Chris, I'm in a very similiar situation. My basement is 7'.25" from cement to the bottom of the joists. The house is balloon construction, 2x4 wall studs go from the foundation to the roof. Because of the balloon construction, I need an 8' header, but it can't be more than 4" tall. I'm probably going to go with some engineered lumber and rebuild that portion of the wall with the rough-in as a 2x6 wall. #50 from betterheader (http://www.betterheader.com/ibeam.asp) looks like a possibility. Did you find a solution for a short header? Worthy's suggestion of a steel lintel is the second time I've come across that as a solution, but I haven't found any information on using that with wood construction. Thanks Andrew

Your bedrooms, closets and bathrooms seem to be nicely sized. You might consider scaling back your great room, 27'x27' is pretty big. That is 729 sq ft. Try putting some furniture in the layout and see what you think. Instead you could have a slightly smaller but still generous 20x20' or so (400 sq ft) great room and an additional slightly separate kids space with the remaining sq ft. The remaining 329 is enough for a 18x18' room, also quite generous. Then you could have an area for kids toys to be corralled and not out in your main living space. In my experience this needs to have sight lines to the main living space or kids won't use it. Later it can be a place for older kids to have friends over etc. Or that remaining sq ft could just be trimmed to save money or dedicated to a guest or kid's bedroom upstairs. You also might consider having the children share one one full bathroom (maybe #3) and convert the other (bath #2) to a powder room for guests and have linen storage in the extra space. Right now your main family entrance moves through back halls and then through the kitchen (sharing space with where someone might stand to wash dishes). You might move the clean up sink elsewhere and use that area as a buffet space when you have guests and a drop zone for mail, groceries etc. as people move in from the garage. You also don't have any space dedicated to dropping shoes, coats, backpacks etc. as you come in from the garage. I know that is something that I can't live without :). When the rest of the floor plan is more set I would take the kitchen layout to the kitchen forum. The house has a very irregular shape which will make your roof and foundation both more complicated and expensive. Depending on your budget this could be something to consider. Do you have an idea of what the exterior will look like? and what you want it to look like? If you can have one garage bay side entry could you have all of them side entry? Most people seem to prefer that look, up to you though. It looks like a beautiful spot and a lovely large lot. What kind of climate are you in?

I haven't seen base sprouts from river birches. There are several I see daily as I walk to work, and I live next door to an unmaintained tree field from a defunct wholesale nursery that has rows of them. Perhaps frankielynnsie's had cultural issues such as soil problems it was trying to overcome? Honey locust/Gleditsia triacanthos provides airy shade. It may root sucker some, but not as badly as some other types of trees. As laceyvail suggested above, the tree forum is a better place to ask this particular question since it is asking for specific kinds of trees rather than overall design. However, getting a landscape designer in on the process early on may be a good idea since overall house placement and design (including placement of doors, windows, and main living spaces) may be influenced by how you want to use the outdoor space. Do you have an overall plan of the property? Do you have a list of uses for the space? This thread (though a different type of property) has some good ideas, questions, and a linked resource that may help you start thinking about how you want the outdoor space to feel and overall property to be used.

Thank you for the suggestions. We do have a bathroom, 2 large bedrooms, an exercise room, laundry room and utility area. It is a walkout so lots of light but yes only 4 wall sconces and a low light fan overhead. Wish I would have spent the money for pot lights. The little nook by the stairs is plumbed for a sink. The TV has wires and plug in behind so cannot move real easy. I like the idea of the longer tv cabinet. Would you suggest pulling the couch away from the wall where it currently sits? The room is 18’ x 15’ but that door needs to be accessible. The flow of traffic to the bathroom is important as we don’t have another one for pool use. Ideally I would like to move the door opening of that triple French door to the other end so it doesn’t interfere with the flow of traffic, but sounds like it would require a new set up.