Your cabin is charming! I wouldn't change a thing in the original living/dining room and loft. I would take out the kitchen and square off the space...or add french doors and make that the play room. Since the driveway is on the right side of the house...have you considered 'flipping' the kitchen/family area and master bedroom? I'd rather have the driveway off the closet/bath and the view off the kitchen/family room. Then, you could put the screened porch on the left side and have easy access to the kitchen...and great views out the back of the house. As for the kids' rooms, I think they work well as is, but if you need a bedroom closer to the master...then I'd put it in between the living/dining and master area (as you have it now) but eventually turn that into a guest room/study. Can the kids go upstairs, eventually? That loft would make a great bedroom or playroom area :)

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I really appreciate the feedback (and the nice comments). First, let me correct one little thing. The family is actually more like 17' wide even though the label says 13' (that's one of the drawbacks of posting plans before they are final -- we are still tweaking). The 13' label is left over from when our basement stairs were directly beneath the other stairs and kind of jutted out into the room, and the room is measured from the narrowest width. Now the space under the stairs is open except where the TV and storage area are back level with the rest of the walls, so the entire room is at least over 17' wide and about 22' long. (You can use the coffered ceiling grid as a measurement, they are a little over 5' each.) As far as furniture placement, that is a bit tricky. We plan to put two sofas facing one another perpendicular to both the TV and the view with maybe a coffee table between and a chair or two on the sides. Of course, there is always the window seat for extra seating as well and bar stools at the island. But mostly we do plan to leave it open for traffic as wonbyherwits mentioned between the front door and back door and to the dining room and to the inglenook. My husband doesn't like a lot of furniture or clutter. My hope is that it will have enough seating and also open space for entertaining and also be cozy and comfortable for just the family. Pinktoes, when you suggest half-timbering the top of the barn, do you mean the one exposed end of the gable where the hay loft door is? We could do that. It would be about the same cost. Although folks would rarely see that side. The front and back elevation's are the most visible. Thanks, Cork2win, mikeyvon and wonbyherwits, for the nice comments. As for when kids are older, they may not get a kick out of the secret passageway or the playhouse under the stairs (both of which cost almost nothing). But I think they'll still enjoy some of the other features like the inglenook (my husband said when he was in college at Berkeley and would go home with a group of fratnerity brothers, they would always fight about who got to sleep in a similar little nook in the family room). And personally, I still adore a loft. Lindybarts, I'm sorry you're having trouble downloading the files. I'm open to other ideas. Is there a way to post pdfs as photos?

Mainly, it really does take years to see how a person most naturally acts and reacts when faced with 'life' and different sorts of stressors they cannot control. It's child's play to be able to display and live out 'ideal' forms of behaviour for months. Some people have even been known to be able to do that for years, but then turn out to be running cons. Behaviour is a whole package thing, and it's important not to get blinded by some things so that other things are dismissed or ignored. Early proposals are not, in themselves a bright warning beacon of some problem. They do kind of show that the timing of and within adult relationships may be unknown to a person. It would be more seriously problematic if he presses for a definite answer before you have had years to know him in real life. You've already had experiences where marriages did not work out; and you've spent years getting to know a person who was able to have a long term dating relationship, but once married, that relationship did not last even 2 years. There are things that need to be seriously weighed about the other person, you personally, and what kind of relationship you intend to build. Ponder all those variables seriously and don't make a decision prematurely. (If he pressures you to, let him move on because anyone can act nicely or even 'ideally' if they try; but it's really important to be in a relationship with someone who will let you be able to make your own decisions based on what you know your best long term interests to be.) it might be, but it should have at least 3 charming years over which to build so that you can make sure he will let you make some decisions and that he will honor your input even if it is different in some way than his; you can do that and still enjoy a good or even great dating or steady relationship P.S. Marriage is a legal committment and a person's undeclared 'baggage' can be very serious and some hide-able traits can be very burdensome to you and your family. It takes time to get to know what kinds of such 'baggage' a person may have; and more importantly, it takes time to be able to know how well they manage those aspects of their life.

I just wanted to second mayflowers recommendation of the Grazia Rixi tiles. I have them in my master bath in Mandorla, along with the crushed glass accent tiles you picked out. Perhaps you could use some of those crushed glass tiles as a small accent in your backsplash along the lines of the kitchen mayflowers linked? The Rixi tiles are very understated but very beautiful. Someone recommended them to me and I have totally fallen in love with them. I think they would look gorgeous with your granite and cabinets - maybe in the Crema color. In my master bath I used the Rixi Mandorla tiles as the primary field tile and the little crushed glass squares in the bath faucet and shower niches. I know it's hard not to feel rushed to find a backsplash, but if you give it some time I am sure you can find something you are truly excited about!