Wow, a body dryer! That sounds so nice. Off to google... Yeah, I'm pretty excited about that. We are almost empty nesters /close to retirement, and we are planning a house that'll be elder-friendly -- the body dryer plays into that. But it's also just cool. JR, what you're doing is similar to getting an awful haircut and then pulling a few strands into a rubber band, covering it with a bow and thinking no one will notice the bad haircut. Yeah, that's a good analogy. You may cover it up for the day and at first glance it looks okay, but underneath you still have a bad haircut. It doesn't function: you aren't able to style your hair in whatever way you please; you've become a one-trick pony and all you can do is pull your hair back ... or pay more money and get someone to "clean up" the bad haircut ... yet you're limited in what you can do 'cause your hair's now short. Mine has a sliding bar with a shower that can be handheld so that I could have a very low shower (which I wanted) but have it be adjustable for "some day". Yes, that's what I'm planning too. With a handheld model on a bar, you have options. You can shower standing up, or -- if you're sick, elderly, or just lazy today -- you can sit down and still use the same shower head. While we're on the topic of showers, be sure of these basics: - Place the controls in such a location that you can reach your hand in to turn on the water ... without walking in /putting yourself in the path of the spray. - If you're not building in grab bars today, spend the pennies necessary to put solid plywood behind the spot(s) where you would place a grab bar. It might one day save you from ripping out all your expensive tile. - Consider where your towels are going to hang. How many Houzz pix have you seen of lovely bathrooms ... yet the towels are hanging across the room or behind a swinging shower door?

Thanks for all of the additional feedback, super helpful. We incorporated much of it and went back to the architect so just waiting for the next round. We weren't ready to give up on the arched porch feature, but we went back to the drawing board on the elevations and asked for this to be more prominent and to tie in better with other features. We also simplified the siding as suggested, and I'm considering eliminating the stone except for the foundation. @PPF I like the idea of Hip Roof, prefer the style and it would help to stay within elevation (25ft to mid-point of roof), but from my research, talking with the architect it sounds like these roofs can be a good deal more expensive. Not sure how much really, but working with a budget and would rather not sacrifice some of the interior features/details for the roof. For our needs, I think swapping the dining room and study ultimately make sense. I like the frosted door idea which will still allow the light in but shield the toys/and workspace from prying eyes. I'm still not entirely settled on the two islands, but we removed the structural posts so that we have flexibility to make changes as we work through the kitchen design. Custom Home Resources - great idea to "walk" the design. I hadn't thought of it. I found a couple things, like island extending too far into the family room which made the walk around from the stairs a bit annoying. Excited for the next round and I'll share the changes for those interested. Does anyone have suggestions for great online tools to play around with kitchen designs/layouts? Would be great to put it together to visualize the two islands and layout of the appliances/pantry.

PPF and cpartist- what about the exterior looking like this? Check out this red house and then the changes I made on my plan. Larger upper dormer (similar to red house with steep roofline) and making the windows double windows with a single in the middle in place of the two little ones in the upper center. Also, raising the dormer on the garage side. Then doing only the shingle/shakes on the two dormers and board and batten on the rest of the exterior. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you! (Also, showing a gray house with an identical roofline as ours)

To piggyback on Virgil's comment...could you design the empty nest space on one floor with separate climate zones so that later on you can completely close off part of the house unless you have guests. This makes perfect sense. Specifics I'd care about: - Place everything you and your spouse will need once you're "empty nesters" on the first floor ... and make sure it's elder-friendly. - This is an ugly thought, but it's realistic: It's easy to consider you and your spouse living in this 4000 square foot house together as empty nesters ... but one day one of you will be widowed. Will 4000 square feet still feel okay then? - Put the kids' bedrooms upstairs, but make sure you can close off that space when no one's using it. Be sure you have at least one bedroom that can hold at least a queen bed so that visiting adult children (who bring along a spouse) can be housed comfortably, and think about a room that could become a grandchildren's room. - This upstairs space might one day be needed for a live-in caretaker (who could be a child or grandchild, or could be a paid caregiver). - Lose the loft and instead make the basement a kids' hang out space. - A completely different thought: Design the house so that you have two bedrooms upstairs for your younger children ... and a one-bedroom apartment (with a separate entrance PLUS a lockable connection to the main house) for the older boys. My mom has this set-up in her house, and it has proven itself very flexible over the years. In her case, the one-bedroom apartment is connected to the main house with a breezeway. Initially an elderly relative lived in the apartment. Each of us kids took turns living in that bedroom. It's been temporary housing for a number of people. Now my mother lives in the apartment, while my brother and his family have the main house. Heck that double bedroom might not even get a year or more out of it before the boys are off to college. I say that because it may be another year or two before the house is built. Yes, realistically, the oldest boys will barely ever live in the house ... but assuming they're going away for the traditional college route, they'll be home for holidays and summers. They may or may not come home after college, but they're not likely to stay long. My oldest has been out of college two years now, and as I think about her high school classmates, only one is still living at home with her mom ... and it's because she is a single mother. I know plenty of empty nesters living in 4000+ sq.ft. houses and none of them are overwhelmed. Eh, I bought my current 2400 square foot house from an empty nester who was overwhelmed both with the upkeep and the cost of the home. I know a couple other people who would like to downsize ... but they can't unload their large houses and/or can't find something small and manageable for the same cost now. I do know one retired guy who stocks grocery shelves part-time literally because he can't afford his oversized house ... neither can he sell it. As for maintenance and upkeep, well, if one can afford to build such a house, they will probably still be able to afford it 30 years later. And also afford the help to clean it. Totally disagree. Speaking hypothetically, definitely not pointing at the OP, whose financial situation I don' t know: pretty much anyone can borrow to build a big house ... but that doesn't mean the individual can afford to retire AND maintain the big house. No one wants to discover too late that he cannot afford to travel, etc. in retirement because of the necessity of maintaining a big house. I have always told my husband that I wanted a home where all the kids would have a bed to sleep on when they chose to come back home to visit. Yes, I always want to have a space for my kids ... but at 4000 square feet, you have space for other people's kids too. Remember that an average house in America today is 2400 square feet; you're looking at practically double that size. I agree that's important too, but a few thoughts on that. How many will be moving far from home and how many will be staying with you at the same time? This is more unpredictable than your own health. With four kids, will they live nearby and visit but never stay the night? will they move far away? will they likely come back to visit at the same time? will they send their kids to stay with you two weeks every summer? Other thoughts: - That's a lot of garage for anyone. - I like the connection between the laundry and the master closet. - The master bath could use improvement. - You're devoting a huge amount of space to bedrooms ... but not nearly as much to eating space. Fast forward a decade or two: imagine four children, spouses and grandchildren ... you don't have anywhere to feed even half that group! And, in my experience, you're more likely to have family for a day /a meal than for overnight. - The placement of the toilet in the shared bathroom seems to be very much "out in the open". I get that this bathroom is designed for sharing, but it could be better.