Hi, Just on a technical note. Solar panels tend to be large because that is the only way you can get enough power out of them. Just to run a small 1KW electrical fire, you would need about 2 meters squared of electrical panels. I actuall was thiking about solar panels, but for hot water not electricity. Hot water is cheaper and has a faster payback return. My oil heating bils are real expensive these days. Best, Mike.

Summerfield, So sorry it took so long to get back to you but we had a lovely power outage this morning so things came to a big halt. I wanted to wait til hubby could be with me so we can look at this together. Yes, you are right - the French Doors should be at the Living Room leading to the bedroom. We forgot that wall is a shear/bearing wall. Sorry for that mix-up. KITCHEN How big is the island? What do you think about moving the prep sink to other end of island? I debated whether to just make my cooktop a range so I can get more space on the left side of my main sink...but my back issues still remain. I went round & round over freezer access in the kitchen but with my idea below - that may be addressed. Why don't we go back to the original L-shaped part of the kitchen (leaving your island in) & put the kitchen freezer elsewhere close by. IDEA: Put kitchen freezer in entry to control center. Recess freezer as far into the vestibule as possible & whatever space is left over,make into storage. Would that be possible? Hubby's words for it: For door directly above entry that leads to vestibule, show door swing to the left against east wall of vestibule. Move west wall of vestibule which is opposite that door to the east to make room for the installation of the present kitchen freezer in what is in the foyer that leads to the control center. (The deck arctic entry will rarely be used by anyone else other than us so it doesn't have to be accommodating so much to gear as the carport entry does.) CONTROL CENTER Could we remove the door from the kitchen entry area into the control center & makea pocket door where the dotted line is between the two cabinets? This would also give me easy access to the kitchen freezer. BATH You are right...please put back pocket door in bathroom :) UTILITY AREA IN BATH Put transom window in bathroom above linen closet. We've decided to heat the main floor with in-floor radiant heating utilizing a boiler-driven thermal system that will be located in the utility room adjacent to the bathroom. Enclose utility area by extending wall that borders rod & shelves to the east ending south of west wall of linen closet. Install wall between west side of linen closet & utility area. Install pocket door opposite what is now the heater. (This also removes the window above the bathroom heater). Within the utility room will be located a direct vent Bedaris boiler about the size of the water heater shown in your latest rendering. Also we will retain the existing water heater shown in the rendering. (Toyo-Tomi fuel oil demand). We have be able to put the surge tank along that utility wall but we'll field fit that as we go. OUTSIDE DIMENSIONS I think I see what I did with the dimensions. I looked at my original and see I put 20 x 16 for the Living Room. I should have put 16 x 20. It's 16' from south to north. I looked at hubby's original graph paper & the outside dimensions for the living area are 32' north to south (living room & bedroom) and the deck adds 12' which brings it to 44'. So sorry for the mix-up. Office heat source: We are going with in-floor radiant heating. I am so sorry for all these changes...we really appreciate all your kind help. You've made our plans so much more useable - thank you!!! melaska

Hi, Aprildaisy. Our kids just did their new room in a very similar pumpkiny color, and it is really warm and inviting. The green trees out the windows look very pretty against it too. That is the general L shape I was thinking of, but to keep it from breaking the room in two and also from dividing the spaces too rigidly, I suggest one important difference--that the short arm of the L run down the short end wall to the left, and then the long arm continue across the lower wall to as close to the big doorway as you need. Like this: :___. A table could then be placed against the back wall to the left of the 3-1/2' doorway. This would leave the center of the room open for your family to move around and through the room. This would be important so that it continued to feel large, as well as act large. This open space would also allow flexibility when you needed it. For instance, if you wanted to seat someone extra, the table could extend into that open center area a bit, or an extra chair or chairs could be added to the lounging area when you had visitors. You'd have room available. Putting the L this way, :___ , would also leave a LOT more room for the living area because a couple of chairs or a couch could then be set on that nice 8' stretch of wall alongside the back doorway. The way the picture is drawn now, part of that wall would have to be kept clear so you guys could move through. If you wished, you could probably fit a corner-group sofa in there, wrapping around on 2 walls, for lots of lounging space.

The trouble with "rules" in general is that they tend to be a little "one size fits all." They are useful to know, and I broke the ones I broke, knowingly, and after a lot of consideration. I have never understood the 15" seating overhang guideline, but it must be made for long-legged people who really like to belly up to the counter. That's not us, we measured what we have and found 12" to be plenty, even though we are not short. Some people really want to unload the dishwasher without moving their feet, so dish storage near the DW is important. We are used to a more "point of use" dish storage system, so the coffee stuff is in one place, the dinner dishes another, the breakfast dishes another (not that any are very far away.) I unload the dishwasher maybe 3 times a week, so it just isn't that big of a deal. Maybe it is if you do it twice a day, though! Our fridge is at the end of our U-shaped kitchen. With a large family or even a few kids + friends running in and out, that could be a disaster. In a retirement home for 2, it's fine. (Obstacles to easy access to the fridge for snacks are probably a good thing at this point!) Plus I don't want to see the fridge from the LR, pretty as it is. And we could have had an island instead of a peninsula, but we didn't really want it THAT open to the living area. And you can't get into the dishwasher and the freezer drawers at the same time, but that seemed to be a conflict we could live with. I am a person who has to know the details of the "why" before I will follow a rule. Then I see if I think it fits before I decide whether to follow it. The list of advice I took to heart is a much longer list, though! Much longer.