Sorry for not responding sooner to y'all's great inputs. Saturday evening, I got a virus on my computer & didn't get it all cleaned up until yesterday evening so I was too tired to get on the net, last night. Thank you for the complements on the front elevation. Its taken us a while to get there, but we think we will be happy with the results. We're trying to give it a "new old house" vibe. The shakes will be Nichiha Sierra Premium in Caramel, so they will be in horizontal lines rather than the staggered texture the architect used. I do like the look of the 30" French doors which gives me 1 foot extra on each side of the quad to work with. The panels will usually be open, but we might want to close them in on a winter evening when the trees won't be in leaf and we might be able to see the neighbor's house. We will be going to SC in a week, so we can get a better idea of what the situation actually is. OK, if we do 30" doors, that would make the quad 10' wide giving 4' on each side of the unit. The fireplace comes out 2', but I think we want the bookcase to be recessed from the fireplace, so lets say that is ~18". That leaves 30" between the quad and the bookcase. I know that stackback for pinch pleats is 1/6 the total width on each side. Does it work the same wall for panels with rings on a rod? I'm pathetically out of touch with drapery fashion. (I do know that I am going to take down the traverse rods w/ pinch pleats & install rods w/ inexpensive panels when we go to sell our current house.) Anyhow, if I follow the stackback formula, there would be a 20" stackback on each side. With 30" to work with, I should be fine, right? Does anyone have suggestions for layering so that the panels on each side don't have to be operable? I know that bamboo shades are very popular. Do they fit with a slightly more formal great room as opposed to a family room? I had a house with French doors across the back that had those 80's pleated shades on them; they were not attractive. And, in that case, the shades were rarely open, so I have a bit of an aversion to shades on French doors. Gosh, I don't have good ideas, yet, about furniture placement. I have home design SW, so I'll put something together and throw it out there. I think we've been working so hard on the floorplan, elevations & then choosing a builder for so long that we've finally come up for air to realize that how we want to decorate can have an influence on the plan details. We want as much figured out now, before we break ground, so we can minimize the change orders. Thanks, again for all of the help & sorry for the slow response - Jo Ann

I'm no expert but I think what you have decided is fine but I don't think you can go wrong either. Those are some awesome closet doors! I think the narrower dividers are great and I'd stick with the 18/32 division as I'd prefer a wider mirror portion. p.s. have you had your kitchen reveal yet? I have been (im)patiently waiting for months. I did stumble upon one of your posts where you mentioned some problems so hope everything is okay now. Please post that reveal if you are done and ready to do so! Can't wait to see it!

I'd say don't put in doors if you cannot do pocket doors. I don't think you have room for doors that open to lay flat along the back wall without them getting in the way of the left door to the stairs. Regarding the layout, if it's set in stone and cannot be modified, so be it. It's too bad you cannot change it, but that's life. Yes, you will have some issues, e.g., the DW in the way of the Prep Zone & significant zone-crossing as well as the refrigerator if it's against the wall (b/c a 90-degree stop will be a problem when you try to remove bins, etc., for cleaning. Refrigerators should never be up against a wall - even built-ins can have issues with opening doors fully, although it isn't usually as bad as with counter-depth and standard-depth.) But you will get used to them. As I've told others, humans are very adaptable, we can adapt to both the good and the bad. We find ways to make do. One thing I suggest is that you invest in a mobile cart/island so you can use it to transport ingredients, etc., to/from the refrigerator and the Prep Zone. The biggest gain I see, though, is opening up a doorway into the DR. I think that in and of itself will make all of this worthwhile!

I like the walk-in pantry, and if you prefer having the kitchen open to the LR, I agree that the door to the office needs to be closed. Seeing shanghaimom's range, which someone above posted, gave me an idea that you could use the same 'windows' to keep an eye on kids in the office, and maybe have some sliding panels on the office side, if you ever need privacy in there. I drew the following plan with a CD fridge, but if you recessed it into the office, per previous suggestions, you could use a standard depth model, and put the sliding panel on the right side of the 'window'. Just make sure the length of the stub wall allows the door to open. At 143" wide, the kitchen doesn't have the space for seating at the island, except maybe a perch on the end, when the dining table is not in use. I added some 12" deep cabinets to the back of the island, for extra storage. The dining table is nearby, for seating.