I bought a diy greenhouse kit after much research on the web comparing structures and prices, as I had a certain budget but I wanted something that would add to the beauty and value of my home. Some friends put it together for me, set it up attaching it to my home in one weekend. It looks gorgeous! I opted for a redwood frame and tempered glass mainly for the looks. I am not an expert on greenhouses and this is my first real greenhouse, but I can say that the fact that it is a lean to helps with heating costs in the winter as one side is attached to my home. My home electric bill last winter was lower and unless the temperatures went really low I did not need to turn on the heater in the greenhouse to keep my plants warm. I bought the kit at mcgreenhouses.com, after spending weeks dissecting the web. They were very helpful and gave us all the information we needed to set up the structure properly, as none of us were experts. I am really happy with it, I can grow my veggies year round and I can sit in it soaking up the winter sun reading a good book as it spacious enough!

Thanks for the follow-ups. It looks like we may have to scrap this plan and come up with something simpler which is driving me crazy. All though none of the GC's have given us "real" bids as we asked (dollars broken down so we could compare apples to apples) all of the prices have been $200K - $500K over our budget! It seems that the number of corners, rotunda staircase, complicated roof lines, huge wrap-around porch, etc. add more cost than we thought even though we did several cost analysis programs prior to buying the plan. Unfortunately the land cost here in Fairfield County, CT is extremely high, so our budget is tighter than we'd like. Plan B might be adapting a more straight forward Frank Betz plan, and trying to design a more Shingle Style/Northeastern exterior look. Neither time nor money to hire an architect for a from scratch design. Any ideas? BTW, Architects NW has been great to work with, and wish their plan could work for us...

We are currently building a plan similar to what you described. It's called Hampton Circle by The House Designers. We made some modifications to the orginal plan: closed off the wall between the dining and kitchen to make an office, extended and squared off the outside breakfast wall to make a larger dining area, expanded the laundry room area and added a mudroom and full bath with a seperate laundry room where the storage area is on the original. We also tweaked the second level room sizes and added three storage rooms to use up all the empty space up there. We built ours over a walkout basement as well. I'm sorry I don't have our final plan to show you but here is the link to the original one: http://www.thehousedesigners.com/plan/hampton-circle-6364/

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.