about the family members in your family. But 6'10"width will not suffice that's for sure.