Sorry, I couldn't think of a two dimensional way to display the trellises...I'll have pictures of the real-deal up by tomorrow, hopefully. The back of the watermelons, cantaloupe, sweet pea/green beans will have an 8' trellis assembled out of cattle fencing and 2" x 4" x 10' (cut to length and braced) and the middle of each bed, for the cukes, tomatoes and bell peppers will have a 4' trellis assembled out of masonry remesh or more cattle fencing - I haven't decided which yet. I'm hoping that the shorter, "mid-bed" trellis for the cukes give some dappled shade for the lettuce and spinach to help cool their soil from the afternoon and evening sun. Our daily high temps generally hit around 4-6pm here. I also read that companioning bell peppers with tomato plants helps preserve the humidity required to keep the peppers sweet and large, however I have no experience in the matter. As for the size of the beds, they're all 4' x 4' beds laid out in square foot arrangements... Like I said the space was limited as I have large cedar and oak trees everywhere on my property. :sigh:

I agree- the porch is going to be hot at times. We do have tall trees in all directions, but they won't be very close to the house- too much risk of damage during ice storms. The way the land lays, and the direction of the view pretty much locks in the orientation of the house. It is a sloping lot, so if I put the garage behind the house, it would require walking up stairs. On the kitchen end, the main floor will be some 10' off the ground. I originally wanted to put the porch off the kitchen end, but that would make the kitchen dark, especially as it is already on the north side of the house. The same problem arises if I put the porch on the northeast side- it would block the morning sun, which I want to have in the MBR and kitchen. I could mirror the entire house, and have the living room and porch on the east side, but that might make the MBR hot in the evening. You'd think with 7 acres, this process would be easier! It's true that this design will cost more to build, and, all else being equal, a bit less efficient to heat and cool. I plan a pretty aggressive approach to insulation, looking for about R-30 in the walls, and R-50 in the roof. That, coupled with our tolerance for temperature changes should keep it affordable to condition. We like the windows open between about 55 to 80 degrees, so much of the year, we won't be using the conditioning. I'm thinking about using mini-split heat/A/C units, which will allow us to selectively condition the room(s) we are using. I should have put more room sizes: The parlor is about 15X17, the MBR is about 12X17, and the kitchen is about 14X19. The foyer is about 6X9, making it the biggest foyer I've ever had! We very rarely entertain, and then it's only one or two couples, so we don't really need a grand entrance. I'd rather have a modest foyer, and 'wow' guests as they enter the rest of the house, rather than the other way around. This plan I consider to be a luxurious layout for two people. The rooms could certainly be smaller, but that leads to problems finding room for all the other stuff, like stairs, laundry, and a second bathroom. The foyer would have the front door, and also a door to the garage. I might slide the garage back to be flush with the house instead. What else- If there is no upstairs, the basement stairs would be accessed from the parlor side. On the opposite end, a pantry could go over the descending stairs. There's pretty good chance that one of the corners between the kitchen and the BR or parlor will have an open deck. If I mirrored the house, the deck could go in the north west quadrant, making a warm and protected spot during fall/winter/spring when there are no mosquitoes. As it turns out, there is no plumbing under the parlor or the MBR, so I'm going to compare costs of only having a full basement under the main gable, and having crawl space under the wings. If it's only a few thousand $ difference in cost, I'll go full basement- it's cheap expansion space. I don't plan to finish the basement, unless DS moves back into the nest. It will be storage, and maybe a game table or small workshop. With a big barn, most of my tools will be out there, but it would be nice to have a comfortable spot to work during very hot or very cold weather. Another thought (Haven't I had enough already?!) If I go 2 stories for the main gable, I could use shed roofs over the parlor and MBR wings. Not nearly as cute, but much cheaper and easier to build......

I never even thought of an up-light fixture. That could certainly add a nice ambiance when task lights aren't needed. I will play with that idea. Thanks! Yeah, I figured you didn't notice the window issue, lol. I was thinking about mid-point between wall and edge of counter and tried to center my little circles to show that. 10" from counter makes sense, too. I've never heard an exact placement so I was guessing. It seems that so many lighting plans I look at have the light fixture half on the counter and half off into the aisle and this makes no sense to me as your head would be blocking the light. We are going with the flush mounts as we have a weird ceiling issue. We have a false ceiling of of 1/4" plywood, then 4" gap, then another ceiling of 3/4" plywood. Directly above that is the attic which has about 15" of loose insulation in it that has never been disturbed. We don't wish to disturb it now. My DH says it will be a lot easier to cut holes in the false ceiling and then pull/fish the wires up the wall (breaker box is in the garage below) than to have to cut through the 3/4" plywood and line up both holes correctly in both ceilings. Makes sense to me. I think the flush mounts look fine and really don't drop down much more than the decorative edge for the can lights. I have also read that they tend to have greater coverage as the light is lower than the ceiling and shines out from the rounded edge of the light, where it meets up with the rim, instead of being more recessed and, thus, a bit shaded on the edge. Not sure if that's accurate or not but it makes sense to me, too. Do you know anything about the flush-mount LEDs that I should be concerned about? Thanks again for your help.

P G wrote, "...my question to you, how would you handle it, if someone expresses their needs/wish list for a home and then shows u a plan, which they are not married or necessarily attached to?..." It's a good question, and a common one. Probably every practicing architect has faced this more than once. The challenge is the degree to which (or not) they "are or aren't married to" the stock plan or home-grown plan. The all too frequent reality is that after spending inordinate amounts of time looking on the Internet for the "perfect" plan, and especially spending eons of time doing one's on plan using a CAD system, most human beings ARE married to their plan in whole or in part. You can test this by asking your husband if he's willing to abandon his plan! Thus, an experienced and creative architect is going to have to spend additional time to review the stock plan with the consumer and gently suggest, "well, have you thought about this...?", and "have you considered that...?", attempting to demonstrate that there may be better and more appropriate directions and solutions. It's really so much easier and more fun to start with a clean sheet of paper, working closely together with the architect of your choosing. You will be able to tell a lot about your architectural technologist by how they respond to this plan and your husband's plan. If s/he simply say, "Sure, I can get this drafted up in just a few days...", you have a big problem. On the other hand, if they scratch their chin, and say, "Well, have you thought about this...?", you may have a keeper! I really don't know what a Canadian Architecture Technologist can do. There is no equivalent in the U.S. Their degree and training is less than an architect's, and they may be legally limited in the size and type of buildings they can design. My guess is that they fit somewhere between a draftsperson and an architect. I would think their technical knowledge and skill may be strong, but wonder if they have the true creative abilities of talented architects. If their past work looks appealing and they have good references, it's worth a go.