I had not done any trading for several years but have enjoyed it this year, with the exception of having people email me for a trade or for plants for postage, then I reply and never hear from them again. It's frustrating and a total waste of time. I have not had anyone default on a set up trade and don't send plants for postage without getting the postage first. I think the Rate and Review Forum has the potential to be wonderful, but many others like me may not know about it and I would hate for anyone not to trade with me because of a lack of feedback. I'm actually an awesome trader. :)

Some responses to the items I pointed out earlier... 2 - Foyer closet--I personally prefer hooks + a bench BUT now notice that you don't have a coat closet in the mudroom area. As it is, you will probably hang your 'current season' coat on a hook in the mudroom and store your 'off season' coats in the front closet. Since your foyer closet is so close to the mudroom, I think this will work! :) The foyer does have a spot for a bench which I think is ABSOLUTELY essential (unless you want your guests to wear their shoes indoors at all times.) 3 - Depending on your lifestyle, having space to have guests over to watch TV is nice when you have small kids. It's hard to get out to see a movie and/or friends, so inviting friends over for a movie kills two birds with one stone. We were never 'TV people' before our son was born. It is amazing all of the small ways a person's lifestyle changes when a baby arrives! I'd suggest talking to other parents in your lives (your own parents and your friends who are parents) to try to get an idea of what your life will be like once children enter the picture. 6 - Is there seating room at the island? I know guests can get a little uncomfortable (both physically and socially) standing around while someone is working in the kitchen. I think seating makes their presence seem more comfortable for everyone. :) 7 - As an voracious reader, I find it unlikely those chairs in the study will be your favorite reading nooks, since the natural light will be coming in at your face instead of at your back. Think about where you gravitate toward for reading in your current home. For me, anyway, during the daytime I like to have natural light from behind or next to me. If it's evening, I like a LOT of BRIGHT light above me (can lights galore!) 8 - I also work on the computer. (I work from home full time as a web developer and stay-at-home mom.) Side-by-side is different from back-to-back. If you both spend a lot of time at the computer at the same time, you'll just want to make 100% sure your computer nook is comfortable for everyone. Don't just think about once you're settled in---thinking about coming/going for trips to the kitchen, bathroom, and nursery. (If anyone plans on working at the computer while caring for the baby, I'd recommend a computer set-up near the nursery, at least for the first year of each baby's life.) 9 - If the stair layout is the most economical way, I'm sure you'll get used to it. I just know it would drive ME crazy to have to make a U-turn when I'm SPRINTING to the baby's room to take calm him down before his 'sleep fussing' turns into real crying. :) 10 - Our builder's opinion on the pocket door to the water closet is mostly that they're a pain to use if they are frequently closed. At the risk of over-sharing, our master bath door only gets shut when one spouse worries the aroma will offend the other spouse's senses. So, for us, the inconvenience of sometimes operating a pocket door is worth the aesthetic of having it out of the way 99% of the time. Again, it just totally depends on your lifestyle. I think our builder charges about $150 more for a pocket door vs. a normal door--it's worth finding out what your builder charges before going crazy adding them all willy nilly, of course. :D 11 - If you're not bothered by it, I think skipping a closet door in the bedroom would be fine. For aesthetic reasons, I'd recommend having any closet areas that are visible from the bedroom be anything but shelving. My husband and I are neat freaks and we both worked retail so we know how to fold and stack clothes neatly...and our shelving still never looks tidy. Hanging looks better by far. (I'd personally have a closet door that swings into the room, but that's just a personal preference, not a game changer.) Hope that helps! It's all just my personal opinions. We're only in the planning stages too, so I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. :) (Hope you'll go comment on my floorplan since it sounds like we have similar lifestyles.) Here is a link that might be useful: Floorplan of my 4BR 2-story Minnesota home

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I love all of your gardens, they have inspired me, and made me believe I could do this, they are just wonderful. That was my first shade bed, down in my Gully, I have several more beds now, but the first one that had any plants of decent size. hopefully this year I will have better pics. The White Rock, is manmade, I made it using old blocks, pieces of concrete I needed to get rid of anyway, so I wanted a rock, my husband is sick & cannot help me, so I looked online, got some ideals, and I built it, it looks better in person than in pics for some reason, you really can not tell I made it, I made one more to help hold a bank, I will find that pic, this is all a work in progress, and has taken a lot longer than I ever imagined. Since I made the rock, I found huge rock over in another gully so I have just been moving them around with my husband's truck and a crow bar, but I have dug enough rock up off this hill to rock my dry stream that is used when we get lots of rain. The great thing I have found about working down in the gully is the shade is there all day. lol

Just some general thoughts from my perspective: - The closet by the front door looks a little short of a 2' minimum to store anything hanging. - The pantry looks like you are trying to squeeze it in just to have one. Maybe re-work the pantry/closet/laundry area. It looks like you have plenty of cabinet space and that extra space in the back of the garage, maybe think about if you really need a pantry. - I am sure it is different for each couple, but the master bath to me needs work. If someone is using it as a shower or using the toilet, they are locking up access to the closet. - That is a lot of windows in the master bath. We have a lot of windows now, with blinds drawn almost all the time (actually we have blinds that come down from the top, so usually have the top 1/4 open most of the time). - Depending on your lifestyle, the master bedroom being adjacent to the family room could be an issue (along with the other two bedrooms down the short hallway). Imagine you have guests over and someone wants to retire to the master or the two downstairs bedrooms. It could be pretty noisy without a buffer area. - For the size of the house, you do not have a powder room on the first floor. If you have guests over, you will need to assure the full bathroom is kept clean. - The location of the fireplace/stove is interesting in the family room. You may want to trial arrange some furniture to see how that works, or potentially make that a corner unit. - The office upstairs has one wall against the large open area. Depending on the situation, could that get noisy? - The office is bigger than most bedrooms. That may be a necessity, but many of us survive in small offices/cubes during the day just fine. Possibly a location to save some space or give it up for other purposes. - As mentioned above, those in the two upstairs bedrooms will parade by the open area when they want to use the bathroom. - The one bedroom and the nook on the second floor share a wall. If the nook is used for TV or other activities, it might be troublesome for the person who resides in the bedroom. - As mentioned in above posts, you are making a trade-off for a complicated design (lots of corners and complicated roof). If you could get rid of a few corners you would probably gain space without it costing any more. - If you are on 10 acres, depending on where you locate the house you may not care about how exactly the exterior looks (as long as you like it and you are not too concerned about resale).