Hmmm . . . When my children were small, I had exactly one item from your list, yet we were very happy together, and I miss those days (though I also live having older teens).

The one thing I'd say you need as the parents of small children is a price tag that you can easily afford with some money left over. Your kids will not particularly appreciate having grown up with a separate playroom, but they will remember having had the extra cash for memberships to the zoo and the science museum. They will not notice the difference between carpet and hardwood floors, but they will benefit from having parents who are able to put aside money each month for their college educations. They will not care whether they eat dinner in a formal dining room or an eat-in kitchen, but they will grow up happy and secure if their parents aren't worried about and fighting about money.

Yeah, I know. Not a popular train of thought, but I believe in it.

I agree with Mrs. Pete 100%. What a blessing not having that house poor stress is.

Practically speaking - I think having a 1/2 bath by the garage entry is helpful with kids. Whether they just need to make a quick pit stop while playing in the yard or not feeling well or not able to hold it long it's nice to have that quick access without running through the whole house to get there.

Fun times and they fly by that is for sure.

I have two little ones and if you are already building a house... why not make it good for you family? Sorry, Mrs. Pete, but I understand your way of thinking but I don't see how it applies here. I am not sure why you would assume the OP is going to be house poor....

Anyway, good thoughts for sure! I have a 16 month old and a 3 year old and we did many of the things on you list but our playroom (bonus room) is upstairs. We wanted to have adult space and kid space separation.

Even while making our house kid friendly, we are still going to be able go to the zoo, go on trips and save for college.

Children grow. By the time you've finished designing a house for young children, they aren't all that young anymore. And by the time you've moved into it after it's built, 2-3 years have gone by, and they wouldn't be caught dead playing under Mommy's watchful eye. They'll either want to go to a friends house, or want to be in the yard or their rooms.

Don't design for kids. Design for the young adults that they will be in just a few years.

And yes, take a look at this forum's motto at the upper right of the main page. It's just as valid now as it ever was.

MrsPete, we've survived for almost 6 years with kids and pretty much zero of the items on my list, but as Sweet Reverie pointed out, since we're building, we might as well add the things that will make life easier for us all. :)

We are in no danger of being house-poor. Things may be slightly tight after we move but before we sell our current house, but certainly livable.

Live_wire_oak, you make some good points. I am trying to consider things that will make sense both now and later. (For example, a bathroom for a 1 1/2-year-old is kind of silly, but in 10 years or so, I'm sure she will NOT want to share with her brothers. And while at 36, it's not a big deal to me if my room is on the first or second floor, I'm sure in 20 or 30 years it will matter very much!)

I agree with sweet.reverie, in general. While your kids might not care that they had a playroom, it certainly will give you peace of mind to be able to close up that mess easily! ;)

I have no idea the size of your build. With that said, if for some reason you need to cut out space or expense.... I grew up as the lone girl with two brothers. Sharing one bathroom was absolutely never an issue, especially since the boys spent just about 5 minutes in the bathroom. :) I also had a brother 4-5 years older... who was moved out by the time I was in HS. Again, I don't know the details of your situation, but just mentioning that in case it helps.

I'm no one to speak to this issue, but that won't stop me. Just like a high chair and a crib are short term needs that soon get relegated to the attic, don't build your house around children's needs which they will soon outgrow. Rather consider their needs that will last a long time....like a mudroom which even today serves my DH well. Think not about the needs of a nursery right now, but over the long term, will you be happy with your tweens and teens all being on a different floor than you? I like the idea of making use of flex spaces whose function will change over time as the needs of the family changes. And I would plan for what we used to call a rumpus room....a place where kids can be kids without being underfoot which is essential as they grow.

Love this thread, it has been a large part of my thoughts about our new house. You talk about hardwood vs. carpet. Why not laminate? One thing I've thought a lot about is having durable yet inexpensive things in my house. If my kids drags something heavy down the hallway, leaving a deep scratch, I'll be glad to be replacing cheap laminate rather than refinishing or replacing custom stained hardwood. The same goes for countertops... Granite is not indestructible, not to mention would hurt a lot more when a little head runs into it than a nice laminate.

Some other things to thik about are where the tv will go (so you can supervise by not be driven crazy by it or hav your family spend too much time in front of it), having a desk or workspace near the kitchen for supervised homework or computer time, and having an area that closes off for quiet reading and the like. Also a master bedroom close to kids rooms, especially if you might have ny more babies.

I disagree about designing homes for forever. It seems unlikely that a house will work great for young kids AND empty nesters. I'd rather have ease and onvenince with kids running around and less onvenince when older. Frankly, when we are older, if the house doesn't suit us, we can move and sell our family friendly house to another young family who can use it. That may not work for you, but something to keep in mind.

A formal dining room or office space can be made from a playroom at a later time if the location works. A mudroom will be needed even more during the teen activity years. Ditto an exterior entrance (covered) into that mudroom. When you have acreage, you really do need that. I'd suggest having a shower added to a powder room in that location, as well as having your laundry there close by as well. There have been plenty of times that yard maintenance activities got me so filthy that I'd rather just pull all of my clothes off next to the washing machine and not track dirt through the house. It will be the same with the kids while they are small. It's just better to have a shower with a handheld to hose them off with warm water than to do the same outside. Ditto the dog. (Do blocking behind the walls to install grab bars into the shower that a dog leash can be tethered too, and that can serve as an aid for an older person on the first floor who needs an accessible shower.)

If you design something like a modified Cape, you can do a downstairs master, an office/guest room (that uses the mudroom bath) and another bedroom that also uses the mudroom bath. Then upstairs can be two bedrooms and a bath. That would give you a 5 bed, 3 bath, and maybe add in another half bath close to the more formally used spaces, tucked under the stairs. The dining room can serve as a playroom for the next couple of years, and by the time the kids have learned to wipe their chins with a napkin and say please and thank you, it can be converted back into a more formal dining space. And any bonus rooms in the basement or over a garage can be finished out at that time to serve as the tween to teen hangout space.

The key to building a home with children in mind is to not get caught up in building a home for children. They will only be small and need direct supervision for a very short period of time. Make spaces that work for that now, but that can serve your adult needs down the road when your lives don't have to be so closely child centric. Kids grow up FAST, and seemingly accelerate that pace the older the adults get.

Think about how you want to live in the home once they've moved out for college. And 6 years down the road from that when they boomerang their way back because the job market for even a Master's degree still kinda sucks and they have a million dollars in student loans that still need paying off.

I like your list, but personally I would put all of the kids bedrooms upstairs. your daughter will be at least 3 when you move in and she will be fine upstairs.

I think a flex space on the main floor that can work as a playroom, study, guest room, piano room, craft room or formal living room will give your family room flexibility as its needs change over the years.

I would also plan for a Rec room for the kids when they are a little older. Nothing fancy. even an unfinished basement works well.

sanveann-I am the one who said 'house poor' and I didn't mean to infer that you were planning to be. Rather the slippery slope of building with the costs ending up higher than what you plan and all that goes with trying to accommodate life style and life phase. We are in a similar situation - kids a bit older than yours but planning a build for now and later and the 'house poor' thing pops up in my mind as something I am trying to avoid. Trying to stay realistic with my own wants/needs so that is why I mentioned it. :)

I think there is some good advice here with a flex space that can be re-purposed later and a mudroom. I think without kids you still need a place for your own shoes, boots, coats, purses, pet stuff if that applies. I may be partial to that because we currently don't have one and it drives me nuts.

In my own experience - kids when they are younger want to play where YOU are. So if you are thinking play room I'd want it on the main floor. When they get older then I am sure they will want some privacy but for a good 10-12 years not so much. Currently our playroom is the living room and it's been taken over by lego guys and star wars action figures........we do have a space in the basement but they don't use it because its not where hubby and I spend most of our time.

Its difficult for sure and there will be trade offs. I just keep thinking about those that say they build once and then build again correcting the mistakes they made the first time. I only want to build ONCE....hoping for the best!

I am in a similar position, I have a 4.5 year old and a 2.5 year old. We had the same thoughts to make our home kid friendly yet able to grow with our family. We just finished framing.

mudroom with cubbies was a must for us, we also do not have one in our current house.

We have built the playroom right off of the kitchen and figure that it can become a social gathering place for the kids and their friends when they no longer need their toys in it. I would not mind at all if my house was the house that my kids and their friends want to hang out when they are teenagers (I say that now :) Or a music room/game room.

We also wanted a dining area off of the kitchen. We wanted enough space in these two areas to accommodate holiday and kids parties since we have a big extended family and love to have get togethers.

Other thoughts that we had were to have a small desk area upstairs in the landing area to house a computer for the kids for homework. I know that technology always changes and kids can have internet access on the cell phones but we would hope that this would give some passive control to what they see on the internet on their main computer.

We also just recently decided to do hardwood in the upstairs hallway, we know that this will increase foot noise (that we want to decrease with a runner) but some good points that we learned from others and this may be tmi but when your kid wakes up in the middle of the night with the pukey virus and doesn't make it to the hallway bathroom, it is much easier to clean up then the carpet would be. I know that this is an expensive fix to that problem but we had other reason as well and I'm not sure where your budget is so I figured I would add this to my list for you.

Good luck.

I considered building a slide into my house from the mudroom down to the playroom. I actually regret not doing it.

We have 2 children - 14 months and almost 4, both girls. We planned for them to have their own bedrooms upstairs with walk in closets but to share a bath. However, we used some of the bonus space to extend the bathroom sink area to have a vanity with stool for each girl. I figured when they grow up and wear makeup they will like having that.

For us, our issue is the idea of a 3rd child, specifically a boy. We don't want to build a 3rd bedroom (thus making ALL the upstairs bedrooms smaller) but we aren't positive we are finished having babies. So we altered our plan to allow for an additional bedroom and bathroom to be finished out if need be in the future.

We originally had a playroom off the breakfast room but we had to scrap that because it was making the house too large. So our solution is to use the study/formal living room as a playroom for the short time they are little and then change it as they get older.

I think it is just important to know what you need now but also realize those needs will change in the years to come. We are hoping this will be our one and only build but I am not unrealistic - I know things will come up and our needs and wants will change in the future. So we chose a plan that allowed for those changes.

Good luck!

We're in the planning stages as well, with a few littles of our own.

We have play room in the basement now, and would MUCH rather have bit upstairs closer to the boys bedrooms. They leave a trail of toys from their rooms all the way through the house to the basement play area. Last house, the toys were strewn down the hall from bedroom to playroom-a lot easier for all of us to maintain. Also, as the kids get older, I hope to have a playroom upstairs to use as their media space for games, etc. You could use the playroom as a place for your daughter as well when guests come for the night. They can use her room and bath.

My BIL thought moving the entrance from the living room to the kitchen would help keep it clean. But no such luck. The kids tromp around their 12 acre lot only to walk in through the kitchen to the laundry area to take their shoes off. Thus leaving mud throughout half the house. We're thinking of an entrance from the outside directly to an actual mudroom, not a hallway, with an entrance from the garage as well. We have a lot of snow, and if's not snow it's mud, so we need a large area for all of the various clothing, school coats, shoes, boots, backpacks, etc. We're also going to have a dog shower for rinsing muddy boots and muddy paws. DH suggested we do a stackable washer and dryer as well for all of the muddy gear. Good idea I think. Right now we're constantly tripping over each other trying to get in and out of the door. We'll have a wall of cubes, as well as storage lockers for sports equipment. We seem to always have a mouse or two in the garage and I'd like to keep our equipment clean and safe.

I really appreciated having an open view from the kitchen to the living room. The kids loved the layout, which created virtually a figure eight where they could run through the house and all of the rooms on the main floor. We had tile and carpet originally, which was horrible. We upgraded to hardwood throughout the main floor and loved it so much! We had a giant and a large breed dog, let the kids ride on toys, etc. and while it got scratched, it was nothing compared to the cold, hard tile, and yucky stained carpet.

The in laws also thought getting a dark countertop, dark tile, and dark hardwood floors would help hide messes. But they went to dark, too solid. Same thing as all white, but black. EVERYTHING shows up, even fingerprints. The house shows every bit of dust and lint.

Still thinking on more ideas, and watching this thread.

Karen.1288 - like the idea of a room right off the kitchen that can also double as a gathering place later. Is it closed off to the kitchen by a door or is it more of an open space? Care to post your floor plan? I too would want a welcoming space for teens and friends to hang out rather than have them elsewhere. Its a good way to keep in contact/get to know your kids friends.

As for flooring. We have replaced the carpeting in the whole house except for the bedrooms (will do that right before we move). We put in wood for the living room and tile for the kitchen/dining area. It is so much easier to maintain and it has withstood our large breed dog and most recently the flu that hit over Christmas where my ds did not make it to the bathroom in time. I was so thankful the carpet was GONE! Cleans up quickly and completely unlike carpet. I know if you have little ones crawling around it's not very soft but a nice rug and a hefty pad would probably make a big difference.

Tile - slate look and hides everything. I can feel it's dirty before I see it. Normally it's sand from the sand box that I feel first. We used 18's so not as many grout lines and it does make the space look bigger.

Wood - we went with Brazilian cherry. It is very durable/hard but it is darker and it does show dust quite easily. I never knew how much dust accumulated when we had carpet. It also makes me glad we went with wood.

We'll be building on 11 acres this spring and will have 3 children under 4 years of age when we move in. We are putting a mudroom/ laundry with cubbies and coat hangers off the garage entrance and we feel like it's impossible to make that area too big.

We have an open floor plan and master on the 1st floor with 2 bedrooms, loft area, and bonus room upstairs. It may not be perfect right now to have the play areas upstairs but I think it will be ideal 15 or 16 out of the next 20 years. An architect friend with tweenage kids couldn't stress the importance enough of having a place for kids to be themselves in addition to the common gathering places in the home.

Upstairs we put a double vanity in the kids bathroom and then a door going into the room with bathtub and toilet so 1 can shower while others brush teeth and such.

We have the kitchen/dinning/ living room (thinking wood floors throughout) open to each other in a straight line against a south wall covered in windows looking out into the back yard so we'll always be able to see what's going on out there while we fix meals and the kids are out playing.

Hopefully this thread stays alive because we'd love to hear from others and see some floor plans posted :)

My sister has a play space right off her kitchen and she constantly kicking toys out of the way or stepping on legos as she cooks. No thanks! The way our house is laid out, we have a open kitchen/living room with french doors to the backyard. We placed our house on our lot so we have a smaller front yard and a large, flat backyard. I know my girls will be playing outside a ton (we will have 2.5 acres) so that way we can have the doors open and I can see/interact with them from the kitchen/living room.

We also have a large mudroom, a must for us. It has a side entrance right to the outside. I know these girls will be running wild in the woods and be messy when they come in.

The girls rooms are in the front of the house as are the stairs to the bonus room- I imagine that way we can have friends over and the kids can play in the bedrooms and bonus room without running through the entire house.

I like the idea of the upstairs bonus room because my husband is a clean freak and he hates to see kids toys all over his living space all day. I will have a desk up there for me to work (I am a professional photographer and spend a lot of time editing) while the girls play. We will also have a couch with a pull out so my mom/mil can stay there if they are watching the girls overnight or want to stay over.

We are doing laminate throughout the entire house except bathrooms (and bonus room and stairs will be carpet). I know some people are against hardwoods in the bedroom but I am going have big, snuggly rugs in their rooms. I LOVE the classic look of a kids bedroom with hardwoods. Squee! I am so excited for that part! Of course that would change if we had pets...dustballs of fur rolling around on the hardwoods would get quite old! But if we do get a dog, it will be a non-shed (refer to husband being a total clean freak!).

We are also putting in an ikea kitchen because I remember growing up, my sister and I did some damage to my moms kitchen. Ramming things into the corners of the cabinets, practicing cooking things and burning surfaces...you know the usual kid stuff. This house is our forever house, so in 12 years or so when the kids are older, we will be sick of our kitchen anyway and we can get nicer stuff.

Since it is our forever house, we tried to design it for all stages of life. When our girls have their own kids (crossing fingers that they do so I can spoil those babies!) they will have space to stay with their families and places for grandkids to play.

I put a link to our floorplan below. We do have a smaller house- 2400 square feet including the bonus.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Floorplan

Asking how to design a house to accomodate small children is a good question. And the replies that small children grow rather quickly to adolescents with different needs, and thereafter leave to work, start families, etc., with the result of an "empty nester" house with yet different needs.

The point to remember is that life is dynamic and constantly changing. Whatever criteria one uses to design a house will cause inevitable compromises either early or later in the lifespan of the house.

So the question becomes "where and when does one want to compromise" in terms of how the house supports the needs of the family at any point in time.

Of course, this is really not the actual case for many families, since real estate statistics suggest that many families may sell their home and move to another home every 5-8 years, due to a variety of causes. This suggests that, for many, there simply is no such thing as "the forever house", a phrase commonly used here in this forum, by first-time home buiders.

Taking the real estate statistics into account, perhaps one should design a new home for their perceived needs over the next 5-8 years (whatever those needs may be), and worry less about the timeframe thereafter.

Just a thought.

As far as small kids are concerned, it certainly would be desirable (if one's budget allows) to have space where they can play and litter an area with their own toys and gear, without impacting and overwhelming the major spaces where adults live and entertain with kiddy items.

We've lived in 3 different houses with small kids, and my priorities are: the kids' bedrooms need to be close enough to the master so I can feel sure I will hear them in the unlikely event they call out for me at night (my kids only do this if they're sick or have a really bad nightmare-- it happens a handful of times a year, but when it happens, I want to hear them). I want a house where hazardous areas can be gated off. Ideally, for really small kids, I'd like to be able to gate the kitchen off from play spaces all together-- when I had 2 under 2, I was able to do that, and it made it a lot less scary for me to run to the toilet while I had something in the oven- I think these "the kitchen is part of every room" plans can be challenging if you've got an especially curious toddler. I want a place where they can be active indoors when the weather is bad outside. I want a good sized mudroom and a bathroom that is close to an exterior door, so no one has to track far into the house when nature calls.

My experience with play rooms is that when they were small, they only used our playroom if I sat in there with them. Otherwise they'd drag their toys to wherever I was working. I think that in the teen years it's nice to have a place where kids can be with their friends where they feel they've got some privacy from adults, but I'm not convinced it needs to be a fancy space.

I'm not a fan of the "forever house" unless you're building on family land that you could never sell. To me, I think it makes the most sense to build a house that flows well and has some spaces that can be used differently as our family grows and changes (or by the new owners if we do sell) than to spend lots of money now on features we think we may need in 20 or 30 years.

VirgilCarter: while your statement is true for many people, DH and I specifically chose this location because it is the place we want to be forever. I know some people think that is silly but we are very forward thinkers- we have been planning to build a house for the last 10 years. Started dreaming about it when we were 18. A HUGE part of our retirement plan is to have our house paid off before we retire- that will be hard to do if we are moving every 5-8 years.

The town we live in is beautiful, centrally located, the schools are great and the crime is low. There are very few places in our area like it. My mother is hoping to retire and live with us as she grows in a mother in law in a detached garage we want to build down the line. I think it also depends on the family you come from. My grandmother has lived in the same house for many, many years. My mother in law has lived in the same house she bought when DH was 7. The whole family lives around the sound here in the Seattle area, DH works as a firefighter and loves his department. I can work anywhere but moving would mean starting over with a whole new client base. So while it is not common and many people don't actually live in one house for a long time, people like DH and I are planning to do just that. So for us, we are thinking long term.

My experience has been quite different also. We purchased our current home - newly married and although it was smaller we figured good enough for 2 people and didn't plan on staying. We did think ahead enough at the outset determining it had everything we NEEDED so if we stayed longer than anticipated it would work. Fast forward 14 years later and while it has all that we need the layout is not great - spaces are very tight and we trip over each other a lot in more than one area. So we don't fit into the move every 5-8 years category. Neither of our families do either so that could have some to do with it as well.

Like Sweet.Reverie the land we purchased is not something we will easily walk away from unless there is a job transfer that is not within driving distance. So the hope is to get it right to withstand our current family situation and beyond when the boys are all grown up and out or maybe back again or visiting with their own family's.

I think with careful planning it can be done to a point. Flex spaces are key for little ones. Mine are old enough that I don't need to worry about the same level play space but do need to consider somewhat private areas for them and my dh and I. We may need to break down and buy a second tv at some point, lol.

So much to think about given the unique circumstances we all have.

Here is the upstairs we are beginning to build in the next few weeks. The "unfinished storage" will actually be a bonus room and we'll have a wider opening so it feels more open up there. There will also be a couple skylights in the bonus room. The upstairs will pretty much be the kid zone!

Wow, thanks so much for all the fantastic ideas, everybody!

Autumn, we are in the same boat as you are -- we bought our house right after we were engaged, and had NO intention of being here 10 years later! Now, with five people, a 1200-square-foot house with one bathroom seems pretty darn crowded!

We are also planning on our new house being our "forever home." My husband has been living in this area for almost 25 years, and I've been here for 18 now -- longer than I spent in my hometown! We love this area, and if we ever leave, it will be involuntary (which seems unlikely, though of course nothing is impossible!).

CamG, we have laminate in our current house (living and dining rooms), and I have to say, I've been less than impressed. We have several warped spots -- and while, like all families, we have spills, we generally don't leave them sitting for hours or anything! Maybe we just have cheap laminate or something -- I don't know.

Our plan right now is to work on our design, and once we get that squared away, we'll figure out which nicer extras we can afford. Flooring is one of the big things I'd like to do now rather than later, if it's in the budget, as I'm extremely averse to moving things around :) I'm thinking sort of oak in a matte, honey-colored finish.

Just be sure that if you are planning any "bonus space" that your architect understands it's NOT storage space. The loads are different for live and dead loading and require different engineering for the supports. And also be sure that you understand how to air seal and insulate the space if it's above something like an unheated garage. Too many of these rooms are poorly done afterthoughts with bouncy floors and poor HVAC that makes them miserable to actually spend time in.

We built our present house with children in mind. My wife was pregnant at the time and our daughter was almost 3. We put a room downstairs for a playroom. We designed our kitchen and great room so it would be open and we could see the children. We made the island larger so they would have somewhere to do their homework. We put a bonus room upstairs so when they are teenagers they have somewhere to hide from us. The things we forgot were important as well. With a open design there is nowhere to gate off easily so our now 16 month old son gets into everything in the kitchen. The stairs we made open at both ends with railing. It was fun finding the necessary hardware so we would not have to drill into the banister. Four feet wide stairs are great till you have to find gates that wide. Door hardware is equally important. The old fashioned door knob is harder for a child to turn than the new long levers. We did hardwoods which I did not regret. I will have to refinish it someday when the kids are much older.

gaonmymind ~ We are building a slide! Fireman's pole is already in. My DH's request.

I've seen a couple of slides on Pinterest -- I think they look like SO much fun! I would probably use it just as much as the kids :)

I thought of laurajane's house when you said that gaonmymind! :)

Great post! We are in a similar situation. We have a two year old and four year old and plan to have one more child. We plan for this to be our house until our kids head off to college so we had many of the same concerns in planning. After initially planning all the bedrooms upstairs, we changed to a story and a half plan. We have the master downstairs, with one other bedroom (future nursery). We have two bedrooms upstairs for our boys with a bathroom and enclosed loft (this forum scared me too much about an open loft area!). The upstairs loft will function as a play/homework space for the boys in the future. If we wanted to have all three kids upstairs, we could close it off to make it a third bedroom if we wanted.

Our plan is open concept with a playroom off of our great room, which will also function as a den/guest room as the kids get older. It has sliding barn doors that can keep it open to the great room or it can also be closed off (to hide all those toys!).

We included a large mudroom off the garage with five lockers/cubbies. We also have a drop zone/desk between that area and the kitchen for keeping school papers, mail, etc. organized. We've opted for hardwood throughout the great room/kitchen/dining. Our builder is doing some distressing to it with the staining process so hopefully any additional wear and tear by our boys and golden retriever will only add to the look.

Somewhat out of step with other recommendations / discussion, but I would highly recommend specifying Tamper Resistant outlets if they are not yet required by code in your area.

Cost is negligible, but significantly reduces chance of electric shock.

Our kids are a little older, 6 and 9. The best investment we made in our previous houses was using Benjamin Moore Aura paint. It cleans up unbelievably well. I have even had kids write on it with a ballpoint pen and I was able to wipe it off with a wet rag without needing to use touchup paint or a magic eraser. I love that Aura. It costs a little more, but it was totally worth it given all the grubby fingerprints I have wiped of my walls in the past 9 years.

Supergrrl, thanks for the recommendation! I love Benjamin Moore colors and will DEFINITELY need a paint that cleans up easily!

We're building and have a 4 and almost 7 year old. We're doing a playroom on the second floor above the garage. I feel like all I do is laundry so we'll have a second floor laundry room with a washer and two dryers. I find I frequently sitting on a clean load and waiting for the dryer to finish. We're also putting a smaller capacity stacked set in the first floor mud room for when the kids come in all muddy or snowy.
The one detail we put in really for the kids was a second stairway off the kitchen. When I was a kid my friend's house had a back stairway and it made hide and seek so much fun :). The stairway definitely makes the house flow better, but at the end it was my childhood memories that really made me push for it.

Soooooo envious! If you post pics I might cry...lol.

Laurajane02 - we need pictures of the slide and freman's pole!