I devised my own chandelier winch. I'm a car dealer but mechanic by trade so I used a boat style winch with some coated cable. mounted near my catwalk in the attic. for electrical I bought a 20 amp spring wound extension cord reel and mounted above fixture in attic, so when I lower it the electric cable goes with it. This setup isn't as nice as the 900 dollar ones but will do the trick. Your house is looking great, Was wondering if you are nearby us upstate. We are near Binghamton.

Glassed in porch, instead of deck; small sunroom on right corner, instead of small corner porch

littlemrslarge, congrats on building as well. I am sure you are just as excited as we are to get the ball rolling and build a new home! Also, thanks so much for finding the threads. They were super helpful! theballs, glad you found my thread and are going to follow me. We are building in the West Knoxville/Farragut area (off of Kingston pike at Pellissippi) and could not be more pleased with the location. Our family and friends all live in west Knoxville and we just didn't want to settle for a so so location, but really find a location that worked for us and our families! So it is out there if you do decide to move to Knoxville! ash6181, congrats to you as well on building in Vonore! littlemrslarge and ash6181, keep me updated on your progress since we are all in the same area!

chicagoans - You are exactly right, the interior is funky! As far as things I love about the exterior: you named most of them, stone, hardiplank, windows, door and shutter style, split garages, porch, aluminum over the roof, and just the layout and roof lines of the exterior. I have been looking everywhere for pictures of what I like and want so when I meet with an architect in March I can show him my 'likes' and see what we come up with as far as an interior floor plan. I will post some pictures in a little while of rooms and layouts that I like! Thanks for your response! I'm posting the link again since it appears to not be working properly in the previous link. Here is a link that might be useful: Frank Betz - Westhampton Plan