I dug a 4' x 12' bed 30" deep this year. Refilled about 18" with last years leaves, some rotting limbs from our woods (at the very bottom), then all the topsoil I had saved. Since our ground is rock and clay (chirt we call it in Mid-TN) when you get about 12" down, I had to buy a truckload of "Earth Mix" from a local nursery. Planted sweet corn and pole beans in a 12" grid pattern. No harvest yet but all is growing very well. Next year I plan to rotate tomatoes into this spot and dig another.

What year do you plan to have your wedding? The reason I ask, peonies and roses take some time to establish to bloom--sometimes several years, and would be considered a permanent planting. I would also caution you, that what bloomed in April one year, might bloom in June the next. Hopefully, someone who has personal knowledge of the Morristown area will be able to help you. Perhaps contact your local garden nurseries, garden clubs, or local master gardeners (try your local County extension for master garderner information). Congratulations and good luck to you!

WOW! Thank you everyone for the great feedback. I was thinking I would just get one or two additional set of eyes on my plans, but this has been great. Let me do my best to address some of the call outs. Consensus seems to be that we review the W/D location, the MBA layout, and the stairs. As far as the laundry room, I completely hear each of your concerns. The walk will be pretty far, but at least one good thing is that we only have to do laundry once a week. I will talk it over with the SO to see if a closer placement would fly. In terms of the MBA layout, I too feel it seems a little big, so we will continue to work with the architect on that room. Regarding the stairs, we couldn't agree with each of you more. Regardless if my in-laws live with us or not, I just do not like 1/2 steps in a house period. We are now working with the architect to see how we can get those garages level and eliminate the stairs. cpartist - your comment on the extra door entrance to the master closet is really intriguing. Especially if we move the entrance to the whole Master area to make it all enclosed. We will definitely keep that in mind. bpathome - It is hard to tell from the plans, but the seat in the master shower has a handheld shower head located there for the frequent ritual we call shaving the beast :) So it will definitely be put to good use. mrspete - you read our minds when it comes to the ceiling height of the kitchen. We have noodled putting in faux beams in the great room, but we really aren't sure if it would look good to run them through into the kitchen. We have talked about dropping the kitchen sink at least 18" in order to set it apart from the other rooms as well as not make the cabinets seem like they are floating right in the middle of the wall. More to come on that decision. lakeviewgirl - thank you for the call out on the DW location. We will have that switched with the trash since we will like be using that right side of the oven as our likely main prep area. I actually like the look of the garages on either side and like cpartist says, they are also very common where we are building and do create a neat courtyard look. Here is what the front elevation looks like: Here is a house that I think ours will look similar to (just flipped): In terms of the closet location through the bathroom, we were the ones that asked for the design to be this way. Like nini804 calls out, we have always wanted the closets to be a little more secluded as we both travel for work at least once a month and have to get up @ 4am just to get to the airport. That way as long as the person can "ninja" it out of bed, the other can continue to sleep hopefully. chisue - I also don't understand the "via a toilet" comment. Yes, you do walk by the toilet closet, but not through it. chisue - As far as the MBR, we currently have our headboard flanked by windows, so we have no problem with it whatsoever. Again thank you all again for the great dialogue and constructive feedback. And thank you for validating that for the most part our plans are pretty cool :) We welcome anything else you can think of. You have definitely given us a lot to think about.

Well, OSU has one of the finest undergraduate architectural and architectural engineering programs in the nation. As a former student, faculty member and Head of the School, I'm completely unbiased about the program! They would never consider your project for an educational project for the students, but many of the faculty practice architecture and do residential and small commercial projects on a regular basis. OKC and Tulsa also have many talented and experienced architects. As for phasing the work, I caution against doing anything and anymore than you immediately are ready to do and have to do to occupy the land. That's because as time goes by your thinking will change and modify (humans do this a lot). You run the risk of making your early investments and improvements outmoded or obsolete. That said, it's a good practice to master plan your site and project, exploring and deciding on building envelope location, how that will be accessed, general orientation. solar energy strategies, views and usable outdoor areas, utility access, well and septic locations, etc.--at least in general terms. An architect experienced in these things will be an invaluable ally early on and when you are finally ready to design and build. Until your house is designed (and it should be designed based on a sound understanding of your site characteristics), you will want to keep all of your site improvement options open. As to the options of RV living or over garage living, etc., you will have to sort that strategy out as best fits your lifestyle, schedule and budget. Good luck--exciting times ahead. PS: Ron Walker (Walker Construction) is an OSU architecture graduate and retired home builder in the Stillwater area who may be helpful. You can tell him I recommended you contact him. He built my home when my family and I lived in Stillwater.