Thanks everyone. I know it seems great to have all these windows and I am definitely not complaining, but we realize we could have had almost the same effect and light with 8 instead of 10 - and saved a lot of money (in cost of windows and framing) but the architect shows you the drawings and you think wow, that looks good, and you don't think about whether or not it will be practical in use. Our architect came up with that to remedy an really unfortunate addition done by former owner. They stuck on a weirdly designed very 1980's round addition to a 1920's Dutch Colonial - but in a completely different style from original and tried to make it look somewhat like a lighthouse. From the outside, it just looked like a big round mass of stucco, now it looks much better. But I digress... Anyway, that's a good idea about the remote control shades/blinds. Do you know if they work well over time. I like technology, but just want to make sure they are not repair prone. I guess I can search and see if there are any threads about that.

Cotton is always nicest, but also silk, depending on the look you want. Silk needs to be interlined. Linen is nice but will wrinkle. Viscose and rayon is hard to work with, but a lot of fabrics have that in the mix now. Drapery weight just means heavier. USA made the nicest fabrics, but unfortunately, most are gone now or have moved overseas. India vs China, take your pic, but unless you're somehow buying direct, it shouldn't be an issue. Most drapery fabrics will be from Asia. How much fabric you need also depends on the length too, and whether there's a repeat in the fabric or not. For the slider, you'll probably need 12 yards alone if you want panels. They just need to be vacuumed once in a while, no matter the style. Dust collects on everything.

I don't have an answer for you. But we live in Denver. Had a swamp cooler for too many years and now have minisplits. Central AC wasn't an option for us as we have no ductwork. You have nicely put together the pros and cons of each solution. There is no one right answer. The only thing to do is to prioritize what is most important to you. If a cold bedroom is #1 then that says mini-split. If no wall unit and resale are more important to you then that says central AC. Truth be told whomever buys your house after you can easily switch to another solution if they are unhappy with your choice. I can say that we cold soak our bedroom with our minisplit and then turn it off at night on most days so as not to have any noise or blowing air. We have a ceiling cassette in the bedroom and the duct that would blow right on our heads is blocked off. We do have the wall units in three rooms. The family room/kitchen, the master bath and a second bedroom that is used as an office. Our main greatroom also has a ceiling cassette. Whichever you choose you will be sooooo happy to get rid of the swamp cooler. With Denver's up and down temperatures in the spring and fall it is much easier to just turn the minisplits on and off. Also they have a heat capability so provide a back up system to our infloor radiant heat should we need it. We've only used it that way once, when our boiler was being replaced. But it is nice to have a back up if something else were to go out on our heating system.

"I designed the layout to have the kitchen at the front of the house......." What you might find helpful here is for you and any other decision maker(s) to sit down with a person of design talent and explore/brainstorm not only your ideas but look at other directions you may not have thought of. I do these all the time and call them "charrettes". They're highly interactive "nose to nose" design sessions that last a few hours where sometimes the client commands the pen more than I do. At the end we have dozens if not a hundred overlays and sketches, some great, others not so great but we've looked at a large range of ideas. I take a clients ideas seriously but at the same time they tend to be preconceived and centered on the obvious. These ideas, or parts of them, may in fact turn out to be perfectly valid but it's my job to weigh them against against other approaches. You don't know how many times a client has said "Wow! We never thought of that!". And when it comes to preconceived ideas, I've quoted these two creative people here before regarding those: Henry Ford observed "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have told me 'A faster horse'" and Steve Jobs mused "Often, people don't know what they want until they see it. Nobody could describe the Iphone before it came out but when they saw it, everybody wanted one". I think you would benefit sitting down with a creative someone for some "outside the box" thinking and to look at a range of alternate ideas. After all you're in an endeavor involving a healthy six figures of your hard earned money where there's no "do overs". So, with that said, I don't know where you are in Illinois (it's a big state!) but there's a talented designer I know that's based in Clarendon Hills, outside of Chicago. If you're a reasonable distance away, he might be willing to have a sit down charrette with you to do exactly what I described above. If you wish PM me and I'll provide his contact info and you all can take it from there. In any event, the best of luck with your build. Exciting times ahead!