Zachary
You don't mention whether you are still in school or not. I'm guessing you are. Do you plan to take the layout with you when you move out? Or this a long term living situation?
I ask these questions because the answers really impact how much of a layout you are going to have time to build before you move. To build a layout requires space, time, and money. A bigger layout takes more of each of these.
With the amount of space you have, there are many good track plans that might work. Whereas in a smaller space, the options are more limited, and following a published plan makes more sense. But for your space, designing your own layout might get you closer to what you want, rather than one of us designing a layout for you that reflects
our prejudices and
our concepts of good layout design.
Assuming you have more than 2 years to go living where you are, I like to recommend a variation of the HOG (see
The HOG Heart of Georgia Beginner's Layout) for model railroaders ready to go beyond the 4x8, but who are not yet ready for their own final version of the Gorre and Daphited.
Take it as a starting point, modify it to suit yourself. Just don't make it so big and complex that you can't "complete" the layout
in half the time you have remaining at home. Make this layout an enjoyable and learning experience that you take to a reasonable degree of completion before you have to move - even if this means you don't use all the space allowed to you.
Specific changes to the HOG which might be nice are to increase the minimum radius by enlarging the layout, increase the width of the shelves/tables to 2ft instead of 1ft, lengthen passing and yard tracks, and add some extra spurs/industries or scenes to watch trains run through. I would be cautious about adding many more turnouts though. An old Westcott editorial in
Model Railroader that discussed size of layouts mentioned that he thought about 18 turnouts was the most a one-man model railroad should build and
maintain.
The number of turnouts controls the complexity of the track plan. The length of train determines the size. Passing sidings, yard leads, yard tracks, and staging tracks should all be designed around your planned train length.
just some thoughts of mine