My condolences on losing your grandma. :( Here is my advice based on my personal experiences with these plants (I've grown most of the ones you mentioned)... First, I would suggest repotting all the plants into individual pots. Small pots, a little bigger than the root mass for the plants. The reason I suggest that is that if the plant is in a small pot WITH DRAINAGE HOLES IN THE BOTTOM (a must), it will make it easier to avoid overwatering. With the exception of a few plants that love moisture, overwatering will kill most plants faster than anything else - because the soggy soil smothers the roots and makes them rot. Underwatering will also kill plants of course, but not as fast as rot will. It is easier to save an underwatered plant than one that is rotting from too much water. For Crotons, a combination of SUNSHINE and HUMIDITY seems to be the key thing. When I got my croton last winter, I put it on top of my aquarium (so the evaporating aquarium water will keep it humid) directly in front of a western window. It seems to like that. I would suggest putting your croton in an unobstructed East, West or South facing window if you can (north windows don't give enough light). I would also suggest putting it right on the windowsill - even being a few feet from the window drastically reduces the amount of light it gets. For humidity, if you don't have an aquarium handy, you can try raising humidity by sitting it on a tray of pebbles with some water sitting in the bottom of the tray (the pebbles are to keep the pot from sitting DIRECTLY in water, which would let water seep into the pot and keep the soil too soggy). Check how moist the soil is with your finger every day and water it when the soil starts to dry out. As said above, don't water it so often that the soil always stays soggy, but if you wait too long to water it the plant will likely drop leaves. If you pay attention to how moist it is every day until you get the hang of things, it will be okay. For a rubber tree, don't panic just because it dropped the leaves. It doesn't mean that the plant is going to die. All Ficus plants (the rubber tree is a kind of ficus) drop leaves very easily when they are under any kind of stress. I would suggest putting it in a sunny location (again, East, West, or Southern window if possible). It doesn't seem to care as much about humidity as the croton does. I'd just water it when the soil dries out, and when you water it I'd suggest putting it in the bathtub and letting the shower spray over it for a few minutes to clean off the leaves (to clean off any dust and discourage spider mites, which like to attack rubber trees) As mentioned above, Rubber trees can burn if they are put in direct sun too rapidly when they're not used to it, but once they get used to it, they love being in as much sun as they can get. The rubber tree I have spent the summer outside where it received direct southern sunshine all summer. After it adapted to the light, it thrived. It looked gorgeous when I brought it in for the winter. For dieffenbachia: Most people consider this a pretty easy plant to keep. Dieffenbachia doesn't seem to mind low light, so if you have a north facing window, go ahead and put it there. Water it when the soil dries out. In my experience, it doesn't seem to care about humidity levels. If you have any kids or pets, be careful and put it somewhere that they cannot reach it. Dieffenbachia is notorious for having nasty toxins in its leaves that can cause mouth irritation/swelling if a child or pet were to eat it. I'd also suggest washing your hands if you get any of its sap on your hands when you pot it. But as long as you don't get the sap in your mouth, it's harmless. Peace lily: It's hard to say if it will live or not without having seen what it looked like before you cut it back. Sometimes plants that wilt from not getting enough water can be saved if you start watering them again, but after a certain point they get past the point of recovery and there is nothing that can be done. If I were you, I'd put it in a northern or eastern window and water it for a few weeks to give it a chance to recover. Maybe it will put out some more growth. Peace lily does seem to be thirstier than a lot of other plants, so I'd be careful about not forgetting to water it - but again, don't let the soil stay constantly soggy; let it dry out a little between waterings. Just don't let it get bone dry between waterings. Philodendron: Is it the vine kind of philo? If it is, that should be a fairly easy plant to keep too. It can tolerate low light so it can be ok in a north window too. Water it when it dries out. If you have long vines, you can try clipping the ends of the vines off an putting them in a glass of water to root them and make more plants (whcih might be a good way to make backup plants until you get the watering down pat). I wouldn't bother trying to take cuttings if the philo is very small though. Spider plant: Are you sure it's a spider plant? Some types of Dracaena look similar and are often used in these kinds of baskets. Assuming it's a spider plant, it should do ok in low light too (though it would probably prefer an eastern window if it can get it). Again, it is pretty tolerant of just being watered when it dries out. Paradise palm: Could it be a Parlor palm? I've seen Parlor palms used a lot in this kind of basket too. They are supposed to be easy plants as well but I hesitate to give advice because I've killed several of them. They are supposed to tolerate low light and seem to be another plant that likes humidity in my experience, but I'll let someone else give you the detailed advice about them. Hope this advice helps you. Hope some of the plants survive.

This is my first year growing bananas but from what I've read they like rich, well drained soil, lots of ferts and water during the growing season. I ammended my mostly sandy soil with some peat moss, finely shredded leaves, homemade compost, alfalfa meal (fertilizer), and some Soil Moist crystals. After planting, I covered the bed with 3" of hardwood mulch. I plan on adding more ferts as the growing season progresses. Regards, Rokal

Congrats on the baby and home. YES, it does get easier & harder ( I now have teenagers...6 boys now...18 months-15 years). I'll hold your baby & you can clean my house ;) Anyways on to your plans. You are getting a lot of great feedback. I wanted to mimic some of the others on your long, narrow family and kitchen areas. Please make sure you graph it out or use a program to layout furniture. Our last home great room area was so large and open that we really grew to dislike it and built different this time around. Our "carpet" area fort the family room furniture was 24+ feet long and it along with the open eating and kitchen area was rather large & cold for us. I would think that with your set up you would almost be looking at needing two separate sitting areas in your family room area. And that is fine, if that is your plan. Or else a toy area, piano, library or something. Just lay it out and make sure it will work for you. Same thing with your kitchen...I'm more concerned about the width being too small with your island than the length being too long. You have room for the island, but don't go too wide or make your aisles too narrow...you will live to regret it. I would think the area between your island and perimeter counter (walkway to laundry) you are going to want a minimum of 4 feet. Remember the counters overhang from your 2 foot cabinets. We are owner builder and have been finishing the house while living in it. So, my kitchen is so not finished. However the perimeter counters & appliances have been in place and used for a year now. We have a table where the eventual island will be. My kitchen is around 17 feet long and 18 feet wide. This includes an island area and not a dining table. So, it is a large kitchen. The kitchen forum here was a tremendous life savor to get it tweaked right. Our home plan started with my dream kitchen and the house was added to it...lol. Anyways I wanted about 8 feet of windows and a large dish hutch. It functions amazingly well. Granted it is a lot of counter and cabinets. I wanted to show you an idea that gets rid of some of the counter on a long perimeter run like ours. The best part is 5 of the 6 boys can reach everything to put all the dishes away on their own (the 18 month old is still off the hook). I'm embarrassed to show you this unfinished; however, wanted to give you an idea. Please excuse the unfinished cabinets, temporary counters, temp sink, trophies on display rather than "pretties, " etc.

I can't get around the disconnect from the OP and others that the home has a requirement to be elevated above flood levels, but it's all created flat on the ground as if that requirement doesn't exist. You can't just say, now put this on a stem wall. Design doesn't work like that. That is such a huge fundamental thought error. Especially since a contractor was supposedly involved? You cannot get past that. And you can't get past the fact that if any professional actually was involved even peripherally in the creation of those plans. they are not the pros that you want to work with on a job like that. There are just too many errors.