The Burden Research station/rural life museum is a good choice as its right next to the interstate. Its not a public garden per se, but there is a large rose garden (or testing plot?), a ginger garden right across from that (though there won't be too much in bloom in may), furthur down i think they put in a huge camelia collection and then there is the rural life museum part as well. The property is 300 acres I think, parts are the museum's area with the old slave cabins etc, parts are the research station's stuff, and then the different collections/gardens are run by different groups I believe. Hilltop arboretum is in B.R. as well with mostly natives in a natural setting. The Baton Rouge botanic garden has a rose garden, herb garden, louisiana iris collection (may still have some in bloom in may) and a few other things. I think all of those above are free and easy to get to etc if you have limited time to travel and you could do all three in a day easily. Tim Chapman

Yes, we have some truly beautiful and unique gardens in the Midwest. One need only look for them, and they can be found in nearly every major and some not so big cities. The "coasts" should know that the Midwest is more than just a "fly over zone" when it comes to beautiful gardens! I have to be back in Indianapolis this year (for business) and will make a point of looking up as many of these gardens as I can. MacThayer

You are right, but I had no choice really. Fortunately our climate is fairly mild and the house is very energy efficient. I spent the day doing looking at options in the structure for running ducts to be able to pull return air from down low on the 1st level. I converted everything to sq.in. and started from the supply ducts back. My math shows that I need a 18" return trunk going vertical into the attic for about 20'. Then it Y's into a 14" and a 12". The 14" runs about 8' and y's into two 10"'s. One of those runs 4' into the cieling return for the 2nd floor (centrally located), the other runs 6' into a wall cavity down to the 1st story floor. The other 10" off the Y runs nearly 35' and drops into another wall cavity to the 1st story mst.BR floor. This area was previously landlocked fram any return action by a wall and short hallway. The 1st story has a return ducted into the wall the furnace backs up-to under the stairs. It will be a custom plenum that basically yields a 12" x 12" volume and utilizes three stud bays for another low return. Mathematically I end up with returns on the first story being oversized by about 15%. On the second story I am purposely undersized by about 20%. The only return (10")on the second story si in the cieling. All of the returns on the first story are just up off the floor in stud bay's. The 2nd story has 6-6" supplies and the 1st story has 9-6" supplies. The furnace is a 3 ton Carrier infinity. Am I on track or crazy? TIA

Ok I'm going to play devil's advocate. Wow, I was not expecting all the comments with issues regarding this plan, but I have welcomed them! Some things you all have pointed out have made complete sense and I didn't even notice the other things you all mentioned. Here are some of the reasons we like this floor plan, and some some ideas that we have about changing some things: The floor plan is just bad. I asked above and will ask again. Have you considered working with a talented architect to design a house that truly works for you and will also make you happy every time you walk into the house? With this house you will need to fit your needs to the house whereas if you work with a person of design talent, you will wind up with a house that fits itself to your needs. - This floor plan has exactly the number of bedrooms and bathrooms we need. We need a master bedroom, one bedroom for each of our two children, one guest room, three full baths, one half bath, a formal dining room, an island with counter space for barstools, a breakfast nook, a walk in pantry, an office, a laundry room, a mud room, and storage space. Are you sure you need a formal dining room, an island with counter space and a breakfast nook? Do you entertain that often that you need three separate eating areas? I'm asking you to think in terms of your actual lifestyle and not your fantasy of what you'll do if you have the "ideal" house. The truth is if you don't entertain frequently for example, the dining room will remain empty most of the time collecting dust. Only you can answer what the reality is. Additionally if you do entertain, that dining room is way too small as is the breakfast nook. Also you need one of the bedrooms to be a guest room. Is it possible to make the extra bedroom a combo bedroom/office for the times you do have guests? Of course if you work from home, or family comes to visit for weeks at a time, that idea won't work. My studio is upstairs and I love that it's away from the tumult of the rest of the house. - We have two children, so a jack and jill bathroom seems to fit so that they don't each have their own bathroom. A hall bathroom is still a better choice versus a jack and jill bathroom. - My husband would prefer his office to be in the back of the house with access to the back yard and in close proximity to the living room. See my comment above. - We would add pocket doors to the entrance to the jack and jill bath from the two bedrooms. Pocket doors are fine for rooms that don't get used frequently. They are not a good choice for a room (bathroom) that will be used multiple times a day. - The location of the dining room does not necessarily both us. But the fact it's too small should bother you. - I am not a fan of the fireplace being where it currently is and would like to move in order to have french doors on the wall where the fireplace currently sits. So where would you put the fireplace? Have you thought how you'd arrange furniture in that room? - I am okay with how you get to the master bedroom, but I would be open to a different a route as well. So you're ok with walking through the kitchen every time you need to go to your bedroom? When I was growing up the only bedroom off the kitchen was for help. In fact since we never had full time help, my mother turned that bedroom into her office.