Clara - Looks like you are certainly pumping out the lumens, and plants look happy. Two questions to ponder though: at $45 a pop, these 85W CFLs + fixture are well-beyond chump change, at least for me. At some point, it must make sense to switch over to a HID lighting system. A ceiling mounted 1000W HPS, for example, would probably irradiate a good portion of your grow space, and they can't be more than a couple of hundred bucks. Second, the size of those 85W CFLs in the HD brooder lamp seems to ensure a lot of wasted lumens, and they stick out so far, a strip of Al-foil won't do much. As someone previously said, those gigantic CFLs seem much better suited to horizontal mounting in a "wing" or "half-tube" style fixture. I think the same poster described making a simple one with a double-ended screw-in socket, 8' heating duct cut in two lengthwise, and a couple of sheet metal screws. That said, the brooder lamps _are_ very flexible in their placement. Personally, I don't exceed a 55W bulb (linked below) in this fixture because, as you pointed out, I don't like my retinas fried just walking around the room. Nice thing about this particular 55W is the squat design that just about fits inside the 10.5" hemisphere. And not too shabby at 3600 lumens and $16. Here is a link that might be useful: fat 55W CFL

I just installed the Mirabelle Edenton, which comes in 30x60x20 and larger sizes and is fairly reasonably priced for an alcove air bath that doesn't have an unattractive skirt (I paid $1850 with the chrome drain, delivered). In order to use it, however, you'll need to install the pump remotely (like in a linen closet) and run pvc or plastic tubing to the bath through the floor, or you'll have to have an access panel (my access panel is hidden behind this piece of wainscoting. There are other Mirabelle options, too. The only real problem is that you have to buy that brand from Ferguson, so you may be limited geographically if you want to see one in person. You might also consider the Kohler Archer, but then you have the skirt. Some people aren't offended by the skirt; I think it looks unfinished (cheaper than the Mirabelle by a few hundred dollars). Here are some pictures of mine: Good luck. Everything else I saw was likely too expensive (MTI, Hydrosystems, Bain Ultra) for what you're thinking (some more than twice the price).

I love the exterior of the plan and many many things about the interior. But I do see some potential issues with building it "as is". First the stairwell. On the first floor level, notice that both ends of the staircase say "up". Based on the staircase shown on the basement level drawing, I THINK the "up" nearest the kitchen is supposed to say "down" to the basement. However, if you look where the staircase ends in the basement, you'll see that there is no room for a lower landing. You would basically step off the bottom step smack dab into a wall that is about 12 inches away. That is going to have to be fixed. I'm also not totally into the idea of an open "well" running from basement to second floor... especially in Wisconsin. Much of your heat will sink into your basement making it harder to keep the bedrooms reasonably comfortable. I do think however that keeping the space available for a future elevator is a great idea. You never know when someone in your family might become wheel-chair bound. Without an elevator, 2/3 of your home - and all of the bedrooms and tubs/showers - would instantly become inaccessible. Plus, with a U shaped staircase, it would probably cost you more to put in a chair lift alongside the staircase than an elevator. And, an elevator would both look nicer AND be more useful. Perhaps as chapnc says, you could close the "well" between the basement and first floor and tuck a desk or something in there for now. Know however that if you ever do build an elevator, it will block much of the light from those front windows from reaching the rest of the house. Next, the kitchen. I love the idea of all the windows but wonder if you've considered whether you will have enough "above the waist" storage space. I don't see ANY upper cabinets nor any spot to hang some open shelves...unless that dotted line along one edge of the island indicated upper cabinets? (It isn't clear whether that means upper cabinets or a raised bar section). Really think about whether you would want to have to bend down and pull drinking glasses and cups and spices and cereal boxes and cookies and all the other stuff that typically gets stored in upper cabinets out of you lower cabinets instead. I love the idea of a built-in booth breakfast nook. (I'm actually putting one in my own house b/c DH and I always choose a booth when we eat out so I figured we might as well have one at home!) But I'm not sure if the one on your plan is wide enough so that you won't be stepping on the toes of the person sitting across from you. Based on a comparison with the stairs - which have to be at least 3' wide - the booth is only 5 foot wide at most. I picture fights breaking out among the kids over who stepped on who's toe or which one kicked the other. :-( I also agree that you need some countertop beside the refrigerator as a staging area - even if it is only 16 inches wide. When you need to pull a gallon of milk out to reach behind it for something else, it is nice to have someplace handy to set the milk jug down temporarily while you get whatever else you needed out. Next, I don't think there is nearly enough closet space for the master bedroom. For resale value in a house this size, I would expect his and hers closets or at least a 7x10 closet so that each partner would have 10 ft of wall space in their closet. I agree that opening the secondary bath to the hallway is a good idea. J&J baths can be a pain in the neck with kids locking one another out. My last thought is that, building in Wisconsin, a plan that had a lot more windows on the south side would let you take better advantage of the sun. But I can understand wanting to orient toward your best views on the east. Still, it is something to think about. I do think most of the issues I see with this plan could be resolved without changing the exterior... at least not much. Will try to post some drawings later but have to go fix lunch for DH now!

Breathtaking lot and lake. No wonder you bought it. We recently went through the purchase of an ugly duckling too. A younger duckling than yours, from 1987. My kitchen is linked below. We (my DD actually) painted the cabinets, and we added tile counters. Makes a great difference. We also painted all of the bathroom cabinets very similar in style to yours the same color. I have the shell sinks too! We used the new SW alkyd cabinet and door paint, after priming with SW primer first. 1 coat primer 2 coats paint. Laid on with a a brush and rolled off with a small foam roller. (of course need to sand and TSP wash before priming). Turned out great. SW Kestral white is a great wall color to merge beiges, whites, off whites, gray, and almonds together. So that is on the walls in our bathrooms to blend the tub (almond), counters (beige cultured marble) toilet is white, and sheet vinyl in a gray (where it was carpeted too. EWW!) You mentioned your home only has electric baseboard and a single window unit. How is your home constructed? Is there a basement or crawlspace for a forced air gas furnace? Is natural gas available, or propane? An attic for an electric heat air handler? I assume your house has no hvac ductwork and that would need to be added if you modified the heat to forced air. (I work in HVAC). This would mean that you would have some tearup into walls to do this, so definitely do the HVAC before painting any walls, This may give you a good opportunity to add insulation and a vapor barrier to some walls at the same time. And you may need to add some electrical capacity to add AC. I would evaluate this before flooring or walls as the HVAC work may get into the walls or flooring and you would want to do that messy work first. Anything you can do to get off electric heat would most likely be money well spent, as electric heat can be quite expensive to run (of course this depends much on your utility rates.) Adding a nice mid-tier heat pump, with either furnace or air handler and electric heat would be a very good solution for your climate. And improving insulation above ceiling and in walls will make your home more comfortable and lower utility bills too. Onto the decor questions. I would only keep the green tub if you absolutely adore it. If not, I would consider getting it re-glazed if it appears to be a good quality tub. They don't make them as good as they used to IMHO. For the kitchen, I would work on the best layout possible with the constraints of re-using what makes sense. I would paint the cabinets in the kitchen and consider some modifications to get the layout you want. If you paint the cabinets, you would have the option to maybe rip out some if necessary and infill with some shelving or other unfitted pieces. We for example took out a cooktop on the island and put in butcher block. And if you paint your cabinets and need to infill with some from habitat restore or other standard new ones, the paint can make them work together better. #1 advice is to buy a nice new gas grill and get a nice patio set for your deck. When you are happy and can cook dinner and have a cold drink and relax it seems less overwhelming to think about all the other projects. Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen with painted cabinets and tile counters